Please take a minute to read the article below from the San Francisco Chronicle. 19 people have been indicted in California for their role in a mortgage and foreclosure scam that preyed on homeowners who were behind in payments and facing foreclosure. The victims were convinced that signing over the deed to their homes to "investors" and paying them rent while they got their finances together, would prevent foreclosure.
In reality they signed over title to their house to these "investors", the "investors" then re-financed to a new mortgage that pulled all the equity out of the home, and walked away with all the money leaving the homeowners in worse shape than they were before.
Bottom Line: there is NOTHING legitimate about signing the deed on your house over to someone else and leaving the mortgage loan in your name. If you or someone you know is having trouble making your mortgage payments and facing foreclosure, the best thing to do is to contact your lender first. Explain to them your current circumstances and try and work out an arrangement to get caught up.
If you cannot work out an arrangement with your lender, contact a licensed real estate professional, such as an Agent like myself. We will consult with you, assess your current situation, and together we will come up with a legal and ethical way to try and help you prevent foreclosure.
For more information check out the Stop Foreclosure section of my website, 365realestate.com, or you can call (800)711-7507 ext7001 to listen to a free 24 hr recorded message.
ARTICLE: 19 Indicted in Mortgage Fraud Scheme
Just got an email from my mortgage broker that I'd like to share with you:
Just announced and confirmed. The Stimulus package that President Bush signed into law has caused an INCREASE in the loan limits for FHA. The new maximum loan for an FHA insured loan is $271,010. The old limit was $226,100 so a $44,910 increase is not bad.
Remember that is the max loan amount so roughly speaking with a 3% Down Payment your max SALES price would be $279,500
FHA is still offering Down Payment Assistance which allows a buyer to get into a new home with virtually no money out of pocket, plus have bruised credit, and short time on the job. It is one of the best mortgage options on the market today for buyers with very little money to work with.
That's not a typo folks. Home sales for January rose 15% in Metro Detroit for the month of January compared to January of 2007. The city of Detroit was the top gainer, with a 45.5% increase (736) closings.
Macomb county posted a nice gain of 8.7% (436 closings). Several factors contributed to the increase in home sales, including: lowered prices, low interest rates and the sale of foreclosed properties.
Finding articles that highlight the negatives of our local real estate market here in Southeast Michigan aren't difficult to find. You don't have to look very far to find them. Looking for an article that talks about the positives? I hope you've got a lot of time on your hands because it's going to take a while.
Just before Christmas my Broker showed me a report of sales statistics in Macomb Country for November 2007. I was pretty surprised. Several communities had in increase in the number of homes sold when compared to the previous year. Those communities include Armada, Centerline, Chesterfield Township, Eastpointe, Macomb Township, New Baltimore, Roseville, St.Clair Shores, Shelby Township, Utica and Washington Township.
Does this mean the market has turned upward? We don't know that yet. What we do know is the media is always late to identifying the trends in the market. They tell you what has already happened, not what's about to happen. They were late to tell us the market had gone south and they'll be late when the time comes for the market to move upward again.
Most of the communities listed above had an average selling price that was LESS than it was a year ago. So although we're seeing an increase in the volume of homes sold, homes are still selling for less than they were a year ago. The local real estate market didn't go in the tank overnight, and it will not rise to the top overnight. But the fact that homes are starting to sell is a positive sign. Homes have to sell in a robust market, period. Values will come around eventually, but what good is the value of a home if homes aren't selling? I think you see the point we are trying to make.
On a more positive note, in addition to having an increase in the number of homes sold when compared to a year ago, these communities also saw an increase in the average sales price of those homes: Chesterfield Township, Shelby Township and Utica.
Click here to see the entire report.
Team 365 Real Estate offers a unique experience to our clients, prospective clients and anyone seeking real estate information in general. We just launched our interactive website, at 365realestate.com. It's a work in progress, and will definitely go through an evolutionary process as we tweak the site and its content to better serve the needs of the visitors of our site.
We are trying to get away from the old school of the real estate business where 90% of interactions between agents and their clients take place face to face. Don't get me wrong, I love sitting down and interacting with my clients. But agents and clients constantly having to meet up in order to conduct business breeds inefficiency. We are truly living in the age of the internet. When information is needed, people go online for just about everything. Statistics show that nearly 80% of prospective home buyers search for properties online. It won't be long before it is nearly 100%.
Our primary goal is to bring effective, efficient and easy-to-use technology to our clients, prospective clients and anyone else seeking real estate information. By opening up the technology of real estate to you, we feel we will grow our business and be of more service to you. A true win-win!
Almost all real estate agents have a website these days, so what's the big deal? The big deal to us is making a website available that is practical, accessible, easy to use, and most importantly serves the needs of the visitor of the website. Look at the average real estate agents website. Most are generic versions of the website provided to them by their brokerage. They usually contain their listings that they are trying to sell, a professionally photographed picture of themself, and some generic "free reports". Some even offer MLS access. The average real estate agents website is all sizzle and no steak in our opinion. It's all about them. It should be about YOU!
So how are we different? Take a look at 365realestate.com. We have taken the information we are most often requested to provide and brought it to you. Want to see how much your neighbors house sold for, or how much your house is worth? A few simple clicks and we can provide that for you. Want to have the same access to information that Realtors do when it comes to homes for sale or rent? Sign up to become one of our preferred clients. Want to search the MLS? One click and you're in. Any by the way, check out the average Realtors website that offers MLS access. Most of the time you'll have to register first to get access. Not with us. We give you the access "no strings attached". We don't need to control you in order for you to become our client. We gain the business of our clients by giving them access to the information they need to serve their real estate needs.
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Real Estate Agent in Macomb, St.Clair and Oakland County. I work with Buyers, Sellers and Renters. I specialize in helping homeowners avoid foreclosure, and helping renters find homes to rent.
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