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Mike Mueller

Project Lifeline

02-12-08
Mike Mueller

Project Lifeline

Will it help?

Project Lifeline? It's an addition of the Hope Now Alliance.

If you are 90 or more days late on your mortgage this new "plan" is aimed at you. Typically a lender doesn't even start the process before the loan is 90+ days delinquent.

6 large lenders are said to be on board. They will stall the foreclosure proceedings for 30 days and give you a chance to catch up, refinance, short sell or modify your loan.

Not sure about other states but here in California the homeowner has the right to postpone the trustee sale. It's not complicated, you just have to ask.

Did you know that?

What's more, many times the Lender will grant them a postponement of 90 days!

Isn't this better information that should be delivered to the homeowners instead?

Are you surprised? Ready for another bigger surprise?

The Homeowner can postpone up to three times!

Hank PaulsonFor Californians, I see this new plan as completely unnecessary and a bogus.

The only thing I heard that sounded new or different was something inferring that there might be a possibility of freezing ARM rates for 5 years.

What do you think?

Has Stockton Run Out?

02-12-08
Mike Mueller

Has Stockton Run Out?

Our Red Headed Step Child Poor Stockton, CA.

We saw 60 Minutes, we read all the news, everyone knows or has heard that Stockton IS the

Foreclosure Capital of the U.S.

Is that because the good people of Stockton all got together and decided to call themselves that? No.

Maybe there was a contest, poll or election? Nope.

It was the media that planted the moniker on the city. I always assumed it was based on raw numbers. Maybe it was. I can't tell.

Yesterday I was working on a project and pulled the entire current list of Notice of Default filings for the entire State of California. It was dated Feb 5th.

As I was compiling numbers I noticed something strange.

Stockton, and it's county (San Joaquin) seemed lower than what I expected to see.

By City:

Antioch: 85
Bakersfield: 143
Elk Grove: 63
Fontana: 107
Hayward: 99
Modesto: 149
Oakland: 171
Sacramento: 326
Stockton: 110
Tracy: 50
Vallejo: 63

By County:

Alameda: 460
Contra Costa: 339
Orange: 334
Sacramento: 512
San Joaquin: 212
Santa Clara: 174
Sonoma: 273
Stanislaus: 276

If the title wasn't bestowed upon them based on sheer numbers, maybe it was something else.

Was it Per Capita?
Per Capita would make perfect sense. The number of foreclosures per person? Maybe it was per household?

Stockton has an estimated 290,141 people (2006) according to CityData,
while Sacramento sits at 453,781 according to the same site.

Sacramento is slightly less than twice the size of Stockton, yet our state capital had 3 times the number of filings!

I realize this is only a one week sampling. I can pull a new list later today.

Is it just because the media thinks they are the proverbial Red Headed Step Child of the central valley? There is a finite number of homes that can be foreclosed on. That leads me to wonder...

Is Stockton actually running out of homes to foreclose on?

Just thinking.

Stimulus Package Confusion?

02-08-08
Mike Mueller
I had to laugh this morning.

If you pulled up Google news this morning and did an easy search for "Stimulus Package" you were served up a great visual.

stimulusnews

How great is that?

So before you go off the handle let's see what really happened.

First of all let's remember we have two bodies of legislature that create law, the House of Representatives (Congressmen) and the Senate (Senators).

Here's where the confusion started - Both the Congress and the Senate had their own different versions of the plan that they were working on.

What happened that confused so many was that the Senate REJECTED their version, APPROVED the House version.

Today both sides are getting together to hammer out a couple of fine details.

From there it goes to the President for signing.

You can get a synopsis of everything that goes on in both bodies in the Daily Digest

Now we can all refer to the Stimulus Package in a well defined way, H.R. 5140

What's in HR 5140 for you? It contains the Rebate Checks.

What's in HR 5140 for me? I'm interested in the increase for Conforming Loan Limits.

Maybe you should be concerned about that as well.

Local E-Waste Recycling Helps School

02-07-08
Mike Mueller

And it helps you too!

E-WasteE-Waste

Our local High School, Ygnacio Valley High is sponsoring an E- Waste recycling event this weekend.

This is a fund raiser for the Y.V.H.S. Music Boosters.

The event is absolutely FREE!

There's No Limit to the amount you can bring.

They'll be open Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

DID YOU KNOW?

If you took your average sized monitor to the local dump they will charge you anywhere from $35 to 50 dollars per piece just to dispose of it. (they can't just bury it in the landfill)E-Waste

The actual recycling is done by a professional company www.UnWaste.com

They gather, crush, shred, and then sort the material. The heavy metals are separated, anything that can be (like the plastic) is recycled, and there is even small tiny bits of gold that your E-Waste contains. Go ahead and just try and get that out!

IT'S CALLED A BENEFIT FOR A REASON

While the event is FREE, our kids would appreciate any donations - every dollar you donate goes directly to the kids music programs! Let's just say with the recent budget cuts, they really need it!

Your donation is also tax deductible.

The Music Booster Organization carries a 501(c)(3) designation - just ask for a receipt!

I'll be helping both days, stop by and say HI!

Need directions? Here's a map:



View Larger Map

Need more help getting here?

Latitude: 37.936717
Longitude: -122.023184
Coordinates: 37.936717, -122.023184
N37 degrees 56.20302, W122 degrees 1.39104

Ok, maybe the GPS is a little too geeky.

The point is - It's a a win win for all sides!

See you there!