Foreclosure Digest

Many people know that you can save a lot of money on buying your new home (or an investment property) if you check foreclosure listings. Finding a good home and property listing services to provide you with this information can help you find a great deal on a home.

There are foreclosure listing services that are specific to certain areas and can give you information quickly. A free service can be very useful but paid services might offer you information quicker than it is released to the general public.

Finding a good foreclosure listings site

Look online for foreclosure listings and also do a search based on the city you are interested in which can give you more detailed results in a shorter amount of time. You may possibly find listings services that will even alert you when a new listing comes up based on your preferences.

Foreclosure does not happen overnight. The problem is too many homeowners ignore the warnings and take no action until it is too late. Don’t let that happen to you.

First month missed payment – your lender will contact you by letter or phone.

Second month missed payment – your lender is most likely going to begin calling you to discuss why you have not made your payments. It is important that you take their phone calls. Talk to your lender and explain your situation and what you are trying to do to resolve it. At this time, you still may be able to make one payment to prevent yourself from falling three months behind.

Third month missed payment after the third payment is missed, you will receive a letter from your lender stating the amount you are delinquent, and that you have 30 days to bring your mortgage current. This is called a “Demand Letter” or “Notice to Accelerate.” If you do not pay the specified amount or make some type of arrangements by the given date, the lender may begin foreclosure proceedings. They are unlikely to accept less than the total due without arrangements being made if you receive this letter. You still have time to work something out with your lender.

Fourth month missed payment – Caution – - – You are nearing the end of time allowed in your Demand or Notice to Accelerate Letter. When the 30 days ends, if you have not paid the full amount or worked our arrangements you will be referred to your lender’s attorneys. You will incur all attorney fees as part of your delinquency.

Sheriff’s or Public Trustee’s Sale – the attorney will schedule a Sale. This is the actual day of foreclosure. You may be notified of the date by mail, a notice is taped to your door, and the sale may be advertised in a local paper. The time between the Demand or Notice to Accelerate Letter and the actual Sale varies by state. In some states it can be as quick as 2-3 months. This is not the move-out date, but the end is near. You have until the date of sale to make arrangements with your lender, or pay the total amount owed, including attorney fees.

Redemption Period – after the sale date, you may enter a redemption period. You will be notified of your time frame on the same notice that your state uses for your Sheriff’s or Public Trustee’s Sale.

Important: Stay in contact with your lender, and get assistance as early as possible. All dates are estimated and vary according to your state and your mortgage company.

Watch Out for the Common Foreclosure Rescue and Loan Modification Scams

Unfortunately there are always those people out there looking to prey on people who are going through tough times. Beware of foreclosure scams. This article is well worth your time to read.

Lease-Back or Repurchase Scams -In this scenario, a promise is made to pay off your delinquent mortgage, repair your credit and possibly pay off credit cards and other debt. However, in order to do this, you must “temporarily” sign your deed over to a “third party” investor. You are allowed to stay in the home as a renter with the option to purchase the home back after a certain amount of time has passed or your financial situation improves.

The trouble is once you have signed away your rights in your property, you may not be able to repurchase the property later, even if you can and want to. After the new owner takes ownership of your property, the new owner can evict you. Furthermore, the scammer is under no obligation to sell the house back to you.

Typically, after the deed is signed away, the property changes hands numerous times. The scammer may have taken a new mortgage out on your home for hundreds of thousands of dollars more than your mortgage, making it impossible for you to buy back your home.

Partial Interest Bankruptcy Scams – The scam operator asks you to give a partial interest in your home to one or more persons. You then make mortgage payments to the scam operator in lieu of paying the delinquent mortgage.

However, the scam operator does not pay the existing mortgage or seek new financing. Each holder of a partial interest then files bankruptcy, one after another, without your knowledge. The bankruptcy court will issue a “stay” order each time to stop foreclosure temporarily. However, the stay does not excuse you from making payments or from repaying the full amount of your loan.

This complicates and delays foreclosure, while allowing the scam operator to maintain a stream of income by collecting payments from you, the victim. Bankruptcy laws provide important protections to consumers. This scam can only temporarily delay foreclosure, and may keep you from using bankruptcy laws legitimately to address your financial problems.

Refinance Scams – While there are legitimate refinancing programs available, look out for people posing as mortgage brokers or lenders offering to refinance your loan so you can afford the payments. The scammer presents you with “foreclosure rescue” loan documents to sign. You are told that the documents are for a refinance loan that will bring the mortgage current.

What you don’t realize is that you are surrendering ownership of your home. The “loan” documents are actually deed transfer documents, and the scammer counts on your not actually reading the paperwork. Once the deed transfer is executed, you believe your home has been rescued from foreclosure for months or even years until you receive an eviction notice and discover you no longer own your home. At that point, it is often too late to do anything about the deed transfer.

Internet and Phone Scams – Some scam lenders convince you to apply for a low-interest mortgage loan on the phone or Internet. They then extract vital information, such as your social security and bank account numbers. In this scam, the loan is immediately accepted, after which you start faxing the documents and sending wire transfer payments to the phony company without even meeting the lender.

Unfortunately, this scam will put you in twice as much trouble–your personal details have been stolen or sold, putting you at risk of identity theft, and your home is still at risk of foreclosure.

Phantom Help Scams – The scam operator presents himself as someone who is able to help a homeowner out of foreclosure or qualify for a government loan modification or refinance program. In exchange for his or her “services,” outrageous fees are charged and grand promises are made for robust representation, which never occurs.

The “services” performed entail light paperwork or occasional phone calls that you could easily have made yourself. In the end, you are worse off than before, because you have little or no time to save your home, or seek other assistance.

The rate of foreclosures is increasing dramatically. The banks, which had given those in danger of being foreclosed as ordered by the government, are now beginning to finalize these loans.

If you have a home in danger of being foreclosed, act quickly. You need to do everything you can to stop or halt these proceedings.

On the other hand, if you are interested in purchasing foreclosure homes, the opportunities are now at a high.

Foreclosure Rates Increasing is a good article that will bring you up to date.

You definitely need to check out other links to articles I have here immediately, no matter what your interest is in foreclosures.

Effects Of Mortgage Foreclosure In Real Estate

Even if you are not defaulting on your mortgage, you still may be feeling the effects of other mortgage foreclosure in real estate markets. It’s estimated that multiple foreclosed homes in your neighborhood can affect a 1% drop in price, however, some neighborhoods in the states with the highest foreclosure rates have dropped significantly more than that. Is it all because of mortgage foreclosure in real estate or something more?

Additional Factors In Foreclosures

In addition to the loss for a lender, the reason most prices drop in neighborhoods is not strictly because one or two foreclosures. It’s mostly because of the perception of loss that is associated with mortgage foreclosure in real estate.

Foreclosures are sometimes easy to spot as the bank with board up the house and eviction notices posted on doors. Once that happens to one owner, others may follow and that’s when it can become a neighborhood problem.

When there is a mortgage foreclosure in real estate, the owner who occupied the home often abandons the home or is evicted. Once they are gone, the mow doesn’t get cut and the house starts to deteriorate from lack of maintenance.

If the house remains empty for a long period of time, it can attract squatters and vandals. The copper piping might be stripped and the house damaged, reducing it’s market value even further.

Once there is more than one house that looks this way, nearby houses in the market can be seen as less desirable too – because the neighborhood has become less desirable on whole.

Effects Of Mortgage Foreclosure In Real Estate For Homeowners Associations

Another, often overlooked, effect is that the homeowners are no longer around to pay homeowners dues to the homeowners association. This means that as the homeowners association fund gets drained trying to keep up with foreclosed homes, other homeowners in the association may be asked to make up the difference.

This can put a strain on the entire community and eventually, if the homeowners dues get too large, they can be a source of default too.

In terms of comparable market value, most realtors will use homes in the same neighborhood to estimate the value of your home, especially if they are part of the same homeowners association group.

Once there are multiple foreclosures in the area, this can begin to drag down the value of the homes within the same homeowners association group. Even with their ability to foreclose on properties that fail to pay homeowner dues, this would be considerably more expense than most homeowners associations can afford.