Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Back in April I first did a post on avoiding foreclosure and loan modifcation scams but record numbers of homeowners facing foreclosures and foreclosure scams on the rise I thought it was worth talking about again.
The Federal Reserve , in a public service announcement, published “5 Tips for Avoiding Foreclosure Scams”:
- Work only with a nonprofit, HUD-approved counselor
- Be sure the counseling agrency is on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s list of approved agencies. HUD’s website has a searchable list of approved housing counseling agencies. If you prefer you can call 877-483-1515 to check the HUD list.
- Don’t pay an arm and a leg
- You should NOT have to pay hundreds–or thousands– of dollars. Most HUD-approved housing counselors provide no-cost counseling services and many more provide low-cost counseling. Do not agree to work with a counselor who collects a fee BEFORE providing you with any services or who accepts payment only by cashier’s check or wire transfer.
- Be wary of “guarantees”
- A reputable counselor will not guarantee to stop the foreclosure process, no matter what your circumstances. Working with a legitimate counselor can certainly increase your chances of keeping your home–but be wary of people who promise a sure thing. Again, get the details of your transaction, along with any promises, in writing first.
- Know what you are signing-and be sure YOU sign it
- Don’t let a counselor pressure you to sign paperwork you haven’t had a chance to read through carefully or that you don’t understand. Don’t sign any blank forms or let “the counselor” fill out forms for you. Be sure to talk with an attorney before signing anything that transfers the title of your home to another party.
- If it sounds goo good to be true, it probably is.
- If you feel you may be the target or victim of foreclosure fraud, trust your instincts and seek help. For tips on spotting scam artists, visit the Federal Trade Commission’s webpage on foreclosure rescue scams. Report suspicious schemes to your state and local consumer protection agencies, which you can find on the Federal Citizen Information Center’s Consumer Action Website.
Dennis Norman
By: Dennis Norman
Yesterday Beazer Homes USA reached a $50 million settlement with the United States over charges of mortgage and accounting fraud.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Charlotte issued a press release giving the details of the settlement as follows:
- Beazer and its subsidiary, Beazer Mortgage Corporation, admitted to engaging in several fraudulent mortgage origination practices, including:
- Fraudulently retaining so-called “discount points” that should have been used to provide some home-buyers with a decrease interest rate
- Fraudulently informing some home-buyers that they were receiving a “gift” from a charity to cover their down-payment when, in truth, the price of the home was increased to offset the supposed “gift”.
- Fraudulently circumventing the “Neighborhood Watch” and “Credit Watch” programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to avoid action from HUD in response to the high foreclosure rate of some Beazer Mortgage offices; and
- Instituting a strategy of willful blindness with regard to some stated income loans.
- Under the deferred prosecution agreement Beazer reached with the government, Beazer agrees to pay $10,000,000 immediately toward restitution for victimized home-buyers, and additional money as Beazer recovers financially, up to $50,000,000.
I scoured the press release as well as the DOJ website trying to find information on how consumers that bought a Beazer home and feels they were a victim of this apply for restitution but I couldn’t find anything. If I find it I’ll publish it when I do.
First off, my usual disclaimer…I am not an attorney and this is not intended to be legal advice or a legal opinion.
Dennis Norman
Now that we have that out of the way lets talk about options that may be available to you if you are one of the 20% of homeowners that a recent study says owes more on their mortgage than their homes are worth.
If you do find yourself in this situation fortunately today there are some options available worth considering:
- See if you qualify for the Making Home Affordable Loan Modification Plan. This program is for those homeowners that are struggling to make their payments, or may have even missed a payment or two, but could make their payments if the amount was reduced. To complete a short questionnaire and find out if you may be eligible for this click here.
- If you have an FHA loan you may wish to contact a HUD approved counseling agency to explore what options may be available to you.
- For an extensive list of resources that are available please see my post “Help for homeowners facing foreclosure“. Read more…
Today the U.S. Department of Commerce reported new home starts for March were down 10.8% from February and down 48.4% from a year ago.
This is a sharp contrast to last months numbers which showed a 22% increase over January. However, like I said in my post last month, I don’t think the increase was necessarily good news with regard to the real estate market as inventories are still high and sales are still sluggish…it’s not time to ramp up the building yet.
By: Dennis Norman
Dennis Norman
Effective April 1, 2009, FHA will lower the amount you can borrow when refinancing your home loan if it is a “cash-out” refi. The term “cash-out” simply means you are borrowing more than your existing debt…thereby resulting in you getting “cash-out” of your home’s equity.
In the past FHA has allowed you to borrow up to 95% of the value on a cash-out refi but, effective April 1st, they will limit the loan to 85% of the value of your home.
Other requirements that FHA imposes on this type of refinancing include: Read more…
By: Dennis Norman
Today the US Census Buruea and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a report on December new home starts, permits and completions.
Once again the numbers in all three categories dropped. Building permits for privately-owned housing units at an annual rate of 548,000 for December fell 10.7% from November and was 50.6% Read more…
By: Dennis Norman
Today the US Census Buruea and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a report on December new home starts, permits and completions.
Once again the numbers in all three categories dropped. Building permits for privately-owned housing units at an annual rate of 548,000 for December fell 10.7% from November and was 50.6% Read more…
By: Dennis Norman
Let me just start by saying “yeah, sure” in reply to my headline. I copied the headline of this post from several websites I found advertising that you could buy government homes for “pennies on the dollar”, at “cheap” prices, “HUGE discounts” and so forth. Many of these sites charge you to reveal to you these government bargains.
I’m not saying there are not good opportunities occasionally to purchase property at a good price from the government, I just don’t think most the deals are at the huge discounts advertised by some sites. In addition, while finding information on government owned property IS easy I don’t think finding the good deals is. Similar to buying REO’s I wrote about a few weeks ago, it will take a lot of work and due diligence on your part to sort through the deals being offered and find Read more…
By: Dennis Norman
As I jump around the interenet reading various blogs, news articles and the like about investing in real 
estate it amazes me how many people out there are looking for REO’s (a label banks and other lenders give the property they take back in foreclosure, Real Estate Owned) as if they are the “hidden gem” of the real estate deals out there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking REO’s or saying investors shouldn’t pursue them, I’m just surprised at the number of invetors that perceive the REO deals as the best deals out there.
I have spent 29 years in the real estate business with one aspet of my business being buying and selling residential properties. Over the years I have seen the source of “good deals” change as the market, the industry and technology changed. Read more…
By: Dennis Norman
A couple of weeks ago I made a post about renting property under Housing Choice Voucher program and offered it as something you may want to consider. Included in my post was reference to the fact that in order for your property to be eligible for this program it had to meet some basic HUD’s standards. I myself have rented properties through this program and prior to it’s existence, HUD’s Section 8 program, for years and never really had a problem meeting HUD’s standards for the housing.
Read more…
