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Welcome back to Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio. I appreciate you sticking with us through the break. You're listening to us right here on AM nine 20. Atlanta's own the answer in this segment. We're bringing back a topic. That, uh, I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't know that I even knew some of these terms going into the last recession, but I certainly learned what these terms mean during that recession.
We're gonna talk short sales and we're gonna talk foreclosures. And for any of you who are saying, wait a minute, wait a minute. No, we don't need a sky-as-falling message, we're not giving you a sky's falling message. We are. Here to let you know that there could be some financial stress on the way.
Without further ado, I'd like to introduce Tony Martinez, who is the owner and the author and the master instructor of the C D P E program. Even better than that, I've known Tony for quite some time now, maybe 10 or 12 or 13 years, and he is a. Class Act guy. Uh, I did some speaking for the same organization that he did speaking for before, and I actually had to audition in front of Tony and his, uh, counterpart, who I loved dearly, Dolores Roth.
And, uh, they chose me for the program. And so we worked together for just a few years and Tony had the opportunity recently. To actually take over the C D P E program, which stands for Certified Distress Property Expert, and it is a program that educates real estate agents around the country on best practices for helping people who are in some level of financial distress.
Welcome, Tony. I'm so glad you're here. Lee, thank you so much for the opportunity. It's great to see you, and congratulations on your show and the tremendous success. Uh, I'm excited to be a part of it. Oh, this is fun. This is fun. Let me ask you a quick question. So what is a distressed sale? So a Certified Distressed Property Institute.
What's a distressed sale? Distressed sale is usually anything that, it's not something that the seller wants to do. You know, when we think of selling, we pick up, uh, we think of scenarios in most cases where someone is moving up, right? They're relocating. It's something they're looking forward to. It's planned.
And it, it's stressful, but this is very different. This is someone that has fallen on hard times. Yep. Usually some kind of financial difficulty. Yep. And it could be a number of different things. Everything from loss of employment to reduction in income, to divorce to death in the family. Illness, you name it.
Yep. And they're no longer able to afford the monthly payments. Right now they're faced with a situation. Are they able somehow to work something out with the lender, the bank, so that they can stay in their home? And if that's not an option, they're really facing foreclosure. In many cases, they're being forced out of the property.
Unless they can get some assistance along the way. And in some cases, you know, if somebody were to be facing foreclosure, that could drag out for one year, two years, three years. But that's not Georgia, that's not states in the southeast. The foreclosure process moves very quickly. In fact, if it, it's possible for a lender to.
Fully foreclose on a property in less than six weeks. Cuz if they notify the consumer and they advertise on the advertise for four weeks and the county Oregon, boom, they can, they, they can sell it. If you're listening to the show today and you're thinking, Hey, I'm not exactly sure what, how, what this means for me, all we want you to do is we want you to keep an eye on those around you.
And if you find somebody that's in. The stress that they, they just can't make it work. And we're not saying they need to sell their home, but they certainly need to get with an agent. And I would suggest that it only be a C D P E certified agent so they can talk through what the options are for selling their home.
Tony, let's go in and if you've just joined us, I'm Cleve Gaddis, and I'm joined on the line by Tony Martinez. Who is the, the founder, the owner, the, the author, the, the, he's also an amazing real estate broker, uh, in, in Florida. What area are you in, Tony? I'm, I'm drawing a blank right now. South Florida South, but where mostly, uh, the Tri-county area, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.
And we also do some in Highlands County as well. So we're in the trenches just like everybody else. You're, you're out there working. The market's shifting and, and, uh, a lot of folks have a lot of questions. People asking us all the time, what's gonna happen? I go, I don't have a. Crystal ball, right? But let's look at what has happened in the past and that usually can give us an indication of what we can expect.
Yeah. Love it. So for people who are in some level of distress, let's just say that there are three different options. And the first one could be a deed in lieu of foreclosure. The second one could be a foreclosure. And certainly the best one, the ideal one, uh, would be a short sale. N nothing of none of those three is ideal, but.
But it's the best of the three worst, if you will. Tell us what is the difference in the, in those three, Well, what I would like to first do is, there actually are a couple other options. Oh, please. You don't mind me. No. Lay 'em on me. So, yeah, the first thing I want to do is don't give up. I, if anybody's listening right now watching the show, and they know someone is in distress, so they themselves are facing it, the first thing you have to understand is foreclosure is not the only option.
That's true. You need to get help. You need to talk to someone. Yep. Because in many situations, the banks are willing to work out something with the homeowner. To allow the homeowner to stay in their home. Mm-hmm. So what happens is, first do everything possible to exhaust all options for staying in the home.
Yep. Now, when that's not feasible, now what do you call that? You, you call that, um, loan modification. What do you call that piece? It could be, it could be. Now, um, loan modification is exactly that. Okay? They pick your existing loan and they can either reduce the interest, it can extend the payments on it.
Right now, typically loan modifications do not erase the unpaid principle or the past due amounts and, and fees and penalties, right? That's usually kind of added onto the back of the loan, but you know, there's this misunderstanding. A lot of folks, people think that the lenders are just chomping at the bit.
To foreclose and they're not, yeah, that's not their desire. That's really the last option for them. They really just want to get paid, and we suggest that you just get the help necessary to at least speak to them, tell 'em about your situation. Don't make the mistake that so many people have done is that they've gone all the way through the foreclosure process.
And not once ever communicated with the lender, just one phone call, one conversation may have changed the whole entire dynamic, or maybe at the very minimum, bought them more time and, and probably because they were embarrassed, probably because they were ashamed. What I'm hearing you say is, Hey, if you got problems, don't be ashamed.
Let's get out there and let's shout it from the, shout it from the rooftops. Tony, real quickly, a question I had is I believe that there are some, uh, procedures in place, so on loans that are owned or, or, or insured by the US government mean like it's not a matter of whether or not it would, uh, would be approved.
If it meets certain criteria, a short sale would be approved. Is my understanding on that correct Or has it changed? It? It has changed. Okay. It has changed the pressure. Uh, the motivation that was in place on the lenders during 2008, nine and 10 really isn't there anymore. Okay. Okay. Uh, but one of a, a big change from before, and this is so critical that I convey this because it really is scary.
Uh, what happens is many people that are facing foreclosure, they're simply not aware of what the laws are. The processes and what their rights are. Right. And that is terrible. I'll give you the example. A lot of times people think that the minute you fall behind on your mortgage payment, you gotta get out.
Right. Right. No, that is not true. Right. When you miss your first payment, you now are officially in what is called default. Right now, according to federal law, the lenders, the servicers, they must wait until the borrower is at least 120 days in default. Before initiating foreclosure action. Wow. Yeah. Okay.
Now, because Georgia, you guys do move very quickly. Yep. You're a non-judicial state, which means that they do not have to go through the court system in order to foreclose. Yes. They're just required to notify the homeowner at least 30 days before the auction date. Yep. Uh, so if you're in Georgia and you've missed a payment or two, don't wait to talk to someone.
Get on the phone with a skilled real estate professional, maybe a foreclosure defense attorney, or a combination of the two, because let me tell you something that's even more distressing, impart, punt of anything else, is how many people this time around that are facing foreclosure actually have equity cleave?
So you and I remember back in the day in 2008 and nine, for every 10 foreclosures. Seven or eight were underwater, right? Yes. Yes. They owed more. That's right. Significantly more. Yes. Yes, yes. And so what a great point. I mean, somebody's grown $200,000 worth of equity and you miss your first payment. You need to call somebody that day to have 'em come out and talk to you about what your options are, because you might be able to, to sell it.
Get your 200,000 and pay rent somewhere for a couple of years or something like that and not even have a blip. What a great, great message. Tony, I wanna switch gears for just a second. For those real estate professionals who are listening, who are saying, Hey, I'd like to become a certified distressed property expert, how do they do that?
Can they do it in person? Do they take it online? What do they do? Yeah, all, all of the above. First and foremost, we're a private designation. We do have a storied history. Yes. We started out in 2008 under the original leadership of the organization and I played a, a role in the growth of that company. Yep, you sure did.
And then it actually closed down in 2020. And in 2021 I saw what was coming. Uh, you know, one of the things, for example, just a little side note here. Yep. Where eight and a half million homeowners took the government's. Offer took the government up on their offer of not making their mortgage payments during the pandemic.
Right. That's a law. And this was six months, 12 months, 18 months. And if it was an f h a loan as long as 24 months. Right. That's called for bears. That's right. And when I saw this, I said, how many people are going to be under impression that they never have to pay that money back? Ooh. Ooh. And then they'll, they'll get a rude awakening.
Hey Tony, I could talk to you forever and ever. We've got about one minute left in this segment. Yeah. And so I would make sure, I would love for you to tell people who want to get this education, cuz I'm so passionate about it, uh, how they can get in touch with you to get this. We got about 45 seconds left.
Yes. Well, our website is c d p e.com. Very simple. cdpe.com is Certified Distress Property Expert. Uh, go on there. You can take a look and see if there's a live and in person class in your area. We also have it on demand online, so you can do it at 24 7 at your leisure. And we even have a hybrid program, which is me teaching it live.
But via Zoom so that we can go ahead and reach as many agents as possible so they can help as many people as possible. Avoid preclusion, absolutely cdpe.com. cdpe.com if you or anyone you know is facing financial distress and there is a chance you're gonna miss payments. As soon as you miss that first one, get with someone.
And I suggest that you talk to someone who is a certified distress property expert. Tony, thank you so much. For being here, it was really great to get reconnected with you. We're gonna take a quick break when we come back, should you sell or should you stay and remodel? Also, is there such thing as listing fraud?
I've never heard of listing fraud before, but you might hear about it in the next segment and you might learn that listing fraud is a real thing. Stick with us. We'll be back.