Larry Bettag Illinois FHA Specialist

The homeowners of Homeward Glen, Ms. Smith's neighbors, have reason to celebrate. They have been granted disconnection from the Village of Campton Hills and big government. What breaking news this is!!!!!

Golden Oaks, the small area off Town Hall Road, has also been granted disconnection with the stipulation that the date of disconnection is 1 January, 2010. Lucky dogs. Not sure what determined that date but assume it is either revenue or blocking others from disconnection (Fox Creek, Bridle Creek) who will have an outside border once Golden Oaks is disconnected. Stay tuned.....more good stuff to come we're all hoping.

Check out the article in the Beacon....http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2009/08/07/62305401/index.xml

HVCC Sucks...this program has cost me a lot of money. But more importantly HVCC has blow a lot of deals due to inept appraisers. Through the random appraiser ordering selection process, bad appraisers are being selected and good appraisers are being neglected.

For Example: the HVCC selection gods sent an appraiser from Illinois to appraise a home in Milwaukee. For those of you who are geographically challenged, that's in Wisconsin! The appraiser appraises a 4 bedroom home as a two bedroom home. This particular appraiser was blacklisted by our company, but found new life under HVCC law and has now a booming practice offering incompetence everywhere he goes. The commission wasn't lost, but it was greatly reduced due to paying for extensions to "appeal" to the HVCC gods to show that the appraiser was a crack head who didn't know his head from his ying yang. Most importantly, our customer service now wanes because I have to say:

No Mr. Home refinancer.....even though I didn't order your appraisal directly I did start the process in motion....

I fully understand Mr. Home refinancer that you don't have a 2 bedroom house...yes it is a 4 bedroom house.....no I don't need to see the pictures of your home to prove it.

blah, blah, blah.....and so on and so on and so on. IT'S THE PROBLEM WITH HVCC...NOT ME!!!!! But as I have the relationship with Mr. Client, it is my problem.

As a side bar....I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO TAKE OVER HEALTH CARE. SORRY ABOUT THE DIGRESSION....

image taken from http://img522.imageshack.us/i/250pxdohzg5lz0.jpg/

I've posted on this before 1 Month Review of the HVCC Appraisal Changes - What Realtors, Lenders and Consumers Need to Know.

As of now there's a bill moving through congress asking for an 18 month moratorium on this. That would be so good. I understand the intent of this bill. I think that the unscrupulous need to be hung by their toe nails....forever...as well as booted from the industry.

But the opposite is happening here!!!! Could it be that opposites attract? We want the good and want the bad out, but we're getting exactly the opposite of what was intended?

image taken from www.yourspaceisbest.com/upload/graphic/opposites-attract.jpg

So............

1) What's a consumer to do to ensure a fair appraisal?

2) What's a consumer to do to ensure a timely appraisal?

3) What's a consumer to do if they don't like an appraiser's results?

4) What sort of INSURANCE can be given that will allow borrower to refinance EVEN IF THE HOME WERE TO GO DOWN IN VALUE?

Stay tuned for part two. This does exists. There is an insurance that will allow you to refinance your home even if the values were to drop. This program does exist, but Part II is forthcoming.

The drama continues in Campton. As written by Dan Campana of the Beacon news. www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/talk/1697602,2_1_AU03_KANETALK_S1-090803.article

The directors of Campton are trying to vy for Patti Blagojevich's role on "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here." Here's more evidence that the citizens of Campton are in such a tough quandry with the leadership, er "payrollees" who are paid for by the taxpayers of Campton Hills.

Cue the teen-pop soundtrack.

Announcer: "On the next episode of 'The Hills': A report on the treasurer comes out at a public meeting, leading the board to oust her. Is it about her performance? Is it about her financial forecast for the young village? No one knows, because village officials won't give up the report. Later, a board member wants to cut police funding to pay for an administrator, but the president says not on her watch. All of this, next time, on 'The Hills.'"

Never a dull moment out in Campton Hills, eh?

Residents or avid watchers of the two-year-old town's plight haven't had to wait too long between interesting episodes.

The last month has produced more unfolding drama, with a lot of it tied to money. Board members debated whether former treasurer/finance director Kathy Catalano used bum numbers to project when Campton Hills would need to dip into its reserves.

Meanwhile, Trustee John Strauss floated the idea of giving less money to the police department in favor of using that cash to hire a village administrator, which had been a part of the budget plan floated during the incorporation movement.

President Patsy Smith said: oh no, not while she's in charge, because it's a waste of money. It also means, to me, she's not quite ready to share village decision-making, direction-shaping power with an administrator.

All that's a subplot to Catalano getting the boot and suing the village to make sure she gets paid. It's not a secret that a report on Catalano was given to the board to guide their decision at a June meeting, but the village is holding onto it tightly.

When Beacon freelancer Nick Swedberg filed a Freedom of Information request, he was told the report is in Catalano's personnel file, making it exempt for release. The village did not want to violate her privacy, they reasoned. An appeal was filed, which prompted village people to essentially turn to a stall game.

Instead of flat-out rejecting the appeal, Smith said the village wanted the attorney general's office to give an "advisory opinion" in an effort to be sensitive to Catalano's rights, while also trying to get Swedberg and, in turn, the paper to give up any rights to FOIA-based litigation. The AG's office told Swedberg that while all of this was going on, enough time elapsed to basically create a default rejection of the appeal.

Now, if anyone in this building or named Nick Swedberg wants to further contest the FOIA, it'll have to be in court.

Talk about a teaser worthy of TV. Stay tuned.

OK kids, tomorrow is D-Day. We already have a lot of people signed up for this webinar with myself and Tom Ward. Tom and I will be speaking on the $8,000 tax credit. There are so many people sitting on the fence right now. Our duty tomorrow will be to educate them. Let's get them off of the fence. Some will end up not buying, but others will know without a doubt, that the time to buy couldn't be better. If you have a fence sitter, get them registered now.

If you're a consumer, and are a fence sitter. Get on this call. THis will move you off the fence to either stay and do nothing, or get your ducks in a row to go get in the game right now.I've been presenting quite a bit about the $8,000 tax credit. This is so huge for homebuyers. There are so many questions that homebuyers have.

1) Whats the difference between a tax credit and a tax break?

2) How long is this good for?

3) What are the risks for waiting?

4) Is it too late to use the credit for my 2008 taxes?

5) What issues abound that might prevent me from receiving my Tax Credit?

Join Tom Ward, the owner of Majestic Consulting, and myself, July 29th at 7:30 pm, CST for a one hour webinar to answer these specific questions live. Go to www.askcherrycreek.com/midwest.

I think that you, as the consumer, will have so much value that will answer the questions you have in a very concrete and understandable manner. We just did this two weeks ago and had over 70 realtors and financial planners join us for this presentation.

If you're a realtor who has a client sitting on the sidelines, bring them to the webinar. Solid people with concrete answers in challenging times.

See you then!

More stuff happening to negatively impact the taxpayers of Campton Hills. I just heard that the village now wants to hire more support staff and cut funding of the police department. Now, from the article below, an ex employee of Patsy Smith says....hey, pay me my money. I'm not sure why we have these issues? Could this all been rectified when Patsy terminated the employee. Evidently not. Too bad....now the taxpayers are once again exposed b/c the leadership didn't do all they could to protect them. Last week a $10,000,000 suit came against campton because of accusations of poor judgment wtih the Police Department. How much government can the citizens afford? This could be getting real expensive very quickly......

Attorneys for Campton Hills will attempt to negotiate a settlement with the village's former finance director, who claims in a lawsuit that she's owed more than $16,000 in pay, officials said Wednesday.

Kathy Catalano was removed from the position last month when trustees chose not reappoint her, according to the village. Her attorney says she quit because the village stopped paying her.

The dispute prompted Catalano to sue earlier this month, seeking about $16,300 she says the village owes her. Trustees responded late Tuesday by authorizing the negotiation of a potential settlement, said Village Attorney Bill Braithwaite, who added there's been no suggestion of financial impropriety.

"The issue before the village relates to performance matters," he said. "The village has no information at this time that would indicate anything illegal."

Catalano was hired as finance director, and appointed treasurer, after Campton Hills incorporated in May 2007. According to village officials, she was to receive an hourly rate of $45, with a cap of $30,000 in the remainder of that fiscal year, and $45,000 in the next one.

Catalano attorney Michael Kraft said Wednesday the village eventually stopped paying her. He said she is suing for more than $16,000 owed, interest and court costs.

"Like anybody who performs services and doesn't get paid, at some point in time you've got to mitigate your losses," Kraft said. "It's truly unfortunate that the village residents are once again subject to having more tax dollars spent on legal fees defending a claim to which the village has no valid defense."

Braithwaite would not discuss specifics of the issue, but officials have said Catalano billed the village for more than her contract allowed. Her lawsuit does not address a $45,000 cap.

"The village president (Patsy Smith) felt it was in the best interest of the village that (Catalano) be removed for reasons that were communicated to the treasurer and the board," Braithwaite said.

The case will be in court Aug. 11.