And you thought your bank was giving you grief. The First Of America Bank in the state of Nevada is seeking control of a very popular and prominent shopping center in Las Vegas claiming that the people in charge there have not turned over the rent monies that they had collected in a timely manner and caused hardship for the investors. It is for a nearly $58 million dollar loan that the bank has outstanding for the property. At the time the loan was given in 2007 the shopping mall was at nearly 95 percent lease. Today that number has fallen to between 51 and 63 percent and the actual value of the property is currently listed at $38.5 million, nearly $20 million less than what is owed in the loan.

The folks in Atlanta seem to think that the housing market is on the way to a recovery. At least they say it is going to be a slow climb but 2010 looks like the year to them. The article shows that the area is now selling homes in the in town area at a fairly good clip and gives some optimistic views and over all outlook. The recovery, as they state, is going to be slow and a gradual climb but all the things in the Atlanta Georgia area are pointing upwards. A good deal of the increase is from the stimulus package and the tax breaks, which carry over into April of this year.

As you are reviewing the real estate news and if you’d like to have a little insight into the real estate market in the state of Florida. The New York Times gives us this article telling a very depressing and sad tale about the real estate market there. One example that they listed was a home that is in Cape Coral Florida on an outlet that empties directly into the Gulf of Mexico. A well maintained home that was sold in the year 2005 for the price of $850,000 and is listed on the market today for a mere $273,000 and is still not selling. In fact these homes have even found their way into the tourist attractions in the area because it is just plain hard to believe that something this spectacular is listed this cheaply and it is still not selling. You can review the entire article from the New York Times here:

In the state of Connecticut a family has fallen prey to the foreclosure issues facing the nation today. Their story is a little different and quite heartbreaking to read. The house has been in the family for 105 years and through a series of issues that was capped off by what appears to be nothing more than miscommunication between the lender, HSBC and the owners. They are being forced out of a home that has risen generations of member’s of this family. The owners tried working with the lender who continually assured them that they were working on it and would work it out with them and then in mid-December they got the foreclosure notice from the lender. It makes you stop and wonder how many of us could actually end up in a similar situation and quite literally through no fault of our own. They appear to have done everything right and yet have ended up on the wrong side of the statistics.

Our next article comes to us courtesy of the USA Today paper and is centered in the biggest city in the south, Atlanta. One of the newest and most posh places to stay in the city, the Mansion on Peachtree is in danger of being a victim of foreclosure in the current crisis. There are 42 stories and 127 rooms that go for as low as $269 per night. While to some of us that might seem a bit on the high side it was not over the top a few years ago. But since companies and many people as well have cut back on travel. The downturn is being felt in a big way as people cut corners and head to less expensive places to sleep.

In a rather amusing anecdote to the current foreclosure, unemployment and bankruptcy issues facing the country today we bring you thins story of the parent company of Foreclosure.com who has just filed for federal bankruptcy protection. We won’t waste a lot of time on this one. Some of you will find it worth the time to read and others won’t. Personally, I think it is worth a few moments to review.

This story is one that most homeowners today can relate to. It is about underwater mortgages and the options that you might have for refinancing your underwater real estate. The article contains some useful information and links to other areas that expound on things that are mentioned within the context of the article. While there is very limited new information available her and most of it has to do with governments “Making Homes Affordable” program. Having all of the information in one place can certainly make things easier if you are interested in checking out the options.

It’s that time of the year, when people look back at what promises were made by the folks in Washington and get ready to look at the elections due to happen. Time to look over what actually happened that was good and what was bad and to try and sort out who should be elected to help stem the tide of the bad things. This article from the Washington Independent attempts to answer the questions of who screwed up on what promises and who stands where on what in terms of how to best effect the changes that need to happen. Certainly not an earth shattering article bit one worth a few moments time to review, no doubt.

Finally this week from the New York Times we have a story about walking away from your mortgage. For the first time in history people are choosing to forego the American dream and let houses go and simply walk away. In prior years families would do whatever they need to do to be able to hold on the family homestead. Unfortunately is has become more of a moral issue where people weigh how other people will feel about the decision. No one actually cares when a financial institution makes the decision to walk away from a bad investment and let it go into foreclosure and yet if a family does it there is a social stigmatism involved. The article gives you a good meaty story to read and give you some interesting food for thought. You can find the entire story located here:

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What a difference a year can make. Things can be drastically different from one twelve month period to the next. As this article illustrates, things in Oregon are indeed a lot worse than they were in October 2008. In fact, the foreclosure rate there has effectively doubled in that amount of time. The good news here for Oregon is that even at double the rate from a year ago, they are still considerably lower in the foreclosure rate than a good portion of the rest of the country.

If you are looking for some residential or commercial real estate to purchase at foreclosure prices and would like to attend an auction where there are more than a few from which to choose, you might want to review this article and get plane tickets to Birmingham, Alabama for this coming weekend. According to the Birmingham Business Journal, there are around 200 residential commercial properties due to go up for sale at a bank forced auction this coming Saturday the 19th. Even the local Ideal building, which is appraised at nearly $900,000 dollars, will be on the auction block in this bank ordered mega-sale.

The New York Times tells us this week that even though mortgage rates hove tumbled to a point lower than they have been since the 1940s due to help from the Federal Government Bail Out program, many banks are not terribly interested in helping people out by refinancing at the lower rates. The sad part about this is that if these homeowners were allowed to do a refinance on the mortgage, they would literally save hundreds of dollars per month, which could then be used to pay down debt or to purchase things that would in turn stimulate the economy and help everyone in the long run. The story is a well-written piece that will have you wondering why the banks don’t understand this theory.

In a complete case of mismanagement, the city of Cleveland is taking some heat for the methods they used in doling out money for the Federally sponsored Making Homes Affordable program. It seems that they gave money, sometimes up to $20,000 dollars from this fund to help low income families get the down payment for a home. The problem is that when they were passing out the money for the loans they didn’t bother to see if the people they were giving it to be actually financially able to repay the loans. As a result there are a lot of them that cannot do so and the result, as you might imagine, is a quagmire of bad loans that are now being defaulted on. You can read this sad story here “”

The story from Idaho tells us that upwards of 7.4 percent of the homes here are worth far less than is actually owed on them and the numbers here are expected to continue to get worse as 2010 begins. The state of Idaho is not in great shape and more often than not the foreclosures here are going to continue to rise at an alarming rate if you believe what is written in the article at the Idaho Statesman site. While this state has not been high on the numbers list when it comes to foreclosure totals that might well change if this story is indeed an accurate assessment.

Years after Katrina the folks in New Orleans as well as the rest of the country are weathering another king of storm. One that is causing many homes to be lost just as surely as the flood waters and the winds of Katrina swallowed up and destroyed homes and lives not so long ago. This article gives a rather in depth look at the specific challenges that are facing the people of the Louisiana and New Orleans area. While it might not be information that everyone wants to read it certainly is something that I believe everyone should read to help put the current crisis in more of a perspective.

A bright spot this week comes to us by way of the Los Angeles Times business section. It seems that in the month of November that the median price of a home in the state rose 1.8 percentage point to an average of $285,000 dollars and during that same period total sales of property was up 14.7 percent from the previous month. Certainly this is encouraging news for people living there and the eyes of the country are on those figures since the state of California is in very poor shape due to the foreclosure numbers. TO be sure, the market is far from in a full rebound but the unexpected rise between October and November is certainly a welcome relief.

In this week’s Fannie Mae related story, it seems that Fannie Mae and the newly formed Cuyahoga land bank have come to terms and forged a new agreement that may or may not be of interest to you. This is especially true if you live in the Cleveland Ohio area. The folks at Fannie Mae are going to be selling homes that are in foreclosure to the land bank entity for the sum of $1. They will also contribute a total of $3,500 towards the costs of demolition for each house that isn’t going to be salvageable. From these properties it appears that the first 25 are slated to change hands between Fannie Mae and the Land Bank this month and most of those properties will end up being torn down.

In the wake of the current crisis with foreclosures, governors across the country are scurrying to find answers and solutions to help the people in their state. The governor of the State of New York has just signed in to law a new and wide reaching bill that is geared to help homeowners, tenants and even entire neighborhoods to survive the current problems facing them. There is much too much to cover in this short amount of space but you should take a few moments and review it.

Yes, if you look at the numbers things appear to be on the rise in the market and that has many people hopeful. However, if you look at the overall numbers and compare them with those of a year ago you will find that they are still up about 20 percent. That means that this crisis is still a long way from being over. The article covers some whys and gives you food for thought while keeping a somewhat positive tone. It is definitely worth a couple of moments to review.

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It seems that once again the large real estate ventures are getting into trouble and are facing the foreclosure gavel. The Twin Lakes Mall in Wichita Kansas is in dire straits and is in the process of being foreclosed on by the bank. However it looks like it should remain business as usual for the tenants of the mall and the stores should remain open and unaffected by the change. It seems that the owners are in arrears to the tune of $8.6 million dollars in back payments and interests and other fees. What seems odd is that for the most part the rough spots looked like they were over and there appears to be little in the way of explanation as to why the foreclosure happened.

Not that this will come as a surprise and not that it is something that you want to hear, but this article, which is very well written I might add, tells us about a very long and tedious recovery from the current crisis that we are in. The combination of the loss in financial wealth to the people in the country and the meteoric rise in unemployment to levels unprecedented in modern times or recorded history for both the United States of America and Great Britain are going to make the ultimate recovery slow and quite painful for both countries. The story is written from a Jamaican point of view and offers some rather interesting views from that of an outsider looking in.

With the holidays nearly upon us, much of the country is concentrating on having a festive Thanksgiving and readying for the coming celebration of Christmas. But people often forget to think that at this time of year, especially in the crisis situation that we are in, there are many families that won’t have any holiday. While most of the country suffers and you might even be one of those suffering this year. There are still plenty of people in worse shape than even you are. This story goes into some more details about how people are doing what they can to help donate food and other items this year for the people that are in dire financial straits. Many families can’t afford the basic food needs this year much less the extras that are typically associated with a holiday season. If you read this story and are untouched by the content, perhaps you should check your pulse and make sure that you are still alive.

This item comes from the Wisconsin Law Journal. It is about an attorney who has noticed a sharp decline in cases. As one might expect, if there are less cases then there is less revenue coming into the lawyers business so cash flow changes fairly substantially. What this attorney has done is to modify his practice form handling primarily civil suits to those that are more in line with the current state of the world and dealing with foreclosures and landlord – tenant issues. It is merely a case of having to adapt to make the business fit the needs of the recession and to stay viable in the mix of things. The story tells how he and other attorneys who are sole partners in their practices have had to go into areas outside of their traditional comfort zones in order to generate income to stay solvent.

This article is one that most of us need to read. It asks questions about repossession of a second home and just how safe is the money that you might have in the bank after a foreclosure. There are a lot of variables to take into account but there is some very good food for thought in this article. It certainly is a situation that a lot of people are in having to let a rental property fall into foreclosure to save the main residence they are living in but the questions that it raises are some that are of universal importance to every homeowner who is either in foreclosure or in a situation where they could fall into foreclosure. It is a must read and it will give peace of mid to some and reason to think of new avenues for other. But it is something you should see.

This story is a little ray of sunshine this week from the city of Chicago. It shows the positive aspects behind the restructuring loans program offered by president Obama. One person who is discussed in the story say his mortgage payment go from $1,800 down to $800 a month under the “Making Homes Affordable” loan Modification Plan. The article goes over several options ranging from the mortgage restructuring to foreclosure and then renting in lieu of actual home ownership and the pros and cons of both of those scenarios. The article also lists ways to help you spot a possible fraud trying to help you in these trying times.

The folks at PR web tell us about thee unveiling a new website that is going to offer folks free help, information and advice on the subject of foreclosures. This information will be available to people whom are web surfing at no charge so you can go there and become enlightened about the issues and get information that could make it easier to salvage a foreclosed property and not have to shell out your hard earned cash for that information. A lot of what is there is fairly basic but it is going to consolidate all of the needed things into one easy to locate area on the web so you aren’t running all around trying to find scattered data. It will give detailed instructions on any of the guidelines that are out there so you can review all of the options at a glance and then dig into the semantics of the offer without going anywhere else, which will be a time saver and as a result, will be a help of its own.

Scammers are beginning to get some of what is coming to them. This article from the Pennsylvania area of the country where one scammer got convicted of theft by deception for promising to work with a persons’ mortgage company to resolve the issues that were going to cause foreclosure. The woman then took the money and ran and did nothing other than a few preliminary phone calls to the other parties lending institution. As a result of the investigation from the complaint that was field the woman got arrested and convicted of Theft by Deception. What makes it worse is that she had been convicted twice before on similar charges several years ago.

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Freddie Mac has been in trouble for a long time. For the last three months since Ed Halderman joined the board of trustees he has been working to steady the stability of the struggling company. He is a mere 70 years of age and is the executive director of the board of trustees at Freddie Mac. His main objective here is to boost President Obamas’ image and to make as many home restructurings happen as he can in order to lower the foreclosure rate in our country. His primary focus since arriving there in August has been to get as many of the employees there behind this objective and working towards that end.

Speaking of President Obama. On Friday last week he signed into law a new bill giving a total of $24 million in the form of an economic stimulus bill that is ear marked for prospective homebuyers and the people who have been unemployed for the long haul. The bill also included some tax cuts aimed at stabilizing some businesses out there that are having a rough time. He says that there is more coming and he will not – and I paraphrase him here –going to stop until everyone that wants to be working a job is working a job. The long term unemployed rate is at the largest number that it has been since 1948 and this bill is going to add between 14 and 20 more weeks of benefits to people that have already seen those benefits expire or were due to have them end by years end.

The Michigan website mLive.com brings us the story here that says that today with the economy that more landlords are unlawfully discriminating against families than at any time in history. One woman in Grand Rapids went to rent an apartment for her and her three children and was told that the security deposit would be twice what was originally quoted due to the children and the potential for destruction of the premises. Complaints on this type of problem in the state of Michigan alone are up nearly twice as much already this year over what they were for all of last year. The article goes on and shows blatant examples of discrimination that has actually been placed in ads posted by potential landlords.

The Los Angeles Times Business section brings us this story about the tax credit. There are a lot of people out there that have bought homes in this market and a good portion of them have done so due to the $8,000 tax credit that has been offered to them on that purchase by the Federal Government. This article spells out quite concisely the terms that conditions that you have to meet in order to cash in on this first time homebuyers credit. Especially since it has been modified to include not just the first time buyers. There are a lot of new rules, timelines and a whole new category. The income requirements were changed and there is a lot in the mix not that can and will affect your ability to get that credit or not.

Just when you thought that things couldn’t get worse, ABC News reports to us that even though we all feel bad about the recession and the problems that it has on humans. It is also putting the major cities in the country a risk of being over run by rodents. Rats to be a little more precise. The top two cities in the country when in comes to the invasion of the furry critters is not surprisingly New York City and the number two city, oddly enough is the City of Atlanta. The city as it turns out has a very high poverty rate of over 20 percent and a foreclosure rate that is five times that of the national average. This is a very well written and though provocative article that people should read, even if you happen to not be in one of the top cities.

Many people actually are buried so far into the houses that are the family dwellings that they often are unable to pay both the first and the second mortgages. So what does happen in this situation where you are upside down to the point that if you didn’t pay the second mortgage? Well, while it is still an option for a second mortgage holder to initiate a foreclosure on the property it is unlikely that they would do so because all the profits would go to pay the first mortgage leaving them out in the cold. However, it is going to have a long reaching effect on your credit score and so it would be wise to not follow that route if it can be avoided.

Fannie Mae has announced a new plan that they hope will be successful in many ways. It is known as a deed for lease program. This article walks you through the ins and outs of it all but in a nutshell it allows you to avoid foreclosure by signing a lease that allows you to actually stay in the home rather than to be foreclosed on. It is a case of desperate measures being designed to fit these desperate times that we are living through in this country today. In order for the homeowner to qualify it must be the primary residence and they must not be able to qualify to get the loan restructured. The new lease is good for 12 months and then may be done monthly there after and can not exceed more than 31 percent of the persons income. While it is not the best option, it beats being booted out of your home.

This story is all about the Home Loan Modification program. You can go here and get some quick information about the people interested in it. The interesting tidbit that jumped out at me is the one that pointed out that every time a home is foreclosed, the rest of the homes in that immediate neighborhood lose an average of 9% of the value that they had.

Finally the folks in Mouseland in Florida, fondly known as the Orlando area, are currently ranked as the ninth highest in foreclosures in the United States of America. While the rest of the Sunshine state has seen a nice decline in the rates, the area around Orlando continues to skyrocket in the numbers.

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In the first story this week is a fourth grader who asked president elect Obama “Why do people hate you?” President Obama was making his first Presidential visit to New Orleans this week and, while there, he attended a town hall meeting. During Thursday’s meeting, the 44th President answered some tough questions but the toughest question of all came from the 9-year-old fourth grader. The story fills in some of the gaps as to what the president is thinking and gives us an insight as to how his thought process goes.

If you, like millions of other Americans in this country, are considering the purchase of a foreclosure, either to personally live in it or turn it into profit, then you definitely will want to review this story. It walks you through what it considers to be the seven steps you need to take when purchasing a foreclosure so you don’t end up losing from these types of deals. The guidelines are just some rules that you can follow. But if you follow the outlined steps, they claim that you can easily save 50 percent off a home’s actual value and, in many cases, end up with property at as much as twenty percent below what property in any given area is actually selling for at that moment. Twenty percent lower than fifty percent is an astonishing deal.

We all know that this country, if not the world, is facing a major mortgage and housing crisis. That is no secret. But how bad do people think the housing market will become? If you believe what is written here in this article, those numbers are going to become absolutely staggering. According to the story 25 million is about where it could and should end up at the current rate and following the foreclosure forecasts. In fact, at the current rate of files, a new foreclosure is filed about every ten seconds in this country alone. Even though things have slowed a small bit, we’re not out of the woods. Six states account for 62% of the nation’s foreclosure activity: California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois and Michigan.

In a story from the Grand Rapids Michigan press we find that over half of the nearly 14,000 homeless people in western Michigan are homeless for the first time in their lives. The story tells of the bad side about living in the Great Lakes state and how the stereotypical homeless person has become a drug addict. However, today you are more likely to find a family that was not long ago a middle-income group living in a comfortable home before a job loss caused them to slip into a poorer category.

CBS News brings us a new story about things we never think about-the housing market in Michigan and how it affects its inhabitants. It seems that the officials there are concerned that the more than 40,000 newly foreclosed and emptied homes in the Detroit area are going to become targets, especially with Halloween approaching, by arsonists. It seems that there have been rashes of fires that have been called arson lately and they expect that the numbers are going to go higher as people just do things they never would have ordinarily done. In fact, some people even suspect that the folks that were evicted might decide to ignite their old homes figuring if they can‘t have it, no one will.

It seems that the previously affluent area around Fishers, Indiana near Indianapolis has been extremely hard hit with the present crisis in the foreclosure market. Plans for a water park that was to be built in the area has been hit for yet another time with financial issues that have left the future of the entire project in doubt and jeopardy. The developer of the proposed $80 million project is facing foreclosure on the property while adjoining land, critical to the project’s development, has been scheduled for liquidation by a lender. The project was to be known as Paradise Bay and was to be constructed on the former Britton Golf Course site at State Road 37 and East 131st Street, but is roughly two years behind schedule leaving speculation to the fact that it may never see the light of day.

You might think that there would be ways that foreclosures could be stopped. The reality is that there are recent reports that show that some people who could stop foreclosure on mortgage loans are not doing so because lenders are finding financial advantages in avoiding modification programs. The report, which was produced by the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), noted that mortgage service providers may find it more cost effective to encourage people to go into foreclosure rather than enroll them in home modification programs. It is disturbing for most people to find out that these service providers are not doing their job.

This week we’re going to end on a happier note than usual. This is a story about a lender, Bank of America who chose not to foreclose on an elderly couple that has been in the home for over forty years. The wife is terminally ill and they were about to be evicted, until Bank of America stepped in. They used an unusual tactic that is being used on occasion to help some debt-strapped seniors locked into exotic mortgages known as option ARMs from losing their homes and saved the couple. The loan modification has made it possible for the elderly couple to remain in their home almost payment free. They set them up with a reverse mortgage the bank paid the proceeds to its self. A reverse mortgage is a form of equity loan available to older homeowners that generally doesn’t need to be repaid until after the homeowner dies. That means he can remain in his home without having to make mortgage payments. When he dies, the house goes back to Bank of America, and his heirs can choose to buy it back for the $85,000 plus interest and fees. Or, if the heirs choose to walk away, the bank can sell the house, and any proceeds above the loan amount would go to Mr. Garcia’s family.

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It seems that after how many months of actual crisis levels in the real estate and mortgage markets that the state of West Virginia lawmakers are finally willing to go on record to say that they have a major problem in the state’s east panhandle. This article is interesting to read whether you are from that state or not because it illustrates how to become aware of the goings on in your state’s real estate market.

If you have done any research online, articles about foreclosures usually tell people how bad things are in places like California, Florida and Nevada, which are the top three places in the country for foreclosure. You most likely also know that businesses all over are taking a huge hit during these trying times. There have been loads of stories that link the crisis we are in today to some bills that were signed by a Bill, Bill Clinton to be precise. However, there is much in this particular article that you should take the time to read; it contains much useful knowledge for anyone interested in the foreclosure market.

Everyone has heard of the Habitat for Humanity and they know what they do. This story won’t shed any new light on this organization, but it does show how one particular area has taken foreclosures and merged with the idea of this product to create an organization that can do something with both. The Habitat for Humanity is acquiring foreclosed homes in this country, flipping them through renovation, and employing people to work on these homes. The organization wants lower-income families to be able to buy homes. Furthermore, Habitat for Humanity has created winning combination of need and delivery in and around Austin.

At this point in time, the debt that people have rung up on credit cards is staggering. In order to keep from drowning in financial woes, many people are living on credit cards so that they can afford to funnel the existing cash into the mortgage payment. The problem here is that the credit cards quickly become a nightmare once they rack up higher interest. This article also shows you the four options you have when it comes to controlling credit card payments. They cover things like, Home Equity Loans, Unsecured Loans, Credit Card Balance Transfers and as a last resort, Debt Consolidation Companies while going over the pros and the cons of each.

Ever wonder if is cheaper to build a new home or redo an existing dwelling? That is a valid question. In some parts of the country, the cost of building materials and labor has become pretty low. However, it is still, hands down, better to buy a house in bad condition and fix it up. This is because many brand-new homes today cost an exorbitant amount. However, you can still get a decent place for under $50,000 in most areas – that is at least half of what a place usually cost the original owner. Even if you put $25,000 down on a foreclosure home, you are still getting  a fantastic place at a lower price. This types of houses can become especially profitable once the real estate market rebounds and prices rise.

The state of Georgia has been hit hard because there were way too many houses being built at the height of the boom and now with so many in foreclosure there is a lot of good homes sitting empty and barren.  The recent visit by the new AFL-CIO president focused on the issue of the economy and the loss of family housing in this state. The president has come to realize that they need to support the average worker, not the business executives at major companies.

There are figures available for everything in this crisis. You can find out what state and what town has been hit the hardest and which sector of the people have been hit the worst economically speaking. One of the states hit hardest by the economy is California, a state that has been ravaged by the crisis almost since before day one. The Asian community is also the worst off demographic in this state. This is significant because, according to this article, one out of every three Asian homeowners live in the state of California. Usually, Asian minorities have higher incomes than other minority groups, which is why this fact is surprising.

So, how bad is the delinquent rate on your average FHA loan these days? The answer may  surprise you even if you know the state of the mortgage industry. The most recent estimates are that around 22.9 percent of all federally funded FHA loans are now either delinquent or in a state of foreclosure. Those are not estimates or guesses. This is actually based on actual numbers that experts have drawn up.  Numbers are also continuing to increase as well, which does cause one to wonder whether the people in Washington know what they are doing.

In one of the most advanced countries on the planet, you wouldn’t think that a story like this would even be possible. Even though the general public continues to have problems paying off bills and mortgages, government still does nothing about it, although they claim they can fix the problem . Unfortunately, this article in the Los Angeles times is just such a story about a woman who left the service and now is not getting pretty much anything that was promised to her by the government as far as education benefits or housing help or anything.

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It has gotten to the point now where we are starting to see the foreclosures actually coming in on the normal homeowners rather than just the ones that have a long history of issues, which made up the foreclosure numbers for a long time. The first people hit were the ones that lost jobs and had over priced property with two and three mortgages that were well above what they could ever afford but that were led into the over mortgage situation by easy to get no verification loans.
Today the people that are getting hit are the people that have done things the right way and have scraped and pulled together money to be able to make the payments and they for the most part even have some equity in the property but through holes in the system the houses they own are being auctioned off. One particular case in Maryland is particularly disturbing and everyone needs to take a few moments to review it so they can be forewarned.

Whenever there is trouble someone is going to try and find a way to scam people and make money off the situation. The state of Michigan is in bad shape as far as the foreclosure market goes and as one might expect, there is a very high number of available scams being offered to the people in that state to try and save their homes. As people grasp at straws and attempt to save the family homes they are more likely to fall for something that they ordinarily would not even consider, such is the case on what is happening in every state but there is a high concentration of the issues in Michigan, If you are a homeowner it would be wise of you to read this article and be prepared if you should ever be in these situations.

The state of Florida has been one of the top states in foreclosure numbers ever since the crisis began. There is a little light on the horizon today. If you are facing foreclosure in Florida there are companies available to you that can help you in not only preventing foreclosure, but prevent a foreclosure on your credit report as well. The story helps guide you through what is happening and lets you know more details and specifics on the program and what you can do to try and take advantage should you be in need of the service and live there. Click the link and go to the story here:

The United States Treasury Department has said just recently that over six million families are likely to face foreclosure over the next three years. These are some scary numbers for people that are already living life more or less in a day –by-day fashion. Jobs are unsteady and the truth is that in the world the way that it is today most anyone reading this could be the next one to get a notice from the mortgage company saying that they are being foreclosed upon.

Everyone is aware of the short-term damage that a foreclosure can do. It is going to be reflected in the financial well being of the homeowner and on the faces and the minds of the families that are forced to go through it regardless of the reasons for it. What many don’t stop and think about is the long-term damage that is done to the children that are living through the foreclosure. Not only are there going to be emotional scars from the trauma of losing a home that is most likely the only one they have eve known. It is also causing the stability of the family unit to be shaken and that can have some long reaching effects on the children as they grow up. These effects may well reach well into and past the inevitable recovery of the economy.

If you are looking for some ideas to help stop foreclosure from entering your life there may be some information here in this article that will be of some use to you. Is certainly gives you some information of refinances that you may not have considered. While the terms guarantee and such do appear from time to time within the body of the text I would recommend taking it with a grain of salt. There is certainly some useable and plausible information there that will give you some options that might help you stay off a foreclosure and there is certainly some things in there that will give you some other ideas that might help you come up with some creative options. All in all it is a well crafted story that will not be a waste of time to look over and might even be of some use down the line.

The state of California enacted a moratorium on foreclosure and prices for them back on June 15th of this year. It was enacted and set to last for ninety days meaning that it just ended and things are going back to the way they were. The people in the state of California are uncertain of what effect that is going to have but the experts agree that there will likely be a striking increase in the number of new foreclosures now that it is over.  Some people think that it is going to have prices dropping like a rock and others think that the pricing of foreclosures is going to rise. The one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that it is likely to be a very unpredictable fall and winter in the state of California.

This one comes from the New York Times and gives everyone a bit of a breath of good news or at least semi good news. Part of the problem in the country today is that the price of new homes is so low that it tends to make people want to buy the new rather than the existing houses. However the price index indicates that the price of new homes is rising, this means that the existing housing market will look better and the values should rise meaning that more people will again begin to see some equity build up in the homes that they own. That really is a nice way to say that the houses people already own are hopefully going to be worth more money very soon if the trend continues and that extra build up in equity in the property could have a good effect on the overall foreclosure market. If the trend continues then people should be able to start selling houses and getting out from under the threat of foreclosure.

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Number five in the nation in foreclosure activity has been announced for the first six months of the year and the award goes to the Inland Empire area with Las Vegas Paradise taking the honors for the number one most active location in the United States of America. This is certainly not an honor that I am sure the people in the area are fond of taking but one that they are none the less going to be stuck with.

In the New York Times this week we found the story of folks on the upper end of the real estate food chain that are hitting on hard times and having to liquidate the mansions that they have owned. One gentleman, Mr. Jack Warner watched as his $14 Million Dollar Mansion near Key West, Florida overlooking the Gulf Coast was sold at auction for $2.5 Million which was less than he needed to keep himself out of bankruptcy proceedings.

Renting in order to own a home was the way a lot of families attempted to latch onto the American dream prior to the problems that we have seen lately with the market. The theory worked well. The owner held the mortgage note and the folks paid him and a predetermined amount of each payment went towards the purchase of the home. Well, when the crisis came down, the people that actually owned the homes were left unable to pay the mortgage and defaulted on the loan and left the people who were renting to own holding an empty bag as tenants and as a result they were forced into eviction from the foreclosed home.

California was always known in the United States as the Golden State. A Place where dreams came true. People moved here to attempt to make it big in Hollywood on the silver screen and business was good and the beaches were sunny and warm. Since the real estate crash California has turned into a land of broken dreams and unemployed people, a lot of who used to be in the movie industry and are now simple a part of the states massive unemployment rate of over 12 percent. Businesses are closing, homes and property is being repossessed and the state government is trying to take care of the bills with the shrinking tax revenue by handing out I.O.U. notes to people.

Lady Lake Florida appears to resemble a tropical jungle lately more than a piece of paradise. That is because with all the lost homes and foreclosures there the places are just getting too overgrown for the county to keep up with and as a result there are un-kept yards looking more like an abandoned shack than a former nice neighborhood. As a result the government is looking into options and laws, much as the rest of the country is, to hold the banks and other foreclosure entities accountable for the clean up or the cost of county enforced clean up. The process seems to be effective and having a positive impact on the problem. You can assess the details by logging in and reading the story here:

The Fox station in Chattanooga, Tennessee reports this and as strange and stupid as this one is, a family in Michigan, is in danger of losing their house to the Bank of America for missing a total of seven cents on a mortgage payment in February. It was apparently the error of a Postal clerk who rounded out the amount on a money order for the payment and missed the .07 amount and the family didn’t catch the discrepancy. As a result the bank purchased the foreclosed mortgage for less than forty three thousand dollars and they now need to figure out what to do and they have six months to get it taken care of. Local media and legal entities are getting involved. It just seems like something should be able to be done for small amounts that appear to be an honest oversight. The story is available to read here:

Anyone that might be looking into purchasing a foreclosed home should take a quick read on this story because is points out something that you don’t really think about when you are buying a home. It is the mold infestations that seem to be becoming more prevalent in these foreclosed houses. The houses stay empty for a period of time, it gets wet and humid out when these places were used to having climate-controlled interiors and mold takes hold and grows rapidly. Unfortunately some folks are deathly allergic to mold and even a healthy person can become ill if the mold concentration is high enough. This one is work a few moments to investigate and you can read it here:

The star of the Bravo television stations series “Real Housewives of Atlanta” Lisa Wu-Hartwell is the third set of folks from that show to fall victims to the recent real estate issues and end up losing a home to foreclosure. It looks like they have re-settled in another place on ten acres and own it free and clear but it does go to show that there is not anyone that is immune to this crisis. The story is found here:

While purchasing a foreclosure, many times for far less than the actual value of the property can be a tempting investment for people. There can be a whole series of possible problems and downfalls that the person or persons need to take into account before they sign on the proverbial dotted line and purchase one. Remember one thing that will ring fairly consistent is that these are foreclosed homes and the people that vacated them for the most part left under bad scenarios and as a result there may be costly repairs and damages that will need to be addressed. Also you need to make sure that there are no loans or liens outstanding that you might end up assuming. This article points out a lot or possible issues and problems that you might want to consider and should be read by anyone looking to purchase a foreclosure. It is located here:

Another interesting approach to the blight of foreclosed homes that are affecting the country comes from Tampa Bay. The city here has started buying the foreclosed properties with city money and then sending in the bulldozers and leveling the homes where they will rebuild new homes to rent. They are also slating money to purchase and revitalize more of them. This is an unusual approach but one that is being watch by other cities to see how it fairs. The article is worth a once over and can be found and read here:

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NBC News reported that one bright spot in the housing crisis actually favors first time homebuyers. Houses that were out of reach for a lot of people or people looking to buy in better neighborhoods for a long time found it unobtainable. The recent trouble in the real estate market has made it easier for this segment of the country to actually get into the homes that they are after because the prices are now where they can afford to get them. One person in Phoenix could not afford owning a home a year ago. Just recently he ended up purchasing a home that was valued at $220,000 last year and the price he paid this year was only $82,000. In fact the purchases made so far this year show that over 53 per cent of the purchases were to first time home purchasers.

In Washington, the Federal Housing Authority is scheduled to ask Congress for nearly $800 million dollars to help prop up the housing market with mortgage programs specifically for senior citizens. It seems that the FHA is concerned about reverse mortgages since the cost of housing is falling. A house that a senior may have had insured for $200,000 may well end up selling for less after they die than the reverse mortgage actually owes on it and that could be a real concern in the market as it stands today.

Out of Florida more people are being forced out of their homes in Pinellas Park than ever before. According to the St. Petersburg Times the local police begin making the rounds and trying to set up shelter for the homeless as early as 5 AM each day. At seven o’clock they know how many beds are going to be available at the local shelters and they begin trying to make sure as many are accommodated as they can. This is as much to get the people off the street for safety as it is for humanitarian reasons.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that three people were indicted in a tax scheme, which involved high value homes. The scheme involved tax evasion and kickbacks for the builder and several other things that the FBI is documenting and re-creating through the reconstruction of shredded documents. The overall valuation of the fraud is in the multi-million dollar level and may well climb higher as the FBI and IRS dig farther into the case. One home alone was 28,500 square feet, nine bedrooms and nine baths. So we are not talking small humble cottages.

The Fox News Network in the twin cities of Minneapolis St. Paul in Minnesota report on a program whereby Dakota County is offering a foreclosure workshop to help people who are worried about being foreclosed upon by giving them free advice that tells them of plans and available options and answers questions that they might have about impending foreclosures.

This is a positive story. It tells you how to deal with it. The fact that there are three steps to dealing with foreclosure and they are not to blame your self, look over all the options and try not to worry. The article explains how you can do this and finally that you need to get as much information as you can. Knowledge is the one thing that can make it all easier to deal with. The whole country is in this mess and being stressed will only make it worse.

The Pittsburgh Gazette brought us a piece about HGTV and the show that might literally save people’s homes. This particular article focuses on a California home where the prize money for winning is $250,000. The issue here is that the particular home in the competition for the TV show can be saved from the foreclosure if they win. If they are not the winners, then the house that they are living in may fall into foreclosure and the woman that lives there and her two teenage children might end up on the streets. The market is putting an interesting spin on this particular challenge without actually trying.

This one proves that no one is beyond the touch of the current market problems. Victoria Gotti, daughter of the famous mafia boss John Gotti is losing her 4.2 million dollar Long Island mansion to the foreclosure system. It seems that she is $650,000 in arrears and has not made a mortgage payment since September of 2006. The Daily News reports that JP Morgan Chase is foreclosing on the mansion, which was featured heavily in the reality TV show, “Growing Up Gotti”.

Fox ten brings us the story in Alabama where the state bar and the legal services department there have joined forces to try and help people in that state be able to stay in the home that they own and to help stay off the foreclosures of them. This is a plan that is of no cost and should help people stay in the homes they own and hopefully will lower the burden on the legal and foreclosure system in the state of Alabama.

NBC Channel 4 brings us a story out of Central Ohio where lawmakers are trying to pass a six-month moratorium on home foreclosures and would give the courts the next three years to modify the mortgage agreements. It also will allow the homeowners to stay in the home after it is foreclosed and would set up a trust fund to help them financially. If it passes both the house and the senate of the state of Ohio it will bring much needed relief to the people of that state.

The Miami Herald says that foreclosures there continue to soar and between March and April they increased as much as 124 per cent in Broward County. The steep increase in percentages is largely due, according to the articles sources, to the speed with which the lenders are foreclosing on the properties there. It appears that the banks have begun making quick decisions about whom they are and who they are not going to help.

Finally this week, from the Associated Press – the Obama administration has announced that they are going to expand the mortgage aid program to help the American people out during this crisis. The new things include new ways to help the homeowners by letting them sell the home for less than it is worth, which is known as a short sale or give it back without repercussion which is a deed in lieu of foreclosure. The official announcement is forth coming but it all looks promising.

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ForeclosureListings.com has a comprehensive, searchable database of foreclosures in areas like Columbus, Bronx, Derry, Missoula and in the whole country. Try to search foreclosures by state today! Foreclosure Recap – Week #19