You may have read my recent post Foreclosure Recovery Scams in Your Area . In that post I mentioned talking with Graciela Carvajal of ACORN Housing in San Bernardino, CA . She told me that there is such a large population of minorities in this area who don’t understand not only the loan process but the foreclosure process it makes them ideal victims. During our conversation she also mentioned that since she’s Hispanic she monitors the Spanish media and is amazed and concerned by the number... Read Full Story
In the current market many homeowners are finding themselves faced with foreclosure proceedings. With the hope of catching-up the delinquent payments dwindling the only option left often becomes selling the home… quickly . Many areas have seen home values drop so that sales prices will not cover the loan balance. Don´t despair. Your lender may be willing to work with you on a short sale transaction, i.e. you can sell the home for current market value but the sale is lender approved as to... Read Full Story
There are so many mortgage & real estate scams to look out for, and they've probably always existed, but the current housing and mortgage crisis seems to be bringing out the unethical and immoral with new vigor. Each of these scams seems to be more dastardly than the next but to be honest it just depends on which one you have read about most recently. One of the predatory stings seems to involve someone representing himself as a contractor who is hired to make the necessary repairs required... Read Full Story
There was a time when being "out of touch" as just the norm, we didn't realize there was a problem. There was pagers, voice mai;, even others who could write down phone messages for us. Imagine being without our cell phone now! Yeah, we have problems with dropped calls, areas we can't get a sgnial, dropping them in the toilet, but we deal & can't imagine being out of touch. Even if we don't need them as 'road warriors', we need to be able to be reached by our kids, spouses, volunteer... Read Full Story
A recently issued report by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI) states that mortgage fraud climbed 42% in the first quarter of 2008. The lender criteria has tightened considerably so that some feel it is necessary to 'tweak' applications. The most common situations cited were General Application Misrepresentation such as debt & asset misstatements, invalid social security numbers, incorrect addresses and Employment & Income falsification. Loan applications are at an 8 year low... Read Full Story
In July 2007 Alberta and her husband signed a 2 year lease option agreement for a home in Hesperia, California only to find out 10 months later that the home was in the final stages of the foreclosure process and that it had entered default the previous December. At the same time they found out that the person being represented as the owner (landlord) was neither the property owner nor the owner’s representative. They had paid over $20,000.00 dollars to a scam artist with no hope of getting... Read Full Story
How often have you been on the road and need make a call but don't have the number burned into your memory? You certainly can't check the yellow pages while you're driving...even if you kept the phone book in your car. With wireless calls to 411 so expensive (usually ranging from $1.00 to $1.75) you begin to think about how important it is to make that call right now. Maybe there's a solution. Program the number for FREE 411 calls into your cell phone's memory - free up your memory, make... Read Full Story
(This post is a requested follow-up to my post Homeowners Also Responsible for Mortgage Fraud .) Lenders are finally on to this particular scam & are responding with even further tightening of the lending requirements ( The Wall Street Journal ). They even have the ability to sue the borrower if fraud can be shown. How Does a ‘Buy and Bail’ Scheme Work? A borrower qualifies for a loan on a second home by asserting that the first residence will be rented out to help cover the mortgage... Read Full Story
Homeowners of foreclosed properties are often so desperate to find a way clear of the situation that they can fall victims to the unscrupulous . For renters the only difference being they usually become victims much sooner and are often unaware until they find out they’re homeless. The current surge of foreclosures has been said to be the worst since the Great Depression. A shockingly increasing number of foreclosed single family homes, at least one fourth according to the California... Read Full Story
Home owners aren't the only ones who can fall victim to the foreclosure scourge.Thousands of renters are finding themselves suddenly homeless ( see this CBS news video ). Some lenders offer renters a "Cash for Keys" program others just put them out on the street. To make matters worse, renters are also falling prey to foreclosure scam artists. I talked with Doug & his wife. They had been convinced by one seemingly sincere man that he had just purchased the house and although the county... Read Full Story
