1
Stop Foreclosure Now
The housing crisis in this country has impacted millions of people. Unfortunately, many people will not qualify for a loan modification under the current hardship guidelines with each lender. In addition, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to get short sale approved by... [Read more...]
2
Happy 4th of July
I would like to wish every one a very safe and Happy 4th of July. On this day we are commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. On this day I will celebrate our Freedom and the great... [Read more...]
3
U.S. Jobless Rate Explodes
Caterpillar announces fourth quarter profits drop by 32%. Caterpillar announces it will slash 20,000 jobs. Sprint Nextel announced they will emanate 8000 jobs in the first quarter of 2009. Job cuts will affect every level of the company. Home Depot to cut 7,000 jobs which represents... [Read more...]
4
President Barak Obama Makes History
(Photo:Ozier Muhammad/ NY Times) Today will be a historic day regardless of your political affiliation. Will it be over the top? Probably? Will the national media play up this day? Most likely. But this does not down play the magnitude of what this day will represent in American... [Read more...]
5
MLK Day
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an African American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States and he is frequently referenced as... [Read more...]
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UPDATE: Circuit City to Liquidate All Stores
Following up on Circuit City Chapter 11 announcement, Circuit City will Liquidate all stores. A lack of credit and declining economy takes down the large electronics retailer. This will add to the overall national trend of job loss, to a tune of 30,000 jobs. Read the Full Story... [Read more...]
Featured Blog Post
The Foreclosure Game is Changing and So Are We
If you’ve been reading my previous posts, you’ve probably picked up that the foreclosure game has changed, at least for us. The court decisions and all the new information I’ve learned in the past few weeks has convinced me that the market has spoken and we’re changing some things to better help you fight foreclosure on your own.
To my frustration, I’ve had a tough time finding lawyers who would even listen to me. I never thought it would be as difficult as it has been. I know one great lawyer in LA who gets it, but beyond that, I haven’t heard from any lawyers out there who understand enough to help homeowners without charging a lot of money. Money that a lot of you just don’t have right now.
So, I’ve heard you! And because it’s obvious to me that there are very few resources out there to help you, we’re changing some things here too.
First of all, we will make BIG announcement on Monday about a new resource we’re launching. This will be the culmination of several things Josh and I have been talking about behind the scenes, so please check back on Monday for that news and a special offer.
Second, Desert Edge Legal Services (my company) is moving away from the loan audit process as we’ve been doing it. We have enough information from the court decisions to know that homeowners aren’t winning based on TILA, RESPA, HOEPA, UCC, RICO, etc.
Thus, it seems to me that the analysis of TILA and RESPA aren’t even needed anymore, so we’re not going to focus on TILA/RESPA at all unless you are working with an attorney who tells you he or she wants one, or you’re going to DIY and you’re current on your house payments. Judges seem to take people more seriously if they aren’t behind on their payments or are represented by an attorney.
I’m actually pretty happy about this development, because audits take a lot of time to complete. In addition, because we have had a lot of trouble finding lawyers who understood how to help homeowners, the loan audit as a tool hasn’t been as useful as I would have liked.
It was the best tool we had in our arsenal and better than nothing, but it’s clear to me that the overwhelming majority of you are facing foreclosure on your own and there are few good resources out there to help you.
So, we’ve decided to expand our services – we are now offering a customized review of your documents and an analysis of the chain of assignment to determine what’s going on in your particular case and how you can fight on your own. If you don’t speak up about what’s happening with the fraudulent MERS assignments and the problems with securitization of your home loans, the courts will let a pretender lender take your house without proving they have authority to do so.
So, if you have a pending Notice of Trustee’s sale and are under the gun to do something sooner rather than later, a loan audit isn’t going to help you – but understanding what is happening with the chain of assignment WILL help you go into a courtroom and stall a foreclosure if the fact pattern is there.
Third, we are going to bring on an attorney in some capacity in the spring that can help some of you with representation or find someone in your area who can help you. It’s been my experience that a lot of attorneys have their egos involved and will not talk to me because I’m a paralegal and not an attorney. However, I will be involved with the training of this attorney and the plan is to help more of you for a reasonable fee. I might be wrong on this, but I still think you have a better shot at winning if you have an attorney who gets it.
Fourth, you’ll start seeing more information from Josh. He’s was behind the scenes mostly in 2009, but demand is picking up, so if you ask us for help, you might get a call back from Josh.
Finally, I’ve been kicking around the idea of going to law school part time here in Phoenix in 2010. I won’t be done in time to help our readers with this crisis, but it’s been bothering me that I haven’t taken that final step – on some level, I feel like I’ve missed the boat on the foreclosure crisis. On the other hand, I also think things happen for a reason, so it will all work out the way it’s supposed to.
If you need our help, as always, send me an e-mail: Christine@DesertEdgeLegal.com. I will spend fifteen or so minutes on the phone with you to see if I can help you and we’ll go from there.
Stay tuned for Monday’s announcement!
Foreclosure Data
Foreclosure Data 07-07-09
Last update: 07/07/09 9:13 PM
Preforeclosures: 469,829
Sheriff Sales: 50,834
Foreclosures: 493,321
Bankruptcies: 328,975
FSBOs: 40,096
Tax Liens: 971,379
Last update: 01/02/09 10:37 AM
Preforeclosures: 436,355
Sheriff Sales: 49,321
Foreclosures: 549,014
Bankruptcies: 263,318
FSBOs: 45,288
Tax Liens: 971,403
Total Listings: 2,314,699
Change Since Last Update:
Preforeclosures 7.6%
Foreclosures -10%
We have FREE foreclosure Listings. Find a discount property now.
Source: http://www.foreclosure.com/
Resources - Guides - Reviews
Online Resources
There is an amazing amount of Real Estate information online. Everything from great research sites like Zillow.com, Redfin.com and Trulia.com to top notch blogs, such as Doctor Housing Bubble. Learning about the real estate industry has never been easier, all the information is right at your figure tips. I have listed some links below to get you started.
Real Estate Research Sites:
http://www.zillow.com/
http://www.redfin.com
http://www.trulia.com/
http://www.propertyshark.com
Real Estate Data Sites:
Data Quick
Foreclosure Radar
Foreclosure Listing sites:
http://www.foreclosure.com/
http://www.realtytrac.com/
Foreclosure Research sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreclosure
http://www.hud.gov/foreclosure/
http://www.freddiemac.com/
http://www.irs.gov/
Loan Modification Information
http://www.foreclosureindustry.com/category/loan-modification
Blogs
http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/
More coming soon….
Economic News
Global Gold Demand Up U.S. Dollar Down
China the world’s largest gold producer is set to break records for both production and consumption of gold. China over took South Africa, in 2007, to become the World’s largest producer of gold.
“Gold demand may be more than 450 metric tons compared with 395.6 tons in 2008, and output may climb to 310 tons, compared with 282 tons a year earlier, Zhang Yongtao, deputy secretary- general of the association, said at a conference in Kunming yesterday.”
Source: Bloomberg News
Gold is now flirting with a $1,200 an ounce (11-26-09). The continued weak U.S. Dollar could push a $1,500 an ounce sooner than later.
“The inflation concern this year has boosted the Chinese consumer demand for things like property, autos and gold…” This demand for hard goods vs. U.S. Dollar will most likely push China past India as the number one consumer of gold.
Read the full Story here:
Also, 60 Minutes did a story on Gold production from Congo and its tie in with the bloody conflict in that region. Story and video here:
Industry News
Should More Homeowners Walk Away?
I read a very interesting article today by Josh Brodesky of the Arizona Daily Star. He cites a study by a University of Arizona law professor named Brent White, who recently wrote a paper that concluded that it was in most people’s best interest to walk away from their homes.
As the article points out, it wasn’t that a professor was telling people to just walk away from their homes. He had a bigger point to make: why are the banks being bailed out for making bad loans, yet homeowners are still expected to hold up their end of the deals? He argues that the government, real estate agents and mortgage brokers, among other players in the lending game, were encouraging people to buy a home because it was a good investment. Yet now that the market has collapsed, the homeowners are left holding the bag.
A friend of mine who has filed a predatory lending lawsuit in federal court says that the part of this lending mess that makes him the most angry is how the bank, MERS, and the rest of the defendants all want to collect the money due to them under the loan, yet none of them want to accept responsibility in their part of the mess of his loan and the overall mortgage problem in this country. They all want the money; yet nobody wants to take responsibility for the crap loan he was sold without his knowledge. As he put it, if he had known that he was participating in an illegal scheme, he would have just said no.
Similar to the conclusion in Dr. White’s paper, the housing mess has fallen squarely on the backs of the middle class, and the government and the banking industry are standing around, passing the buck, and doing nothing meaningful to help homeowners.
This attitude is further reflected in the way the loan modification process unfolds. If you’ve tried to negotiate a loan modification, it’s a long, drawn out process that leaves the homeowner really angry. The government’s HAMP program has no teeth either – homeowners are suing the Treasury and the lenders for not following the guidelines, yet judges have repeatedly found that a bank has no duty to modify a loan under HAMP.
And how about getting a short sale approved? I know a handful of people who waited months to get a short sale approved. I know there are some of you out there who have had luck with short sales and modifications, but you are in the minority. I know because I hear from people daily asking me for help.
I’m personally conflicted on whether the government should intervene in a meaningful way. I’m politically and socially liberal but am so angry at how our government is handling this mess that I can’t call myself a Democrat anymore. I think they are going to get their rear ends handed to them in the mid-term elections in 2010 and in the next presidential election.
I don’t think the government should hand every homeowner a wad of cash, but would it be too much to ask that our elected officials pass some laws, since that’s what they are paid to do, that make it easier for a homeowner to get a loan modification or to make the bank to respond to a short sale offer within a reasonable period of time? How about relaxing the deficiency statutes in states that have them so that people don’t have to file bankruptcy to recover from a financial disaster when they lose their home?
If we’re not going to put Geithner in jail for his role in bringing on this economic crisis, surely he can figure out a way to make it easier for a homeowner to get a loan modification under Treasury guidelines!
Over the summer I sent a letter to President Obama expressing my anger at how his administration has responded to the housing mess. Guess what I got back? A form letter from him recommending the administration’s HAMP program!
Now, to be clear, I was not expecting a personal response. However, I certainly didn’t expect a letter that makes it clear that he’s still drinking the HAMP kool-aid.
I will probably get a lot of people who unfollow me after reading this post, but let’s be clear: what he’s doing on this issue isn’t working and it doesn’t matter which party he belongs to. I voted for Obama, and he hasn’t done ANYTHING meaningful to help homeowners. It really doesn’t matter which party he belongs to — this housing crisis isn’t a one party problem. We should all be holding the president responsible for their failure to act regardless of which party he or she belonged to.
With fewer options, maybe more people need to walk away and let the market start to crash again – and maybe the banks and our elected officials will take notice.
Wall Street is paying out record bonuses this year while Main Street struggles to keep a roof over their heads and pay for necessities. I’m personally tired of watching these greedy bankers get paid out millions in bonuses when the average person is struggling.
I wish I could tell you who to complain to in our government, but who’s listening to anything the people have to say? No one, as far as I can tell.
There is a serious leadership crisis in America. It’s becoming clear to me that it’s up to us, American citizens, to find a way out of this mess ourselves, because our government is clueless.
What can you do to help your fellow Americans?
