Listen To These Important Mortgage Tips from The Experts!

1. "It's urgent to contact your lender as soon as you're behind or feel you might fall behind. That's the biggest mistake people make, they don't call the lender. They have the furniture people or the car people call but the lenders don't call. So people make the wrong decisions." Vincent Quayle, Executive Director of St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center in Baltimore, Maryland (www.stambros.org).

2. At St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center, Mr. Quayle knows from experience that if the loan can be restructured, they mediate with the lender. At their center they have lawyers on staff as well as counselors. "We have lawyers that can review their loan documents and intervene with lenders: a call from a lawyer has more weight than a call from a counselor," said Mr. Quayle.

3. Get everything in writing. Bianca Lopez, Blanca Lopez, Director of the Neighborhood Preservation Company Program for Human Development Services of Westchester, New York says that is critical: "Always ask for a person's fax number and their extension. Whatever agreement there is, put it in writing and fax it to them. Then keep a copy for yourself. Right now it may be just one person, but lenders are handling hundreds and hundreds of cases and it is too easy for a single case to fall between cracks," said Lopez. She stresses. "Time is of the essence: time is money and time is also your credit rating."

4. When looking for a mortgage counselor, it is confusing to know where to go. Ms. Lopez explains that some Nonprofits are certified by HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development), but that this is all based on having the proper documentation and who the organization serves and what they do. Not being certified is not necessarily a bad thing. "Most of the well-known organizations in our county are not HUD-approved but that does not make them corrupt," said Ms. Lopez. Want to double-check on someone? Lopez suggests calling your state attorney general's charity bureau to "confirm if they are legit."

5. "If they have a court date, go to the court date and don't be scared. So many people are going through this and it is not the end of the world. People should be thankful that their families are okay, that they re okay, it is not the end of the world. Take into consideration that it is just another problem to get over and that you learn from it. That's why mortgage counseling helps, it is a one on one session - you just have to face it and address it as much as possible. But it is not the end of the world," said Lopez.

Many Not-For-Profit Agencies Help Families Too

If you are behind on one mortgage payment or think you will be behind and this is a one time thing - consider contacting Modest Needs (www.modestneeds.org). Modest Needs is a not-for-profit organization that helps those who are above the poverty line that don't qualify for other types of assistance. Keep in mind that Modest Needs only provides one-time assistance - many of their clients come to them because of an unexpected bill. "We help people who are normally self-sufficient who need help with a small one-time expense," said Huriya Jabbar, Vice President of Program Services at Modest Needs.

The Homeownership Preservation Foundation is a very useful organization for those with mortgage concerns. You can actually speak to a mortgage counselor twenty four hours a day. So if you are having trouble sleeping because of your mortgage problem - get up and give them a call at 1-888-955-HOPE. You can also put in an online counseling session at their website (www.955hope.com). They provide housing counseling at no charge to the homeowner. They will review your mortgage and current obligations and help you create a budget and see how you can prevent foreclosure. They will also work with your lender. The foundation also has local offices in many areas, so you can meet with a counselor face-to-face. They don't offer funding or grants, but they have the ability to help you find local agencies in your area that do assist with funding and grants. You can speak to a counselor anytime for as long as you need.

Calling your local United Way office is also a great way to find resources. In many communities you can simply call "211" to reach the United Way's 211 Call Center (www.211.org). This informative call center will help you find resources in your area. Explain to them that you are looking for organizations that help people with their mortgage concerns and they will typically give you a list of organizations. When we called our local 211 office, we were given three different organizations to call.

Seniors may find the AARP guide "Borrower's Guide to Home Loans" quite helpful. They can get a copy by making a request at the website: www.aarp.org.

Help From Your State

Some states are even offering cash loans to help families get back on their feet. Even if you don't live in an area that does this yet, be encouraged and keep your eyes open - as a program could be opening up soon!

Live in Pennsylvania? Get 24 months of your mortgage or $60,000 loan!
Many are saying it's great to live in Pennsylvania! This wonderful state has a forward-thinking program to help keep people from foreclosure. HEMAP (link: http://www.phfa.org/consumers/homeowners/hemap.aspx) is the Homeowners' Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program. This program was created by Act 91 in 1983. It is the only one of its type in the U.S.A., but hopefully other government officials will be inspired by its success. HEMAP helps people who through no fault of their own are unable to make their mortgage payments. Pennsylvania residents are eligible for help for up to 24 months or for a maximum of $60,000 loan. What a great way to help families in Pennsylvania! Contact: Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency 211 North Front Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101-1406; 800-342-2397
Application: www.phfa.org/about/contact/telephonedirectory.aspx
Income: $10,000 - $1,000,000

Seattle residents can get $5,000 loan to pay their mortgage
In January 2008, the mayor of Seattle Greg Nickels started a new initiative to help Seattle families. Low-income families that are facing foreclosure can be eligible for a $5,000 loan. Seattle has $200,000 set aside for these special loans. The loan is combined with mortgage counseling from two local agencies: Urban League (www.urbanleague.org) and Solid Ground Mortgage Hotline: http://www.solid-ground.org/Pages/Default.aspx; 206-461-3200.

Massachusetts Will Help You Refinance
MassHousing helps low to moderate income Massachusetts residents purchase homes at below market lending rates. They have begun a Home Saver Foreclosure Prevention Program which helps borrowers who are unable to repay their mortgage. You cannot be in foreclosure or more than 30 days delinquent to use this program, and you must be employed. The first step is to contact the Homeowerneship Preservation Foundation at 888-995-HOPE and tell them your story. They will refer you to a local counseling agency which is mandatory for this program. Once you have completed counseling, you will be provided with a list of lenders who will help you refinance your loan. Contact: MassHousing, One Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108; 617-854-1000; 888-995-HOPE; www.masshousing.com and www.995hope.org
Application: www.masshousing.com
Income: $10,000 - 1,000,000

North Carolina Offers Help
Those who are facing foreclosure can contact the HOPE Hotline at 888-995-HOPE, who will provide counseling and review their situation. The state has a program that provides $300,000 in seed money to reimburse counselors who are able to help prevent unnecessary foreclosures for North Carolinians who call the hotline, with more reimbursement going to counselors who are able to help homeowners keep their homes. Contact: North Carolina Foreclosure Help, NC Commissioner of Banks, 316 W. Edenton St., Raleigh, NC 27603; 888-995-HOPE; www.ncforeclosurehelp.org
Application: www.ncforeclosurehelp.org
Income: $10,000 - 1,000,000

Help For Ohio Residents
The Ohio NeighborWorks Foreclosure Prevention Initiative offers a variety of programs to help residents facing foreclosure. Contact the HOPE Hotline at 888-995-HOPE and they will do the initial assessment and refer you to counselors in your area who can help. They offer the Ohio Home Rescue Fund which is a loan of up to $5,000 to help you get your mortgage back on track, but you must agree to mortgage counseling and have the ability to maintain the home. The Cuyahoga County Foreclosure Prevention Program provides everything from budgeting advice to refinance counseling to help homeowners keep their homes. Cuyahoga County residents can call 211 or visit www.dontborrowtroublecc.org for more information.

In addition the Ohio Housing Finance Agency provides an Opportunity Loan Refinance Program for those who have adjustable rate mortgage so they can refinance to a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. You also may be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses for an appraisal, credit report, or other costs. There are income limits which vary county to county in Ohio, but can go as high as $80,750. To learn more call the Ohio Housing Finance Agency at 888-362-6432 or online at www.ohiohome.org
Contact: Ohio Housing Finance Agency, 57 E. Main St., Columbus, OH 43215; 614-466-7970; 888-362-6432; www.ohiohome.org
Application: www.ohiohome.org
Income: $10,000 - 1,000,000

Maryland Residents Can Get Help
Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development offers several different programs to help those who are in danger of losing their homes. The Lifeline Refinance Mortgage Program provides a refinancing option to Marylanders who may be facing difficulties after financing their homes with adjustable rate or other unfavorable mortgages, or with mortgages that no longer fit their financial situation. In addition there is a Bridge to HOPE Loan Program that provides short-term relief to maintain homeownership. Borrowers can receive a loan of up to $15,000 to pay delinquent mortgage payments, taxes, and other arrearages. This is a deferred loan that is repayable at the time the house is sold or transferred. For this program you must be referred by a housing counseling agency who will develop an action plan with you. There are income requirements for both programs that vary county to county, but can go as high as $132,300. Contact: Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, 100 Community Place, Crownsville, MD 21033; 877-462-7555; www.mdhope.org
Application: www.mdhope.org
Income: $10,000 - 1,000,000

The Government Wants to Help Those Defending Our Country!

If you are a reservist, guardsman or a military personnel you may be eligible for protection from foreclosure by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. This act was known earlier as The Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940. You must be an active duty military personnel with a mortgage obligation that existed before you were called to your active duty. With this act the mortgage lender may not foreclose while you are on active duty, or even within 90 days after military service without court approval. To get information about the SCRA, servicemembers should contact their unit judge advocate or installation legal assistance officer. Dependents of servicemembers can also contact the local military legal assistance offices where they are currently living.

Your Mortgage is a Concern and the U.S. Government Wants To Help

One of your first stops to go for help should be the government's U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, better known as HUD (www.hud.gov). They offer many services but the one that will interest you most now is their referral service to a HUD-approved or certified mortgage counseling agency. Call 1-800-569-4287 (TTY 1-800-877-8399). You can also get a referral from their website by visiting here: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hcc/hcs.cfm. Most counseling services are free, some may ask for a modest fee to help pay for obtaining your credit information from the credit bureaus to send to lenders.

Another great place to look for assistance in your area is to visit your State Attorney General's website. To find your state Attorney General's website, hit your favorite search engine and type in "your state Attorney General" and it should come right up! Now each State Attorney General is going to set up their website a little differently, but putting into the search the word "mortgage" should bring up any information on the website related to this topic. If you have trouble finding it on their website, call the State Attorney General's office and ask them where you can find mortgage counselors they would recommend. Each State Attorney General does consumer advocacy, and this topic is certainly related. A complete listing is located at the end of this document.

Free Help When You Can't Pay Your Mortgage

Not being able to pay your mortgage is scary stuff. Unfortunately, there are many Americans who are in this position today - or may be facing it coming down the road in a very short while.

There are resources available to help you with your mortgage concerns - sometimes even offering you a generous loan to help tide you over for awhile. As this issue concerns more and more families hopefully even more resources will become available. Some of the agencies we spoke to are expecting positive change to help them assist even more people. One agency even refused to be listed in this article, saying that it was expecting an infusion of assistance and didn't want to be listed until it had this to offer people.

All of the experts agreed on one thing if you have a mortgage problem - or even if you think you are going to have a mortgage problem: face it early. "If the client can ask for help on day one instead of day twenty it can make a difference, there can be more possibilities for assistance," said Bianca Lopez, Director of the Neighborhood Preservation Company Program for Human Development Services of Westchester, New York (www.hdsw.org). So being proactive is valuable. The options you will have available to you at the very start are often the very best. No one likes thinking they have a serious problem. But it is like they say: the number one rule of realizing that you are in a hole? Stop digging!

A Mortgage Fraud Scheme Worthy of Godzilla

Leaving a trail of devastation worthy of Godzilla, a mortgage fraud conspiracy of gargantuan proportions has wreaked havoc on the city of Indianapolis as block after block was left in near-apocalyptic ruins.


Although mortgage fraud schemes are sometimes widespread and frequently costing tens of millions of dollars, rarely has so much damage been done in so small an area.

According to authorities, six men were responsible for almost 300 foreclosures on the east and west sides of the city, leaving many of the homes boarded up or burned out.

Authorities say the scheme dramatically brought down the value of neighboring properties and the foreclosed homes that were abandoned have subsequently attracted less “white-collar” criminal activity.

The toll of such fraud is not only financial, but often bears an emotional toll on those living in the neighborhoods as the quality of life diminishes with the deterioration of the community.

Brian Beach, Omar Dillard, Preston Forte III, Patrick Ladarius, Mehran Valiyi and Marcus Ward have each been charged with welfare fraud and felony theft for the alleged scheme.

The ages of all six of the men range from mid-thirties to early forties.

Investigators say the conspirators would fraudulently purchase homes and fail to pay the mortgages while selling some of the homes at inflated prices.

Over five years, the six men allegedly took out almost $38 million in mortgages using non-existent companies they created.

No mortgage payments were made on any of the homes they bought, say investigators, driving many of the properties into foreclosure.

To keep from having to pay the judgment on the foreclosure, the conspirators allegedly filed for bankruptcy to create a seemingly endless circle of fraud.

Investigators claim that the men sold some of the properties to potential investors after misrepresenting the actual value of the homes.

The investors then would borrow money from banks, authorities say, and then purchase the homes at the inflated prices.

Some of investors were unable to keep up with their mortgage payments and found they were unable to sell the homes at anything near the inflated prices they paid.

According to investigators, the fraud scheme primarily took place from 2004 to 2007.
Valiyi and Beach alone stand accused of obtaining 397 fraudulent subprime loans through fraudulent applications.

The six men also are charged with fraudulently obtaining $283,000 in federal rent assistance money for tenants at dilapidated homes below federal quality standards.

Although four of the men have already been arrested, warrants have been issued for the arrest of Ladarius and Forte, who remain at-large.

Help for Land Improvement

Do you have a large piece of land that needs to be cleared, repaired, and fixed-up? You will want to be in touch with your local state forest service office: http://www.fs.fed.us/. Ask for "Carbon Credits." You can talk to your local public utilities office about these credits, too. Here is a link discussing the carbon credits: http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/carbon_offset_wind_credits_carbon_reduction.htm. To find your local public utilities, you can look in the blue pages of your phone book.

Never Trust Your Overseas Real Estate "Friend"

Buying and even shopping for real estate in another country takes nerve. The rules of engagement are completely different than back home. To be successful, you’ve got to arm yourself well in advance with an understanding of how this game is played.

The first thing to know is that the real estate agent is not your friend.

I’ve worked with real estate agents in dozens of countries. They are all friendly guys, and most are good company. I even keep in regular contact with some and value that relationship. But none of those things change the fundamental truth about real estate agents in developing, unregulated markets: They’re wolves.

Stepping into a real estate agent’s office in these countries, you’re stepping into the wolf’s den. Believe me when I tell you that, when it comes to business (that is, the purchase of real estate), the agent you’re working with is not working for you. Buyer’s agents don’t exist outside North America. In many of the markets I recommend, real estate agents aren’t regulated or even licensed. The guy showing you around could have been a travel agent in Iowa three months ago.

Furthermore, not only are these guys not working for you…but they’re not working for the seller either. They are working for themselves, and their goal is to extract as much commission out of you as they can. Understand that going into the conversation, and you stand a much better chance of coming out of it uncheated.

Here are some other tips to help your search go smoothly:

Don’t reveal your budget: Until you have a good idea of current market pricing and of differing values neighborhood to neighborhood, don’t quote a dollar amount when the agent asks about your budget. Tell him as specifically as possible what you are looking for--if you’re in the market for a house or an apartment, indicate the number of bedrooms, the total size you want in square meters, the amount of land, and any special features that are important to you, for example maid’s quarters--but be vague regarding how much you want to spend.

The minute you quote a budget, the agent works from that number to figure his potential commission. If he decides there’s not enough in it for him, you’ll get even less service than you might enjoy otherwise.

Quote a bigger budget, and you risk the guy selling you something for that amount of money…even if he’s got something just as nice (or even nicer) on his books for less.

Keep to your original specs: Stick with your parameters and don’t be confused or distracted by agents showing you houses that don’t seem to fit the specs you quoted at all.

When we were shopping for a home in Ireland years ago, we told the agent we wanted a large older house with at least five bedrooms on some land. They took us to see one 10- to 15-year-old, 1,800-square-foot house after another.

I still don’t know how you fit five bedrooms into 1,800 square feet. I didn’t go inside any of these houses to find out. I simply reminded the agents, again and again, that we weren’t interested in a small, recently built house on a little plot of land.

It wasn’t that they didn’t understand. It was that they didn’t have anything that fit our specs on their books…but they had these houses…so why not show the silly American buyers? Maybe they won’t notice the difference...

In most markets around the world, agents don’t work with each other. They don’t share listings, and they don’t have access to other agents’ listings. They only have what’s on their books...so that is what they are going to try to sell you. Talk about trying to put a square peg into a round hole. They’ll try to chip away at the edges to make a fit, because, remember, all they care about is making the sale. Buyer satisfaction doesn’t figure into the equation.

Lief Simon
For International Living

Senate Passes Foreclosure Bill

On Thursday, April 10^th, the Senate passed a bipartisan package of tax breaks and other steps designed to help businesses and homeowners weather the housing crisis. The plan combines large tax breaks for homebuilders and a $7,000 tax credit for people who buy foreclosed properties, as well as $4 billion in grants for communities to buy and fix up abandoned homes. The bill also offers $150 billion for pre-foreclosure counseling and stronger loan disclosure requirements.

The measure also calls for a long-awaited modernization of the Federal Housing Administration that would enable more homeowners to refinance into loans backed by the Depression-era agency. It includes $10 billion in tax-free mortgage revenue bonds to help homeowners refinance subprime loans, a move endorsed by President Bush.

While the Senate's Foreclosure Bill has passed with an impressive vote in the Senate, the White House opposes the bill. The bill will also be significantly redrawn by critics in the House. We will keep you updated on the changes made to this bill.

To read more, you can go here: http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/10/news/economy/senate_foreclosure.ap/index.htm

For more information on the White House's foreclosure fix, see: http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/news/economy/congress_housing_relief/index.htm?postversion=2008040918

More help

Maryland is not the only state working on proposals to try to cap the escalating rate of foreclosures. Legislation is being considered across the country from California to Florida.

To read more here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/02/AR2008040203638.html?sub=AR

Maryland Lawmakers to Help Homeowners

On April 2, 2008, Maryland lawmakers passed some of the nation's most ambitious legislation to control the housing crisis by toughening oversight of the mortgage-lending industry and establishing preemptive measures to help people at risk of foreclosure.

Maryland's legislation would provide "immediate relief" to homeowners facing foreclosure. The bills include making the most egregious mortgage schemes subject to criminal prosecution, extending the foreclosure timetable from 15 to 150 days and prohibiting prepayment penalties and transactions in which homeowners are tricked into signing over their houses to third parties.

Congress Planning More Help for Bad Mortgages

It's called the New Economic, Mortgage and Housing Rescue Proposal and would provide $300 billion to refinance borrowers who are in mortgage trouble. The proposal allows for a government agency that would negotiate with the lender to determine lower value of the house with a lower mortgage payment. The lender would receive government assistance. Keep track and view the details at: http://financialservices.house.gov/FHA.html

Emergency Rent and Down Payment Assistance Increasing In DC

A 14-month-old program that provides up to $6,000 in emergency money for families earning up to $26,499 for a family of 4, is asking for more money to cope with the current economic downtown. http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0308/504886.html

For info on the DC program see: http://tenac.org/files/Emergency%20Rental%20Assistance%20Program.pdf

To find similar programs in your area: Contact your city and county officials. You can also locate your local and county government offices on the web at http://www.govengine.com/localgov/index.html.