Foreclosure Connections Blog

If you are not pre-occupied with the news of the poor economy, then you must be focusing all your efforts in trying to avoid losing your home to foreclosure. The funny thing is that you need not look far for you can actually earn extra income by converting some parts of your home into rental units.

1. Garage - some homeowners have decided to rent out their garages to small businesses to be used as office space. Or you could always rent it out to an artist as a small art studio.
2. Rooms - if you have several unused bedrooms in your home especially if your children have all grown up, it would be practical for you to rent these rooms out. With the supply of rental homes dwindling in most cities, it will not be difficult for you to find a tenant. It will be your choice if you want to conduct a background check before renting out the rooms in your home.
3. Other living spaces - some parts of your home might be converted into a separate living space for rent. You will just probably need to add a kitchen sink or a bathroom so that you could justify a higher rental fee.

Obviously, you can use the rent money to pay for your mortgage. As for permits, you should inquire about the requirements needed and ask about taxes and necessary license from your local county. This way, you are not violating any local housing laws and the rights of your tenants. You should also check with the city engineer, especially if you will be adding kitchen units, for health and safety reasons.

Despite the bad economy, homeowners should still continue looking for solutions to their mortgage problems in order to continue fuelling the great American dream of home ownership.

A lot of foreclosure rescue companies seem to be real. But, hey are actually fraudsters pretending to be foreclosure counselors who take away titles from homeowners facing foreclosure.

Often, such people request you to sign this and that and make promises that in reality are too good to be true. If you are worried about avoiding these scams, you will be delighted to know that do not need assistance from a third party to recognize them.

Once a default notice has been filed, scammers will offer any of these helps, which should already alarm you:

• The company will pay the lender for your back payments.

No charities bail out distressed homeowners from foreclosure by giving money to the lender.

• You can apply for another loan to pay off your current lender.

No other companies can lend you money when you are already in default unless your existing lender lends you money for the reinstatement of your loan.

• You can stay in the house as a tenant and later reclaim title.

The possession of your home is only until the completion of foreclosure, which takes about three and a half months to a year, depending where you live.

• By paying an upfront fee, they will freeze foreclosure for you.

Stopping foreclosure has no guarantee. There are options for you to work out with your lender, which you can do yourself.

• By paying some amount to the company, they will make some arrangements with your lender to allow you to stay in the property.

There is no magical remedy for foreclosure. Lenders offer options you can choose from, whichever best fits your situation.

• Signing a contract or deed transferring title is temporary.

All contracts are final. Once you have signed one, you have already transferred title.

You should report such scams to any of the following: real state licensing department, office of the Attorney General, office of the local District Attorney for Consumer Fraud, or FBI.

Real estate forecasts made by industry associations, economists, homebuilders and consultants for the year 2009 point to the same realization: 2009 will still be a bleak year for the home building industry due to continued foreclosures and slow sales of home foreclosures.

The North State Building Industry Association and the California Building Industry Association both see 2009 as a bleaker year than 2008 because of the economic downturn and banks’ continued home repossessions which have been constraining sales.

Mike Davis of real estate auctioneer Zetabid also predicted that there will be more house auctions in 2009 despite loan modification and foreclosure prevention measures launched in 2008. He said that there is so much inventory of foreclosed homes that auctioneers’ operations related to foreclosed properties will continue up to two or three more years.

Building industry analyst Greg Paquin studied real estate figures and came out with the following forecasts:

• New house prices will average only $374,000 across Sacramento and surrounding cities.
• Homebuilders will sell only 5,300 houses in 2008 in the counties of Sacramento, Sutter, El Dorado, Placer, Yolo and Yuba counties.
• The housing markets that will recover faster than the others will be Placer County, El Dorado Hills and Folsom.

The behavior of interest rates on mortgage is expected to remain volatile as they have been going up and down as economic news reports are released. According to Freddie Mac economists, rates fell when news reports of declining levels of consumer spending and job numbers and increased foreclosures were released. Comstock Mortgage issued its observation that rates fell by one-fourth of one percent in a span of only few hours in one particular weekday.

In the meantime, a survey by Mortgage Bankers Association in 2008 showed that borrowers have become cautious in their approach to mortgage loans. The percentage of subprime loans across the U.S. has declined to 3.8 percent, much below the 20-percent level in 2005 and in 2006.

Foreclosure issues are always around the corner. In fact, the growing number of home foreclosures every year makes the lenders/banks end up with multiple properties they are not even interested in.

What banks do is resell Real Estate Owned (REO) properties. But the benefits are not all for them. For example, the partnership between New Vista Asset Management and Federal National Mortgage Association aims to help families afford homeownership than selling REO properties to investors interested in reselling for profit. They market foreclosures to low-to-middle-income families, to first-time and immigrant homebuyers.

You can be enticed by low home prices from banks than a typical home resale; but banks are simply like these resellers who want the highest profit possible from a sale.

Better deals are enjoyed in purchasing from a foreclosure auction or in buying a pre foreclosed home. However, it may be easier and safer to buy from a lender/bank.

It is a bit risky and tricky when you buy REO properties from lenders/banks so it is important to seek assistance from experts before making any purchase. You will need a Realtor or an agent who will show comparable sales so you will know if a property has the right price and to help you make the most preferable deal.

Better be careful because low priced REO properties are sold just the way they are. No renovations or repairs of damaged areas. Because of this, you need a skilled home inspector to check on everything. Additional costs for fixing damages should be included in your budget.

A typical home sale deal can be concluded overnight, while REO purchase from a bank takes a couple days, even weeks for approval. But if you want no hassles with title-related issues then an REO property can work for you.

It only takes the positive attitude, a little patience, and assistance from experts to help you close the best deal for an REO property.

Banks are now pushing for a proposal that would let off at much as 40 percent of credit card bill! Reason behind is the growing number of home foreclosures, which has been one of the effects of credit card debts.

These rectangular plastic cards have played a big role to the financial crisis that is happening to the nation nowadays. As a vital part of all Americans’ lives and the entire economy too, credit card debts have been seen to affect the monthly mortgage payments, therefore contributing to the increasing number of foreclosures.

The crisis of foreclosure has been growing tremendously and the economy is also going through a tough phase. Because of these, banks are losing big sums of money. They do not just suffer from the sharp increase of repo home listings but the growing number of cardholders who just walk away from their debts as well.

Practically, banks will lose less if they let off a portion of the credit card due rather than let it be delinquent for a long period of time and eventually affect the mortgage payment of a borrower, in the long run.

The new program initiated by banks, in partnership with consumer advocates, is seen to help as much as 50, 000 people. Depending on how serious the borrower’s financial condition is, the amount of debt to be forgiven can be as much as 40 percent.

Moreover, now that the country is in a bad phase, a proposal to also decrease the monthly mortgage payment of suffering homeowners has been set in motion by some banks together with mortgage lenders. This is to avoid foreclosures of course.

It is quite a different move by financial institutions. Over the past years, banks would chase delinquent customers and pressure them to pay their debts. Now, they are trying to do the complete opposite. Giving the borrowers options and a time frame would greatly alleviate the above-mentioned concerns.

Hopefully, this program would decrease the growing number of repo homes listing and in the long run, make the financial status of every household smooth and trouble-free.

The Exchange Commission and Security filed fraud charges against the promoters of a real estate investment scheme that operated a fraudulent foreclosure reinstatement scheme. The scheme started in 2005 and got around $18 million in only two years. More than 600 people were caught by the scheme with the promise that they could get returns of 50% of their investment within 30 days.

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According to some of the recent reports, Miami foreclosures have completely overshadowed the South Florida real estate and housing market. As a result of high number of foreclosures in 2008, Miami is ranked second in the country where foreclosures are concerned and Brickell condos have the highest foreclosure rate locally.

According to one of the new reports that has been taken out by Condo Vultures, the 3 condominium towers of Brickell condos has recorded the highest number of foreclosure homes that were filed in the Miami-Dade County in the first 3 quarters of 2007 and continue to do so in the first quarter of 2008 as well.

Brickell condos have recorded 54 foreclosed homes with The Club at Brickell Bay situated at 1200 Brickell Bay Drive leading the pack. This is the highest number of foreclosures by state for any particular building in the Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The number two spot goes to the The Vue at Brickell, situated at 1250 S Miami Ave., as it has recorded 49 foreclosures. The Jade at Brickell Bay situated at 1331 Brickell Bay Drive has recorded the third highest number of home foreclosures.

All the three Brickell towers together accounts for almost 37% of the foreclosure actions that have been filed by the top 10 buildings in Miami and entire of South Florida according to a report by Condo Vultures. This accounts for almost $113 million in mortgages as well as fees that homeowners owe the lenders.

As a result of this high number of foreclosure homes in these 3 buildings, Brickell Avenue as well as Downtown Miami can expect a high influx of discount buyers and investors in the near future.

A large number of homes are already part of the foreclosures in Detroit. A considerable number of families are still in uncomfortable financial conditions, and mortgage payments for these families are an added burden. For some families, keeping up with the payments is turning to be impossible and foreclosure seems imminent.

When a home owner defaults on the mortgage payments continuously over a period of time, he/she is served with a notice to foreclose (by the lender) which mentions that if the debt in question is not fixed within the given amount of time, the home will be auctioned off to take care of the amount that is owed. Upon the notice of foreclosure being served, the home enters pre foreclosure.

If the home owner is unable to cure the default, he/she also has the option to sell the house. If the home owner is able to sell the house during pre foreclosure, and then use the proceeds to pay the lender what is owed on the mortgage, foreclosure proceedings can be stopped. This is the primary reason why a majority of the home owners sell their homes during pre foreclosure.

A short sale is when the lender allows the property to be sold for lesser than what is owed on the mortgage and agreeing to disregard the remaining loan amount (thereby incurring a loss). Lenders generally do this because of the time and money that is involved in going through with the foreclosure proceedings.

In cases where the amount that the borrower (home owner) owes on the mortgage is less, the room for negotiation increases. Since home owners in pre foreclosure do not have the luxury of time, they sometimes end up offers that might otherwise have seemed trivial. Homes in pre foreclosure have been sold for close to half their market values in the past. While deals like these do not come by very often, discounts of up to 20% are quite normal.

If you do intend to buy a pre foreclosure home, make a list of homes that interest you. You can use the internet to look for pre foreclosure homes in Detroit. County courts can also be approached for lists of home owners who have been served with foreclosure notices. Real estate agents usually keep themselves updated with local pre foreclosure listings.

Irrespective of where you find the house from, inspecting the house before you buy it is very important. There are occasions when a seemingly good deal can turn on its head because of the money that needs to be spent in repairs. Treading with caution is the way to go.

If you have been contemplating about buying a house, this is as good a time to buy a house as any. With home prices in Charlotte holding steady in the recent past and with relief expected in other parts of the state as well, an increasing number of people are looking at buying residential property. Since homes in pre foreclosure are generally sold at discounted prices, they are an option worth considering.

The myth about homes in foreclosure being in unsavory neighborhoods has long been dispelled. Foreclosure homes are now part of almost every affluent neighborhood in Charlotte. However, you must remember that a house goes through foreclosure because the home owner is in financial strife; therefore, you must expect to find these houses in various stages of neglect.

A home owner is served with intent to foreclose on the home when he/she continuously defaults on the mortgage payments. This is when the home enters pre foreclosure. After this, the home owner is given a stipulated amount of time to fix the default before the house is put up for sale at an auction.

The home owner then has two ways to avoid foreclosure. One is to take care of the default in question within the given time frame. However, in cases where this is not possible, the home owner can choose to sell the home to collect funds which the lender needs to be paid back. This is the primary reason for the occurrence of pre foreclosure sales.

A short sale is where the lender allows the property to be sold for less than what is owed on the mortgage and agrees to write off the remaining amount. A lender would do this to avoid the costs that are associated with the foreclosure process and the costs that would have to be incurred in maintaining the property post foreclosure.

You would be in a position to drive a hard bargain in cases where the amount that is owed to the lender is low.

Since pre foreclosure houses can be in various degrees of neglect, it is important that you inspect them; and since you would be dealing directly with the home owner, that should not be a problem. Check if the structure has been damaged in any way, as structural damage can be very expensive to fix. Check if all the basic amenities (electrical appliances and fixtures, plumbing, gas, etc.) are in working condition. Calculate costs that would have to be incurred in re-painting, re-carpeting, etc. Only after doing this should you make your offer.

Do remember, there are many home owners who are still facing problems keeping up with their mortgage payments. Go through all the possible resources before you narrow in on the house that you decide to buy.

Foreclosures in Richardson continue to be a problem. However, with relief in the housing sector expected some time soon, and with prices of foreclosure homes being lower than prices of homes not affected with foreclosure, many people are looking at foreclosure homes as options that make more financial sense.

Foreclosure proceedings begin on a house after the home owner does not pay the monthly mortgage payments over a period of time. If the home owner is unable to pay the amount that is owed within the given time period, the house is generally put for sale at a foreclosure auction. Homes that do not find buyers at the auction are then transferred to the lenders. The home can therefore be bought through the home owner, at the auction, and then, through the bank.

During the period that the home owner is given to fix the default, the home can also be sold by the home owner. This is mainly done to avoid foreclosure by gathering enough money through the sale and paying back the lender what is owed on the mortgage. Some very good bargains can come off buying pre foreclosure homes, especially where the lender is not owed much money.

Buying homes at auctions can also result in considerable savings. The competition is also visibly reduced because the process requires the home buyer to pay through certified funds. Since homes selling at auctions sell on an ‘as is’ basis, and are not always open for inspection, they can, at times, be risky propositions. Therefore, it is best to study the process very carefully before starting to bid.

Any past arrears linked to the home should be looked into if buying from the above mentioned stages.

Once a lender gets possession of a foreclosed home, past arrears like unpaid taxes and any other liens linked with the home are generally taken care of. This is why buying foreclosed homes from banks is recommended to inexperienced home buyers. Banks are also known to offer discounts on these homes because they always want to sell these homes as soon as possible (otherwise, they continue to incur significant costs in maintaining the home).

It is always recommended that you inspect a house before you make an offer on it. Only after you check the house yourself and calculate how much money you would have to spend on it, should you arrive at an offer price.

It is also recommended that you look at as many homes as possible. Go through all the resources you can to aid you with your search. Remember, the more homes you look at, the better the chances of finding one you like.