The amount of borrowers all over the country who are falling seriously behind on loans backed by FHA have increased considerably since last year. According to most of the lenders I work with in Santa Cruz County, they rarely made an FHA loan due to the high prices in our area and therefore didn’t qualify. As a [...] read more

More than 900,000 homeowners have begun trial modifications under the new foreclosure prevention program, but documentation issues are hampering efforts to convert those to permanent fixes. Last month, the administration gave many borrowers in the program an extension until Jan. 31 to provide the documents. But the administration said last week that it doesn’t plan to [...] read more

By now it is well documented that today’s affordable housing prices, historically low interest rates and federal home buyer tax credit have combined to create one of the most attractive first-time buyer markets in recent memory. What many Americans might not realize is that a recent expansion of the buyer tax credit has created an [...] read more

Rising defaults on loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) have led the agency to impose future policy changes to its home loan program.   The FHA is federally mandated to maintain reserve funds at 2 percent or greater.  As of November, the agency reported that its fund had declined to .53 percent.  The funding is [...] read more

Is your home worth less than you owe? Do you qualify for a short pay refinance? Are you headed toward a foreclosure? IT’S NOT TOO LATE…YOU STILL HAVE OPTIONS.  Take control and get the answers you need to keep your home or avoid foreclosure . HOME RETENTION WORKSHOP, January 21st, 5:45PM – 7PM Learn about: Short Pay Refinance, Mortgage Modification, [...] read more

Wow, some very interesting stats announced by Trulia.com this week. They state that 21% of homes currently on the market in the United States as of January 1, 2010 have experienced at least one price cut. The total amount slashed from home prices amounted to $21.2 billion compared to $24.7 billion in December.   In Santa Cruz County 40% [...] read more

According to MSNBC this week, a recent real estate report indicates that consumers may be taking their time house hunting this winter, which some economists believe could lead to a “double dip” in home prices. A recent report from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR) showed that its pending home sales index declined 16 percent in November [...] read more

There is much talk these days regarding the options affecting many homeowners in this real estate market. There are five alternatives many have which include Loan Modifications, Short Sales, Deed In Lieu, Foreclosures and ultimately Bankruptcy. Here are some tips to use that I searched for online when making a decision as to how these will [...] read more

According to a report released by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), bank servicers implemented more than 680,000 home loan modifications and payment plans in the third quarter of 2009, a 69% increase compared with the second quarter of 2009. The percentage of current and performing mortgages declined [...] read more

There has been an increased level of talk and speculation about the amount of shadow inventory yet to be released to the market. I have heard this discussion for the past 6-9 months and recently this article published in the LA Times reiterates the notion of 1.7 million homes close to foreclosure or seized but [...] read more