Archive for the ‘Housing’ Category
Monday, February 2nd, 2009
The biggest foreclosure advice that HUD and practically everybody gives is that you need to stay in contact with your lender. Avoiding your mortgage company when you can’t make your payments can speed up the foreclosure process. If you just need a little more time, talking to your lender will be the best way to get it and avoid foreclosure.
Below is the foreclosure process time line so that you know what to expect:
30 Days–1 Missed Payment. You’ll get a letter or phone call from your lender.
60 Days–2 Missed Payments. You’ll be contacted more frequently by your lender. It’s really important to find a way to make at least one mortgage payment so that you don’t fall three payments behind, which sets off more serious proceedings.
90 Days–3 Missed Payments. Typically, this is when you receive a “Demand Letter” or “Notice to Accelerate.” It will announce how much you’re delinquent and demand payment within 30 days.
120 Days–4 Missed Payments. HUD states that at the end of this period, you’ll be talking to the lender’s attorneys and will incur all attorney costs.
Sheriff’s or Public Trustee’s Sale. The time from the “Demand Letter” to this point can vary by state. The sale can be 2-3 months from that notice. The scheduling of the sale date is not a move-out date, and until it’s sold, you can still make arrangements with your lender.
Redemption Period. This option will depend on the type of foreclosure and the state in which you live. But there can be a redemption period after the sale to pay the outstanding mortgage and the foreclosure process costs so that you keep your home.
Once your home is sold, you will have to move out. Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that, but here are some resources for rentals and rental advice if you need them.
Tags: Add new tag, avoid foreclosure, demand letter, foreclosure, foreclosure advice, foreclosure process, foreclosure timeline, foreclosures, mortgage foreclosure, notice to accelerate
Posted in Finances, Housing, Lending, Renting | No Comments »
Monday, January 26th, 2009
The Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) outlines three main types of foreclosures.
Judicial Foreclosure. This type of foreclosure is legal in all states, according to HUD. Some states may require this process. The lender files a suit in the legal system, and a letter demanding payment comes to the borrower via mail. If the borrower can’t pay within 30 days, then the local court or sheriff’s office sells the property to the highest bidder at an auction.
Power of Sale or Statutory Foreclosure. This comes into play in some states when a power of sale clause is included in the mortgage. After a homeowner has defaulted, the lender sends out a demand for payment letter, and if the payment is not made after a given waiting period, the mortgage company holds the auction. This can be a faster foreclosure process, although it still may be subject to judicial review.
Strict Foreclosure. In this last scenario, the lender files a lawsuit with the homeowner after the individual has defaulted. If payment is not made within a given time frame, then the property goes directly back to the mortgage holder. Only a few states allow this, and HUD states that “strict foreclosures take place only when the debt amount is greater than the value of the property.”
To find out which foreclosure scenarios may come into play for you, be sure to research the agreement that you signed with the lender as well as your state’s laws. Foreclosurelaw.org can help you find state specific laws.
HUD reminds you that you’ll have a very short time period to find a new place to live once your property is sold through an auction, so if foreclosure appears to be unavoidable, you may want to look into renting now before it hits.
Tags: foreclosure, foreclosure auction, foreclosures, homeowner, housing and urban development department, HUD, hud foreclosure, judicial foreclosure, power of sale, statutory foreclosure, strict foreclosure, type of foreclosure
Posted in Finances, Housing, Lending | No Comments »
Monday, January 19th, 2009
The Mercury News recently reported that California’s foreclosures in 2008 shattered the record set in 2007. California saw foreclosures jump 158% over the previous year with almost 250,000 foreclosures occurring. In 2007, there had been 97,000 foreclosures in California. Foreclosures in California represented about $108 billion in outstanding mortgages.
More California Foreclosures in 2009
California’s state government had enacted legislation (SB 1137) to require lenders to give 30 days’ notice to homeowners before beginning the foreclosure process. This had caused a dip in default notices being sent out, but unfortunately, December 2008 saw a big rebound in those numbers. It nearly doubled November default notice numbers by reaching 42,421notices sent out in California. Apparently this delaying maneuver to buy homeowners and the economy time looks to have failed.
Treading Water Not Possible for Many
Here’s how underwater some homeowners are now. According to the founder of ForeclosureRadar, Sean O’Toole, “the average foreclosed property has a market value $180,000 less than the homeowner’s mortgage balance.”
Part of the problem continues to be that with more foreclosures and auctions selling homes off at lower prices, the housing market continues to lose value and jeopardize other homeowners’ properties. However the continued decline in value may be very necessary as I mentioned in the Negative Equity post. Drops in value may well reach 30% before things settle down.
Check out our other posts if foreclosure is closing in on you or if you’re now looking for tips on getting back into the rental market.
Tags: california foreclosure, california foreclosures, default notices, foreclosed property, foreclosure process, foreclosures, foreclosures in California, homeowner's mortgage
Posted in California, Housing, Lending, States | No Comments »
Monday, January 12th, 2009
Searching for apartments is not what you had in mind for 2009, but nonetheless, it has to be done. Here are three tips to help you get started in finding a new place.
Search Online. Many rental listings are easily available online, so the days of hunting through the newspaper may be close to over. MyNewPlace.com aggregates many rental properties across the country. You should also find out the names of different rental companies and check to see if they have Web sites (most do). You can often find apartments and houses for rent on their sites that aren’t being widely marketed, which can mean less competition for getting into the apartment.
Talk to Friends. Word of mouth is always a good thing. Plus, the Internet allows you to talk to many people much quicker. You can send a Facebook message to friends or just make a comment about it to a couple friends on their walls. Their friends can see those conversations and can chime in to let you know about available apartments. Emailing local friends and family to see what they’ve heard about is good too.
Walk the Neighborhood. I sometimes do this to see where I want to live. Once again, you can find places that only advertise with a rental sign on a window and potentially have fewer people to compete with to get the apartment. Conversely, if you’ve found a property online, definitely take some time to walk the neighborhood to see what amenities are nearby, what the transportation situation is like, and how safe the area is.
Hopefully, these tips help you get started in your transition back to renting and make life a little easier after foreclosure.
Tags: after foreclosure, apartments, available apartments, foreclosure, neighborhood, rental listings, rental properties, Renting, transition back to renting
Posted in Housing, Renting, Transition | No Comments »
Monday, January 5th, 2009
As of September 2008, 18% of homes have no equity or have negative equity, according to an article posted on RealtyTrac’s “Foreclosure Pulse.” Essentially, negative equity means that you owe more on your loan than your home is worth. This makes selling your house or refinancing extremely difficult. Quite simply, no one wants to pay you $400,000 for a home that’s now only valued at $300,000. Naturally, you want to be able to pay off your home loan, so you want to sell it for at least amount at which you originally financed it. The scenario leaves you quite stuck.
Unfortunately, a number of economists are predicting further home devaluation of at least 20%. Additionally, “Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman suggests a 30 percent decline is needed.”
So should you stick it out or is it time to cut your losses before foreclosure becomes imminent? Your financial goals and the area in which you live will all have their unique factors. One online tool that might help is the “Should I Pay or Should I Go” mortgage calculator. Obviously, the best advice you can get is from your lender, but this is a quick way to get a general idea of how your home is doing. If you do decide to sell, be sure to read our “4 Tips for Returning to Renting After Foreclosure,” and you can check out MyNewPlace.com to check out rental listings.
Tags: foreclosure, home, home loan, negative equity, refinancing
Posted in Debt, Finances, Housing, Lending | No Comments »
Monday, December 29th, 2008
The Center for Housing Policy’s housingpolicy.org recognizes that new legislation is necessary to help former homeowners return to renting after they’ve been foreclosed upon. High security deposits and the loss in credit rating can make the transition back to the rental market a difficult one. The organization outlines a number of recommendations as well as proposed ideas from the Progressive Policy Institute for people moving on after a foreclosure. The suggestions are as follows:
“Adopt a first-time homebuyer tax credit (similar to the District of Columbia’s first time homebuyer tax credit) in jurisdictions with high foreclosure rates and extend eligibility to those that have lost their home to foreclosure in addition to first-time homebuyers.”
“Create a preference for housing vouchers to go to families at risk of losing their home or who have already been foreclosed upon.”
“Provide funding for land banks to buy foreclosed properties and rent them back to the former homeowners.”
“Provide funds for credit repair counseling.”
“Provide assistance with first- and last-month’s rent, security deposits, and the housing search process.”
If you’re interested in bringing this information to your lawmakers’ attentions, please share or email this blog post with friends. Let’s do what we can to help people in their time of need.
Tags: at risk of losing home, center for housing policy, credit repair counseling, foreclosure, home foreclosure, homebuyer tax credit, progressive policy institute, return to renting, security deposit
Posted in Housing, Renting, Transition | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
A recent MarketWatch article reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pressing for a stipulation requiring some of the approved financial bailout money to be allocated for preventing home foreclosures. She’s supporting Congressman Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who is working on a bill to require the Treasury to modify mortgages at risk for defaulting as part of receiving the next $350 billion of the bailout money approved on October 3rd.
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Tags: Congressman Barney Frank, fdic, foreclosure, foreclosure forbearance, home foreclosures, homeownership preservation foundation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, mortgage, mortgage modification, mortgage modification program, pre-foreclosure, rental market
Posted in Finances, Housing, Lending | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
The National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity released a report on December 9th with their latest findings concerning lending and other practices. Co-chair on the commission, Henry Cisneros, maintains that “housing discrimination helped lead us to this foreclosure crisis.”
The “Future of Fair Housing” report found that there are over 4 million fair housing violations every year. (more…)
Tags: fair housing, fair housing and equality opportunity, foreclosure, Future of Fair Housing report, housing discrimination, HUD, National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, office of fair housing and equal opportunity, predatory lending
Posted in Finances, Housing, Lending | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
In this post, we’re looking at a snapshot of the foreclosure situation in one of the key states in the nation: California. RealtyTrac.com recently released information on foreclosure trends, revealing that over 60,000 California homes entered the foreclosure process in November this year. This is an increase of about 6% in foreclosures compared to the previous month. When compared to November of last year,
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Tags: california, california foreclosures, california home foreclosure, california home foreclosures, california housing market, foreclosed home California, foreclosure process, housing market, San Diego rental market, San Francisco rental market, San Francisco vacancy rate
Posted in Headline, Housing, Lending, Renting | No Comments »
Monday, December 15th, 2008
For those of you still smarting from a foreclosure, you may just want to grab the first available apartment you can to get by and get past this recent difficulty. But we wanted to remind you to think of security concerns before you move into a new place that’s potentially in a brand new area.
Talk to the Neighbors. There’s no better way to assess how safe an area is than by talking to the neighbors. Also, you can get crime reports through your local city government. The City of Albuquerque offers these statistics, which you can check out on this link. You can also see the FBI’s Uniform Crime Statistics broken down by location and type of crime.
Check Security Equipment. Landlords may assure you that everything is safe, but go see for yourself what kinds of deadbolts, exterior lighting, and security systems are in place before signing anything.
Review State and Local Laws. Okay. This isn’t the most exciting thing to do, but it’ll help you to know your rights. Nolo offers a section of their Web site specifying landlord-tenant clauses on this link that you can read. Most states require landlords to have minimum safety precautions such as peepholes, deadbolts, window locks, and safety glass.
Meet with Your Landlord. Talk with the landlord about any safety concerns that you have and want addressed. Make specific requests about what you want fixed and put that request into writing. If you know of any state or local ordinances being violated, mentioning them to your prospective landlord can show that you mean business.
This should get you started on the right foot. If the landlord doesn’t seem amenable to your concerns, then you may not want to live there anyway. However, many landlords want to fill vacancies and will work with you as best they can to take care of business.
Tags: apartment, deadbolts, foreclosure, landlord, landlord-tenant clauses, local law, nolo, Renting, security, security equipment, state law, uniform crime statistics, window locks
Posted in Housing, Renting | No Comments »
