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LPS Applied Analytics recently announced that there are $464 Billion in mortgages currently in Foreclosure and that Americans are now behindon mortgages worth $1.4 Trillion. Several economists believe thatsomething really bad could be coming down in the coming months. Infact, leading economists are warning of a new financial crisis brewingthat could possibly be worse than the crisis we faced in 2008 and thatwe could see a collapse of some BIG U.S. banks.

Chris Whalen, the Managing Director for Institutional Risk Analytics stated recently in a Politico article, "Non-payment by borrowers andmounting foreclosure backlogs are creating the conditions for thecollapse of some of the largest U.S. banks in 2011."

Many say that there are banks too big to fail an that we cannot allow them to. But we know now that T.A.R.P. didn't work. Those 6 or 7"too-big-to-fail" banks control over 1/2 of all deposits and most ofthose were made even larger by T.A.R.P. But there's another issue withthe smaller Savings and Loans that exist in our communities. When thoselittle banks face both residential and commercial mortgages failing, wemay see a wildfire spread of enormous consequences that the Fed won'tbe able to contain.

Several government and large banks stated this week that they were going to freeze foreclosures for the next few months. This is great forhomeowners during the holidays and comes as good news to thosehomeowners wanting to do the honorable thing and try every option theycan to keep from going into foreclosure. However, with loanmodifications being rare and/or unappealing, this is only prolonging theinevitable and making it worse. Case in point, if you make $115,000income a year and you owe $550,000 there's no rework for that scenariounder the President's program that will makes sense. And what happensin the first few months of 2011 AFTER the freeze is lifted and all thosestalled foreclosures start moving forward again? With an average of180,000 to 200,000 foreclosures a month, how are we going to accommodatethe flood of a million or more homes hitting the market? The good newsis that the freeze may help many who are conducting Short Sales ontheir homes and who are feeling the time crunch.

Time will tell, however we should all be looking to the horizon because a huge storm is looming and time is running out!

By the way, if you or someone you know is at risk of losing a home to foreclosure, please know that there are new options available to avoidthis devastating occurrence. And know that there is someone here you cantrust to help. As a Certified Pre-Foreclosure Specialist, I understandthe ins and outs of Short Sales and Loan Modifications. I am also aWachovia and World Bank trained Pre-Foreclosure expert and well educatedin the Government’s new H.A.F.A. and H.A.M.P. programs for helpinghomeowners facing foreclosure.

CLICK HERE TO AVOID FORECLOSURE

Are you a buyer looking for a home?

CLICK HERE TO SEARCH ALL AVAILABLE HOMES

CLICK HERE TO READ WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT MY SERVICES!

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of President Barack Obama signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. For the past 365 days, thepurpose of this stimulus package was to take our hard earned taxdollars to stimulate the American economy. Part of the package wenttowards items such as a 2.6 million dollar solar panel system for theDenver Museum of Nature & Science, which by the way, has over 90million dollars in their bank account. Another $25,000 went to thelittle town of Sykesville, Maryland. This well to do community of over4,400 residents don't know where to use the money but they promised toput it to good use. 9.3 million went to Harvard to create a colony oftiny little robots called"robo-bees". Another $500,000 went to DukeUniversity so they can send 6 students each year to Costa Rica to studythe rain forest. Kinda reminds me of summer camp. Or there's the$400,000 that went to New York State university for their study of theaffects of drinking malt liquor and smoking pot. I wonder how manystudents volunteered for that study. That's just a small portion ofthe long, long list of outrageous expenditures from the 856 BILLIONdollars of the stimulus. However, I believe the MOST egregious of theamounts spent was the 700+ million dollars used just to "administer"the program.

President Obama stated today that, "This program has run cleanly, smoothly and transparently". However, a recent poll shows that 71% ofthe American people do not believe it is working despite Vice PresidentJoe Biden commenting that the "...taxpayers have gotten their money'sworth".

Now, don't get me wrong. I am currently taking advantage of all the consequences of the past and current administration's efforts tostimulate the economy. I am pushing the $8,000 first time homebuyercredit to help get buyers off the fence and into the market. I lovethat the decline in home prices has allowed many buyers to enter themarket when just a few years ago, they thought they'd never be able toafford a house. I love that we now have the lowest interest rates inmy lifetime. I am busy helping numerous homeowners escape the tragedyof foreclosure by helping them with loan modifications and shortsales. And I REALLY enjoy that much of my "competition" (Realtors that recently entered the business when things were easy and good) are now jumping ship to go back to their old jobs because they don't know how to handle this type of shift in the market.

Our national debt is out of control, our unemployment rates are skyrocketing with no real recovery in sight. So where are we today?Are we better off? Have things improved? What do you say? Are youcelebrating along with the current administration or are you feelingthe hurt? I'd really like to hear your comments and find out whereeveryone is in their thinking. So please let me know.

Thanks!

Are you a buyer looking for a home?

CLICK HERE TO SEARCH ALL AVAILABLE HOMES

By the way, if you or someone you know is at risk of losing a home to foreclosure, please know that there are new options available toavoid this devastating occurrence. And know that there is someone hereyou can trust to help. As a Certified Pre-Foreclosure Specialist, Iunderstand the ins and outs of Short Sales and Loan Modifications. I amalso a Wachovia and World Bank trained Pre-Foreclosure expert and welleducated in the Government’s new H.A.F.A. and H.A.M.P. programs forhelping homeowners facing foreclosure.

CLICK HERE TO AVOID FORECLOSURE

CLICK HERE TO READ WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT MY SERVICES!

I was listening to talk radio and was intrigued by the teaser for the next segment. "Ohio man bulldozes $350K home to avoid foreclosure".Hmmm. I REALLY wanna hear that one. I listened to the entire interviewand at the end I was perplexed. First of all, here are the details.Terry Hoskins of Clermont County found himself in a predicament withhis Moscow, Ohio home. He was facing foreclosure and was upset that thebank that held the note, River Hills Bank, would not work with him. So,to quote Mr. Hoskins, "When I knew I was going to lose it, I decided totake it down". In fact, he even advised the bank that, "I'll tear itdown before I let you take it". He went on to tell the radiointerviewer, "When I see I owe $160,000 on a home valued at $350,000,and someone decides they want to take it – no, I wasn't going to standfor that, so I took it down,"

After listening to the entire interview, I noticed that Terry Hoskins sounded like a reasonable and prudent person. He wasn'tranting, he wasn't raving. He spoke plainly with good enunciation andproper diction. He seemed to be a really nice guy. So what was hethinking?

Okay, many homeowners facing foreclosure probably feel like doing the same thing. But before you support his drastic actions, lets lookat a few more interesting facts about the story. First of all, Terryused his home as collateral for a business loan. The business wentSouth. Apparently, he wasn't a good businessman nor partner. He laterfound himself in a further predicament after his brother and formerbusiness partner sued him and won. Did you hear that? His OWN brothersued him. The property also had several liens on it filed by theInternal Revenue Service. So, Mr. Hoskins wasn't such an innocentvictim in the whole foreclosure process.

All the while during the interview, all I could think of was, "Why couldn't he have tried everything to avoid foreclosure?" In theinterview he mentioned that he owed $160,000 on the loan and the housewas worth $350,000. I'd have to leave that up to a local Realtor toverify but I figured there would be lots of Realtors out there thatwould have jumped at the chance to assist him with a possible ShortSale. Especially with all the programs the government is coming up withto assist homeowners to avoid foreclosure. And even if he couldn'tavoid foreclosure, there's a lot of families that would have loved topurchase the home from the bank.

I don't understand nor support his decision, despite the fact that I do understand the frustration that comes with foreclosure. It isobvious that he made some very poor financial deciisons and yet hedoesn't take responsibility for them. So what is your opinion in thisstory? Let me know what you think. I would like to know.

With the help that the government is providing with their short sale incentive programs, many homeowners facing foreclosure now have optionsto avoid the devastating affects of a foreclosure. And that’s good newsfor Realtors who specialize in Pre-Foreclosure options.

By the way, if you or someone you know is at risk of losing a home to foreclosure, please know that there are new options available toavoid this devastating occurrence. And know that there is someone hereyou can trust to help. As a Certified Pre-Foreclosure Specialist, Iunderstand the ins and outs of Short Sales and Loan Modifications. I amalso a Wachovia and World Bank trained Pre-Foreclosure expert and welleducated in the Government’s new H.A.F.A. and H.A.M.P. programs forhelping homeowners facing foreclosure.

CLICK HERE TO AVOID FORECLOSURE

Are you a buyer looking for a home?

CLICK HERE TO SEARCH ALL AVAILABLE HOMES

CLICK HERE TO READ WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT MY SERVICES!

The California Association of Realtors released their "2009-2010 SURVEY OF CALIFORNIA HOME SELLERS”. The report showed that approximately 67% of all California home sellersthat were able to sell their house in this market sold their homebecause they had an inability to meet their mortgage obligations. Inother words, they couldn't afford their house. Whether it be due to avariable rate mortgage that was resetting higher, a job loss, sicknessor just the fact that they overextended themselves, the majority ofthose homesellers basically HAD to sell.

The 67% figure includes standard sales as well as short sales. The interesting fact with this report is that the Obama administration hasonly recently begun making steps to help homeowners avoid foreclosurethru their H.A.M.P. and H.A.F.A. programs.

Other figures in the report showed that 63% of homes fell out of escrow prior to closing. Of those fall outs, 70% had buyers who couldnot get acceptable financing and 26% were due to "buyer's remorse". Ofthe homes that finally did close escrow, only 50% closed on time.Meaning 1/2 closed late!

With the help that the government is providing with their short sale incentive programs, many homeowners facing foreclosure now have optionsto avoid the devastating affects of a foreclosure. And that's goodnews for Realtors who specialize in Pre-Foreclosure options.

By the way, if you or someone you know is at risk of losing a home to foreclosure, please know that there are new options available toavoid this devastating occurrence. And know that there is someone hereyou can trust to help. As a Certified Pre-Foreclosure Specialist,I understand the ins and outs of Short Sales and Loan Modifications. Iam also a Wachovia and World Bank trained Pre-Foreclosure expert andwell educated in the Government’s new H.A.F.A. and H.A.M.P. programs for helping homeowners facing foreclosure.

CLICK HERE TO AVOID FORECLOSURE

Are you a buyer looking for a home?

CLICK HERE TO SEARCH ALL AVAILABLE HOMES

CLICK HERE TO READ WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT MY SERVICES!