I speak to property owners, realtors and mortgage brokers often, sometimes daily. Here’s the latest picture. Very few homeowners have enough equity to qualify for refinancing or for selling to make sense (because they won’t even break even). Properties are not moving. They are sitting on the market for 6 to 12 months. Deed in […]
The NY Times published an article about the foreclosure crisis. About 500,000 loans are expected to go into default in the US soon. I have been helping many clients evaluate various options, including refinancing, forbearance agreements, loan workouts (settling with the lender), Chapter 13 bankruptcy repayment plans, short sales, straight sales, and leasebacks. Unfortunately, some […]
The credit industry has a lot of propaganda out there to discourage bankruptcy filings. Much of it is totally false. Bankruptcy is still alive and well. Many people fall on hard times because of temporary problems – job loss, death in the family, divorce, injury, medical illness, etc. If someone is considering bankruptcy they should […]
Here is an interesting article for the homeowner in foreclosure. See, NY Times, 9/30/07.
With the housing market slowing down, most appraisals are coming in at least $50,000 lower than what they might have been a year ago. At the same time, some subprime lenders have closed shop and mostly all it seems have restricted their lending guidelines. With loans harder to find and less equity available, many homeowners […]
Here is an interesting article on the shady foreclosure rescue scam phenomenon. I have written on this subject before. You can find my prior posts by searching the word “rescue” in the “Find It” search box in the right column on this page. The basic idea is this. Why would anyone trust some unlicensed out […]
MSNBC has an interesting article on stopping foreclosure which suggests a common sense approach. Just call the lender. In my experience, this makes sense but many times lenders are just stubborn or aggressive and are not willing to help. Most of my clients have already called the lender with little results. And, of course, even […]
The NY Times wrote an interesting piece on how short sales can help borrowers in foreclosure. In my experience, I have seen many people talk about short sales but it doesn’t always work out. Whether a bank will agree to this varies from one loan to another.
The New Deal For Consumer Bankruptcy seminar, 4th Annual Presentation, will be held on September 7, 2007 from 9:15 a.m to 4:45 p.m., in historic Hyde Park, New York. I attended this seminar last year and found it to be very informative, especially with the Bankruptcy Laws in flux since they were revised in October […]
The New York Times ran three separate stories this weekend regarding the mortgage crisis and the problems many homeowners now face. In short, too many people maxed out their equity. Many people bought homes or refinanced at or near 100% of the value of their property using loans that had adjustable rates. The thinking was […]