Jeff Kaller

MORTGAGE FRAUDS

2009-03-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

An insidious real estate fraud known as "flipping" is victimizing both home buyers and lenders in Maryland. In the spring of 2000, HUD and the U.S. Treasury held public forums on predatory lending. By the summer of 2000 the mortgage fraud problem was so large in so many major cities, that HUD put a moratorium on lenders from foreclosing on homes in the "hot zones"; from Baltimore to Los Angeles the predatory lending in urban locations was huge to stop foreclosures. Legislation was being drafted.

Lenders are keenly aware that this is an issue. Appraisers are in the middle of the issue because lenders need the appraiser to "help make the deals work." However it plays out, the appraiser is a part of the problem.

There are good lenders, bad lenders, and everything in between. There are regulated lenders and unregulated lenders. Separate from them is the loan broker, which may be where the larger problem lies. How the changes unfold and how they impact appraisers is unclear. Appraisers need to understand what type of client they are dealing with. There are newspaper articles in most major cities dealing with the issue of predatory lending. Yet, the appraisal community, which is actively involved in appraisals for loan production has, on the whole, been slow to take a stand. Here is an excerpt from "Buyer Beware, Predatory Mortgage Brokers Don't Give Terms Promised, Causing Some to Lose Their Homes," by Teresa Dixon Murray:

The Predatory lenders have been stalking neighborhoods throughout the country virtually unchecked for the past several years, consumer advocates and legal experts say. Within the past 1 1/2 years however, the practice has mushroomed into a crisis as largely unregulated mortgage brokers cash in on the confusion and mounds of paperwork surrounding a home loan.

"The predatory lenders who are basically seducing people and ripping them off," says Rachel Robinson, an attorney with the Ohio State Legal Services Association in Columbus. Ned Wilson says he never realized he was committing to paying out $753 a month. Only the dollar amounts change from city to city. In Los Angeles, it might be a $200,000 property that ends up with $250,000 in loans. All of these require the help and assistance of an appraiser.

With regard to the predatory lending and mortgage fraud issue, appraisers have been playing the role of co-conspirator, but there is little record of appraisers demanding bribes or taking kickbacks. The Mortgage Bankers of America (MBA) issued a press release on the subprime topic .

In 1999 the Ohio Organized Crime Commission began investigating these mortgage issues as a form of Organized Crime which they are exploiting people who are in need of stopping foreclosures of their properties. Florida has its own Communications Fraud Act, which has already been used against an appraiser. In 1997, because of dramatic increases in predatory lending and mortgage fraud between 1993 and 1996, funding for the Housing Fraud Initiative began with investigations in 50 cities. Arrests began in 1998 and the first appraisers were convicted in 1999. This joint funding effort allows cooperation between the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) , HUD Inspector General (IG), FBI, and Postal Inspectors.

Neil

State Money For Housing

2009-03-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

While affordable housing has long held an important place on the federal government's policy agenda, budget cutbacks in recent years have forced the government to turn over many housing responsibilities to the states. Housing finance agencies (HFAs) have been created by states to issue tax-exempt bonds to finance mortgages for lower-income first-time home buyers and to build multi-family housing.

States are involved in a host of initiatives throughout the broad spectrum of housing finance and development. Interim construction financing programs which can reduce the basic costs of lower-income housing projects have been initiated in a number of states, together with innovative home ownership programs and programs directed toward rehabilitation and improved energy conservation.

States are also venturing into areas which have not received as much public sector attention until recently. By encouraging non-traditional types of housing, such as accessory units, shelters, and single room occupancy housing, states are addressing important elements of the housing market.

In Colorado, the state Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) has issued more than $2 billions of bonds and notes since its establishment in 1973, providing housing for more than 33,000 families and individuals of low and moderate income; 19,000 first-time home buyers and over 14,500 rental housing units. In recent years the state has broadened CHFA's authority to allow it to develop finance programs to assist the growth of small business, help exports with insurance on goods sold overseas, and similar projects this is to stop foreclosures.

Colorado has done more than simply help its citizens find housing: the programs have resulted in construction employment of more than 20,000 jobs, with wages estimated at almost $20 million in new local real estate taxes and an indirect gain of $1.6 billion for the state.Wisconsin, Maine and New York each have 20 programs including special ones for women and minorities, for disabled persons, and for environmental hazard removal.

Maryland operates 25 programs, including those to help people with closing costs and settlement expenses. It also has special funds available for the elderly and is developing an emergency mortgage fund to help people who have fallen behind in their payments aiding them to stop future foreclosures. Non-profit developers can also tap the state for money to build low-cost rental units.

Among Michigan's 29 programs and Minnesota's 25 are several for neighborhood revitalization. Minnesota also offers programs targeting the needs of urban Indians and migrant farm workers. Alaska, Oregon and Vermont offer financing for tenant acquisition of mobile home parks.

Funds are also available for persons who take steps to make their homes more energy efficient, for home owners and landlords who remove lead paint from dwelling units, for houses without plumbing or those with plumbing that is dysfunctional, for handicapped persons, and to help landlords defray the costs of bringing low-income housing into compliance with state and local housing codes. There are also funds for non-profit organizations to acquire or renovate existing houses and apartments for use as group homes for special needs such as mentally retarded.

In many states, elderly home owners can look to the HFA to obtain financing and/or support services they need to remain in their homes and avoid institutionalization. Some of the states have more than one agency dedicated to housing and we have attempted to list them all here. Also, many cities and counties have quasi-federal/quasi-local "housing authorities" with additional programs. Check your local government listings for these.

Neil

Obama and his plan

2009-03-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

A report from First American CoreLogic showed that 58.2 percent of home mortgages in Las Vegas have negative equity, in which the loan balance exceeds the home's value. The report said Nevada has the highest percentage of underwater mortgage holders in the nation with more than a quarter of Nevadans, 28 percent, owing more than 125 percent of their home's value.

The Treasury Department last Wednesday throws $75 billion at a problem that some say sparked the economic downturn. The plan aims to help as many as 9 million homeowners who are struggling to stop foreclosure, but industry experts agreed few homeowners in Las Vegas and other hard-hit areas such as Phoenix and much of California, where home prices have tumbled more than 50 percent, are likely to qualify for the program.

Under Obama's plan, homeowners are generally eligible for refinancing or loan modifications if they are the owner-occupant of the home; the home is their primary residence; the home is not investor-owned; and the first-lien loan has an unpaid balance of less than $729,750.

Any stopping foreclosure action will be suspended during the loan modification trial period or while borrowers are considered for other options to prevent foreclosure. If these options fail, the foreclosure action may be resumed.

The plan helps two groups by refinancing up to 5 million homeowners into more affordable fixed-rate loans and by working with lenders to modify the loan terms for up to 4 million homeowners. The Obama plan’s second part is intended to help modify loans for borrowers who have experienced economic hardship.

For the modification program, which runs through 2012, borrowers who are eligible will have to provide their most recent tax return, two pay stubs and an "affidavit of financial hardship" to qualify. In the affidavit, applicants will have to cite the reasons behind their financial woes, such as job loss or a drop in income. The government will take steps to verify the information.

Borrowers are allowed to have their loans modified once, and the program applies for loans made on Jan. 1, 2009, or earlier. Mortgages for single-family properties that are worth more than $729,750 are excluded. Lenders could reduce a borrower's interest rate to as low as 2 percent for five years. Rates then would rise to about 5 percent until the mortgage is repaid. If the plan works as intended, it could be a big plus for some borrowers.

We don't know what that program will do and how other programs are affected. We need to see the guidelines, how the administration is going to handle the rights of investors to have a decision in how to do these workouts, whether investors are forced into this or still have a right of approval."

Simon said the industry favors the "general terms" of the plan's affordability index formula, which sets monthly home payments at 38 percent of household income. The government will share 7 percent of the cost to take mortgages down to 31 percent. Critics of Obama's foreclosure plan say it will reward delinquent borrowers, many of whom should not have received mortgages in the first place, while responsible borrowers who continue to make their monthly home payments gain nothing.

Neil

Let's Get Serious

2009-03-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here's what might actually work……..

Let's have the government do something to fix the housing market. Ideas are flying around Washington. They include tax credits and cheaper mortgages for home buyers as well as leaning on lenders to rewrite mortgage terms for struggling borrowers. But maybe we should ask what, exactly, fixing the housing market means--and prepares ourselves for the limits of what these policies can actually accomplish.

Congress passed a bill last July to help the housing market; in an effort to churn demand and stabilize home prices, the bill created a $7,500 tax break for first-time home buyers. It also created a program to stop foreclosures. Bottom line: only 25 loans have been rewritten. In December, houses sold for 15% less than they did a year earlier. Says Wellesley College economist Karl Case: "Let's not delude ourselves into thinking we're driving a speedboat when we're driving a tanker."

Most proposals on the table are designed to boost demand without distorting the market and at the same time restrain supply by keeping people in their homes. The core issue is that there aren't enough people buying houses. Usually when price goes down, demand rises, but in the housing market, falling values make potential buyers fearful, sending them to the sidelines as they wait to see how much cheaper homes will get. If we could restore buyers to the market, the thinking goes, prices would stabilize, delinquent borrowers could sell instead of falling into foreclosure which is undeniably hard to stop, and the value of the mortgage-related securities contaminating our financial system would stop being such a mystery.

Ideas aimed at kick-starting this process include giving everyone who buys a house a tax credit worth 10% of the purchase price and driving down mortgage rates--perhaps to as low as 4%. Nearly one-fifth of all borrowers owe more than their house is worth. At the same time, some houses are still overvalued. Economists disagree by how much, and the answer changes from region to region. Houses in Cleveland are undoubtedly cheap. They could use some new home buyers there. In some ways, proposals to stimulate the housing market aren't really aimed at bringing in new buyers. Extending tax credits to people selling one home to buy another and letting homeowners use cheap mortgages to refinance won't get rid of excess housing inventory. These policies are meant to do something else: stimulate the economy by delivering money to homeowners. The other core issue is that too many people can no longer afford their mortgage. Maybe they took out an adjustable-rate loan that has reset higher, or they lost a job in the slowing economy. If we could stop the cycle of defaults and foreclosures, the thinking goes, we could prevent deeply discounted, bank-sold homes from flooding the market, keep losses from further impairing mortgage-backed securities and preserve property values. That's how we wind up with ideas like paying mortgage servicers to make loans more affordable and changing the bankruptcy code to allow judges to reduce the amount borrowers owe their mortgage company.

"We need to recognize the goal is not to keep everyone in their houses for as long as possible," says Edward Glaeser, professor of economics at Harvard University.

But there are also plenty of people who might be able to keep their homes with a lower interest rate or a longer loan period. "Servicers don't have the right incentives," says Christopher Mayer, professor of real estate at Columbia University's Business School. Cutting them a check in return for a modification of the loan, or trumpeting their legal authority to do so, is meant to prime the mortgage-rewriting pump, as is letting bankruptcy judges revise mortgages. Part of what drives up the redefault rate, though, are changes that don't lower, or may even increase, a borrower's monthly payments. A targeted tool like loan modification is probably a more useful allocation of resources than a blanket policy like cheaper mortgages. Make Some Owners Renters

Yet no policy can change the fact that both property prices and home-ownership rates went off the charts.

Neil

PRIME SUSPECT

2009-03-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

In the Cleveland area, one out of every five mortgages is subprime, and in Slavic Village subprimes account for more than half of all loans. On Wall Street, though, high risk means high returns. Investment banks buy up thousands of loans at a time from mortgage companies, pool the loans into trusts, and then resell shares in these funds to investors. Mortgage-backed securities that include large numbers of subprime loans are the most lucrative, bringing returns of up to 15 percent. Ohio isn't on Wall Street's radar: Its foreclosure disaster is just a dent in a shiny moneymaking machine. South Euclid has about 150 vacant houses; a few years ago it had about 40. It is predatory lending inflated appraisals, brazen financial companies.

The sellers send the buyers to independent mortgage brokers who get paid once they close a deal; the more loans the brokers sell, the more fees they make. "We have $20,000 or $30,000 houses selling for $80,000 and $90,000," says City Council member Anthony Brancatelli, who represents Slavic Village. On an annual income of just $26,000, she had borrowed $197,200 from Argent Mortgage to refinance a high-interest loan on her new home and pay off other debts. The bank had loaned her nearly three times the county's assessed value of her house.

Argent sells more mortgages than tany lender in Cleveland, and it took just one year to hit No. 1. Ameriquest agreed to disclose interest rates and fees up front, use independent agents at closings, and refinance loans only if a transaction benefits a borrower. Argent has a loan product for pretty much any customer: borrowers whose income isn't enough to justify a mortgage, borrowers with horrific credit scores, borrowers who want to buy a second home, who want to pay interest only for five years, who want a 40-year mortgage then later on they can not be able to stop foreclosures. Argent denies just 6 percent of applications.

Argent Mortgage defends its lending practices. "Argent takes a number of steps to monitor and select brokers. As for brokers, the company's website points out, Argent sells loans through independent agents over whom it has limited control. In Cleveland, FBI agents are reportedly investigating a single mother living in subsidized housing who bought five houses in a day, and a night-shift postal worker who bought four, all with Argent loans and all in foreclosure.

In late 2004, Ameriquest foreclosed on the property's absentee owner. Ameriquest turned around and sold the house to an investor; that investor resold it a couple of months later to Farrow. It wasn't the only Cleveland house Farrow purchased. Last year, Farrow left her boyfriend and moved with her infant son back to her mother's house. Christopher Siedlecki, who has since pleaded guilty to 14 counts of fraud, bought a house on East 53rd Street for $34,000. For $61,500, He sold it to Lawrence Reasor, in a transaction financed by a small mortgage company called Entrust. In 2003, Reasor refinanced with a $68,000 Argent loan; he went into foreclosure in March 2005.

Reasor's robin's-egg-blue rooming house is one of them. For two years now, Congress has been cutting funds for housing vouchers for low-income tenants. A week later, the day's first auction is Argent Mortgage v. Charity Stewart, et al., starting bid $36,667. Charity Stewart wasn't waiting for Argent to throw her out. When the decay started, not long after she moved in, Stewart called the mortgage company. Argent went to Cuyahoga County Court that November and filed for, to stop foreclosure. Stewart had borrowed $85,000, and still owed $84,795.87. Almost no one in Cleveland puts money down to buy a home anymore. Stewart got a $10,000 loan directly from the seller of the house, a handyman named Steve Dragmen. (Dragmen asserts that the funds were not for a down payment, but simply to qualify Stewart for the mortgage.) The house cost $100,000-more than double what Dragmen had bought it for three months earlier. Dragmen sent Stewart to an Argent broker, who informed her that she didn't earn enough to qualify for an $85,000 mortgage. "Yeah, right," says Stewart. Stewart instructs her.

At Stewart's foreclosure sale, Argent is the only bidder.

Neil

Coreection Please

2009-03-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

Federal programs that extended unwarranted credit, such as requiring banks to extend loans in high-risk areas, helped distort the housing market. Predictably, Washington is responding by further expanding the role of government, guaranteeing more credit, and rewarding recklessness - as if one could put out a fire by fanning its flames. President Bush's proposed rescue, for example, involves propping up the Federal Housing Administration that dates back to FDR's early days in office. Take Brian Montgomery, HUD's assistant secretary in charge of FHA. The Associated Press quoted him as saying that 'the entire mortgage market needs the stability that FHA brings.'"

"But far from bringing stability to the mortgage market, over the past decade - under both the Clinton and Bush administrations - the FHA's underwriting methods have rivaled the carelessness of many subprime lending practices, and have contributed to current housing woes. The delinquency rate on FHA-backed mortgages has been close to that subprime category and has sometimes even exceeded it. In the last quarter of 2006, for instance, the delinquency rate for subprimes had increased to 13.33% in the industry's National Delinquency Survey. But in the FHA category, the rate had risen to 13.46 percent - 'a new record.' For instance, Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) tacked on a $7,000 tax credit to buy homes out of foreclosure. As pointed out by William Niskanen, chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute:

One provision of this act is a temporary $7,000 tax credit for buyers of foreclosed properties, the primary benefits of which would accrue to those grieving bankers who made bad loans. Another provision is a temporary tax deduction worth up to $1,000 for families who pay property taxes, the primary beneficiaries of which would be high-income home owners. The most expensive provision is a three-year tax break for homebuilders, which would increase the supply of unsold homes and delay the recovery of housing prices.

Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, blew his own horn, bragging that his piece of legislation has "no downside." Frank's proposal actually "will put billions of taxpayer dollars at risk and undermine the already successful Hope Now program," observed the Heritage Foundation. "Hope Now is a voluntary alliance of scores of servicers, investors, counselors, and other mortgage market participants ranging from Catholic Charities to the Bank of America. Partakers in the alliance seek to reach out aggressively to potentially at-risk, credit-worthy homeowners to help them rework their mortgages. With the help of the Hope Now alliance the mortgage industry is helping more than 160,000 families a month to keep their homes either by modifying their loans or by developing more realistic repayment plans."

The chairman's proposal has "two glaring problems: one moral, the other economic," comments Robert Samuelson in Newsweek:

About 50 million homeowners have mortgages or to have their homes to under stop foreclosures proceedings. Who wouldn't like the government to cut their monthly payments by 20 or 30 percent? But Frank's plan reserves that privilege for an estimated 1 million to 2 million homeowners who are the weakest and most careless borrowers. Government punishes prudence and rewards irresponsibility. Frank is more than willing to use the force of government to twist the arms of lenders who might resist modifying their loan terms. The current crisis, as noted, has been aggravated by past interference in the market such as the Community Reinvestment Act, a law pushed by so-called liberals used to pressure lenders to make loans to people who are poor financial risks, including many minorities. Now Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) has the chutzpah to complain that "subprime loans are five times more likely in predominately black neighborhoods." Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), her presidential rival, thinks that is foolish, saying, "A blanket freeze like she's proposed will drive rates through the roof on people who are trying to get new mortgages to buy or refinance a home." Ironically, one reason we got into the current mess is that Washington spent the last few decades criticizing and fining mortgage lenders for not lending to low-income households with imperfect credit records - a practice called redlining. Now Obama plans to punish lenders in criminal and bankruptcy courts until they bring redlining back."

It has taken a long, perverse chain of events to bring about the housing bubble and subprime mortgage mess. In the Fed's expansionary period, much of this money went to home loans. Through a combination of federal government inducements to lend to risky borrowers, and the Fed's supply of easy money, the housing bubble took shape. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were asked to purchase and securitize mortgages, while investors, buoyed by implicit government backing, rushed to provide funding. Money that could have been invested in more productive, less risky sectors of the economy was thereby malinvested in subprime mortgage loans."

Wall Street made a killing during the housing bubble, reaping record profits. Unfortunately, the rash responses of the federal bailout artists are bound to lead to even more troubles.

Neil

Staking Your Forty Acres

2009-03-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

We also profile four home owners who have used real estate to begin building their own portfolios of wealth and power.

When you buy a home, you typically take out a mortgage loan to finance the purchase. Think of rent as the money you give landlords to pay their mortgage or to stop foreclosures. Company credit unions and many companies have credit unions that offer their employees discounts on everything from car loans to mortgages. If you belong to a credit union, check to see if it will lend you money for a down payment or closing costs.

In seller financing, often the owner of a property will "hold paper"-that is, finance a portion of the purchase for the buyer by not taking all the proceeds when the sale closes. These bank programs plans can help with down payments. For example, Wells Fargo features the National Homeownership Mortgage, which lets buyers obtain 100-percent financing if their FICO credit score is 620 or better. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is also proposing a "zero down payment mortgage" next year for Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed mortgages.

You've found the house you want at a price you can afford. Your other debts Banks will also look at other installment bills you pay monthly, such as credit cards, school loans and a car note, when evaluating you for a loan. In this instance they don't want your mortgage debt and other installment debt to be more than 40 percent of your gross monthly income. If it does, this will affect how much of a house loan you actually qualify for.

Credit rating is just as critical as income in qualifying for a home loan, because your credit rating tells banks how good your record has been in making timely payments on other debts. Credit-reporting agencies now connect a score to your credit rating. Financing isn't impossible, but you'll probably have to pay a higher interest rate or other fees to obtain the loan."

Even in today's red- hot real-estate market, there are house deals to be found. If foreclosed properties aren't bought privately, they're put up for auction to the public. Local newspapers will also advertise available properties and auction dates and times.

With community programs Increasingly, African-American organizations in predominantly Black neighborhoods are developing real estate or renovating housing and selling it on favorable terms to area residents. Hit upon out which organizations in your neighborhood are financing housing ventures by calling churches, community-development corporations and civil-rights agencies.

Real estate usually involves big money, which makes it ripe for scams. In Developer's glad-handing, many housing developers will offer to do everything for you from inspecting the property you're buying from them to financing the mortgage. Compare rates and your eligibility with banks or mortgage companies before going to a developer financing.

Home-a-loan sharking "Hard money" or "shark" lenders prey on high-risk borrowers with ads that say things like, "Mortgage money guaranteed! Your income is critical, and so is the price of the house, but interest rates are the key to calculating how much you can afford: The higher the interest rate, the more it costs to pay for the loan. Say you want to take out a $100,000, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loan. At today's prevailing rate of 6 percent, the payment on that $100,000 mortgage would be $599.55 a month. Suppose property taxes and insurance add $250 (actual amounts will vary, depending on the property), equaling $849.55 a month. At 9 percent the rate a few years ago, your mortgage payment alone would have been $804.62, or $205.07 a month more than at 6 percent. At the lower interest rate you can afford the mortgage, taxes and insurance for about the same cost of just the mortgage at the higher rate. With mortgage interest rates the lowest they've been in 40 years, houses have never been more affordable, which makes this a good time to buy, even with higher house prices?

Mortgage a loan that is made against real estate, with the real estate serving as the collateral. For instance, if you put down $5,000 on a property that cost $100,000 but is now worth $125,000, you have $30,000 worth of equity in the property (the $5,000 you put in, plus the $25,000 rise in value). Fixed rate the amount of interest you disburse on a loan remains the same for the term of the loan.

Points another term for percent: a bank, for example, that's charging three points on a mortgage loan, is charging 3 percent. PITI Refers to the four components of a monthly mortgage payment: principal and interest, taxes and insurance. Escrow The amount of money a bank may collect from you and hold in reserve to pay the taxes and insurance on a property.

PMI If you put down less than 20 percent of the purchase price when buying property, banks may require you to take out private mortgage insurance, which indemnifies them from loss should you default on the mortgage.

Closing the last step in the home-buying process in which you receive the title to a property. Expect to pay closing costs that could run between 4 and 6 percent of the mortgage amount.

Tara Roberts, an Atlanta magazine publisher, lived in New York City. Now bitten by the real-estate bug, La-Nita, 35, a surgical technologist, and Keith, 39, an inspector at Boeing, bought a second property for rental income in 9 1999 for $112,000. The seller of the first house held a second mortgage on this property, which he agreed to sell to the Thomases for $7,000. Keith tapped his company pension to buy out the seller's position. Shortly after, the owner of the house, who owed the first mortgage and had retired to Montana, agreed to let La-Nita and Keith buy the house for what he owed the bank, $105,000. La-Nita and Keith assumed his loan, meaning they took over the payments and didn't have to come up with any more money than the $7,000 they originally paid.

The seller of their new property paid all closing costs. Today they own three properties with an estimated total market value of $579,000 that cost them $10,000 out-of-pocket to acquire. The income from the two rental properties more than covers both those mortgages. Offered through a first-time home-buyers program in Brooklyn's predominantly Black Bedford-Stuyvesant, it was a majestic farick-and-limestone ltalianate four-story, four-bedroom, two-family town house, gleaming like a polished jewel on a block of stately brownstones. "I never thought I could get a property like that-I figured it would go to a sister in the choir," says Benson, 40, a corrections officer at Rikers Island prison, who quickly got his money back from the Queens house and applied for the Bedford-Stuyvesant house anyway.

Neil

Fraud Prevention

2009-03-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

According to Freddie Mac, in 1996 there were 44,665 cases of mortgage fraud reported by federal financial institutions. These cases led to more than $3 billion in losses.23 Mortgage fraud is a form of equity stripping, they could stop the foreclosure yet they are exploiting the owners in any how they could. According to the MBA members who report it, mortgage fraud increased from $60 billion-$70 billion between 1998-1999, a relatively good growth year. By 2000, it had grown to $90 billion, a 27% growth year. Whether it is a predatory lending scheme or flipping, mortgage fraud is definitely a growth industry. And, it requires the help, paid or unpaid, of the appraiser. The MBA members who do report their statistics do not represent all of their members. Additionally, the banks, savings and loans, and thrift figures are not included in the $90 billion. If they were to account for the other half of the activity, the total volume could be closer to $180 billion, as of 2000.

The Certified Fraud Examiners reported some $400 billion in white-collar crimes in 2000, not including mortgage frauds. Mortgage fraud, a form of robbery using real estate to accomplish it, may account for more than any other type of white-collar crime. It requires the help of an appraiser, paid or unpaid, as a willing participant or an unwitting accomplice. If the appraiser is found to have knowingly provided a misleading or inflated report, there could be culpability.

If the lenders wanted to put a stop to it, they could. But lenders can profit by funding fraud deals, in terms of the points and fees, and then sue the appraiser for negligence, using their liability insurance as if it were mortgage insurance. Claudia Gaglione, a defense attorney for Liability Administrators, stated at a luncheon this past summer in Riverside that often their best defense for an appraiser is to subpoena the loan file and tear it apart, showing the loan should have not been made, regardless of the problems with the appraisal. More than 70% of the civil suits against appraisers come down the lender pipeline.24

Many civil suits against appraisers, which could be turned in as fraud, are pursued as negligence, in order to keep the appraisers insurance in the case. This was exactly what happened in the Soderburg vs. McKinney25 case that I worked on in 1995. According to Thomas McCullough Jr., the lawyer for Soderburg, they dismissed the fraud charge without prejudice, obtained a $250,000 settlement from the loan broker and then pursued McKinney's insurance as a loss recovery vehicle. In our first Real Estate Fraud seminar in 1999, McCullough stated that he believes that "what McKinney did was fraud," but it did his client no good to pursue that issue and negate the liability insurance. Soderburg had not sent the appraisal before the loan was funded but prevailed in suing him, even though he was not the client of the appraiser.

If the residential loan production appraiser understood that they were being used by the lending industry as a free form of insurance, fees would be higher to account for the known risk and delivery times prolonged to account for a higher level of due diligence.

Additionally, if appraisers had any idea that they were being used as a mortgage insurer, there would be a lot more sobriety in the marketplace. The best appraisers operating under economic coercion find it hard to maintain market share and ethics. Like the classic conditioning we learned about in Psychology 101, as the twig is bent, so is the industry being inclined. Many lenders, or their authorized agents, are habitually pressuring appraisers. Absent any structure to withstand the coercion, the residential appraisal industry is caving in. An appraiser who caves in to client pressures and knowingly inflates appraisal values could end up facing criminal charges.

Historically, it has not been the regulated lenders who put the greatest pressure on the appraiser. Rather, it has been the commissioned loan agent or loan broker. Mortgage frauds, whether flips, packed transactions or bogus sales require inflated appraisals. Lenders now have a new insurance available. They can buy portfolio insurance against fraud and negligent misrepresentation.26 Armed with this new product in the marketplace, some civil suits against appraisers may be turned into criminal cases by the lenders, who, after finding another loss recovery vehicle in the form of insurance, seek to save face by turning appraisers in for their criminal participation in mortgage fraud schemes. Lenders have been the largest source of civil and criminal liability for appraisers, because mortgage fraud cases are the greatest source for potential crime.

At a fraud seminar in Cleveland last year, Tom Getz, a prosecutor with the USDOJ, stated, "The last thing you want as an appraiser is to be standing in a charging docket next to your loan broker client."27 He explained the Federal Sentencing Guideline, which, like USPAP and licensing, came out of the S&L Crisis. It is, to a prosecutor what USPAP is to of an appraiser. He gave the example that an appraiser who copped a plea to 10 charges from the 40 or so that they were facing in a mortgage fraud case could expect a sentence from between 43-51 months in federal prison.

USPAP is being used against appraisers in criminal cases. Appraisers are being sued in predatory lending and housing fraud cases or wire fraud, mail fraud, computer fraud, bank fraud, and/or mortgage fraud.

All real estate appraisers must comply with USPAP regulations in accordance with the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 [FIRREA]. State Appraiser Certification and Licensing Boards; federal, state and local agencies; appraisal services; and appraisal trade associations require compliance with USPAP.28

If the appraisal industry as a whole complied with USPAP, property flipping could be stopped. Maybe that is why USPAP was created. Maybe it had something to do with the S&L Crisis. Maybe it was mostly commercial appraisers last time and, just maybe; it is a residential phenomenon this time. That is my view after much research. Only time will tell if I am wrong.

Predatory lending will not go away. Too many are profiting from it. Stock prices of publicly traded companies can be enhanced with the huge amounts of high interest, points, and fees involved in the practice.

Probably the best thing an appraiser could do to limit exposure to excessive risks would be to avoid high liability clients, and high-risk assignments. The high loan to value transactions would be the first thing to avoid, especially if they include excessive fees or the borrower has blemished credit.

From a legislative standpoint, it is not likely that strong laws will protect the appraisers who operate in this arena. It is more likely that laws will protect the consumer and the regulated lender. The appraiser is likely to be on the wrong side of new laws that create stricter requirements, rules and penalties.

Appraisers involved exclusively in residential loan production work are at a greater risk of being caught up in a bogus transaction and more likely to have risk of involvement in a criminal transaction. Every predatory lending nd mortgage fraud transaction requires the help and services of an appraiser, or an altered appraisal.

Neil

MIDNIGHT RUN

2009-03-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

Since families can not stop the foreclosure, they end up running away from it, leaving their new homes in the middle of the night, haunts the Franklin Township section of Indianapolis, a part of the city where home builders flourished during the boom. As you take a right path into the Woodland Trails development on Arbor Trails Drive in the Franklin Township section of Indianapolis, all seems well. The home is clearly abandoned, with waist-high weeds growing in the front yard. Across the street, further up Knobstone Lane there are two houses in a row with stickers indicating the properties are in foreclosure. The aluminum siding on one home's right side is flapping in the breeze. Two doors down from the playground there's another vacant house.

Marking the transition is another foreclosed house, and three doors down is the home of Mike Pope, 24, who's emerged as the classic example of a young person on the economic margins who should never have qualified for a new-home loan in the first place. Pope opted for foreclosure this summer when the interest rate increased on his FHA-insured 2-1 buy-down loan and he was hit with local property tax increases.

As of early June, Pope had fallen far behind on his payments. Currently, gas and food alone eat up whatever take-home pay he has left after paying the mortgage.

Pope's situation is like that of many other families in Franklin Township, a section of Indianapolis south of the city's downtown that records the lion's share of new building permits in Marion County. The county encompasses the city of Indianapolis and all surrounding townships and operates as a combined city-county government. According to the RealtyTrac data, while 42 percent of the 6,572 cases of foreclosure activity in Marion County for the first four months of 2007 took place in inner-city neighborhoods with older housing stock, Franklin Township, where much of the area's new construction occurs, accounted for 6.1 percent of the county's total foreclosure activity. The township's total percentage of foreclosures is bound to grow this year as more new homeowners like Pope, living on tight margins, fall prey to rising interest rates and expensive local property taxes.

To be sure, foreclosure was not in Pope's original plans.

When the couple moved into the house in July 2004, they were confident they could handle the monthly mortgage payment of $750, which included homeowners insurance but not property taxes. To make matters worse, in early 2006, Pope received a property tax bill of about $3,000 that included a nominal fee for taxes on the lot in 2004 and back taxes for all of 2005. As with the property taxes added in, the monthly mortgage payment increased to $1,050, and by March 2006, Pope was falling behind on his payments. He says the payment would ultimately drop to about $1,000 a month by April 2008.

For all practical purposes, it's too late for Pope. Pope has no complaints about the quality of the house, but he does fault his builder, Arbor Homes of Indianapolis, on two counts, and is upset with the original lender, Republic Bank, as well. He says the builder steered him into the 2-1 loan and that the lender counted his overtime as income to help him qualify for the mortgage. Pope also claims Arbor didn't fully explain how expensive local property taxes would be. Pope says the builder's salesperson told him property taxes would be about $80 a month, when in reality they were well more than double that amount.

"If a homeowner says they were not told about property taxes, they did not hear," says Curtis Rector, president of Arbor Homes. "We offer the property tax information in writing in our homeowners' manual," he adds. "I wouldn't have access to the home buyer's loan information," says Rector. "Arbor Homes closed about 600 homes in 2006 and ... although we have choose lenders ... we worked with at least 30 different lenders." At least eight homes are up for sale on her block, and around the corner there are about four foreclosed homes.

Franklin Township is a builder's dream. While the township is home to only about 3 percent of Marion County's population of 860,454, it accounted for 28 percent of the new single-family building permit activity in 2006. Home builders have clearly capitalized on the township's willingness to accommodate such high levels of residential growth. There's little question that home builders profited heavily here during this decade's boom. National builders such as Beazer, CP. Morgan Communities, Centex, and Pulte do business in Franklin Township, as do locally based builders such as Arbor Homes and Davis Homes.

Of course with all the effort to stop foreclosures and the high property taxes, attitudes have changed. Working in tandem with the county's Metropolitan Development Commission, the township revamped its comprehensive land-use plan last year to include zoning regulations that accommodate a better mix of residential, commercial, and industrial development. "In the past, some people wanted to keep {Franklin] township residential, [while] others opposed [nonresidential] development because the projects weren't planned well," says Lincoln Plowman, a detective and councilman who lives in Lincoln Township.

The township plans to attract businesses through tax increment financing (TIF), a state program in which the township issues a bond that can be used to help build commercial or industrial buildings or local roads and sewers. Property taxes are then used to pay off the bond. Murphy tried to aid his constituents by introducing a bill that would have required builders to calculate the local property tax and present that information to new home buyers. The homeowners we interviewed in the Franklin Township subdivisions were upset by all the foreclosure activity. There are many reasons for all the foreclosures in the Franklin Township area and throughout Indiana. Second, Indiana has more affordable housing than most states, which means that new homes are accessible to young people in entry-level jobs.

At press time, the locals in Franklin Township had just received their property tax bills. The reassessment, combined with double-digit budget increases on many line items, resulted in average property tax increases in Franklin of 35 percent or more. Tack on rising interest rates on subprime and 2-1 buydown loans and residents are concerned more people will face foreclosure. The issue is having statewide impact: By late July, Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels was looking at holding a special session on the property tax issue and having some counties redo the assessments.

"If property taxes go up, all the people will be gone," says the schoolteacher who lives near Pope. This news is plenty disturbing to home builders, and some builders think the lending community has a lot to answer for.

Eggleston insists his company makes prospective home buyers aware of the risks of homeownership, including full disclosure about local property taxes. an informational Web site about homeownership it sponsors with Chase, Countrywide Home Loans, and Wells Fargo, among others.

Rector of Arbor Homes says his company works hard to educate home buyers on the responsibilities of homeownership, as well, but adds that home builders can't legally make certain value judgments about prospective buyers.

Neil

Pearls in Real Estate

2009-03-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

Investors in foreclosures hold opposing views on what they deem an acceptable rate of return for the inherent risks. So if you think you can sell a property for $200,000, you'd better make sure that your bid, plus repairs and carrying costs, doesn't exceed $140,000. When a creditor files suit to reclaim a property, this becomes part of the public record. You can discover postings of pending foreclosure suits (or notices of delinquency in some states) at the local courthouse. Ward Hanigan of San Diego, who moderates a foreclosure discussion group at foreclosureforum.com, advises that you check a local legal newspaper, preferably a daily.

The listings give the location of the property, along with the names of the defaulting party and the lender. Thomas and Tammy Plaster, foreclosure investors who own a construction business in Conroe, Tex., say it's best if you track foreclosures in an area that you know well, such as the area where you live. You'll want to visit the property to better assess its worth. ``It's a good idea to estimate worst-case scenarios of what's inside,'' such as crumbling walls and leaky plumbing, says Robert Bruss, a syndicated real estate columnist who has profited from buying and selling seized properties.

To further vet the property, you'll have to perform or commission a title search that will show whether other mortgages or liens are due. Senior mortgages or deeds--loans taken out prior to the one in default--are your responsibility if you buy the property. Second mortgages which are Junior loans are wiped out upon foreclosure of any previously established loan. Overdue taxes always carry over.

If you are planning not to stop the foreclosure and you should prepare on selling the property for quick profit, you'll need to calculate the carrying costs and sale expenses as well as actual property value and repair costs. You must pay title and transfer fees, and don't forget about interim property insurance. The Plasters add 5% to 10% for unexpected costs. Depending on state laws, borrowers have anywhere from 21 days to 12 months following the lender's initial legal action or notice of default to pay up and avoid losing the property in a foreclosure. Hanigan of Foreclosureforum.com prefers to bid at foreclosure sales because he gets the property free and clear. The lender's attorney or trustee starts the bidding with the amount owed on the property, plus the legal and administrative costs associated with foreclosure. That's the only bid the lender will enter, because it isn't allowed to profit from a foreclosure sale. Top the asking price by as little as a penny, and the property is yours. If there's a bidding war, the defaulting borrower gets the amount above the lender's bid.

As with any property, lenders will finance your purchase of a foreclosure if you can show it's a good deal, you have good credit, and can demonstrate your ability to repay the loan. If no one bids over the asking price, the property goes to the lender. Lenders also often offer favorable financing and may waive some closing costs. Most banks list foreclosures with real estate agents who post them on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), a directory available to realtors. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac use realtors, too, but also list properties on their Web sites.

If the loan on a home was guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or Veteran's Administration (VA), those agencies acquire and market the property after foreclosure. They usually sell it through a real estate agent ``as is,'' without warranty, whereas banks and secondary lenders usually fix up the place so they can ask a higher price.

Neil

Lead Generation

2009-03-09T01:25:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! This time I would like to share you some lead generation term which I made it simpler for better understanding. This is essential for those who want to engage in short sale, real estate investing. And, this can also be important for those who face problem on how to stop foreclosure.

Prospect—this pertains to any person who is referred to you. This can also be calls from your marketing or lead generation. Your have to remember that your prospect may or may not suitable candidate for you to work with since you have not yet run them through your filter system.

Lead—this pertains to prospects who said 'yes' and eager to sign a contract with you to dispose or sale their properties.

Cost Per Lead—the amount that you have allocated and spent to get that individual who is finding ways to stop foreclosure and say yes.

Now, we are about to check out my top techniques for establishing calls from sellers FAST! We will go through each detail. Data below is to show you it does not cost a huge amount of money to stimulate and generate deals.

Total Leads: 89 in one month

Cost Per Lead: $4.31

For that cost, you can have a great number of prospects to work with. You have to realize that your goals are as follow:

*You have to get them to say 'Yes' to your offered deal

*You have to get them under contract

*You need to start the short sale negotiations.

*And to get these properties on a number of listing service to be sold by the agent who has been working you and feeding you deals.

Lead Generation

In more than a decade of investing in pre-foreclosure properties, I have successfully developed more than 30 ways to find homeowners who are facing problem on how to stop foreclosure to call me. In this particular detailed report I made it a point to distill my top 4 methods which, if used properly, correctly will generate more than 40 inbound calls that will produce the needed foundation lead flow to create a $300,000 net annually in business. But for now, let us keep it simple. Incidentally, I have hundreds of students running $500,000 per year business with exactly what we will cover here.

For now let’s keep it simple. Incidentally, I have hundreds of students running $500,000 per year businesses with exactly what we will cover here.

Figure out what kind of business you could have with that numbers of leads. Try to imagine how many people could you help and how much money could you generate. Remember, it is just all about getting your phone to ring.--Roy Van

Foreclosure Investing

2009-03-09T00:09:00.000-07:00

Foreclosure investing can provide reasonably priced property that can be turned over for profit. With some careful research and getting real estate or short sale resources, foreclosure investing can provide great investment opportunity for both the short and long term. Many are afraid of getting involved because they do not possess large sums of money to play around with. The truth is, you do not need to use your own money to make a profit in foreclosure investing, and many find investors to fund their projects.

The idea of playing with someone else’s money may be even more frightening then playing with your own. However, using investors could be a good way to get valuable information. Investment clubs are a great source of information and are recommended if you are new to foreclosure investing. They are made up of local investors who have experience in this kind of business. They can provide substantial answer to questions and tell you if your property is a good idea or not. If you’re actually looking to attract investors then there is no better place. If your idea is good then you should have no problem attracting investors and the money you need. If investors are not keen to jump on board then this could be a sign that your project isn’t such a great deal.

If there are no investment clubs in your area, but you still are keen to attract investors, look in the yellow pages for ads for all types of credit. These are usually money lenders who have investment cash available. Another trick you can try is to find ads with slogans like “We Buy Houses”. These are often cash investors and are a good source to generate your capital. If you’re really determined, look in the legal section of your newspaper for notices of sale. These are auctions featuring foreclosure properties. Go to the auction and speak to the investors. You may find someone faster than you think.

If you are determined to get into foreclosure investing but lack the cash, remember, where there is a will there is a way. Check your local investment clubs, yellow pages and news papers for investors. If your idea is good, someone will want to finance it.--Roy Van

Surviving Rising Mortgage

2009-03-07T19:06:00.001-08:00

Wall Street is solid on surviving that once eagerly packaged rising mortgages into securities and encouraged lax lending standards and 100% financing are pressing lenders to tighten up. In response, lenders now require larger down payments or more fairness, higher credit scores and closer scrutiny of appraisals.

Even though the vast preponderance of borrowers still make their payments on time, mortgage bankers report record rates of delinquency and foreclosure. A few high-profile subprime lenders--firms that awarded loans to people with blemished credit or undocumented earnings--have declared bankruptcy. Even homeowners with the best credit feel the clutch from falling home prices and rising rates. Toward the end of the boom, the amount of adjustable-rate mortgages with cheap initial rates surged as home buyers struggled to get a foot in the door of houses selling for bloated prices, thus having hard time stopping foreclosures.

Kevin Kempskie is not your typical investor. In Boston, investors had previously driven up prices and condo conversions were extensive, but Attleboro had escaped the rush and price run-up.

Following his mortgage broker's advice, he traded in his fixed-rate mortgage for an ARM with a rate of 5.97% for the initial year. The loan, known as an option ARM, offered four payment choices, including a minimum payment that didn't include all the interest due.

Like many other dangerous mortgages, the loan carried a prepayment penalty that would apply if he refinanced within three years. Often, to boost their commissions, brokers would push for the prepayment penalty because it increased a loan's appeal to investment firms issuing packages of mortgage-backed securities.

The couple bought a single-family residential property and began making two mortgage payments.

The $2,650 that Kevin collects in monthly rents is just enough to cover the loan's minimum payment of $2,370 and the building's operating expenses.

As investors and homeowners were overcome with speculators' fever, the mortgage industry fed Wall Street's hunger for high- yield securities by reselling packages of subprime loans. Says Charles Pope, one of the executive of Mortgage Authority, in Florida: "Mortgage companies were having such an easy time selling bad paper, they said, Let's get crazier. If you can fog a mirror, we've got a loan for you." Persuaded by the easeness of selling questionable loans to investors, lenders unwind their underwriting standards.

In that agitation of building and buying, Linda Steele and her spouse bought their first home in Port Saint Lucie which is the county seat. They paid $187,000 for a brand new built four-bedroom, three-bath single- family home on a quarter-acre. At $1,500, the mortgage payment was manageable with two incomes--although, as the family's primary breadwinner, Steele worked 14- to 16-hour days as a regional manager for a drugstore chain.

Because of the decline in household revenue, she had to refinance into a subprime mortgage. In middle of 2006, when the fixed-rate period on her mortgage ended, Steele refinanced into another 2/28 mortgage, this time with an interest rate of 9% because her credit score had fallen. Property taxes rose with home prices to give for new municipal infrastructure as new- home development mushroomed, and insurance costs soared in the wake of multiple hurricanes. Steele's mortgage payment rose to $2,800 a month.

Steele move toward her mortgage lender hoping for a forbearance—in short, she would be able to skip a few months' payments, which would be tacked on to the end of her loan. Instead, the lender told her that if she could pay her mortgage on time for three months it would deem adjusting the interest rate downward.

Steele still has equity in her home, but she isn't confident that she can sell it fast enough to stop foreclosure. Since the county's market peak, the number of homes for sale has more than doubled, time on the market has increased, and the median home price has fallen.

Even if you're a fiscally conservative homeowner, you may be feeling the pressure of high housing costs, particularly if you have an adjustable-rate mortgage with a rate that's headed up or if your income has taken a hit.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are still good-looking and are generally lower than fully indexed rates on adjustable-rate loans. If you can't refinance because your financial prospects are poor, you have no equity in the home or you're looking at a large prepayment penalty, you may want to try selling your home yourself.

Take lead of a mortgage relief, if it is available. In California, legislators have suggested creating a mortgage pool to assist first-time homeowners in trouble. Head off foreclosure. As soon as you think you will forget a mortgage payment, call your lender to discuss your options. Besides refinancing, those may include a self-control (you temporarily pay nothing or only a minimum amount, making up the payments either over time or at the end of the loan), or a loan modification (the lender temporarily adjusts the interest rate). In that case, the lender agrees to call off your debt in exchange for the proceeds from the sale of your home and to stop foreclosure.

Neil

Beyond Housing Activity

2009-03-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

There is no evidence of a housing "bubble" in the United States and housing demand should stay strong for years to come. First, the 77 million baby boomers are approaching the peak home ownership ages of 65-75 (over 83.0 percent versus a national average in 2004 of 69.0 percent). Second, immigrants, a growing share of the U.S. population, tend to buy houses ten years later than people born in the United States of the same income group and family size. Third, credit rates are not likely to go high enough (8.0 percent or more for 30-year fixed rate mortgages) to put a crimp in demand. Despite some areas of concern, overall homeowners' equity is at record levels above $9 trillion. Delinquencies are still less than one percent of mortgages outstanding. And there are a little scenarios of stopping foreclosure or in the even of foreclosures of properties.

For over a decade now, the level of residential activities activity has been surprising analysts, participants, and observers of financial and mortgage markets; those involved in producing new housing and the repair and modernization of existing housing; material and equipment suppliers; and the myriad of other people involved with any aspect of a housing transaction, thus it is inevitable that there are some who tried to stop the foreclosure of properties.

While no one knows how high the homeownership rate could go (it's 96 percent in Singapore, the world's highest rate), many housing experts think that 75 percent is a realistic ceiling, given U.S. demographics and mobility patterns. Moving toward that number would mean many more new houses being built and continued high activity in housing markets for many years to come.

Property ownership rates vary greatly by age group, as well. The lowest value is for households where the head is not yet 25 years old. This group had a rate of 25.2 percent in 2004. There is a sharp increase in the 25-29 year old group to 40.2 percent and a further sharp increase to 57.4 percent in the 30-34 year old group. It continues to increase by age until it peaks in the 65-74 year old group at about 83 percent.

Of course, as more people buy a first home, many longer term homeowners have been moving up to a more expensive home.

The index is a combination of income levels and mortgage rates. It suggests that affordability is a major reason for the pattern of rising homeownership rates since 1995. In the December 9, 2004 release, which showed data as of September 30, the household and nonprofit organizations sector had total assets of a record $56.97 trillion, total liabilities of a record $10.3 trillion, and a record net worth of $46.7 trillion, which is about four times the value of GDP and over five times the value of disposable personal income.

Of course, today consumers have many alternatives to fixed-rate mortgages. As the interest rate on fixed-rate mortgages goes up, more consumers shift to adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM). It implies that than an ARM share above 20 percent or so is associated with rising fixed rates. High levels of housing demand and mortgage activity should continue at least through 2008, but they will probably be slightly lower than the 2003 and 2004 peaks.

The NAR index shows year-over-year changes in the median house price without regard to the mix of homes sold. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) uses data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from sequential mortgages on the same house. An extended negative bubble is a crash" (Kindleberger, 2000, p. 16). A paper by Frank Nothaft (2004) has a useful analysis of many issues related to housing and bubbles.

One indicator of a bubble is a rapid increase in the supply of the asset in question. As of the end of 2004, delinquency rates of 90 days and more were about 2.5 percent for FHA loans and about 1.5 percent for VA loans, compared to about 0.3 percent for conventional mortgages. The final factor in estimating future housing demand that supports the low likelihood of a housing bubble is demographic trends. We have not had a decline in housing prices nationally since the Great Depression of August 1929 to March 1933. We will probably see the amount of existing home sales and single-family housing starts in 2005 become the second best levels ever, trailing only 2004. Also, there should be continued strong housing markets in 2006-2008.

Defaults and Foreclosures

2009-03-07T18:59:00.002-08:00

Mortgage defaults and foreclosures may rise this year, but a strong housing market will limit any increase, according to loan specialists, a regional economist and a title company official. Defaults and foreclosures dropped nationwide and in the Boise area last year as borrowers sidestepped defaults by quickly selling their homes at high prices. Default notices filed in Ada and Canyon counties through July fell by about 12 percent from a year earlier.

The number of US homes in some stage of foreclosure increased 45 percent from January 2005 to January 2006, according to Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac. Back-to-back monthly inclining exceeding 20 percent indicate that rising interest rates and softening home prices are taking a toll, the company said in a statement.

Idaho Association of Mortgage Brokers President Jeff Avery, Idaho Falls, said that Fannie Mae, the national mortgage finance giant, reports that only 0.47 percent of the notes it grasps in Idaho are in default.

They are who says Idaho does not have a housing bubble, Avery said. Fannie Mae doesn't expect Idaho defaults to rise this year, he added. Nationally, 0.97 percent of mortgages were in stopping foreclosure at the end of the third quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, which expects to release its year-end report this month. Third-quarter foreclosure rates were 1.16 percent in 2004 and 1.24 percent in the year 2003. Avery said Idaho's growing population, relatively inexpensive housing, and its home ownership rate that exceeds the U.S. average - 73 percent to 68 - figure to help borrowers stop foreclosure. Continued patron activity also bodes well by boosting home prices and enlarging the field of prospective buyers.

Demand for residential properties continues to go up, said Avery, president of Avery Financial Group. Dean Oberst, Washington Trust Bank regional senior vice president based in Meridian, expects a quiet 2006 in terms of defaults and the foreclosures that may follow - because home values increased since many people took out loans, and home supplies remain very limited. It's still very much a seller's market, he said. Situations probably will change in 2007 and beyond, Oberst said. Lenders probably will see raised default rates, he said. There has been financier activity in this market we have not seen before at heightened levels, and secondarily, the types of mortgages we are seeing are far more aggressive than our market has had in the past.

New items include interest-only and negative-amortization loans that are cheaper in their early stages but eventually get more expensive, They have been popular among investors. Two items that will get us are insistent mortgage products, and when the person buying the home is not the one living in it and is not as tied to the property, Oberst said. And there's no guarantee that homes will keep rising in value at recent high rates, he added. Kelly Matthews, Wells Fargo regional economist based in Salt Lake City, said interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages have been around 6.25 or 6.3 % since November, compared to about 5.8 % in August of this year. If the pace goes to 6.5 % in the second quarter, that gain probably isn't large enough to increase loan delinquencies and foreclosures, he said.

If we arrive to somewhere above 7 or beyond, I would begin to think we might see some problems, he said.7 is probably elevated enough to begin to noticeably reduce demand. If mortgage rates only go up a little bit, and job growth continues to be very strong, I don't believe there's any reason to anticipate a noticeable increase in delinquencies and foreclosures this year, Matthews said. The housing market in Idaho and the Intermountain region has room to cool; the market can sustain 8 to 10 percent annual price gains much more easily than recent 16 and 17 percent increases, he said. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage expects another strong year for mortgage originations in Idaho, said Idaho Area Manager Jeff Grutta, based in Hayden.

Product demand has moved in the last six to seven months, he said. Now we're seeing a real surge in demand for 30-year fixed mortgages due to the fact that the long end of the yield curve has remained relatively stable and the short-term rates have been driven up by the Fed, Grutta said. Jesse Hamilton, counsel and vice president of Pioneer Lender Trustee Services LLC, Boise, expects foreclosures to increase this year.

Our foreclosure order numbers has already begun to rise, he said. I don't know if that's an indicator of the market in general, or if my marketers are good at getting business. On the other hand, many adjustable-rate mortgages will change to higher fixed-rate loans this year, and more ARMs will convert in 2007, Hamilton said. This is the beginning of a larger beckon. A lot of borrowers choose for ARMs during the refinance boom from 2002 into 2004. Home-fairness lines of credit also proved popular at the time, but monthly payments have since increased on higher interest rates. We are making guesses that if these mortgages are 'coming due,' there will be more foreclosures, and by that time we cant stop foreclosures, Hamilton said. I think that is a safe hypothesis. If income hasn't increased with the additional debt to service, there are going to be some people in a tough position. Meanwhile, people who bought residential properties as investments have seen rents stay relatively flat, he said.

That can affect cash flow and long- term viability, particularly if the investor's minimum mortgage payment stands to increase. Hamilton, noting that mortgage interest rates remain very low historically, expects another strong year for the Treasure Valley housing market. Whether a lender can avoid default and foreclosure will largely reflect his or her cash flow, equity position and how much it has appreciated at time of sale, he added.

Neil

Saved From Foreclosure

2009-03-07T18:59:00.001-08:00

If you're facing the nightmare of losing your home, these strategies can help

Lenwood and Denis shaver were thrilled after the birth of their first child in 2002. When the couple decided that Denise should give up her fulltime job to stay home and raise the children, the family's income decreased and they began to miss payments on their home. Loss of revenue is one of the main causes of foreclosure, according to Kenneth Wade, CEO of NeighborWorks America. Unfortunately, lenders aren't always interested in the life circumstances that lead to foreclosure. Just to maker sure mortgage loan obligations are fulfilled is their primary concern. The Shavers investigated a variety of agencies, initially to assist them with paying utility bills. lastly the Ohio couple contacted the Columbus Housing Partnership, one of 220 NeighborWorks America organizations that provide financial support, technical assistance, and training. Through the partnership, the Shavers took part in NeighborWorks' Stop Foreclosure Program. Webster get in touch withed Chase Manhattan bank, her lender, which helped her avert foreclosure.

"It is vital to contact your lender as early as possible, after you find yourself unable to make mortgage payments," Wade says I have not spoken with lenders who told me that more than half the people who go into foreclosure never respond to letters from the lenders, nor do they contact the lenders themselves. The longer the length of time you consume waiting to contact your lender the more limited your options become."

Just prior you know you may miss a payment, ask for a cure, which is a 30-day grace from your mortgage payment. Webster investigated Chapter 13 bankruptcy and a home equity loan before deciding to refinance at an interest rate of 11%, which was significantly higher than her original rate of 7.78%. Whilst refinancing resulted in higher mortgage payments because of her spotty credit history, Webster did not lose her home.

For current and future homeowners, preventing foreclosure starts before the initial purchase: Understand all the expenses that go into homeownership before you buy. Buying a home without being aware of taxes, insurance, repairs, and other expenses can produce a situation where we cant stop foreclosure, says Matthew King II, president of MK Capital Resources L.L.C., a mortgage brokerage firm in New York City that also specializes in foreclosureprevention.

You should keep a documentation of all correspondence with the lender during the foreclosure process. Get ready for the possibility of selling your property. Washington notes that resourceful conveyance is another way to allow a person facing foreclosure to realize at least a minimal profit from a home sale

Just prior to you know you may miss a payment, ask for a cure, which is a 30-day grace from your mortgage payment. If catching up on your payments does not seem probable, selling your property through various means is a better option than foreclosure.

Stopping foreclosure is a serious situation, but if you remain calm and take action quickly, you can negotiate a settlement that will allow you to keep your home. However you find yourself facing foreclosure, Washington says there are terms you should know that may help you negotiate a favorable outcome with your lender: The structure of a loan is changed to allow the arrearages to be attached to the end of the mortgage.

Forbearance! Mortgage payments are suspended for a short period, with the understanding that an agreed upon solution to making up missed payments will go into effect after. The lender agrees to permits the borrower to pay the present mortgage payments plus a certain percent of the missed mortgage payments. These synchronized payments continue until the previously missed mortgage payments are paid off. The lender may consent to give the borrower a specified amount of time to raise a lump-sum payment to cover missed payments.

"With Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you are allowed to pay off debts over time. Filing may permit you to keep your property and pay off missed mortgage payments and interest over time. "When someone pays their arrearages, this composed of the owed mortgage payments in addition to their current monthly mortgage, taxes, escrow payments, corporate advances, and attorneys fees that are charged by the mortgage servicer and the substitute trustee who will be receiving the payments."

Neil

Home-Loan Bust Voices

2009-03-07T18:57:00.000-08:00

It wasn't long ago that homeowners across the country were gloating over soaring home values in their neighborhoods. Wall Street firms that once enthusiastically packaged mortgages into securities and encouraged lax lending standards and 100% financing are pressing lenders to tighten up. In reaction, lenders now require larger down payments or more equity, higher credit scores and closer scrutiny of appraisals.

Although the vast majority of borrowers still make their payments on time, mortgage bankers report record rates of delinquency and foreclosures. A few high-profile subprime lenders--firms that awarded loans to people with blemished credit or undocumented income--have declared bankruptcy. Even property owners with the best credit feel the squeeze from falling home prices and rising rates. Toward the end of the boom, the amount of adjustable-rate mortgages with cheap initial rates surged as home buyers struggled to get a foot in the door of houses selling for bloated prices.

Kevin Kempskie is not your typical investor. In Boston, investors had already driven up prices and condo conversions were out of control, but Attleboro had escaped the rush and price run-up.

Following his mortgage broker's advice, he traded in his fixed-rate mortgage for an ARM with a rate of 5.97 percent for the initial year. The loan, known as an option ARM, offered four payment choices, including a minimum payment that didn't include all the interest due.

The couple bought a single-family residence and began making two credit payments.

The $2,650 that Kevin collects in monthly rents is just enough to cover the loan's minimum payment of $2,370 and the building's operating expenses. For years, swarms of investors descended on his hometown, buying and flipping some of the cheapest housing in the state, driving up the area's median home price from $99,000 in 2001 to $280,000 in 2006. Franey, 63 years old also feared that when the investors left for greener pastures, prices would decline and he and his wife, Mira, 60, might lose the equity in their home just as they approached retirement. And also was under pressure to make their mortgage payments of $3,200 a month and running out of savings, the couple tried to sell the home last fall but had no takers. Mike approached their lender, Countrywide Financial, and offered the deed in lieu of foreclosure, just to stop foreclosures.

The Franeys forgot their first mortgage payment in January, and in February they listed the home for sale at $368,500. Countrywide agreed to accept a "short sale," meaning it would cancel the couple's debt in exchange for the proceeds of the sale. Short sales rescues lenders the legal costs of foreclosure. By then, Mike's loan underwriter tells him, he'll be able to get a mortgage again, as his credit score and his income improve.

Encouraged by the ease of selling questionable loans to investors, lenders relaxed their standards.

As investors and homeowners were overcome with speculators' fever, the mortgage industry fed Wall Street's hunger for high- yield securities by reselling packages of subprime loans. Says Charles Pope, an executive officer of Mortgage Authority, in Florida: "Mortgage companies were having such a good time selling bad paper, they said, Let's get crazier. If you can fog a mirror, we've got a loan for you." Cheered by the effortlessness of selling questionable loans to investors, lenders relaxed their underwriting standards.

Easy credit aided feed the housing boom in Florida and other hot markets. In St. Lucie County, Fla., the average residential property price doubled between 2002 and 2005, peaking at $263,700.

In that frenzy of building and buying, Linda Steele and her husband bought their first home in Port Saint Lucie, the district seat. The couple paid $187,000 for a newly built four-bedroom, three-bath single- family home on a quarter-acre. At $1,500, the mortgage payment was manageable with two incomes--although, as the family's primary breadwinner, Steele worked 14- to 16-hour days as a regional manager for a drugstore chain.

Because of the decline in household income, she had to refinance into a subprime mortgage. In middle of 2006, when the fixed-rate period on her mortgage ended, Steele refinanced into another 2/28 mortgage, this time with an interest rate of 9% because her credit score had fallen. Property taxes imposed by the government rose with home prices to pay for new municipal infrastructure as new- home development mushroomed, and insurance costs soared in the wake of multiple hurricanes. Steele's mortgage payment rose to $2,800 a month.

Steele draw near her mortgage lender hoping for a forbearance-- meaning she would be able to skip a few months' payments, which would be tacked on to the end of her loan. Instead, the lender told her that if she could pay her mortgage fees on time for three months it would consider adjusting the interest rate downward.

Steele still has equity in her home, but she isn't confident that she can sell it fast enough to avoid foreclosure. Since the county's market peak, the number of homes for sale has more than doubled, time on the market has increased, and the median home price has fallen.

Take advantage of mortgage relief, if it's available. In California, legislators have recommended creating a mortgage pool to assist first-time homeowners in trouble. Head off foreclosure. As quick as you think you will miss a mortgage payment, call your lender to discuss your options. Close to refinancing, those may include a forbearance (you temporarily pay nothing or only a minimum amount, making up the payments either over time or at the end of the loan), or a loan modification (the lender temporarily adjusts the interest rate). If all else fails, you could try to discuss a short sale. In that case, the lender agrees to cancel your debt in switch for the proceeds from the sale of your home. When you cant stop foreclosure make you sell your home at a good price.

The method moves after that.

neil

Schubiner: Hedge Fund

2009-03-07T18:56:00.000-08:00

The six-year odyssey to develop Bloomfield Park has taken another twist with developer Craig Schubiner seeking $450 million in damages from a lender that has filed a notice of foreclosure against the property.

Hedge fund Boylston Investment Fund MMV L.L.C. plans to sell its mortgage April 11, claiming BP Associates L.L.C. is in default on terms of a $35 million predevelopment loan. BP is the entity formed by Schubiner to develop the 80-acre site at Square Lake and Telegraph roads.

Schubiner says loan payments are current and not an issue in the foreclosure. He said he still expects to break ground on the $494 million first phase this summer.

Under the terms of the loan, Boylston made an initial advance and then held the rest of the money, sending monthly draws averaging $500,000, Schubiner said. In exchange, Schubiner provided detailed monthly reports providing information on the project's progress.

The main issue in the dispute, he told Crain's Friday, is that he opened a sales center for Bloomfield Park on a nearby property not covered by the mortgage. Shortly before a November visit, Boylston representatives asked for a lease assignment on the property, which Schubiner said he was willing to offer in exchange for timely payment of future draws.

Schubiner's lawsuit said the last check from Boylston came in September.

Schubiner, along with BP Associates and 1939 Associates L.L.C., the entity that owns the sales center, filed the lawsuit Dec. 30 in Superior Court in Suffolk County, Mass., seeking a court order to stop foreclosure and $450 million in damages. The suit contains eight claims related to breach of contract and unfair and deceptive practices. It also claims to have been hurt when Boylston stopped allowing BP Associates to draw on the loan in September.

G. Douglas Lanois, CFO and portfolio manager at Tremont Realty Capital, the company that formed Boylston and which originated the loan, did not return a phone call by press time Friday.

Ann Taylor-Reed, account executive at New York, N.Y.based The Abernathy Group Inc., the public-relations firm representing Boylston, said Thursday that the foreclosure is moving forward as planned.

Taylor-Reed said the company did not want to comment further. An attorney in the Detroit office of Philadelphiabased Pepper Hamilton L.L.P. is representing Boylston and referred calls to Abernathy.

Schubiner said he doesn't know why Boylston is seeking foreclosure.

"We clearly made the payments," he said. "They're using a manufactured, nonmonetary default. It's unjust."

If sold, developer BP Associates would have a six-month redemption period under state law to pay the amount owed on the original Bernard mortgage, said Dennis Bernard, president of Bernard Financial Group, a Southfield-based commercial mortgage banking firm.

Schubiner said he would be able to secure funding to buy the mortgage within the redemption period and secure a construction loan to proceed with the project.

Bernard said stopped foreclosures such as this end with the lender being the winning bidder. If not redeemed, the property is then resold with hopes that the lender can cut losses, Bernard said.

In this case, the property may be worth more than the loan; Schubiner's lawsuit said it's been appraised at $70 million.

BP Associates began selling residential units for the first phase of the development in November. The company told Crain's that it had sold 25 percent of the units, worth about $20 million, in the first two weeks.

"We maintain our position that we want to see the land developed," said Dan Devine, Bloomfield Township treasurer. "However, given the current state of affairs, we're in a wait-and-see mode."

Bloomfield Township is expected to get a s are o tax revenue from the project.

John Bueno, a former Pontiac City Council member whose term expired Jan. 1 and who is serving on the transition board for newly elected Mayor Clarence Phillips, said the city needs the land developed regardless of the backers.

"We can use every penny we can get," Bueno said. "If this means new developers come in and take over, so be it, as long it gets done."

BP Associates received preliminary approval of the first two buildings of the proposed project last fall.

Plans call for more than 70 retailers along with eight parks, two lakes, an 11-screen movie theater and more than 1,500 homes. Schubiner said 32 retailers have committed so far.

Schubiner first presented plans for Bloomfield Park to Bloomfield Township officials in 2000, though he had been buying land in the area for about six years. Township officials didn't approve the plans, citing size and density among the issues.

On Sept. 11, 2001, the residents of the 20 houses on the property and voters in Pontiac approved annexing the land to Pontiac. The annexation sparked seven lawsuits that were dismissed in November 2002 when all parties involved settled on a plan that called for tax revenue to be shared between Bloomfield Township and Pontiac. The agreement also called for the formation of a three-person committee that has final approval over the project and consists of a representative from Bloomfield Township, Pontiac and an independent third party.

Neil

Foreclosure Prevention

2009-03-07T18:54:00.000-08:00

As near as Cuyahoga County treasurer Jim Rokakis can figure, in its first year of existence the Cuyahoga County Foreclosure Prevention Program helped stopped 600 foreclosures.

The movement have made is enormous, but if for every stopped foreclosure filed, there are 20 more on process, it's hard to take any fulfillment from it, the point of the program was to stop foreclosures from being filed.

Through the end of March, 3,842 foreclosure, quiet title and partition cases were filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, according to chief magistrate Stephen M. Bucha III.The court doesn't break out the foreclosure cases, but has indicated that foreclosures represent between 90% and 95% of the filings. Quiet title refers to a court action meant to explain who owns a particular property; a partition action divides a concurrent estate into separate pieces.

If the pace holds, the court will see 15,400 cases filed this year, a 16% increase over the 13,276 cases filed in 2006. And the number of filings in 2006 was a 20% increase over 2005, Mr. Bucha said.With the region besieged by an avalanche of foreclosures, the county last March began operating the prevention program.

Through the program, people who believe they are wrongly pushed into refinancings or have questions about default and other foreclosure-related issues are referred for assistance to nine participating local agencies, such as the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and the Cleveland Housing Network.

Referrals are coordinated through the United Way of Greater Cleveland's 2-1-1/First Call for Help, a program in which people dial 2-1-1 to be directed to social, health and government resources. The agencies provide consumer counseling and education and also work with lenders to give borrowers more time to catch up with late payments. With fundraising problems delaying the start of the prevention program's radio and television advertising campaign until last month, the initiative struggled to reach those who might best be served by the program's offerings.

Some of these people were not only facing foreclosure, they have been foreclosed and are facing eviction and they are on for stopping foreclosures again and again. The foreclosure prevention effort eventually secured $100,000 from "outside sources" that Mr. Wiseman declined to specify. That money has helped buy the radio and TV spots and the program also has plans to buy billboard space, too.

Other efforts also have started in an attempt to relieve Ohio's foreclosure epidemic. The state's 23-member Foreclosure Prevention Task Force, of which Mr. Rokakis is a part, is scheduled to hold its first meeting tomorrow, April 10. It will center on outreach and education efforts as they narrate to foreclosure issues, said state Department of Commerce director Kimberly Zurz. "We are aware we're not going to be able to save every house, but we want to be able to save as many houses as we can," Ms. Zurz said.

Ms. Zurz is familiar with Cuyahoga County's program and said the state's group might look to emulate aspects of that program, as well as other foreclosure prevention initiatives in the state. "We are watching it carefully, and we hope to integrate many of the tools that they are using," she said of Cuyahoga County's program.

The Ohio Housing Finance Agency also has issued $100 million in taxable municipal bonds as part of a refinancing effort. The amount could be bumped up to $500 million, Ms. Zurz said. The proceeds of the bond issue can be used by a borrower to refinance a current loan at a fixed 6.75% interest rate. To be eligible, a borrower's income cannot exceed 125% of the median gross income of the borrower's home county.

"That's a pretty big piece for us to start with," Ms. Zurz said. The help likely will be needed. Mr. Rokakis, an architect of the county foreclosure prevention program, said the problem is getting worse.

Neil

Foreclosures in Idaho

2009-03-07T18:52:00.000-08:00

Homeowners have five business days to void a "stop foreclosure " contract under the Idaho Consumer Foreclosure Protection Act that took effect July 1.

But Meridian-based attorney Lance Churchill says the law - detailed in Idaho Code 45-16 - lacks a provision found in some other states' similar laws. He teaches real estate investment and asset protection through his Frontline Seminars entity. Many states have a similar cooling or rescission period, along with an exception saying the period can be shortened if a foreclosure auction is scheduled within five days after the contract is signed, he said. Such an exception would allow a home to be sold before it is lost at auction, he said.

The Idaho law's five-day waiting period protects consumers, Churchill said. "Many times, these decisions are made in haste or under pressure," he said.

"Offers that would have bought the home and cured the default cannot be closed until five days have passed. For the meantime, within the five-day period, the home could be sold at foreclosure auction," he said.

This situation would arise rarely, said Anthony Polidori, senior examiner with the Idaho Department of Finance Consumer Finance Bureau. "From our experience, we haven't seen those types of entities get involved that late in the foreclosure process," Polidori said.

The Idaho Department of Finance said in a statement that the Idaho Consumer Foreclosure Protection Act aims to address foreclosure rescue scams "in which innocent homeowners facing foreclosure are defrauded of their title, equity interest, or other value in their homes" by companies promising to postpone or stop a foreclosure sale.

The new law states all contracts entered while a home is in foreclosure must be in writing. It requires warnings about foreclosure rescue scams to be included in foreclosure notification papers and in any written contract.

As for the five-day rescission period, Idaho Code 45-16 reads, in part, that the consumer "has the right to cancel or rescind any and all contracts or agreements relating to such property entered into during the foreclosure period within five business days of entering into such contract or agreement. Neither funds nor an interest in the property shall be transferred until the five days have passed. Cancellation occurs when such person gives written notice of cancellation to all other parties to the contract." Senate Bill 1392 was passed the Idaho Legislature this year. It was sponsored by Sen. Elliot Werk (Dem.) and Representatives Bill Killen (Dem.) and Phylis King (Dem.), all of Boise.

Difficulties in timing a foreclosure-curing sale with a quickly approaching foreclosure auction could arise regardless of the cooling period's length, Werk said. "The cooling period is really important for the people who have the home that is in foreclosure," he said. "You want to give them the opportunity to sit back and evaluate the decisions they are making, and to perhaps seek legal counsel and counsel from family or friends."

Owners of such properties should act as soon as they encounter difficulty, before the foreclosure process starts, Werk said. Legislators will follow the new law and consider whether it needs to be amended later, he said.

Default filings remained high in June in Ada and Canyon counties, IdahoDataProviders.com said in a report. Monthly filings peaked in the two-county area in April. IdahoDataProviders viewed May's decline as a positive sign for the local real estate market.

"However, foreclosure filings for second quarter are back up to previous levels, continuing the trend of steadily non stop foreclosures," the company said in a release. Ada County saw 224 default notices filed June, down 8 filings from May. But the June total was the fourth highest since January 2007 and compared to 101 in June 2007. Canyon County saw 165 default notices filed in June compared to 113 a month earlier and 64 in June 2007. "These new foreclosure numbers support IDP's position that the number of Idaho homes entering into foreclosure will continue to climb for the rest of 2008," the company said.

Neil

Short Sale Matters

2009-03-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

Presidential candidate Barack Obama isn't the only person who would like to reform the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention Consumer Protection Act of 2005 to help people keep their houses. "What it has done is eliminated a segment of the population from being able to make an educated decision as to whether Chapter 7 or 13 is better for them," says Robin R. De Leo, a Mandeville attorney with 18 years' experience handling bankruptcy cases who considers the act unfair.

"It used to be you could sit down and we'd explain what happens with 7 or 13 and, if you wanted to save your home you'd always be a 13, which is the only way to pay past arrears. That it prohibits now is the people who don't want the home and want to start over." De Leo says the act presumes everyone abuses the system if they make more than the median income. These filers have to go into a Chapter 13 and it doesn't matter if they ran up the credit card bills, opened a small business that failed or invested in condominium or real-estate deals that have gone bad. "It doesn't matter how you have come to your financial problem but, because of your income level, you're prohibited from filing Chapter 7." Shreveport bankruptcy attorney Kevin Molloy calls the act "one of the most poorly written laws I've ever seen." The law includes a "means test," which determines if filers can qualify for Chapter 7. If they qualify, they can't claim contributions to a retirement fund like a 401[k] as a valid expense, which can result in money left over, which could have been paid to unsecured creditors in a Chapter 13.

In Chapter 13, the deduction to the 401[k] plan can he used as a valid expense, which could mean nothing goes to unsecured creditors and is the supposed point of choosing that option. Also, Molloy says vehicle lenders are big winners because the law eliminated "cramdowns" that would have allowed a filer to pay the value of the vehicle, rather than actual amount owed, if it was bought within 2 1/2 years of filing. "They're taking the wealth that would have gone to credit cards and shifted it to the car lenders."

David Boneno, general counsel of the Louisiana Bankers Association, says his group doesn't see a need to change the act because Louisiana is not experiencing financial distress like other states. Bankruptcies remain low in the state because it hasn't experienced a rapid economic decline or gotten into subprime loans substantially.

Boneno says the means test helps determine if a filer really needs bankruptcy, and the median income level, which changes per state, allows low-income filers to declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy while encouraging those with higher income to go to Chapter 13 reorganization, which would impose a payment plan rather than discharge the debt. De Leo considers the act so oppressive that she says, "I almost think its a war of the classes in an economic war. They've eliminated rich people's ability to file bankruptcy and escape liability."

While some may not sympathize with their plight, she says they have helped grow the economy by investing in property and businesses. "When individuals come in, their No. 1 reason for filing is typically they're behind on their mortgage and want to stop the foreclosure," she says. And the reason they're behind on their mortgages are these ARMs [adjustable-rate mortgages] with payments jumping from $800 to $1,800 a month."

Elaine McBroom, the foreclosure Department supervisor of East Baton Rouge says they're seeing more writs for property seizures but to stop foreclosures is in the discursion of those home owners . Her office has received 1,307 this year compared to 1,244 in the same period last year. McBroom says hurricanes and a slowing economy are boosting writs and, based on her 26 years in processing them, she anticipates they're about to get busier. She's also seeing an increase in evictions as more people stay in houses even after foreclosure.

De Leo says many ARM borrowers have appointed her firm to try to renegotiate these loans. They couldn't afford to stay in the house, couldn't get refinancing to avoid the adjusted interest rate and couldn't sell the property in a slowing housing market. When they declare bankruptcy, they typically go to Chapter 13, which means making past-due payments in addition to paying the higher mortgage payments that put them in bankruptcy. Many hoped for relief from Congress' $700 billion rescue plan, but that didn't happen.

Jack Williams, resident scholar in the American Bankruptcy Institute, says the United States Senate added provisions that would have allowed stripping down ARMs in bankruptcy, but those were quickly removed. If stripdowns were allowed, an ARM could be lowered to match the house value and the remainder discharged.

"It's a very powerful tool and we've never had that power under the code, but now there's a move to change all of that," Williams says.While Obama hasn't specified whether he supports stripdowns, he does want to help homeowners to stop foreclosures, especially seniors. He has blamed opponent John McCain of siding with the banks and credit card companies in voting for the act. But his Democratic vice presidential candidate, Joe Biden, was its key mover in 2005.

Still, the communication is apparently resonating with voters, particularly those angered by government bailouts of financial institutions that pushed for a bankruptcy code so restrictive that some call it Draconian. She says bankruptcies are still artificially low in Louisiana's Eastern District because of Katrina assistance, but they're steadily climbing, and she says bankruptcies are "flying" in the Western District. The construction boom is fading, and electricians, plumbers and contractors have started declaring bankruptcy, which started in early summer and has gotten worse.

They're facing a humbling process, De Leo says. If they have an ARM or make above the median income, they can only file Chapter 13, keeping them in bankruptcy three to five years. "It's the middle-class, rich people who are getting killed on this," she says. For example, if a filer has a $300,000 mortgage but invests $298,000 in a business, it's considered a personal, not commercial, bankruptcy because most of the debt is not business-related.

Williams agrees the filings generally draw from the middle class, and the act is more oppressive on them. Bankruptcies hit record numbers just prior to the act's passage, dropped off drastically shortly after it took effect in October 2005 and are rising again. Although the act was aimed at reducing them by adding credit counseling, more legal hoops and complexity, and additional costs to file, 1.2 million bankruptcies are anticipated this year nationally. That's up from last year's 800,000 filings, and next year's filings are expected to be even higher. He also says the numbers could be low as more people can't afford to file bankruptcy.

"It doesn't matter how many hoops you create, people are going to end up in bankruptcy one way or another," he says. "In the end, it's a very awesome experience because when people need relief from their creditors, bankruptcy is what the government offers - even with the hoops."A matter of housekeeping

Neil

Can I Econo-Size Loans?

2009-03-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

A foreclosure tracking company named RealtyTrac showed Idaho at No. 9 on the monthly list of foreclosure hot spots. Obviously, Idahoans bought more than they could afford, as did Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida, Oregon, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia and, following Idaho, Ohio. The foreclosure threat has imprinted the term "short sale," "stop foreclosure," and "must be pre-approved" on multiple listings held in brokerages throughout the state. The state is in a foreclosure dilemma.

On Feb. 18, the Homeowner Affordability and Stability plan from President Obama was pitched in an effort to stabilize this breakdown in foreclosures and the housing market. When it gets shoved through, it will provide as many as 9 million families the ability to refinance their mortgages or avoid foreclosure.

Pres. Obama's $75 billion refinancing initiative is drafted to help responsible homeowners on the verge of defaulting, to prevent neighborhoods and communities from being pulled over the edge too, according to a White House fact sheet that could help in stopping foreclosures of properties contributed by the recession .

President Obama stated, "The plan I'm announcing focuses on rescuing families who have played by the rules and acted responsibly: by refinancing loans for millions of families in traditional mortgages who are underwater or close to it." If the plan is approved, it could help hundreds of families in the Gem State hold onto their homes. That's a good thing for the market and for valuations.

The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan would pay lenders who agree to lower a borrowers' payments to no more than 38 percent of his/her income, with the federal government paying to lower the payments further to 31 percent of income. According to the plan’s summary, the aim is to make payments affordable.

It also offers incentives to lenders to modify troubled loans. They'll earn up to $1,000 for each modification and receive a monthly "pay for success" fee as long as the borrower is current, according to the summary. Keep an at-risk homeowner from missing a payment, modify the loan, the lender would be eligible for another incentive payment. Homeowners too would receive incentive payments. Those who prefer to stay current qualify for a monthly balance reduction payment (up to $1,000 a year for five years) that goes straight toward principal balance reduction, the summary reads. The plan clearly says it is not designed to rescue the unscrupulous or irresponsible bad loans. Most families that got in over their heads by "supersizing" are not to blame.

Super Size, Biggie Size or Jumbo Size was the trend for more than two decades. Banks and mortgage lenders injured the fiscal health of society by "super sizing" nearly every loan made. Nearly 30 years ago, a loan application was put in the course of the ringer. No one at that time asked: "Would you like to Super Size that loan?" Maybe they should have held back on the gluttony five to 10 years earlier. Banks and lenders should have instead asked the question: "Can I Econo Size that loan for you?"

This Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan is to help the financially obese and fiscally ill with their obligations. And reward banks for bringing into check their lending practices. Let's hope it can stop the foreclosure slide.

Neil

Understanding Foreclosure

2009-03-06T03:38:00.000-08:00

The property market is good and provides great opportunities for investment in both the short and long term. Foreclosure investing is particularly attractive to many investors because properties can be purchased for a much lower price. Foreclosure investing does take some knowledge. You should really understand about property values, state laws, taxes and investors. Make sure you have at least the fundamental knowledge of these facts or your foreclosure deal could fail.

Prior to your purchase a foreclosed property, you need to have some idea of property values in that area. Look at similar homes in the same neighborhood that are done to a good standard. This should give you an idea of what the market price will be. If you do not have a good idea of what the market value of the property is then it is foolish to buy it. Without the market value, you have no way of knowing if you can turn this property into a profit making project.

Before you get too far into your foreclosure investment, you need to have some knowledge of the state laws regarding foreclosures. Each state is different in regards to real estate and laws governing foreclosure properties. Some investors have gone into property deals only to find out later that what they had agreed was not legal in that state. This can mean a large loss in money and the possibility of other legal issues.

Another aspect you need to be aware of is money. If you have your own money then great. Make sure you do your research before getting in to far. If you don’t have your own money then look for investors. The advantage of using investors is your not risking your own money, only your reputation. If you’re having trouble finding investors then perhaps you should rethink this particular property deal.

Finally, you need to know how to check for things such as federal tax leans, unpaid taxes, leased land, and wrong descriptions. Foreclosed properties run a higher risk for having some of these things then standard properties. Problems such as this can quickly turn your investment in property into something unprofitable if not illegal.

Property can be a great way to make money. Foreclosure properties can be a awesome way to save money. Before you sign on the dotted line however, do some research about real estate and short sale. Saving a few thousand now could cost several in the future.

Foreclosure Investing Skills

2009-03-05T04:11:00.000-08:00

Developing foreclosure investing skills does not really need to allocate thousands of dollars on real estate seminars to become knowledgeable in the foreclosure investing business. Many who have achieved serious amount of money in this line of business are just self taught. So, you can actually do the same. You do not need expensive tools, technology, computer programs, etc.etc. What you need to get started is a pen, a pad with paper, a map of local neighborhoods, enthusiasm, and broad mind—possess good qualities that real estate, short sale investor should have.

So how do you start it?

You should start by roaming around at neighborhoods in streets close to you. A good proximity is your commute to and from work. Perhaps leave early one day and allocate 30 minutes looking at one specific street—there might be a number of homeowners whose properties are subject to foreclosure. Those homeowners who are struggling and finding ways to stop foreclosure in their property.

When you roam around, you need to take note of the kinds of things that you see. Is there la lot of renting? What kind of conditions are the properties in? Do individuals park their cars on the road? Etc. Remember to practice finding the home that does not quite fit. There may be a home that is un kept, or abandoned. There may be a property that just looks more run down than the others. Keep doing this on other streets in other neighborhoods for later this can help you in your venture.

As you look at other neighborhoods, try to get a feel for how each property is managed. You will find that there may be a good deal of variance even between neighborhoods that are close together. As you do this with several neighborhoods, you will begin to develop skills substantial for foreclosure investing. Investors must know how neighborhoods compare with each other. By driving into a new neighborhood and being able to observe how the house quality compares with those of nearby neighborhoods is something that competitive foreclosure investors can do with 100 percent accuracy.

Another thing that you should understand it, homes or properties get more expensive if they are close to good amenities. Properties that are near by the schools, parks, shopping and leisure facilities will likely be managed and sell for higher amount. Properties begin to depreciate in value when they get closer to highways and far from commercial areas. Try to locate a number of these areas on your neighborhood map, then drive through slowly and examine if the theory holds true. In some cases, the homes are only slightly less managed but this can mean a price difference of thousands.

It needs very little money to train yourself in foreclosure investing. By simply getting a map and scouting out local neighborhoods, you can improve a number of the essential skills required for good foreclosure investment.--Roy Van

Know Foreclosure Investing

2009-03-05T04:03:00.000-08:00

At present, lots of individuals are looking to property for investment opportunities. A number of people look to redo the home and resell at a profit, some fix them up and rent them out. Either route can provide you with substantial income and good investments for the future.

Especially today that there are lots of homeowners who are facing a problem on how to stop foreclosure, one can take advantage of the opportunity for investment—consider business in short sales. Foreclosure is really a thing that create a 'buzz' to many individuals.

Foreclosure investing has attracted the eye of a number of property investors. When a home is foreclosed it simply means that the bank is taking ownership of the property. This particularly happens when the current owners is not capable anymore to deal, manage the mortgage payments. Investors are attracted to this type of investing mainly because they can usually get properties for quite a substantial reduction in price—up to 50% of the original price, in fact.

If a person purchased a home for 100,000 dollars and had managed to play off 20,000, the lender or the bank would be concerned mostly with recouping its loss. The present market value of the property would have to be considered but, foreclosed possession can be purchased at a very good price.

Investing in foreclosures can bring about a substantial profit but you have to get yourself well-prepared for lots of hard work, patience. In general, foreclosure properties are not in very good condition, some renovations are usually done. They previous owner was likely not overly concerned with maintaining the property once they realized that they were going to lose it. The bank also is not likely to put any work into the house, this could be and additional loss for them. Banks make their money by loaning money and charging interest aand their interests are much better served by getting the property resold to somebody who is financialy stable and can make mortgage payments.

Before you take a plunge on this kind of business or before you purchase a foreclosure property, you need to see to it that it has a good potential for profit. Remember, you don’t want to allocate more on fixing and improving the property than you are likely to get when you re-sell it—it could be a loss. Therefore, you need to stay away from any property that needs major structural work or rebuilding. These foreclosure properties can be fixed up for profit but usually by investors that have more experience most especially in short sales and on how to stop foreclosure.

As fore my final note, the property market is good for investing. Money can be generated by purchasing homes and re-selling them for profit. Foreclosure properties present good opportunities for profit because they generally are sold for less money. With some research on short sales and common sense, you can be well on your way to making serious income by foreclosure investing. ---Roy Van

Foreclosure Trends

2009-03-04T04:09:00.000-08:00

To deal with the overwhelming cases of foreclosure today that are being experience by many individuals, lenders utilize short sales as one of the ways to counter the effect of the situation not only for their business but for the homeowners as well. A lender starts to decide on how to make use of short sales as a way of saving properties for homeowners when they find them struggling on dealing with their financial obligation on mortgages—this is mostly chosen that to lose properties to foreclosure.

If the homeowner chooses short sale as their way to stop foreclosure, in usual cases, lenders are very much willing to accept the payoff amount though it is far less than the current balance. Lenders would rather give homeowners a fighting opportunity at making the property sold most especially today where difficulties in real estate market emerge. This is by allowing them to list and sell it under the market price prior to the foreclosure auction.

Although it might seems a counter-intuitive scenario for lenders, they are willing to give, go ahead for property sales at prices that will not satisfy the full balance owed to them. The short sale process gives a lender-approved way of mitigating a lender's losses due to a homeowner's default and subsequent foreclosure on the property.

The question you might raise now could be—why would a lender approve short sale to give way for homeowners to stop foreclosures?

The simple reason is, lenders are just trying to lose less than they might if they were actually foreclose and repossess the properties—so they go for short sales. They see that the cost of foreclosure is high because this includes legal fees, lost interest, property taxes and insurance, eviction costs and the real estate commission. In other words, turning to other ways like short sale is preferred to stop foreclosures.

Foreclosed and repossessed properties are non-performing assets on lenders so it is really a loss for their business if they choose foreclosure when dealing homeowners' outstanding balance in mortgage.

But that is not only the reason that creates a real pressure to the lenders. They also face scrutiny from the local municipalities in maintaining foreclosed houses in good condition so that drug-related activities can be avoided—because these places could be a haven for those individuals who are under the influence of such a thing.

Short sales provides many advantages for home buyers because it can be a chance to purchase a property at a substantial discount prior to the public auction. It must be realized, however, that short sales are always subject to lender approval. And, real estate investors can take advantage of this option by making the property sold at a profit or have it bargained for rental for ongoing income.

Short sales is now a trend when dealing 'how to stop foreclosure' problem. It should be noted however that it is not only the option a homeowner may consider- other option might be more effective for them. So, a homeowner must consider all the possible options when he is faced by the problem on how to stop foreclosure.--Roy Van

Learn Foreclosure Investing

2009-03-04T03:46:00.000-08:00

Having a house of your own is a fulfilling achievement because it means security, privacy and the feeling of living with independence. However, it seems to be not a right time to invest in real estate property today considering the global economic turmoil. In order to be guided on your decision on whether or not to go for house or property purchase.

Purchasing a house that is going to be a home is a huge investment and so should not be done hastily. The first thing to consider deciding on whether you really need to do a property purchase or not because if you do it without thinking well, then you might end up suffering from its consequences. Taking a lesson on how to stop foreclosure that is being experience by many individuals nowadays is a wise idea—weighing the pros and cons about owning today when the banks are offering reckless discounts.

Today, there is really a serious problem in housing industries and this began from the withdrawal of regulations. Sectors went wild on properties and injected the housing market with sub prime mortgages. Anyone with a pulse could easily get a loan and the result was that pump with cash flow the housing industry zooming and booming with activity and then inevitable happened and foundation collapsed resulting to mismanaged mortgages and financial obligations—many are now facing the problem on how to stop foreclosure. And, banks are not setting uncomfortably with those properties foreclosed and became a stagnant assets.

Apparently, it seems to be the best time to purchase a house or property is this season where banks are offering sometimes up to 50% discount from the original price. It should be noted however that buying a house with discounts require substantial analysis in the side of buyers because it just could be the 50% discount they are offering is 50% above its original price considering these properties are priced far high than its original and genuine price—be enthusiastic to find ways of knowing the genuine price before deciding to buy a what we call discounted properties.

As a buyer who wants to own a house that sooner becomes a home should carefully plan his steps before doing a purchase—test the water before entering the market of repossessed, foreclosed houses. Because, as I have stressed, this might end you up struggling from the situation just like what others are currently facing today—on how to stop foreclosures.

For you that dream to have a house of your own where you can live with security, privacy and independence, participating in real estate discussion, joining forum about property purchasing are some activities could help in order to become a more intelligent buyer. So, why not take time to know more about important discussion that are related to property investment like short sales, property investing, and how to stop foreclosure? Surely, these are a big help in your decision of owning a property.---Roy Van

Foreclosures And Mitigation

2009-03-03T03:19:00.000-08:00

It is really a serious matter when you find your self getting cornered in a foreclosure situation. This is because, this can not only be financially frustrating but also, it can be a reason for so much stress—it is really an emotionally challenging situation. If you are to stop foreclosure, you have to remember this one very important thing—you need to work immediately as there is no luxurious time available for you.

What is foreclosure, by the way?

When a homeowner becomes delinquent on paying his mortgage obligation, that is the time when foreclosure happens. This is a situation where lenders foreclose home or properties and put them on auction sale with the prime goal of getting a client that can take back the unpaid mortgage by the homeowner from the profit of the property sold.

The very fact to this situation is, neither the homeowner nor the lender would prefer foreclosure. It might that obvious though but, really, foreclosure gives a loss for both parties—not only on the part of the homeowner.

One very clear cost of foreclosure on the part of the homeowner is the place to live. Falling home to foreclosure signifies finding new one—some call it a 'back-to-zero' situation where in a homeowner tries to find new home. Of course, this can be more difficult since one has already a history of 'being a delinquent' payer. That is a big cost since on requirement on availing new loans includes credit rating.

On the part of the lenders, to foreclose a property means monetary loss for them since, according to data, they spend more or less $30,000 during a foreclosure process—that is a huge amount! Another is, when lenders have the foreclosed properties auctions, there is no guarantee that it can be sold in its original price considering the factor of 'physical deterioration' of the property.

In other words, to stop foreclosures is not just a concern of homeowners but rather for all parties. So, both are finding ways, effective alternative to have what we call a 'win win' situation. One alternative that is cited to be effective to both side is considering short sale. It can be done though 'for sale by owner' or with the help of a third party—the real estate agent.

Another alternative that is considered one of the easier ways to stop foreclosure is through what we call 'loss mitigation'. This is done through the help of a third party to do negotiation on payment method that is ideal for both sides. The third party aims to make the lender agree to impose a lower rate and make changes on the payment schemes that can be a much easier to pay by a homeowner.

As a final note, whatever alternative that a homeowner prefers to choose, it is imperative to bear in mind that taking measures to stop foreclosure, as I have said, must be done as early as possible—no time must be wasted because your own home is at stake.--Roy Van

Dealing Foreclosure

2009-02-28T03:48:00.000-08:00

If you have found yourself cornered in a financially stressful scenario where you are not able to fulfill your financial obligation in mortgage payment, the worst situation you could be getting in is to ignore the problem you are facing. Fact that should be known is, the longer you wait, the more complicated your mortgage status will be and solution or alternative will soon become few, if there is any. You can seek help when dealing on how to stop foreclosure by contacting your local housing authority.

Ironically speaking, the obvious thing gets the least attention—often missed. What I am trying to say, do not hide your situation. You might not think this but really, your lenders do not want to lose your property most especially to foreclosure. That is because, that could also be a loss for them.

Another fact is, there are a number of options you can take when it comes to dealing how to stop foreclosures and these are available from your lender. What you need is to open up communication with them, inform the situation you are currently in. I know, sometimes ignoring the problem seems to be an easier option but, mind you, it does not help you at all—in finding ways to stop foreclosure.

Have you taken ignoring the mail from your lender as your resort? Well, the prime indication lender has that you are defaulting on your loan will prompt them to send you an information on how you can stop foreclosure in your property. Ignoring your mail is not the right track to obtaining solution on how to stop foreclosure. If you do this, you are just forcing your lender to step-up their legal action and when that thing happened, you have got little option on keeping your property.

During the acquisition of your property,during your purchase, you were given detailed documents explaining your rights. Making a review on that can be a great help for you to take the appropriate action. You need to understand your rights—if ever you don't have anymore, you can request it through the local housing authority in your area.

You can also contact the housing authority for free counseling. Conversing with their counselor can make all the difference between keeping your property or to let it go. They are always willing to educate you and in fact can negotiate with your lender.

Cutting down you other expenses could also help you in stabilizing your financial condition.

Alternatively, you can also seek help experts in foreclosure, those company who are offering assistance on how you should deal with foreclosure thing. There might exist what we call short sales and how it works on dealing problems like how to stop foreclosure. Remember however, to be vigilant in spotting legal from scam because if you fail doing this, that is another problem that can make situation even worse. So, be sure seek help on how to stop foreclosure from proven reputable because this could mean a lot—in your property.--Roy Van

Business In Foreclosure

2009-02-28T02:47:00.000-08:00

Foreclosure is creating a buzz nowadays and lots of individuals seem getting more and more interested on it. This is not a surprise, anyway, since there currently exists an issue of what we call housing industry meltdown.

Just recently, several states in America largely affected by this crisis and, together with the global financial meltdown, many homeowners are losing their property to foreclosure. Many try to find ways on how to stop foreclosures and what should be the most convenient way to realize solutions.

Following the rapid rise on the number of foreclosure listings, huge number of people are interested to ride on the bandwagon of this trend—trying to find way to make the situation advantageous for them. If you are one of them, the Idea I am presenting below could be an interesting topic for you.

Pre-foreclosure Marketing Timeline

To create a potential deal, you should be doing what is imperative during the process of foreclosure cycle. Below are hypothetical but mind you it is up to date topic, so that would make sense. Let yourself learn on this topic so you can continue on your quest to make motivated prospects in to the system in the coming days.

Steps To Generating 40 Plus Qualified Leads Into System In The Next 30 Days

1. The White Corrugated Sign

This strategy can be done by anybody. What you just need is a few calls to quickly expand your network. In the coming days, you will be able to create an expansive network or team who bring you deals and that is a key for the business you are in.

2.Referral Sphere of Influence Marketing: an endless supply of clients who will love you!

Now is the time to make use of what we call “sphere of influence” marketing. As you begin the mail campaigns covered in the next technique, you will find individuals who fit the mold of the client we do not want: Have equity and the want to sell to get equity, want to keep their property and have a valid plan to do so. It is your responsibility, your duty to guide these individuals to sell to acquire equity

Actually, you never need to have the process negotiated with a debtor or those who are finding solution on the issue—on how to stop foreclosure—to see if they are willing to sell their properties. You are evaluating their capacity to save their properties against their intent. You are to evaluate their income to debt ratio if they are really in imminent default. There is no other option for them. They are walking away or the lender will force them out. So, you have a great chance.

Okay, this is fore now. I will be adding more strategies in this topic in my next post. I will also be discussing more about short sales and how we can make this strategy for our benefits. Keep browsing--Roy Van

Buying Your First house:

2009-02-28T02:35:00.000-08:00

Buying Your First house:
The benefits to homeownership are tremendous. "Home tenure is important for two reasons: The equity in our home is the single, largest asset, so we champion homeownership as the foundation of wealth for African Americans," says Alfred A. Edmond Jr. black enterpris- chief editor. With the 2007 homeownership contest fast approaching, ,here are 10 things you need to know before you start to buy a home.

1. Double-check your credit. Get a at no cost credit statement from annualcreditreport.com. If you discover erroneous data, contact the 3 chief credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion to file a dispute. Kina Lane, a licensed real estate seller and proprietor of Sunflower Development Partners, a boutique commercial real estate development company in New York, says to position yourself to qualify for a mortgage by having strong credit a stable income, and a good debt-to-income ratio. Hoist your credit score by making payments on time, keeping credit card balances below 30% of the available balance, and keeping unused accounts open.

2. Agree on your true income. Estimate the total income for you and your co-purchaser, if applicable. Finally, include credit card expenses, personal mortgages, and other monthly obligations. The result is an estimate of what income is available toward repaying a mortgage whilst stopping a foreclosure.

3. Get pre-approved before you go looking for a residence. One of the biggest mistakes that first-time home buyers make is finding a home they love but not knowing if they can afford it and end up loosing the house and can’t anymore stop the foreclosure. However you can receive a preapproval letter from any mortgage lender, even online ones.

4. Put jointly a team of professionals. Whenever achievable, use referrals from people you trust to help you place a realtor, real estate attorney, lender, title company, home inspector, and appraiser.

5. Study the market. Review neighborhoods, types of residences, crime paces, transportation, infrastructure, price ranges, and school rankings at SchoolMatters.com or GreatsSchools.net. A good school district will help increase the value of your home and even the foreclosure homes of how many times it have been owned. It will give you an idea of how to stop foreclosure of your home when time comes, same scenario occurs.

6. agree on the right mortgage for you. A 30-year fixed-rate credit is the most common and the safest. However, lenders do offer adjustable-rate mortgages that will have a lower interest value initially but can jump several percentage points, in effect changing your monthly payment by several hundred dollars. Steven Limehouse, a 28-year-old who closed on his Summerville, South Carolina, home in April, found the rate of an ARM attractive but opted for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 6% interest to avoid of the uncertainty of monthly ARM pay- ments. There are so many programs out there, including interestonly loans, fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgages, even 100% financing.

7. Place first-time home buyer programs. If you need mortgage aid, instead of opting for an ARM seek assistance from first-time buyer programs or government agencies.

8. Use a property (home) inspector. Your home will probably be the most expensive purchase you'll ever make. Hire your own home inspector, who has no ties to the home and you can get out from the idea of loosing a home nor stopping a foreclosure.

9. Be prepared for closing or scenarios like stopping a foreclosure. Also, do a walk-through of your property before signing on the dotted line.

10. Save. Save at least 3 months' worth of expenditures, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI) before you buy.

jessica

Stimulus Package

2009-02-27T03:05:00.000-08:00

Foreclosure cases have been pounding the Florida court system like a huge typhoon not only because the said state has been one of the states in America with the highest foreclosure listings rate but because the said area requires judges to sign off on foreclosures which result overwhelming cases to handle.

The bailout program of Obama which aimed to encourage more loan modifications nationally may stem the flood of foreclosures in Florida but according to local authority, the area's huge number of residents that are not employed will have the great probability to end up of losing their properties. In other words, despite having the said rescue from the government, homeowners still be battling on how to stop foreclosure in Florida.

Recently, BankAtlantic and BankUnited of Fore Lauderdale have informed the public about the temporary moratorium for all loans that they owned and service. The said program is said to be until such time that the Obama Administration has streamlined its bailout program where the housing market is one of the beneficiaries. This means, homeowners can temporarily have a break from anxiousness on how to stop foreclosure in Florida.

The announcements of the said temporary moratorium were promulgated shortly after major banks Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase and Co., and government-owned mortgage giants Federal Home Loan Corp. and Federal National Mortgage Association finally decided to temporarily stop foreclosures on mortgage loans they owned and serviced.

Foreclosure moratorium's duration is said to be dependent greatly on measures covered in President Obama's economic program plan for recovery. Such program is also dependent on the specific coverage housing recovery program tailored in the bailout bill.

The two banks are on high spirits that they would learn the specific details soon with regards to Obama's $50 billion recovery program to be allocated to help homeowners about the problem on dealing issues on how to stop foreclosures.

BankUnited Chief Executive Officer and President Ramiro Ortiz said that the bank wants to reduce the number of Florida foreclosures. He is optimistic that the Department of Treasury’s recovery plan will provide an alternative for homeowners to help them avoid losing their homes to foreclosures.

The very core of the moratorium announced by BankUnited Chief Executive and President Ramiro Ortiz is to reduce the number of foreclosures in Florida. He is hopeful that the Treasury Department's housing recovery plan will provide an effective options for homeowners to help them avoid losing homes to foreclosure—to stop foreclosures in Florida.

The total number of homeowners who lost their properties in 2008 alone was 385, 309 or 4.52 percent, an increase of 133 percent from the previous year. Florida, along with Arizona, California and Nevada, made a nearly 50 percent chunk of the country’s total foreclosures in 2008. Furthermore, trends are cited continue in 2009 and in the coming years. In other words, how to stop foreclosure will most likely to be a long balltle not just in Florida but in the other states as well.---Roy Van

Lousy Housing Market Cools

2009-02-26T05:48:00.000-08:00

John Grossi's least problems is to stop his Claremont Home from foreclosure. Unfortunately, Grossi is now struggling to pay the monthly rent on a two bedroom apartment with his Social Security disability income while devoting most of his attention to his 14year-old son, who still lives at home.

While most probably aren't as overwhelming as Grossi's, each foreclosure is accompanied by a tale of woe and nearly all result in the loss of the borrower's hard-earned equity. Creative financing

ForeclosuresMass.com also reports a sharp rise in property foreclosure in Massachusetts, and anecdotal reports at a recent conference focusing on stopping foreclosure noticed a similar spike was being experienced in the Midwest.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reports an increase in the foreclosure inventory rate from the first quarter of this year from the first quarter of last year, but not a spike.

MBA senior economist Mike Fratontoni said he was surprised the rate wasn't even higher, given the recent 4.25 percent rise in interest rates and the hot refinancing market three or four years ago, which simply meant there were a lot more loans made to stop foreclose on later. The expected sharp rise in foreclosures, he said, has been offset by a strong economy.

"We have a perfect storm and its just hard to stop foreclosure other than loaning again to pay the mortgages," said Jeremy Shapiro, president of ForeclosuresMass.com. "We have rising interest rates, a number of creative loans written over the past years and a sharp appreciation and then a cooling off of the housing market."

By creative financing, Shapiro is referring to a number of easy financing gimmicks, especially those loans offered to subprime borrowers - people with a checkered credit history. "People with poor credit now have access to the mortgage market," said Michael Collins, an Ithaca, N.Y., foreclosure consultant. In New Hampshire, a look at foreclosure data from the past 2-1/2 years shows that most foreclosed loans were originated by subprime lenders, with Ameriquest the leader of the pack .

Almost all subprime loans involve an adjustable-rate mortgage, so when interest rates stayed low, borrowers were able to survive that jump. As housing prices leveled off - and in some cases declined - the borrowers found that they owed more than they owned. "When you are upside-down like that, there are very few options to avoid foreclosure," said Shapiro.

Even those who have filed for bankruptcy are having trouble hanging onto to their homes.

Peter Wright, who heads the consumer clinic at the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, said that a number of his Chapter 13 clients couldn't keep up on payment arrangements after bankruptcy filings. A survey conducted by Collins showed that a large percentage of borrowers think that discussing their problem with their lender might spur the lender to foreclose. The foreclosure process is an expensive one compared to stopping foreclosures, and lenders tend to lose money on the deal. If bad came to worst, Gioeli said, the borrower could deed back the property to the mortgage holder. While the borrower would lose the equity put into the house, at least the foreclosure fees wouldn't be added to the debt. As part of the deal, the mortgage holder might be able give back some equity to the borrower if he or she managed to sell the property more then the debt.
Most loans are sold by the originators to various investors. Sometimes these financiers are big institutions that have their own lessening loss department. In the case of federally backed prime loans, the noteholders also have various government guidelines and restrictions that tend to protect the borrower.

Meanwhile services like ForeclosuresNH.com are helping to create an alternative foreclosure market. For a fee, the service lets investors know when a property is in foreclosure. "After the deal goes to auction, the bank tries to recover all of the foreclosure costs and puts it on for market value. The sooner you can get in there, the more equity there is to go around," he said.As housing market cools, foreclosure rate rises

jessica

Home Buying Backfires

2009-02-26T05:28:00.000-08:00

When Home Buying By the Poor Backfires

For many families, a house can be a bad investment

It's what take places when low-income families who have bought their first houses are forced out because they can't keep up the mortgage payments. Says Wilkins, an Indianapolis consumer advocate who once worked for Fannie Mae selling foreclosed properties: "I don't care if you put five families in the front door if three families fall out the back door”. Measures to increase the rate of low-income homeownership have historically been strongly supported by both Democrats and Republicans, as well as homebuilders and banks one way to stop foreclosures. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the giant mortgage-finance institutions, have justified their existence by their promotion of homeownership among the poor. More recently, boost up low-income home buying has been an important part of what President calls the "ownership society."

Advocates say ownership builds wealth while promoting responsibility.

Misguided Policy

Despite conventional wisdom, extensive research has shown that homeownership is not the most reliable means of building wealth for low-income families, especially those with unreliable incomes and few other investments. Over the long run, home prices tend to rise more slowly than other assets, such as stocks. Moreover, poor families are now so easily able to tap their home equity to pay pressing bills that many don't accumulate wealth. Finally, as more poor families buy homes with low-down payment mortgages, the odds of seeing their investments wiped out goes way up. Last year, Congress passed the Bush-backed American Dream Down payment Act, which gives money to low- and moderate-income families to help cover their down payments for Federal Housing Authority-insured properties supporting them to stop foreclosures.

Meanwhile, Fannie Mae is aggressively promoting lending to low-income families. As owners, they are in a position to benefit from rising home prices. Says a 2002 study by the Housing & Urban Development Dept.: "Over time, purchasing a home has proven to be an effective wealth-building strategy for millions of Americans.... When housing prices rise, the benefits flow to all income levels." From 1975 to 1995, the inflation-adjusted rise in house prices nationally was just 0.4% a year, nevertheless government interventions hadn’t stop foreclosures of houses for the poor sector of the contry .

A Harvard University study of house sales in Philadelphia, Boston, Denver, and Chicago from 1982 to 1999 found that sellers of low- priced homes lost money 20% to 40% of the times, once transaction costs were taken into account, it seems that to gain from sell is to stop foreclosures and just sell it when the tide is right. naturally, the odds of taking a loss were higher if the seller bought after prices had already risen. Economists William N. Goetzmann and Matthew Spiegel of Yale School of Management argue that low-income homeowners would do better investing in lower-risk, more-liquid assets such as stocks and bonds. The argument that owning a house forces low-income families to save is also flawed.

Today, however, it's easy to get home-equity loans, which allow people to extract whatever wealth they've accumulated. Several other factors make homeownership a worse deal for low- income families than for the middle class and the wealthy. For one, they usually pay higher rates for mortgages. For another, many don't fully benefit from property-tax and mortgage-interest-payment deductions, which are worth less for families in low tax brackets. Advocates of wider homeownership correctly observe that a house is the only asset a family of limited means can buy with a big loan, which juices returns. "Because property procurement is a highly leveraged investment, potential increases in the values of homes can bring rich returns," the HUD study notes.

Making matters worse, house prices tend to fall when the economy weakens ,were the lower bracket of our sector are in bad dept, foreclosure of properties are the only way to lessen living cost, for such reason it is better not to stop foreclosure of property at the time that economy is down-- and because of the nature of their work, low-income families are more exposed to layoffs in downturns.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, 4.6% of subprime loans -- most of which go to low-income families -- were in foreclosure at the end of the second quarter. Nearly 10% of subprime loans were in foreclosure in Indiana, where Mildred Wilkins is president of Home Ownership Matters, an advocate for responsible lending.

Now many banks and finance companies specialize in high- rate loans to low-income families -- generating so many loans that federal regulators are proposing to exempt small banks from the rules. Homeownership does have some important social advantages. Sometimes Buying a Home doesn’t build wealth.

jessica

Stop Miami Foreclosure

2009-02-26T03:03:00.000-08:00

Though many homeowners are offered with this what we call foreclosure moratorium and mitigation scheme, the foreclosure cases still on the rise in Miami. Many are struggling to find ways on how to stop foreclosures in their home—anxiously thinking of what will happen in the property they have labored hard to possess and now is subject to foreclosure.

Data have shown that in Florida alone, hundreds of thousands of properties are in foreclosure listings ( 2008 data). This is really an alarming situations that homeowners in Miami and other cities are facing.

How these things could have happened?

When a homeowner got trouble in hadling their financial obligation for the property he possesses, this just means negative to lenders. Thus, mortgage bank lets the foreclosure process follow its course to recover as much amount as they can from the amount they have granted to a homeowner. The very core reason on this is get the property back as soon as possible and have it sold to the highest bidder before property deteriorates.

At an early point in the foreclosure process, you can always find ways to stop it. You need to go to your lender and show the money but of course this is a temporary halting. You need to pay them in the following amortization or else the process is back again.

I have talked to some experts in foreclosure cases and they have agreed to say this thing—troubled homeowners need to be realistic on their capacity to deal with their financial obligation. Based on their experience, there are lots of borrowers who claim can swipes $20,000 on their credit cards only to be kicked-out of their home later on. Experts additionally iterated that the best move for you if you do not have the money to pay on the next amortization is to call your lender a week before the due date.

Dealing things to stop foreclosure...

When foreclosure is on the process, you as homeowner must take appropriate action to stop foreclosure before it is too late. Better on something than doing nothing and suffer the consequence of losing your property just that way. You need to be more educated on strategies you can do to be able to run on things as acceptable as possible.

Here are some experts have to say to stop foreclosure:

When foreclosure seems to happen, you need to communicate with your lender soonest to address your problem with your financial obligation. They are always accomodating, anyway, since you losing your property can also be a loss on their side—like getting your property and have it sold lower than the original price since the property might have been in the process of deterioration, physically.
Ask help from professionals in dealing on how to stop foreclosure. There are lots of reputable professional out there in your are who are willing to give help. Alternatively, you can always browse online and find these individuals who can really help you to stop foreclosure.
Learn about short sale. This strategy to counter the foreclosure has been cited to be one of the best ways you can go.

So, that is for now. Hope you have learned something on how to stop foreclosure or to find ways to lessen its negative effect.--Roy Van

Stop Florida Foreclosure

2009-02-26T02:50:00.000-08:00

As what I have previously discussed, Florida is one of the states in America with high rates of foreclosures listings so I am writing this article to give some important idea that in some ways might help you most especially if you live in the said area and most likely to encounter same problem like many people are experiencing.

For homeowners in this state, the question on how to stop foreclosure florida might be on a 'hot buzz'. So, what should be done in order to help yourself—if you are dealing with a such problem—to stop foreclosure in your own home? Is there any thing you can do to stop foreclosure? What are the steps you need to do to make the halting happened?--questions that really need substantial answers.

You should have known this fact—Florida has a foreclosure process that is judicial and that just means there is a need for lenders to file before court in order to take the possession or property. Generally, this process takes 4 to 6 months and with this range of time, as a homeowner, you can still find a solution to stop foreclosures—of course there are ways to stop foreclosure in Florida.

Below are ideas which you can apply if ever you are to deal with problem in—on how to stop foreclosure in your property:

Contact the lender. The best thing you can do to stop foreclosure is to contact the lender first and work with them to find ways on how will you do things for your financial obligation. Lenders are always willing to help you on this rather than foreclose the property—this can also mean a lost of money in their site;
Contact a company that helps to stop foreclosure in Florida. Remember however to avoid scammers or those individuals who offer help but making the situation worse instead—see help from company that is proven to be reputable in the area;
Refinance the home. Under the Florida laws, you need to inform the court and your lender that foreclosure is filed with;
Go for short sales. Seek help from real estate agent and sell your home. Short sale can be done in a month. Your real estate agent will help you to negotiate with the lender on how you are to deal with your financial obligation. You have to remember also that your property's market price can be a little bit lower than its actual price and this greatly depends on where exactly your property is located. Anyway, short sale can help you to avoid bad credit rating by avoiding foreclosure.
Go to court and make a request on a longer period of time in paying what you owed. Court has been considerate to many people. You can always have same privilege for as long as you have proof and substantial grounds for such a request.

Well, that is for now. I really hope that ideas I have presented above can help you if ever you are to deal on how to stop foreclosures most especially—how to stop foreclosure in Florida, state with very high rate in foreclosure listings.--Roy Van

Stop Foreclosure Tips

2009-02-25T00:51:00.000-08:00

If you are residing in Florida and one of those homeowners who have been looking for ways to stop foreclosures on their home, then this article might help you to find some idea which can help you on this dilemma—yeah, how to stop foreclosures Florida creates anxiousness to homeowners in the said state.

As I have mentioned in my other post, the number of foreclosure listings has reached to more than 150, 000 in Florida in 2008 and this trends seem to continue in the years ahead. This is one of the reasons why many try to find ways on how to stop foreclosure in Florida or to lessen its effects. As a proof that indeed many are seeking solutions to this problem is the huge spikes on searches in search engines on the topics like “ hot to stop foreclosures”, “ how to stop foreclosure Florida”, “how to stop foreclosure Miami”, and “ how to stop foreclosure Boward”.

I was able to talk to some individuals who are claimed to be of knowledge in the issue. I asked about what seems to be the core problem on this and what are the possible solutions on how to stop foreclosures in Florida. And then they have agreed that homeowners are not fully-aware of effective ways of dealing situations like how to stop foreclosure and thus they need to be more educated on this.

I have here some ideas which might help you as you deal problems related to—on how to stop foreclosures.

On to stop foreclosure procedure...

Yes, to stop foreclosure procedure can be stopped but this must be done soonest. First move is to communicate your lender and talk to them about the problem you are experiencing. In general, foreclosure, in usual cases, never used-- not unless it is absolutely necessary for the lender. They will only enforce foreclosure if you are proven to have ignored the reminders they gave.

In the event that contacting your lender does not work—in a reason or another—then it is the best option to seek a professional advice. Debt counselors can help you manage this thing as they give several effective options which might be applicable in your case. Remember, however, that not all professional debt counselors in paper are professionals in performance in dealing issues like how to stop foreclosures. Some of them give you advice which can make the situation worse instead—be alarmed on this—so you need to find ones who are proven indeed to be reputable.

Professional advice from debt counselors may give options like stepping into short sales thing. If this is applicable to your case then why not go for it. As a matter of fact, lots of homeowners and lenders find this option to be of great help on how to stop foreclosure. Be reminded however that before joining in whatever bandwagon of strategies, knowledge about it is a must to acquire.

How to stop foreclosure requires substantial knowledge—this is most especially needed in Florida where number of foreclosure listings is in record high. Be educated. Be able to stop foreclosure in your own home.--Roy Van

Foreclosure Solutions

2009-02-25T00:41:00.000-08:00

I was browsing Google search engine lately and found that there were huge spikes on queries on ' how to stop foreclosure florida' and' stop foreclosures'. This data just show that there are lots of people who are interested on the issues evolving in real estate properties today. Specifically on how to stop foreclosure.

Well, this article would help everybody who are in one way or the other is affected by this foreclosure things—the crisis and the government bailouts, etc.

According to reports, there were more than 160, 000 foreclosure listings filed in October last year (2008) in Florida alone. This great spike of foreclosure rate has made the state rank as the third with huge foreclosure volume in America. Reports further detailed that there are clear indications that this trend will continue in years ahead if the local government, primarily, as well as the homeowners will not act to lessen the number of cases—how to stop foreclosure Florida is becoming a hot issue that needs to be addressed collectively.

More and more households are expected to fall in foreclosure crisis and if you think you are most likely to experience the same, then better gear up yourself to tailor some strategies which can help you on the issue of on how to stop foreclosures. Remember, it is better to be prepared than suffer than just suffer from the impact without doing anything.

It is significant to note that the core responsibility should start from the homeowners to withstand the effect of this crisis. It is therefore important that homeowners understand the root of the problem so that ones are able to handle situations like mortgage and foreclosures. Educating oneself is one effective way to be covered from the effect of this crisis—how to stop foreclosures is just a matter of learning strategies to counter its effect.

So, what are these strategies I am trying to stress? Well, while you can not avoid foreclosures totally, you can always handle these cases in such a way that you are not totally crippled from its effect.

According to some experts in real estate, one better way to be geared from this crisis is to learn about short sales. Short sales is cited to be a big thing that can help on the problem of how to stop foreclosures.

The government bailouts which has just made victory in legislative bodies can also be a big help to aid homeowners as well as lenders on the effect of foreclosure. How to stop foreclosure in Florida can be aided by this government programs—though there is no 100% guarantee. Homeowners must be thankful for this program, anyway.

As a final note, how to stop foreclosure Florida might be a long battle for homeowners and lenders. This can make significant changes to lives of those who are directly or even indirectly affected. But then again, if one can not avoid facing this problem, then be just better prepared in handling situations like on how to stop foreclosures—learn important ideas like short sales before it's too late.---Roy Van

Residential Mortgage Act

2009-02-24T10:37:00.000-08:00

For the Mortgage Industry in Georgia the bill has finally appeared. Stories of subprimemortgages gone bad are out of control, and the effects are being felt by lenders, brokers, banks, builders and, ultimately, retailers and service industries as well as individual homebuyers, had no way to stop foreclosures.

The trouble here begun with prosperity: a booming economy, a hot housing market, phenomenal growth. "We've had the honey to attract the flies and there is now way to stop foreclosure," says Rob Braswell, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which regulates state chartered banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders and money transmitters.

“In 2005, we dropped from number one for fraud to number three in subprime and number five in the prime market. We're very pleased," Braswell says. The commissioner anticipates that this year Georgia's mortgagefraud statistics will drop to near the national average. Since 1993, the state has only been regulating mortgage lenders , when the General Assembly passed the Georgia ResidentialMortgage Act.

This was a answer to the explosion in the mortgagebusiness that began in the 1980s, fueled by falling interest rates and rising home sales.Mortgage-only lenders began to cultivate. Meanwhile, Wall Street lit an inferno under the business as investors sought the high returns of mortgage-backed securities which literally give rise to foreclosures that can not be stop All this created pressure to get more and more people intomortgages - even those who couldn't afford the traditional terms. The procedures slackened and the risk increased. Defaults andforeclosures and fraud grew exponentially.

But even though Georgia took steps to regulate the industry in 1993, it took time to move the bureaucracy. Carnes' division currently has nine mortgageexaminers.

Aside from fraud, most of the trouble in Georgia and much of the country has been triggered by the mushrooming market for nontraditional subprimemortgage which have been felt by the most and some can not be able to defy the threat of foreclosure and there have no way to stop foreclosures. Alt-A has come into wider use as well, along with other higher risk business: adjustable rates with balloon payments; teaser loans, which offer a lower than market interest rate at first and then jump up after a year or two; mortgages for 100 percent of the value of the home sometimes even 125 percent.

Sadly for Georgia, such loans have accounted for much recent business. " 55 percent of new mortgages in 2005 and 2006 were the unusual kind non customary in Atlanta," says Braswell, the banking commissioner. The Government allows for relatively fast foreclosures 37 days after a default.

jessica

Learn Short Sales

2009-02-24T00:16:00.000-08:00

Big cities in the United States are currently facing a major downturn and this is specifically in the area of real estate and properties. Many of us are aware that foreclosure cases has exponentially expanded in places in Florida like Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Broward. This affects many homeowners seriously and that is the major reason why we are hearing this 'bailout' thing from the government— stopping foreclosures is a serious thing that needs to be addressed.

If you do not have any property from these areas, to stop foreclosure issues might not be that interesting and important topic for you to give time. However if you have, then you better give time to learn to increase awareness on the issues like how to stop foreclosure Miami, how to stop foreclosure Broward, how to stop foreclosure Fort Lauderdale, etc.etc.

From these ongoing catastrophe, lenders are becoming more enthusiastic in finding solutions to halt this crisis. Lenders are aware that most of homeowners have little to no equity and are coming up with avenue for owners that desire to have their properties sold rather than hold on to it.

If you are one of these people who are experiencing problems on how to stop foreclosures then you must be aware that there are available options that can really help you in order to make a significant move to this particular issue—you must take time for this ways before it's too late.

So what is this thing that you can make to better handle problems like how to stop foreclosure Florida or how to stop foreclosure Fort Lauderdale?

Lenders came up this process called "short sales" and what you can do is to learn about short sales to address the issue on how to stop foreclosure. This method must be learned most especially those who think they are on the cliff on how to stop foreclosures. The knowledge of learning, you must remember, is not just applicable once but rather, you can make use of the strategies it provides as time goes—giving short sales ideas to others who have little to no knowledge about it is one example.

When we talk about short sale, this pertains to when a homeowner's lenders agrees to slash the mortgage balance owed so to let a quick sale on the owners property and to increase its market potentials. This strategy is becoming a fast way for lenders and homeowner as a solution to foreclosure process while giving a buyer a good deal on property that would not, normally, go for a good price.

So, if you are faced with problems like how to stop foreclosure Fort Lauderdale, to stop foreclosure Miami or how to stop foreclosure Broward, come to think of learning more about short sale—and the effective strategies it involves.

Roy Van

Purchases and Foreclosures

2009-02-23T23:57:00.000-08:00

Although about 40% of first-time real estate buyers are single, single women purchase a whopping 22% of all homes, while single men account for 9%, according to the National Association of Realtors. Single or married African Americans are keeping tempo with their minority counterparts on the home-buying front the homeownership rate for African American households during the fourth quarter of 2006 was 48.2%, while Hispanic households were at 495%. Hence majority of the American who are able to stop foreclosures are of white descent.

The payback to homeownership is tremendous. With the 2007 homeownership contest fast approaching, here are 10 things you need to know before you start to buy a home or to stop foreclosure of your property end up taking a nap in a bench in a park.

Double-check your credit. Get a at no cost credit report from in the internet. If you discover erroneous data, contact the three major credit bureaus: Experian Equifax and TransUnion to file a dispute. Elevate your credit score by making payments on time, keeping credit card balances below 30% of the available balance, and keeping unused accounts open.

Determine your real profit and calculate the total earnings for you and your co-purchaser, if applicable. To finish, include credit card payments, personal loans, and other monthly obligations. Next, deduct your expenses from your income. Obtain preapproval before you go looking for a home. One of the biggest faults that first-time home buyers make is finding a home they love but not knowing if they can afford it you can receive a preapproval letter from any mortgage lender, even online ones. However you can also assume those properties of your folks if you are just looking for a temporary stay in the property in that way you can help and stop foreclosures.

Whenever possible, make use of referrals from people you trust to help you locate a realtor, real estate attorney, lender, title company, home inspector, and appraiser. Evaluate neighborhoods, types of homes, crime rates, transportation, infrastructure, price ranges, and school rankings at SchoolMatters.com or GreatsSchools.net. An excellent school district will help increase the value of your home. Sites like www.property shark.com and www.zillow.com suggests property tax information, estimates on values of neighborhoods, the last sale price of a home, tax assessments, and even an aerial view of a property. Those who have experienced being able to stop the foreclosure of properties would give you aid also in determining the possible legalities of acquiring properties which have been repossessed by banks and etc.

Decide on the right mortgage for you; A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is the most common and the safest. Steven Limehouse, a 28-year-old who closed on his Summerville, South Carolina, home in April, found the rate of an ARM attractive but opted for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 6% interest to avoid of the uncertainty of monthly ARM pay- ments; A excellent place to compare local rates is mortgage-calc.com, where you can uncover current mortgage interest rates and calculate first-time mortgage options.

Situate first-time property buyer programs. If you need mortgage help, instead of opting for an ARM seek support from first-time buyer programs or government agencies; try non profit organizations such as the American Dream Down Payment Assistance , the Nehemiah plan and American Family Finances, For more support try out GinnieMae.gov and FannieMae.gov. Also look for regional first-time home buyer programs and visit hud.gov for a total list of approved housing counseling agencies.

You should also develop strategies that would aid you in choosing the best options in getting a new place to stay, thus would also let you be aware of how to stop foreclosures which is dominantly facing every household if not eminent danger to property owners. Also use a property inspector, your home will probably be the most expensive purchase you'll ever make. Hire your own property inspector, who has no ties to the home. Be ready for closing and save in any case three months' worth of payment, interest, taxes, and insurance before you buy.

jessica

Battling Foreclosures

2009-02-23T23:28:00.001-08:00

If you're facing the nightmare of losing your home, these strategies can help.

When the couple decided that Denise should give up her fulltime job to stay home and raise the children, the family's income decreased and they began to miss payments on their home. Loss of revenue is one of the main reasons of foreclosure, according to Kenneth Wade, CEO of NeighborWorks America. Unfortunately, lenders aren't always interested in the life circumstances that lead to foreclosure. Making sure mortgage loan obligations are fulfilled is their most important concern. Through the partnership, the Shavers took part in NeighborWorks' Foreclosure Prevention Program. " unimagined trials come to pass to people in all communities," says J. David Washington, president and CEO of Forbes Capital Group, who offers seminars on foreclosure prevention. To stop foreclosures is one of the consideration of Neighborworks,seeing a lot of American families struggling to cope up the fees and charges almost every real estate imposes treat and as contributes to the plunging economic, they teamed up with Forbes Capital Group to the rescue.

A relative's legal troubles pushed Cheryl Webster, 41, into foreclosure twice within the last two years ,and somehow thinking there is no way to stop the foreclosure. In 2002, Webster, a single mother with four children in Sayerville, New Jersey, began to miss mortgage payments as she channeled $20,000 of her income toward her relative's legal fees. Webster spoke to Chase Manhattan bank, her lender, which helped her avert foreclosure. So instead of my mortgage payments ending in June 2028, they'll end in December 2028." “It is critical to speak to the lender as early as possible, after you find yourself unable to make mortgage payments”, Forbes CEO said. Most chief lenders have programs for mortgage modification, forbearance, or other remedies that are short of foreclosure. I have spoken with lenders who have informed me that more than half the people who go into foreclosure never respond to letters from the lenders, nor do they contact the lenders themselves.

For current and future homeowners, stopping foreclosure starts before the initial purchase: Understand all the expenses that go into homeownership before you buy. Buying a propertywithout being conscious of taxes, insurance, repairs, and other costs can produce a situation where foreclosure is imminent, says Matthew King II, president of MK Capital Resources L.L.C., a mortgage brokerage firm that also specializes in foreclosure prevention and make your first home a smaller home.

Many community-based groups offers loan programs and grant aid. Contact the lender urgently about your situation. Once you get in touch with the lender, they can allow payment delays, mortgage modification, and repayment plans, or they may negotiate a lump-sum payment and you can stop the foreclosure.

Be prepared for the possibility of trading your property. If catching up on your payments does not seem possible, selling your home through a variety of means is a better option than foreclosure, because foreclosure leaves a negative mark on your credit which very well could prevent you from getting a home loan or many other types of credit in the future.

Washington notes that creative conveyance is another way to allow a person facing foreclosure to realize at least a minimal profit from a home sale. To stop foreclosure is a serious situation, but if you remain calm and take action quickly, you can negotiate a settlement that will allow you to keep your home. Many in our community don't understand how you go into foreclosure and don't understand the banking terms that are important to prevent foreclosure. Mortgage payments are suspended for a short period, with the understanding that an agreed upon solution to making up missed payments will go into effect after.

jessica

When The Party Stopped

2009-02-23T22:21:00.000-08:00

For atleast past four years, Florida has enjoyed an unprecedented residential real estate boom, largely because of a surge in investment and speculative activity. Buyers from around the globe have decided that Florida real estate - primarily condominiums, but also single family homes - is an ideal investment, especially with prices rising 10% to 25% annually.

From downtown Miami to the Panhandle beaches, new condominium projects have been "selling out" almost as soon as they are announced as developers take reservation deposits on units they won't have to deliver for 18 to 36 months. however in some fast-selling multifamily projects, more than two-thirds of the people putting down reservation deposits have been investors and speculators, hoping to "flip" their units to a new buyer when the development nears completion.

It's a strategy that's worked well for investors and developers alike. But research now indicates that the party's over - and the risks of continuing to bet on Florida real estate this year far outweigh the potential rewards.

Overvalued properties, higher development costs, rising interest rates were the primary reasons why there is a sudden change of market environment that once they have enjoyed now into its tramps and hope not will flatter into full debt and properties will end up 200 percent lower the original price, oftentimes we seen effort of owners to stop foreclosures.

Now, Homeowners are behind payment and of the eve of facing foreclosure in Miami, some companies like Dade county Florida is looking to directly purchase from the owners. Miami is the area of where have really been hit hard and homeowners has to stop foreclosure on their crisis. As home values dropping and in order to sell a house fast homeowners need plenty of equity. We can’t stop Foreclosures which are at a record high since the early 80’s in the current housing market. Florida has taken a severe hit over the years and homeowners are the beneficiary of this crisis. One city that is being bombarded with foreclosure is the Miami - Dade area of Florida. I guess there is no way we can stop foreclosures.

The report of zillow.corn, a real estate Web site, revealed that with foreclosures soaring, nearly 20% of the nation's home sales in 2008 were of bank-repossessed properties. Another 11% were short sales, in which homeowners owed more in rnortgage debt than their horns were worth. And Miami is in the 14^th position and Fort Lauderdale is in much disaster post at 7^th.

It is unlikely to see areas in Florida of where flock of tourists and good tropical weather has been affected much by bad debts of the homeowner resulting to repossession of properties. Nevertheless it is contributed to the interjection of fees that were considered illegal. In order to stop foreclosures is to think wisely if we can really allow ourselves to over killed by too much fees and penalties imposed by the real estates owners. Hence in choosing good neighborhood it does not come into its prime consideration that it have to be where most good houses are, of where nearby places are restaurants and hotels, we have to consider that we there are those areas which are developing and in time soon the place you have purchased will soon be valued like of those near the shore line.

Jessica

That Venice Of America

2009-02-23T22:20:00.000-08:00

How do you find For Lauderdale these days?

Well if you don’t know yet Fort Lauderdale, known as the "Venice of America" due to its expansive and intricate canal system, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. In 2007 U.S. Census Bureau studies estimates that the city had a population of 183,606. It is the county seat of Broward County, and a prime city of Southern Florida metropolitan district, which is populated by over 5,413,212 people. It is the hub of Latinos, Asians and Europeans who are trying to avoid the cold weather. Somehow this city close to the sea with its rivers and lakes loaded with boats places itself as a tourist spot aside from its viability of good living condition. It has the most modern yet traditional facilities.

What do Fort Lauderdale offers to you? Now according to the recent studies and observations of some people, this big city in Florida holds the record of the loveliest part of Florida, wherein amenities like accessible golf course, restaurants, hotels, concert halls, market place which are of fine quality and well maintained. Now if you are trying to scout of a place to live in, I believe this is the ideal place to live in.

It is almost like a tropical place wherein it rains a lot and it does not escape the fact that this big city in Florida is also the center of such big hurricane attacks; I guess good infrastructure quality makes it still the best city to live in. Fort Lauderdale is set amidst a cluster of thriving cities and towns, a few of which may be talk about as Margate, Miramar, Wilton Manors, Parkland, Pembroke Park, Tamarac, Davie, Coconut Creek, Southwest Ranches, West Park, Sunrise, Lauderdale Lakes, Cooper City, Plantation, Pembroke Pines, Weston, Deerfield Beach, Hallandale Beach, Coral Springs, Oakland Park, Pompano Beach, Lighthouse Point, Dania Beach, Hillsboro Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Lauderhill and Hollywood.

How do you find ways to get a cheap house? Certainly you can find a lot of houses auctioned after its foreclosures. If you are looking purchasing a property in Fort Lauderdale, it could be well worth your while if you go through the options that Fort Lauderdale foreclosures have to offer. With new foreclosures continuing to add to the already existing ones, choices are aplenty, I guess there aint no way to stop foreclosure in Fort Lauderdale.

Given the widespread use of the internet we can be able to access a lot of databases of foreclosed properties, whilst of the websites with extensive listings usually charge their members a subscription fee (which is usually quite nominal, and comes along with a free trial period), there are websites that offer these listings for free as well. I guess there is no way to stop foreclosures now in Florida.

On the other hand, you can also get in touch with financial institutions that deal with home mortgages as they would be more than willing to share their lists of foreclosed homes. Working with realtors/ real estate agents is also a good idea as they often have up to date localized information. Sometimes going through advertisements and notices in newspapers and newsletters can also sometimes yield good results.

Once you’ve decided that you want to buy a home affected by foreclosure, it would also be worth your while to understand the foreclosure process in advance. A residential property can be sold in various stages of the process; first, during pre foreclosure, then at the foreclosure auction, and finally through the lender after the foreclosure proceedings are complete. I guess only you that can stop foreclosures in the area.

It is also recommended that you make a short list of homes that you are interested in and then take the time to inspect all the houses on the list. Since properties affected by foreclosure normally tend to be neglected to some degree, the inspection process is a must. Make sure you do physical check up for any structural damage to the building as it can be very expensive to fix. Better yet, check also if the basic amenities are in working condition. Thus, inspection should give you a good idea of how much to quote for the house. Stop foreclosures in the area seems not viable because of the high volume of houses being auctioned because of high mortgage value that the owner cannot keep up. Nevertheless it is recommended that you inspect the quality of the item and those which needing more upgrades are more likely cheaper and those of lesser modifications are those of much higher price. But you just have to check also of your capacity to cope up with the taxes to be paid in conjunction to the acquisition.

Giving the idea that there aint no way to stop foreclosures Fort Lauderdale, you can take your time to go through all possible options before picking a particular house. Keep in mind that the more the homes you look at, the better are the chances of finding the right one.

Jessica