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As we all know, there is currently a 90 day moratorium on foreclosures here in California. Also worth noting, the Attorney General's office has demanded all foreclosure rescue and loan modification consultant firms register with the AG by July 1st and post a $100,000 bond. Keep in mind, attorneys are exempt from this action. So why is it that an attorney who did personal injury cases 3 months ago is suddenly more qualified for the task than a legitimate loss mitigation company? Is this the kind of person you want working on your file? What exactly does this measure accomplish? At this time, it is estimated that there will be roughly $500 Billion in mortgage resets in the Alt A, Prime and Option ARM arenas between the last quarter of 2009 through 2012. About 58% of those mortgages are here in California. You can read more about that here. There are a growing number of short sales, and yes, it is spreading to the Westside of Los Angeles. The question many people have is : can we qualify for a loan modification? We have all heard the TV and radio spots for these companies- what most of these loan mod "consultants", and even the attorneys will not tell you, is that many people will not qualify. For instance, even if the lender is satisfied the homeowner has documented hardship and verified income, whomever is holding the note will ultimately take the action which is in their best interest, which in many cases is to let the property go into foreclosure. Furthermore, more than 50% of loan mods currently are re-defaulting, which just adds more to what is already a hot mess. The truth is unless the homeowners qualify for a government backed loan mod program, in most cases the best case scenario is that the modification will be good for about 5 years. You can see for yourself who can qualify for Obama's loan modification program here . Currently, most non-realtor opinions have home values on the westside declining for at least another year. This means even more homeowners will be eventually be underwater, along with more loan mod re-defaults, which inevitably increases housing inventory, which puts downward pressure on prices. In the present climate, with the aforementioned massive defaults looming, for a homeowner who owes more than what the property is worth, it makes more sense in this case to do a short sale and cut your losses. Why? because if you don't you are potentially chasing bad money with more bad money, or in other words, investing in a non-performing asset, like buying stock in a declining market with no real basis for upside potential. I realize there are no easy solutions here to avoiding foreclosure, but for the homeowner who owes more than what the property is worth, a short sale is a much better alternative than waiting for a bailout, which in many cases is like Waiting For Godot.
For you rich kids not familiar with the weekend movie screenings at the 
