MARIA PEACE, M.B.A., G.R.I.

If you or someone you know is in danger of foreclosure, you might find these sites infomative.

The link below leads you to information on foreclosure prevention scams. There are a lot of people out there purporting they can keep you out of foreclosure by paying them a fee. Apparently this is quite a problem and the article states that you should never have to pay for this type of help. This site also has links to info on eligibility for loan modifications and the criteria. The second link is the actual consumer advisory link that informs you about the many types of scams.

http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/beware.html

http://www.occ.gov/ftp/ADVISORY/2009-1.html

Below is an excerpt from the first site:

"Beware of Foreclosure Rescue Scams - Help Is Free!

• There is never a fee to get assistance or information about Making Home Affordable from your lender or a HUD-approved housing counselor.
• Beware of any person or organization that asks you to pay a fee in exchange for housing counseling services or modification of a delinquent loan. Do not pay - walk away!
• Beware of anyone who says they can "save" your home if you sign or transfer over the deed to your house. Do not sign over the deed to your property to any organization or individual unless you are working directly with your mortgage company to forgive your debt.
• Never submit your mortgage payments to anyone other than your mortgage company without their approval.

The Obama Administration has launched a coordinated effort across federal and state government and the private sector to target mortgage loan modification fraud and foreclosure rescue scams that threaten to hurt American homeowners and prevent them from getting the help they need during these challenging times. "

I don't understand why banks would be opposed to having bankrutcy judges modify loan terms. I think of it this way; if there are 8 million families facing foreclosure and loans are modified to market value so people stay in their homes, wouldn't that significantly help our economy? It has been my observation that foreclosed homes sell below market value in order to get them to move plus there are additional costs besides loss of market value to the lender: loan servicer costs for attorney's, real estate commissions on sale of the home, inspector and maintenance fees, publication fees, etc.) I would say a very conservative estimate of these costs would be $20k per house. If you multiply that number by 8 million families, you get $160 trillion in additional costs to loss of market value that could be saved. I am agreeing more and more with what is unfortunately the minority in our government, that we should save these 8 million families instead of the greedy oligarchy. I am writing to my representatives and blogging in hope of making more people aware of this. Kudos to Senator Durbin for taking a stand.

I was hoping that banks had improved their attitudes and would start working with homeowners to keep them in their homes, but it doesn't seem to me like much has changed. I still feel like either they or the loan servicers are more eager to foreclosure which only contributes to the problems in the housing and economic sector. I am curious on how others are feeling. Have things been better for those of you trying to negotiate a short sale? I do hear some good stories occasionally, but the majority are bad where the banks or servicers are being total jerks and totally frustrating the homeowner so they give up and move out and say "forget it" It looks scary to me - I feel like we have a lot more foreclosures coming and feel they could be prevented.

Today I ran a search of stick built homes priced $150k or less in zip code 97701 and there were 43 listings! I remember looking hard to find one or two listings under $250k not so long ago. I wish I had money to buy a few houses now. At $150k, they would pencil as rentals. MLS statistics for the past couple of months are showing a lot of activity in this price range. I don't want to sound like a cheeseball, but now really is a good time to buy if you have money. These times are really insane-I have lived through several recessions and never remember being impacted as I have this time around. The big difference I am seeing this time, is that even people with money are holding back. Perhaps it is because most people have lost so much on their stock portfolios and perhaps real estate investments. At least some of the market is moving though.

I thought this was a pretty cool site. It has you put in your data to determine whether it is more prudent to buy or rent. Yes, even a good realtor will tell you if you should wait on buying a house. I would not want someone to get into something they can't afford and it is best to go to some independent site like this that has no interest in selling you a home or loan to get good free advice.

http://www.ginniemae.gov/rent_vs_buy/rent_vs_buy_calc.asp?Section=YPTH

Enjoy