FACS Certification

“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE”

Mortgage Resolution Services Introduces a National Foreclosure Alternative Certified Specialist designation for Realtors®

SACRAMENTO, CA. – Mortgage Resolution Services, the nation’s pre-foreclosure solution and Short Sale experts (www.mrseducation.com), and subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial (NYSE: FNF) has announced the creation of a Foreclosure Alternative Certified Specialist (FACS) designation for Real Estate professionals. The FACS designation will allow professionals to move short sale opportunities forward more quickly, avoiding time consuming and potential deal ending delays and missteps. Through the course participants will learn key short sale expectations and points of negotiation established by lenders. FACS will also assist professionals in expanding their abilities to help the over 3.9 million homeowners currently in default with selling their homes through short sale proceedings avoiding full-scale foreclosure.

“Short sales are very much an art not a science,” says Scott Thompson, founder of Mortgage Resolutions Services, a national expert on the subject of short sales, and one of two instructors in the FACS course. “The key is mastering the rules and expectations of the lenders, and then learning how to structure the sales for rapid approval. The FACS course teaches real estate professionals how to do this – efficiently and effectively.”

The FACS course will be held in major metropolitan cities throughout the nation during 2010. The cost for the one day course is well below other short sale courses available in the market, but the content is significantly superior. “Our FACS course is the most current and unique short sale education available,” says Christopher Rockey, Mortgage Resolutions Services, Director of Education, “because the course is always adapting. We work with lenders negotiating and closing short sale transactions on a daily basis. The FACS participants are the beneficiaries of this constant interaction and experience.”

Those Real Estate Professionals certified with the FACS designation will experience a turning point for their careers. With foreclosure filings exceeding over 300,000 for the ninth straight month, the landscape of the real estate market is changing and the knowledge needed for real estate professionals to be successful is clear. The FACS course is comprised of the best material needed to teach the highest level of pure short sale strategy and execution available in the market. For more information or to register for the FACS course please visit www.mrseducation.com.


Mortgage Resolution Services, Inc. provides a full range of services to the real estate community, all designed to support the efforts of brokers and agents working with homeowners overburdened with mortgage debt. MRS provides education, coaching and a comprehensive short sale processing services to help real estate professionals who are seeking to adjust their business plan to account for current market conditions.

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF), is a leading provider of title insurance, specialty insurance, claims management services and information services. FNF is the nation's largest title insurance company through its title insurance underwriters - Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Commonwealth Land Title, Lawyers Title, Ticor Title, Security Union Title and Alamo Title - that collectively issue more title insurance policies than any other title company in the United States. FNF also provides flood insurance, personal lines insurance and home warranty insurance through its specialty insurance business. FNF also is a leading provider of outsourced claims management services to large corporate and public sector entities through its minority-owned subsidiary, Sedgwick CMS. FNF is also a leading information services company in the human resource, retail and transportation markets through another minority-owned subsidiary, Ceridian Corporation. More information about FNF can be found at www.fnf.com.

-You saw it here first!

FACS Flipping Warning

We at FACS (Foreclosure Alternative Certified Specialist)have no intention to be on our soap box or to tell agents what they can or cannot do. Within the last year there has been a dramatic increase of ‘Option contract’ flipping. The good news is that yes option contracts are legal. The bad news is that an option contract is not good for anyone beyond the middle man investor. Option contracts expose a seller to a higher liability of recourse debt and could exploit a homeowner to greater tax related penalties. BEWARE of the legal and especially the ethical issues in option contracts I assure you staying away from them is the wisest way not to be sued by a past client. Besides I have had Cracker Jack box attorney’s tell me they would be more than happy to take any option contract case pro bono.

Flipping houses is becoming big business in the world of real estate investment. Unfortunately it takes all kinds of ‘flippers’ to make the world go around and some of them aren’t nearly as conscientious as others. If you are going to get into the business of flipping houses and want to make a living, and build a good reputation, for producing quality results you need to see to a few details throughout the process.

1) Do what needs to be done. Don’t cut corners and create situations that will put the family that purchases your home in personal or financial risk. You want to create a safe home for the family or person that ultimately makes the purchase. You do not accomplish this by taking shortcuts and using shoddy workmanship.
2) Avoid spending money that doesn’t need to be spent. By this I mean don’t spend money creating more work. Many people do this by deciding to tackle additions, rip out walls, or changing floor plans. These kinds of changes are best left to the buyer unless they will significantly improve the asking price you can bring in on the house. Otherwise spend the bulk of your money in kitchens and baths where they are best known for bringing in bigger profits.
3) If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. There is a lot of wisdom in this age-old saying. There is no reason to go in and fix something that doesn’t need to be fixed unless doing so will improve the value of the house to its buyers.
4) Always work within a budget. Most people set a budget when planning to flip houses but very few manage to work within that budget. This is the difference in making the profits you anticipated and putting the entire project at risk.
5) Create a home that the buyer will want to live in not the home that you will want to live in. You should never flip a house or design a flip according to your tastes; it is a recipe for disasters in more ways than one. First of all, it is unlikely that buyers will be able to afford it. Second, it sets you up for hurt feelings if a potential buyer rejects any small details. Third, it often raises the price you must seek for the property in order to cover the increased costs of decorating and designing according to your taste. Finally, it often leads to unnecessary expenses, which defeats the purpose of a quick flip type of project.
6) Time is money. Remember this in all things. The more time it takes to do the flip the more money it’s going to cost and the less money you are going to make. Plan small changes that have a big impact and can be done quickly to get the most out of your flip.
7) Never attempt a champagne flip unless you have a champagne budget to back it up. Just as flipping above the market is an unwise move it is equally unwise to flip a property beneath your target market as well. Do not attempt to flip a house in an upscale neighborhood if you can’t manage the upscale building supplies and appliances that will be needed in order to make it a success.

While these aren’t guarantees for success they are solid advice that will minimize the risks you face when flipping properties.

Keeping an ethical head will greatly reduce your personal exposure to legal issues and your reputation will be such that your investor pool should greatly increase.

-Christopher Rockey

FACS May Disagree

Stop paying your mortgage.

That's the underlying message from a University of Arizona law professor, whose new paper is hitting a nerve as the nation's housing crisis enters its fourth year.

Brent White denies advocating walking away from a mortgage that is bigger than the value of a home. Nonetheless, he lays out a case of how it can be done, and his suggestions have gone viral, popping up online, in newspapers and on television.

White is hardly first to talk about the idea of walking away from a mortgage that is bigger than the value of a home. Nonetheless, his suggestions have gone viral and are popping up online, in newspapers and on television.

It's a move that can save some people money, but at the expense of wrecking their credit.

The topic is central to what's crippling the housing market: About one in four homeowners, or 10.7 million Americans, are considered underwater, meaning their mortgage exceeds their home value, according to real-estate information company First American CoreLogic.

In the markets hardest hit by the nation's housing bust — Florida, Arizona, California, Michigan and Nevada — the share of homeowners who are underwater is 40 percent.

"Millions of Americans would be better off financially if they did walk away," says White, who authored the paper "Underwater and Not Walking Away: Shame, Fear and the Social Management of the Housing Crisis."

What White is saying goes against everything that we've been taught about contracts. If you make a mortgage commitment, most people think you have a responsibility to pay.

On top of that, White suggests those who decide walk away should consider getting a new car or house before they default on their mortgage, which will constrain their credit.

Mr. White, here is my question to your cavalier media seeking agenda. While standing by your name as a Professor, aren't you advising clients to walk away from debt that may hold recourse? Mr. White may not be familiar with all the facts of recourse debt even in his own state of Arizona which is commonly mistaken as an anti deficiency state. In Arizona they have a unique definition of purchase money to any other state. Lenders only have recourse on non purchase money which can be defined in Arizona exclusively as 'Cash Out.' With that said, if there is a potential for recourse (Arizona also carries a 2.5 acre property recourse law) and Professor White is advising homeowners to walk away? I believe because of the nature of his job status he may be taking a huge public liability. Of course we should show some sense of forgiveness, after all he is only an ASU professor.

Just teasing Sun Devils! I wish you all the luck, Foreclosure Alternatives are always the way to go!

-Christopher Rockey