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Wynn at Law LLC has noticed a recent resurgence of real estate ‘flipping.’ Late-night cable and radio stations are again saturated with ads touting the wild income potential of acquiring and liquidating the same piece of property within the shortest possible time frame. Flipping is legal – as long as it’s done on the up and up.

 
Before the housing collapse a decade ago, some curbs were put in place to deter flipping. The FHA sets the rules by which most lenders follow: Having 3.5 percent as a down payment for example. In 2005, the FHA required additional inspections and safeguards taken on mortgages applied for on properties that have been owned for less than 180 days, and outright forbidding the approval of mortgages on properties owned for less than 90 days. Those rules were relaxed in 2010 following the real estate market bust wiping out $7 trillion in property value.
More importantly, that lost value represented the largest investment loss for many families… and did not involve as many people flipping houses. With that in mind, most lenders still adhere to the 90-day guideline.
If you’re buying a flipped home, there are still numerous loopholes and unregulated areas that an unethical or inattentive flipper can exploit when flipping a house. It still remains up to the buyer and his or her attorney to perform all the necessary due diligence before buying. If the property is to be purchased with an FHA-backed loan, a flipped home may require more time to purchase because of the additional documentation required of the seller.
If you’re interested in flipping, avoid the late-night infomercials blaring about how you can flip a home without putting in a dime of your own. Banks have extremely tight restrictions to watch for fraud. It’s best to have cash on hand for this highly speculative form of investment: Cash you’re able to part with (and potentially not recoup) for at least 90 days. A quickly-flipped home requires documentation on renovations, as well as additional appraisals, to justify a much higher resale price if the deal involves an FHA-insured loan. The average flipping time from purchase to resale is just over 106 days, according to market monitor RealtyTrac. Know this as well: Some properties have to become rentals before the flipper is able to get from the market what he or she thinks is the ‘value’ of the property. Are you prepared, legally, to become a landlord?
In the case of flipping, it’s the old adage at play whether you’re buying a flipped home or flipping one yourself… If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Get an attorney.
*The content and material in this original post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.  
Photo by Victor Zastolskiy, used with permission.
The post Flipping real estate advice for buyers, sellers, and speculators appeared first on Wynn at Law, LLC.

A 2017 ruling by the Georgia Supreme Court most likely represents a significant weakening to a consumer protection provision contained in Georgia’s home foreclosure law.Georgia law allows what is known as a non-judicial foreclosure. This means that if you fall behind on your mortgage payments, your mortgage company does not have to go to court to seize possession of your home.Instead, buried deep in the fine print of your mortgage paperwork is language that allows your lender to foreclose on your property simply by giving you written notice and thereafter advertising a foreclosure sale in the legal newspaper of the county where the property is located.In Georgia, a lender can seize your house in less than 40 days if you are in default. Compare this to a home foreclosure process that typically lasts a year in a judicial foreclosure state like Florida.Despite this extremely short foreclosure process, Georgia law does contain one small bit of consumer protection in the form of the deficiency confirmation process. If your lender foreclosures, they can take your home quickly but you would most likely not be liable for any deficiency claim if the foreclosure sale nets less than the balance due on the loan.This is because Georgia law says that before a lender can sue on a deficiency it has to first go to a Superior Court judge within 30 days of the foreclosure and convince the judge that the foreclosure sale was “reasonable.” Since most foreclosure sales result in the lender “buying” the property back for the balance due on the loan, very few lenders even tried to argue that the foreclosure sale price represented the fair market value of the home. Therefore we almost never saw lenders suing (former) homeowners for a deficiency balance after foreclosure.Enter the Supreme Court of Georgia with the case of York vs. Res-GA, LJY, LLC. In this case, Res-GA, LJY was the lender, having purchased York’s mortgage from The Community Bank. The Community Bank had included in its loan documents a waiver provision whereby York agreed that in the event of foreclosure, the lender (Community Bank or whoever owned the note) did not have to go through the confirmation process before suing the borrower (York) for any deficiency.By allowing this waiver the Supreme Court of Georgia is basically giving a green light to mortgage lenders in the state to include waiver provisions in all mortgage documents from this point forward.The problem with this, of course, is twofold. First, when a borrower is at a closing, signing dozens of pages, he is most likely not thinking about potential foreclosure problems or that he has just given his lender the right to sue for tens of thousands of dollars and bypassing any court protection. Further, even if the borrower knows about this waiver issue, he is not in a very strong negotiating position. If the borrower refuses to sign the waiver the lender can refuse to loan the money and the borrower won’t get his new house.Given Georgia’s incredibly fast foreclosure process I find it absurd that the Georgia Supreme Court would hand the banking industry the power to extract even more money from borrowers, but that is exactly what has happened.Until this point I have generally counseled recently foreclosed homeowners to hold off on filing bankruptcy following a foreclosure because further financial claims arising from the foreclosure sale were so unlikely. Now, I suspect that aggressive lenders will drive more struggling borrowers into bankruptcy. We will see if that happens.The post Georgia Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Mortgage Lenders Over Homeowners in Important Decision appeared first on theBKBlog.

California is home to some of the most respected colleges and universities in the country. In the Sacramento area, students have opportunities to enroll at institutions like California State University (CSU), the UC Davis School of Medicine, and the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific. Unfortunately, while there’s no arguing that students can receive a world-class education in California, there’s also no arguing that college can be expensive – sometimes, expensive enough to drive young people and their families into debt. However, under the right set of circumstances, Chapter 7 bankruptcy can relieve student debt by eliminating college loans. Continue reading to learn more from our Sacramento bankruptcy lawyers about eliminating student loans with Chapter 7 bankruptcy in California.

Student Debt Statistics: California vs. National Average
We usually hear about student debt in news articles and political debates. But for millions of families, the student debt crisis isn’t merely an argument unfolding on the television set – it’s a real, immediate financial burden that creates constant pressure simply to stay afloat. Student loans create an extraordinarily heavy debt burden for millions of young people and their loved ones, sometimes forcing students to drop out, change schools, or take on second jobs.
The problem isn’t getting better, either. On the contrary, our nation’s student debt burden – already in excess of $1.3 trillion – is growing heavier every day. According to a Forbes article published in February 2017, “Student loan debt is now the second highest consumer debt category – behind only mortgage debt – and higher than both credit cards and auto loans.”
Students in California may have it especially tough. While the average student loan debt per capita in California is “only” $4,160, which is $760 less than the national average of $4,920, the Institute for College Access and Success still ranks California among the nation’s top 20 states with the highest student loan debt, with average student loan debt of $22,191.
It’s obvious that student debt poses a major financial problem for tens of millions of people, including many who attended college here in California. The question is, what can graduates and their families actually do about it? It’s one thing to call your representative – but what if you need financial relief now?
Depending on your situation, Chapter 7 bankruptcy could provide the debt relief you need. Keep reading to find out how.

Eliminating Student Loans in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process that allows single people, married couples, and business owners to reduce, pay off, or eliminate their debts according to their financial ability. Most people who file bankruptcy in California use a type of bankruptcy known as “Chapter 7,” which is also called “straight” or “ordinary” bankruptcy. According to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California, Chapter 7 cases accounted for more than 6,300 of the 8,500 bankruptcy filings in the court’s Sacramento courthouse last year. In other words, about 75% of the people who filed bankruptcy in Sacramento during 2016 chose Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Chapter 7 allows filers to wipe away many of their debts. Debts that can be erased in Chapter 7 bankruptcy are called “dischargeable debts.” Medical bills and credit card bills are key examples of dischargeable debts in Chapter 7.
Student loans are usually non-dischargeable in Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which means that in most cases, they cannot be erased by bankruptcy. However, exceptions exist that may apply to your situation.
If you can show that the debt is causing you undue (excessive) financial hardship by meeting certain standards under the “Brunner test,” the court may agree to discharge the debt and eliminate your student loan liability. To pass the Brunner test and discharge student loans in Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you must prove that:

1. Repaying your loans is preventing you from attaining a minimum standard of living for yourself and (where applicable) your dependents.
2. Your current financial circumstances are unlikely to change.
3. You have made sincere (“good faith”) efforts to pay back what you owe.

Don’t assume that you’re stuck with your debts if student loans are causing you stress and anxiety. Reach out to our Sacramento Chapter 7 bankruptcy lawyers today to start exploring your financial options with confidence and peace of mind.
Sacramento Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Attorneys Can Help
If you’re struggling to keep up with your monthly student loan payments, you certainly aren’t alone. More than 44 million borrowers currently owe repayments on student loans, and many require some form of assistance. If payment reductions, administrative forbearances, and other solutions haven’t helped to get your college debts under control, filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy may be an effective financial strategy.
To learn more about filing for Chapter 7 in a free and completely confidential consultation, call the Roseville Chapter 7 lawyers of The Bankruptcy Group today at (800) 920-5351. We handle business and personal bankruptcy cases in the Roseville, Folsom, and Sacramento areas.
The post Does Chapter 7 Cover Student Loans in California? appeared first on The Bankruptcy Group, P.C..

There are dozens of intersections in life that call for an attorney’s insight. Wynn at Law LLC gladly steps in to advise clients who have reached those intersections, like bankruptcy or buying a home. One of the most emotionally taxing of the intersections is how to handle the decisions at the end of a life, whether it’s sudden or the result of a long-term illness. Planning ahead, before you reach this inevitable intersection, can make the situation more bearable, or at least manageable.

 
In one of our earlier articles, we talked about the Last Will and Testament — a crucial part of estate planning after someone passes. A Living Will is a legal document that sets out a person’s healthcare wishes in the event they cannot articulate the wishes. A Healthcare Power of Attorney (POA) is a separate alternative. The Living Will has your instructions — what you will and will not permit. The POA designates an ‘agent’ to make the decisions. Usually, the agent is a spouse, but can be a close friend. No matter who you choose, you have to let that agent know your wishes clearly.
The POA is even more powerful when it goes beyond healthcare decisions to include financial decisions as well. This Durable POA ensures the person making the healthcare calls has the money to pay for the procedures. The signer gets to choose how limited in scope the POA is: For example, it can be limited to using bank accounts only and not things like selling the house.
Where Wynn at Law LLC adds value with such a POA is that the document and our Firm can be – if needed – the go-between if things get charged up among family members or family and caregivers. Things like resuscitation, painkillers, tube feeding, and organ donation can be powderkeg issues when they’re not backed up by a Living Will or a POA.
‘Why would you create a Durable POA over creating a Living Will?’ is a common question. The answer is simple: The POA agent can represent your thoughts on things for which you didn’t foresee in drafting a Living Will. You can’t plan for everything in writing in a Living Will, and the bills don’t stop just because a person is hospitalized. When you and your family come upon this intersection in life, these estate planning tools help keep the focus on the care you would have chosen and nobody has to guess.
*The content and material in this original post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.  
Photo by Viktor Levi, used with permission.
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