Posts Tagged ‘foreclosure auctions’

Across USA about 750,000 houses went into foreclosures. There are gloomy predictions that the number will rise to more than a million in 2008. With so many houses up for foreclosure auctions and sales, the real estate market is tottering with prices plummeting. This is the natural process of demand and supply. Houses not directly affected by foreclosures are also selling off because of criminal activities in abandoned houses.

Ohio is one of the hardest hit pockets. The foreclosure crisis is raging through Ti-state neighbourhoods. Foreclosures are whimsical – not caring about economic or social brackets. A drive through Tri-state neighbourhoods will show up many For Sale signs like pock marks on an otherwise smooth skin. Analysts have no heartening news – it will get worse before it gets better.
Andy Adams is also a familiar figure in the region during these troubled times. The lenders, usually the banks, contact Andy and his team. Their job is to secure the property after the previous owners have vacated it. It is brisk business with orders rolling in without a break. Locks have to be changed. The previous owners are given about a month’s time to collect their personal belongings
There are many ways of looking at the foreclosure problem Dan Hickman representing American Mortgage Company opines that foreclosure is a standard procedure by which the market corrects itself. He admits that the industry may have over reached itself in granting credit but that alone cannot explain the magnitude of this foreclosure fiasco. There are social reasons. Life styles have changed causing rise in illness and divorce – all resulting in decrease of income. Government regulations cannot rectify things overnight. Others from the mortgage sector say that the personal responsibility factor cannot be overlooked. The borrower is obliged to make the monthly payments for a loan that has been advanced to him or her. However all agree that the tsunami proportions of the foreclosure crisis cannot be easily explained away.

It is interesting to note that foreclosures are also touching upper class localities. Andy has worked on over 70 houses during the last two months. Immediately after Christmas he has four more on his list. Andy seems to be omnipresent!

Lawmakers are in a huddle wanting to tighten lending laws and insisting on lenders providing details. The Chief Justice of Ohio is requesting lawyers to be more cooperative with the foreclosure victims.

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Organized mortgage frauds located in Atlanta seem to be a plausible explanation for the rising numbers of Atlanta foreclosures. The Wall Street Journal has reported how a fraud caucus managed to pocket $6.8 million in mortgages from Bear Stearns. A certain New York couple approached the bank with the story that they earned more than $50,000 per month as top ranking personnel of a marketing firm. They submitted statements showing assets worth $3million. In actual life the man was had an income of $105,000 per year with assets worth not more than $35,000! His wife did not have any outside income. Such a couple purchased a mansion and sold it in a foreclosure auction. Neighbours smelt a rat that led to the exposure of this foreclosure fraud ring.

According to the FBI, 28% of the mortgage agents and analysts are engaged in fraudulent activities. In 2003 the number was 7%. Lenders should know their rights and file Suspicious Activity Reports as soon as they suspect anything. Between 2000 and 2006 the reports have increased by 700%. There were 436 mortgage fraud cases in 2003. That has gone up to 1,210 this year – that is 2007.

The Prieston Group provides mortgage fraud insurance. According to their chairperson Arthur Prieston, losses from mortgage fraud in 2006 could be about $4.5 billion. It is a 100% rise from the 2005. The statistics for 2007 have not been released as yet. This organized racket is adding fuel to the fire of foreclosures. Prieston is of the opinion that in some regions more than half the foreclosures might stem from these frauds. He blames the sub-prime system of loans as ‘liar’s loans’ because no documentation was required about income statements. People merrily lied and got loans that were used in an organized manner for speculation leading to the foreclosure fiasco of today.

The Mortgage Asset Research Institute is another firm dealing with fraud protection. It said that 60% of the stated income amounts were exaggerated by more than 50%.

The net result is that with these exposures people who are self-employed and rely on stated-income loans will find it difficult in the near future to get loans to buy houses. The antics of few criminals make life hard for the many honest hardworking folks.

The main things that this fraud affair has exposed that where were the watchdogs when all this was going on?

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Of late, more and more people are showing an inclination towards buying cheap repossessed homes from foreclosure auctions. This is because this could prove to be a very profitable deal for you, if you bother to conduct adequate research and find out about the property in concern. For a majority of us, buying our own home would never be a possibility had it not been for easily available home loans, also referred to as a mortgage. Banks verify your personal details prior to sanctioning a home loan. However, despite these calculative moves, there are times that we are unable to repay our loans. This could be because of numerous unforeseen reasons, such as job lay-off, illness, divorce and countless other concerns, as such your financial situations compromised and soon the situation could be such that you are unable to repay your monthly mortgage payments. When you default for 3 months continuously, the bank takes action and starts sensing out alerts. Once you are in this situation, it is as good as counting days to your foreclosure unless you can thin of a way to arrange for the money in that period. Nevertheless, it is important to realize that a banks core competency is the money business and not real estate. As such, they opt to let professional realtors handle resale of these foreclosed properties.

Buying cheap repossessed homes from foreclosure auctions is extremely beneficial because it helps you save a substantial amount of money. The truth is banks do not really depend on profits that can be made from foreclosed property deals. As such, they are happy to simply have a property enlisted and see it go off the shelf. As such, they sell homes off at reasonable rates. Banks do not really suffer losses in doing so because in case a certain property is valued at less than the loan amount on it, banks reclaim the balance from the original buyer. Buying cheap repossessed homes from foreclosure auctions is not as easy as it sounds because there are times that such property may have impending dues or loads of renovation that needs to be taken care of. In addition, it is most likely that you are to bear these expenses. This in fact does increase your investment costs.

Another important factor when g buying cheap repossessed homes from foreclosure auctions is to check if the original owner has rights to redeem this property within 120 days. Also make sure that you enquire with the realtors involved regarding nitty-gritty’s of the property so as to ensure an actual profitable deal.

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