Foreclosures and Home Sales Up and Down

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Duane

In December of 2009 we had the most significant drop in home sales in more than 40 years, but to end 2009 we had the first annual gain in four years. The reducing in the median home value of about $175 had a lot to do with it and the primary culprit to that end was the foreclosure market.

If not for the REO’s and Short Sales this past year, home sales could have been drastically reduced and the economy would have suffered even more than it has. Total sales for 2009 were almost 5.2 million, which was up from 2008 by about 5%.

In March the Federal Reserve is expected to end its program of buying mortgage securities and the extended homebuyer tax credit is expected to end in April. These two factors could have a significant effect on the housing market and could weaken it even further, but stay tuned to our post because I believe the government will extend one or two of these programs.

Unfortunately foreclosure will continue to rise and homeowners need to know their options – Homeowners need to have a place to turn and they need to know that there are options to foreclosure. National Foreclosure Prevention Service offers free confidential consultations; even if we are unable to help at least we can give honest advice to the homeowner about the different options available to them.

It is also clear that the number of people being helped in this recessionary time have been those who are able to take advantage of the many government programs. The tax credit that was sent to expire in November was extended by Congress to allow up to $8,000 for first-time homeowners and a new $6,500 credit for existing homeowners who move.

It remains unknown what will happen when these government programs come to an end before the economy can start to show significant sustainable grown on its own because as most analyst will agree, a healthy real estate market is needed to help the economy continue recovering from recession.

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The “Original Note”

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Duane

I was attending a real estate seminar several months ago and I had a chance to introduce myself, explain why I was attending and what I was hoping to accomplish from the seminar. When we broke for lunch I was approached by a gentleman who proceeded to tell me that I should ask the lender to produce the original mortgage note and if they could not then they were unable to foreclose on the property.

National Foreclosure Prevention Service does engage a number of attorneys to help facilitate the loss mitigation process, but we are also mindful of the cost involved in mitigating a loan modification. We realize that our clients are in financial distress and we would like to keep the cost of our services reasonable-having to litigate with a bank to produce the note could be both costly and time consuming.

That is not to say we don’t ask the question, but we would much rather attempt a working relationship with the lender and request a true loan modification that would be amicable to my client and the lender. That being said – most of the notes we have requested have been produced and the rest have either caused delays in our request for a modification or our request was approved before we needed to see the original note (my client makes that final decision).

When we get a new client we always offer a free consultation and we ask the homeowner to discuss their options with their significant other before making a decision. We also encourage them to speak to other companies or organizations to get a feel for the conversation and a feel for the answers to their questions.

National Foreclosure Prevention Service offers a free initial consultation to all homeowners looking for options to foreclosure.

Most if not all of our business is referred to us through our network of mortgage brokers, real estate agents, investors and attorneys so we don’t have that issue-but we still do the free consultation and we still ask them to think about what they want to do and then call us if they want to move forward.

For more information click here on Produce the Note.