When your home is in pre-foreclosure, you need to know about deficiency judgments. Of course, the deficiency is the leftover debt after the home is sold, and the judgment part means that the court will formally order you to pay it back. Your state may not allow this, but several states support the lender’s right to collect the rest of the debt.

When you have to sell your home through foreclosure or short sale, is there any way to prevent a deficiency judgment from being awarded? What happens in those situations?

Most of the time, the only way you can avoid a deficiency judgment is by negotiating with the lender during the pre-foreclosure process. They know how expensive it is to maintain their REO properties. The lender may consent to waive their right to collect the rest of the debt if they see that it will cost them less money in the long run to allow a short sale and simply let the debt go.

When the lender won’t agree to waive their right to collect that leftover debt, they ask the court to grant them a deficiency judgment against the homeowner. Afterward, only paying off the debt or having it discharged in bankruptcy will make it disappear.

How is a deficiency judgment figured? First, the judge will look at the proceeds from the sale of the home. If there was a short sale, the amount of the deficiency judgment is the mortgage debt less the sale proceeds. If the home went to auction, in most states, the judge will take the greater of the appraised value of that home or the highest bid from the auction and subtract that amount from the mortgage debt.

Either way, the court will order the homeowner to repay that amount to the lender. If more than one lienholder on the home chose to file a similar lawsuit, the homeowner may end up with more than one deficiency judgment.

Immediately after the judge signs the order, the deficiency judgment begins earning interest. If the lender adds its REO expenses to the balance, the interest just keeps climbing higher. There is an interest rate of 11 percent per year on deficiency judgments in Florida. What’s the rate in your state?

After establishing the new debt from the deficiency judgment, a bank typically turns around and sells the debt for pennies on the dollar. Banks know that collecting money from someone who couldn’t pay their mortgage is not worth their time and expense. They prefer to cut their losses and unload the debt on someone else.

Payment or no payment, the former homeowner now also has a huge ding on their credit report, as if having a foreclosure on record wasn’t bad enough. That judgment will stay on a credit report for at least seven to ten years, depending on certain circumstances, and it will send a FICO score down. That lower FICO score means that the former homeowner could be turned down for loans, jobs, or even housing because of it.

With the number of foreclosures increasing faster than ever, the number of deficiency judgments are increasing right along with them. As the government re-evaluates how foreclosures are done in various scenarios, they may also reconsider how deficiency judgments are handled as well. On the other hand, they may not.

For now, your best strategy is to try and get the lender to see the wisdom of forgiving the debt and reporting the mortgage as “paid in full as agreed” on your credit report. Negotiating that deficiency judgment away is the key to survival here, because it can hang over your head for a long time.

Need to learn more about how deficiency judgments can affect your life? Visit the Strategic Real Estate Coach website. You’ll gain access to weekly webinars on current events in the mortgage industry and more!

Gainesville FL – We recently talked to someone who did a Gainesville loan modification with HSBC. We couldn’t believe how easy the process was for them. They didn’t have to wait 60 days for a person to be assigned to work on the loan modification. They didn’t have to fill out an entire “package”, the fax machine actually worked, and everything went smoothly. I’ve have good experiences on HSBC short sales. Obviously they also do a good job on loan mods. Now, let’s contrast this with a large American Bank, such as Bank of America or JP Morgan Chase.

Bank of America is awful at processing Gainesville short sales. I have countless stories of real estate agents working on Bank of America short sales for last 8 months. They still can’t get a reasonable answer on the short sale after 8 months.

Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase are especially bad. Want an answer to your e-mail? Be prepared to wait 1-2 weeks for that. The people are all overworked. What happens is that everything becomes incoherent. In my opinion, the reason these companies don’t care is because they don’t own the loans. Bank of America only owns approximately 20% of their loans.

And a lot of the remaining 20% are probably guaranteed by the government because of their purchase of Countrywide. Contrast this with HSBC. They own most, if not all, of their loans. That means if they mess up, they are the ones losing money. I couldn’t find HSBC ever getting a bailout on the bailout search page. They have a well run bank. All of their loan mods, short sales, and foreclosures are handled properly. Here is why.

They are acting as a principal. If they do a lousy job, they lose the money themselves. On 80% (or more) of Bank of America’s loans, someone else is losing the money. That is why nothing ever gets done on a Bank of America file. It’s like monopoly money. Do you think a teenage kid is going to “hot rod” around in his Dad’s fancy sports car?

I remember how I drove my parent’s car. Come on! We all know his Dad will treat the car a lot better than his kid will. Therefore, we can agree that people do a better job if their own money is on the line. The big banks are handling other people’s money. There is no accountability. The investors just hear that the market is bad. They don’t know that that is only half the story.

At HSBC, if the short sale department does a lousy job, it affects HSBC’s quarterly statement. If things go bad, then people are held accountable. In my opinion, there is nothing of the sort happening at American Banks such as Bank of America or JP Morgan Chase.

It’s kind of sad that a foreign company does a better job than an American Company. Are you an investor who own a mortgage, or do you work at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, VA, or some other place that owns or insures mortgages? Here are the standards I would force the lender handling your loans to apply for short sales and loan modifications.

Loan Mod Minimum Standard: Give the homeowner a written, coherent answer on their loan mod within 30 days. Approve all loan mods that are projected to bring in more money versus a foreclosure or short sale.

Short Sale Minimum Standard: The buyer gets a written, solid, coherent answer within 30 days after they make an offer. If the buyer isn’t willing to pay that price, then the house is listed at that price and the asking price is dropped by 5% a month until the home sells. Any future buyers get an answer on their offer within 3 business days.

Chris Curry, real estate agent at Keller Williams Gainesville Realty. Call Chris at (352) 332-6611. Chris is an advocate for Homeowners in Distress. Chris has made it his personal mission to help as many people as possible avoid foreclosure and keep their home.

For more info visit http://www.gainesvilleshortsaleblog.com/

Learn more about keyword #1. Stop by Ben Curry’s site where you can find out all about keyword #2 and what it can do for you.

Gainesville FL – It takes a lender months to foreclose on your house. I have seen some lenders take 2-3 years to foreclose on a house. There are two reasons this is happening. First, there are a lot of people unable to make their payments. Second, the court system is backed up.

Here are a few examples. I have seen many lenders wait up to a year to file for foreclosure. The homeowner stopped making their payments in January. Their lender didn’t file for foreclosure until October or November that year. In many situations, the lenders are waiting even longer than that. Obviously it all depends on the lender.

Here is an example of how the court system is backed up. Many lenders will file for foreclosure. In some situations, it takes a judge two to three months to respond to a request. The court system is only designed to handle so many cases.

There are simply too many cases being shoved into the system. Once a judge is overloaded, it takes longer for them to respond. The other thing is that the lawyers for the lenders are overloaded. Many of these law firms reduced staff during the last economic boom. Now they are having to crank up production. It is taking time for them to hire on and train new staff.

What does that mean to you? They are slow to file the foreclosure case. They don’t “push” the case to foreclose faster. I have heard of foreclosure cases in some states that would sit dormant for 1-2 years. The foreclosure lawyers simply weren’t filing the necessary paperwork. If you are facing this is good news.

You can stay in your home rent free for a long time. I saw one person move out of their house a couple of months after the foreclosure started. He couldn’t afford rent at his new house and was evicted. However, it took his lender over two years to foreclose on his house. He could have lived in his original house for free during those two years.

Hope this helps you in your situation. Would you like to discuss your situation with me? You can call me at (352) 332-6611. Our Gainesville loan modification kit has the instructions you will need to get a loan modification approved.

Thanks for reading this, Chris Curry.

Chris is a real estate agent at Keller Williams Gainesville Realty.

Phone: (352) 332-6611

For more Info Visit http://www.gainesvilleshortsaleblog.com/

Want to find out more about keyword #1, then visit Ben Curry’s site on how to choose the best keyword #2 for your needs.

Paying credit cards and other unsecured debts are your lowest priority. An unsecured debt is a debt where they can’t take away your car or house. A secured debt has something as collateral, such as your car, house, or anything else of value.

The most commons unsecured debt is a credit card. When you stop paying them, they will call you nonstop. The reason is because they don’t have any other way to collect from you.

They can’t come get your car or take your house. So, they make up for that by blowing up your phone with harassing calls. In addition, they use deceptive tricks to get you to pay them. For example, there are Federal Laws that regulate what they can do or say. They aren’t allowed to threaten to sue you, but then not follow thru and actually file suit. To get around this rule, they will use language that sounds legal, but isn’t.

In one situation, a debt collector in Buffalo, New York named their firm Hoffman, Weinberg & O’Brien to make it sound like they were a law firm. They would then leave messages on people’s answering machines. They would say they were with the office of Hoffman, Weinberg & O’Brien and then say they may resort to future legal action. In addition, they would reference case number 8306042. If you didn’t know any better, you would think the case number was for an actual lawsuit against you. Scary, right?

Most credit card accounts never sue (despite the constant threats.) Even when they do sue and get a judgment, they rarely ever attempt to garnish wages. A lot of judgments expire without getting paid. But, a lot of them get paid off when a person’s income increases, or that person sells a valuable asset such as a house.

Here is how to stop the harassing calls. Simply ask the person who calls for their fax number or mailing address. Then, fax or mail them a letter that requests them to stop calling you.

Here is some sample language I would put into a letter for this purpose:

“Under my rights in the Fair Lending Law and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, I hereby request you stop any and all phone calls to me or any other person. At this time, I do not wish to speak with you, anyone at your company, or anyone representing you concerning this matter. Do not contact me by phone regarding this matter. I demand that you stop calling my at home, on my cell phone, at work, at my relatives house, or any other location. Please make any future communication with me in writing. I am aware of my rights under section 805(b)2 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Ac and am willing and able to exercise them. I am keeping track of all calls from your company and may consider recording calls.”

Make sure that when you mail the letter, you send it return receipt requested. If you have access to a fax machine, then fax it out. It’s much easier and stops the calls quickly. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a creditor or collection agency that calls you after you request them to stop may be liable for statutory damages up to $1,000 plus any actual damages suffered, plus attorney fees.

Another tactic you can use to shut down any debt collector is to tell them you are recording the call. They back off when they realize they are on tape. You can buy an inexpensive call recorder at Radio Shack or Amazon.com. Just hook it up to your phone and you’re ready to go. In addition, you may want to keep a log of all phone calls from debt collectors. This can be useful if you ever have to go to court.

After reading the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, in my opinion, the following acts are prohibited:

Violation #1: Call you before 8 AM or after 9PM.

Violation #2: Tell your relatives, family, or friends that you owe them money, or state that they are in the debt collection business when they contact any relatives, family, or friends.

Violation #3: Contact you after you send a written request that they cease further communication.

Violation #4: Contact you after you request they cease.

Violation #5: Threaten you with violence. In addition, they are prohibited from using obscene or profane language.

Violation #6: Publicize a list of people who owe them money.

Violation #7: Cause your phone to ring repeatedly or continuously to annoy you.

Violation #8: Call you without telling you who they are and why they are calling.

Violation #9: Mislead or falsely represent the amount owed, that they are an attorney or law firm, that if you don’t pay then you’ll go to jail, state or claim that you committed a crime, or threaten to take an action that is not allowed legally.

Violation #10: Not informing you that any information obtained can be used for the purpose of collecting their debt.

Violation #11: Threaten to repossess any property that they legally don’t have the right to repossess. I remember hearing a lady calling a national talk show and saying that a debt collector had threatened to repossess her cat. What is this world coming to?!! That is definitely a violation! Cats, dogs, and children are not normally given as collateral against loans. This isn’t the middle ages here!

Violation #12: Threaten to sue you and then not follow thru with it. In addition, they are not allowed to threaten to do anything unless they actually intend to follow thru with it.

There are many good lawyers who specialize in helping consumers when a debt collector violates the act. Just Google “Fair Debt Collections Lawyer.” Many of them can help you at no cost out of your pocket. They will take on your case on a contingency basis and get paid from the money they collect from the debt collector.

Thanks for reading this, Chris Curry.

Chris is a real estate agent at Keller Williams Gainesville Realty.

Phone: (352) 332-6611.

For more info http://www.gainesvilleshortsaleblog.com/

Looking to find the best deal on keyword #1, then visit www.yoursite.com to find the best advice on keyword #2 for you.

As legislators put new laws in place to curb mortgage fraud, there appears to be a new kind of undetected mortgage fraud conducted by agents from major banks. On January 15th 2010, CNBC real estate reporter, Diana Olick produced a controversial story invo

Before writing her column, Diane was cautioned by Jeremy Brandt, a CEO of a few firms ranging from 1800CashOffer, HomeFlux.com and FastHomeOffer.com. These companies organize unions between short-sale agents, investors and sellers to produce short-sale transactions. Jeremy Brandt had been receiving lots of grumbles with issues regarding second lien holders.

As the real estate crisis worsens with many homeowners underwater or owing more than their houses are valued compounded with the dreadful unemployment problem, short-sales is now a top option for many homeowners who have not managed to obtain a loan modification or a refinance. A short-sale is when a bank agrees to sell the property for an amount lower than the mortgage balance owed. The National Association of Realtors indicated that short-sales was responsible for roughly 12% of all home sales in 2009.

Not all short-sales are easy. They get complicating and difficult whenever there are 2 loans involved. In order for a short-sale to work, parties will need to seek the permission of the second lien holder to release the lien. If the second lien holder refuses to do so, then there will be no short-sale and the home enters into foreclosure with the first lien holder getting possession of the house. The second lien holder will not get anything since its debt is subordinate to the primary debt (first lien holder).

Usually, the first lien holder will arrange a partial payment for the second lien holder to drop the lien thus permitting the short-sale to go through. The second lien holder isn’t obliged to agree but more are starting to take payments as they rather receive something instead of nothing. All of this is within the confines of the legal rules.

For most 2nd lien holders, they might get either little or less. Due to this, many 2nd lien holders are requesting real estate agents or home purchasers in a short-sale to pay ‘under the table’. Under the table means not revealing the transaction in HUD settlement statements. According to Brandt, second lien holders are very forward with their demands proposing that if the first lender realizes the 2nd lien holder is getting payment, the first lender will cease the short-sale. These 2nd lenders usually demand a cashier’s check prior to closing while selecting not to reveal in the closing documents and HUD statements. Once the 2nd lender obtains payment, they will then agree for the short-sale to go through. According to RESPA rules and the lawyers that Diane Olick had discussed with, the actions above are not legal.

RESPA is the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, a law that was enacted in 2008 to protect consumers so that they receive disclosures at various times of a transaction. It is designed to curb and outlaw kickbacks that increase the cost of settlement services. RESPA is a HUD consumer protection statute, enforced by HUD, designed to enhance and protect homebuyers during their home purchase.

Brian Sullivan, a RESPA expert announced it to be breaking the law. Jeremy Brandt commented that he was notified by 200 agents claiming that they’ve had these illegal requests from members of Citi Mortgage, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America including other larger banks. While many of these transactions remain unseen and hidden, it helps to promote more short-sales which result into more home purchases thus benefiting the U.S. home market. Though there has not been any active investigation into this issue, a study of RESPA laws confirm it to be clearly illegal.

CNBC made contact with all three important lenders about this problem and below are their following answers. JP Morgan declined to make a statement when CNBC confronted its media department.

Bank of America denied any practice to CNBC and replied with the following statement: “Bank of America enforces a policy that all disbursements are documented on the settlement statement for short sales. When we are servicing a first mortgage with a second lien held by another investor, if the second lien holder asks for off-HUD payments, we will not approve the transaction (if we have knowledge of it). It is also against Bank of America’s policy to accept off-HUD payments on its second liens.”

Citi Mortgage responded to CNBC with the following statement: “We work very hard to help distressed homeowners find solutions for their financial challenges. In our attempt to amicably resolve the debt, we will generally negotiate a reduced settlement with the homeowner in order to release a second lien. Unlike some lenders who refuse to reduce the payoffs on second liens, we choose to reduce the payoff amounts in some situations to assist the borrower. We do not provide instructions to settlement agents on how to fill out the settlement statement or any other closing documents, and we certainly do not require settlement agents or any other parties to violate applicable laws.

Learn how to stop foreclosure by keeping informed on the latest government assisted programs. Download the Free Podcast about Short Sale Fraud for your own use, blog or website.

The re-default rate of loans modified in the first quarter of 2009 was 51.5 percent by the end of the year, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Assistant Treasury Secretary, Herb Allison gave his opinion. “Borrowers were more likely to re-default when their monthly payments aren’t reduced enough in modifications to make staying in a home affordable. Our data show that when you reduce payments by 20 percent or more you have a tendency for lower re-default rates,” he said.

This is bad news. If you are looking for Jacksonville Loan Modification Help, don’t become a statistic. Here is why this is happening. Many homeowners get desperate and accept a loan mod they can’t afford.

Are you negotiating with your lender to reduce your monthly payment? Before you start, run your budget. Figure out what you can afford to pay each month. Decide on the highest monthly payment you will accept. Draw a line in the sand. If you can only afford $800 a month, then don’t accept a $1,200 payment.

The second loan modification is much harder to obtain. Lenders are reluctant to reduce your payment a second time, because they think you will default a third time around.

Review all your options to avoid foreclosure. Research your local housing market. Many people have been able to rent a house for much less than their mortgage payment. Here is one example. A couple owned a house with a $1,400 monthly mortgage payment. The home’s value had dropped by 50%. Their lender wouldn’t reduce their payment.

They found a nicer house to rent for $850 a month. This is one option. If you want to keep your home, you need to negotiate for a payment you can afford. Do not let your lender push you into an unaffordable payment.

Not being able to afford your home is tough. You are stressed out. You and your spouse might argue over money. You might think about your problems when you are at work, which might affect your ability to do your job. You then risk getting let go. Where will your lender be at that point? This is why it is in the lender’s best interest to reduce your payment where you can afford it.

Our loan modification kit has the information on how to make the argument. We show them that they will make more money by accepting your loan modification versus foreclosing on the house. They’re in the business of making money, right? That is why this strategy works. Get more info at Jacksonvilleshortsaleblog.com

Thanks for reading this, Chris Curry.

Chris is a real estate agent at Keller Williams Realty.

Phone: (386) 719-2330.

Want to find out more about keyword #1, then visit Ben Curry’s site on how to choose the best keyword #2 for your needs.

As short sale professionals, we know that meeting with a homeowner in trouble for the first time is crucial to successfully closing the deal. The results of that first conversation will set the tone for the results of your last one.

If you’re going to be in sales, the first rule is to find out specifically what their issues and concerns really are before you try to sell them anything. When you understand their situation, you’re in a better position to help everyone get what they want. Every experienced salesperson does that.

In the short sale niche, our clients are homeowners in default on their mortgage. Generally speaking, their problems are obvious, right? They’re losing their house, and they’re drowning financially. Specifically, though, not everyone has exactly the same thinking about their needs during financial troubles. If you want to help these homeowners, you need to hit home about what is really bugging each of them personally about their situation.

After you find out what their real concerns are, that’s when you begin tailoring your answers to those concerns. As they speak, listen carefully for the win-win proposition that you think will work for both of you. It’s a rare day when there isn’t a positive solution available for a homeowner in financial trouble. All you do is educate yourself about them, and then educate them about your possible solutions.

You’ve been listening to them for a while, and you now know their story. (If you’re smart, you’ve been letting them do most of the talking.) When they’re done – and only when they’re done – you need to talk about how working with you is the right solution to their problem. That’s where the Positive Results Conversation comes in.

The Positive Results Conversation opens the door for you to introduce yourself and your services. In this conversation, you can use what you learned from listening to them and explain how you can meet each one of their needs. As a short sale investor, you should focus on helping the homeowner understand the different foreclosure options and how each one might affect this specific situation.

After you explain foreclosure options and alternatives, you will want to help the homeowner understand how short sales work. Short sale professionals already know that they have the best chance of minimizing the negative effects of the lender’s actions, but the average homeowner doesn’t. You also need to help them set realistic expectations of what the whole process will and won’t do for them.

There is no substitute for realistic expectations when it comes to getting involved in someone else’s financial business. An informed client who makes informed decisions is so much more likely to be a satisfied client. When you manage their expectations, you increase your chances of seeing the Positive Results Conversation work. When you don’t talk about what can and can’t happen, you risk putting yourself in the position of having to explain some unfortunate events later.

Finally, make it a point to finish the Positive Results Conversation. Even if one of you is getting tired, you will help the homeowner more by making each and every point in your presentation. The solution you offer could be valuable to them if it is implemented with full knowledge and understanding. If this doesn’t happen, the homeowner is more likely to switch gears and impatiently throw a wrench in the deal.

Be honest and show them the real you, but at the same time, try to stick to the script for the main points. You should be able to wrap it up in around 90 minutes or less. When you are done, emphasize the positive results of your presentation. They don’t have to run away from the problem; there is a solution. They don’t have to worry about scammers; they have a knowledgeable person on their side.

Want to see the entire Positive Results Conversation? Check out our website, and look for the original Short Sale Manifesto. Our experience has proven that covering every topic on the list really does get positive results for everyone. Then you can get ready to submit their short sale package to the lender.

Always remember that we put this presentation together from our own experience in dealing with homeowners in trouble. Everything on the list has a purpose; everything on that list is there because it will help you succeed as a short sale consultant. You will begin to see your own positive results when people in your own neighborhood start calling you “the problem property expert” and sending referrals your way!

Need to learn more about helping homeowners avoid foreclosure? Check out the Strategic Real Estate Coach resource page for the best short sale success strategies!

Interest rates and real estate prices have not been this low together in over 50 years. After the zillion megaton explosion of the real estate bubble, prices have dropped to all time lows and bargains abound. It does not take a genius to see that right now cash is king and if you have a few bucks set aside you need to look into investment real estate. Bargains are all around, but be careful, some of them have gotten pretty beat up during the foreclosure process. This crisis has been going on for several years now and some of the properties have been vacant for way too long.

There does not seem to be any relief in sight for commercial real estate investors. The short term loans they bought their properties with a few years ago are coming due at a time when the property values have plummeted. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes as tenants walk out on leases as their businesses collapse. Landlords should become proactive communicating with their tenants who are having a hard time making their lease payments right now. It would be better to lower their monthly payments now than to see them walk away. A few years ago property owners could just evict delinquent tenants and easily find new tenants who could pay more. Things have changed dramatically lately as all kinds of retail shops, restaurants, auto body shops and other small and medium size business fail, lease ready investment real estate is standing empty.

So for their own good, landlords might need to throw their sinking business tenants a lifeline by reducing their lease payments, or even deferring them for awhile. This will give the struggling business much needed breathing room and free up some cash flow. The landlord may need to do this so that he still has a tenant when things eventually pick up. Things don’t look good right now but the economy always recovers. This recession may be longer than we are used to because world dynamics have changed so much, but we all know it will eventually end. When the economy and the failing businesses do recover the landlord will have looked like an angel to his tenants, eliciting loyalty, plus it is a sound business decision at this time.

If these commercial landlords can’t work out an alternate plan with their tenants the prognosis is grim. When they lose that monthly lease payment it can eat a hole in the deepest pocketbooks pretty quickly. This very scenario is expected to create havoc in the commercial real estate sector between now and 2013.

Because of all this, I am looking at commercial real estate myself for the first time in years. You can pick up an REO (bank owned) property for very little. After you have secured one of these bargain commercial properties you should be able to find tenants who can pay enough rent to create a nice positive cash flow.

There will never be a better time to buy foreclosed commercial property. To learn how, go to www.CostaMesaForeclosures.org.

You don’t have to be Donald Trump to realize that foreclosures often represent some of the best deals in real estate. The banking business is all about making loans to property owners and collecting mortgage payments, not owning property. So when a bank does have to repossess a property for non-payment of the mortgage, they try to sell it again as soon as possible. The means that this is a good time to keep an idea on the foreclosure activity around you to see what comes up.

In the not too distant past, only serious real estate developers could purchase foreclosed properties. That stands to reason because most of the foreclosed property was pretty beat up in inner city areas all the problems that come with gang violence and high crime rates.But thanks to the rampant wave of foreclosures sweeping the nation, even the prime towns and subdivisions are not immune. These foreclosed homes give investors the opportunity to buy homes in great neighborhoods that they never would have considered before. It’s no wonder, then, that more and more people are shopping for foreclosed homes these days.

How do you go about finding foreclosure properties for sale? Most folks opt not to work with a real estate agent — at least initially — when trying to find a good deal. Since there are so many free websites that provide foreclosure listings, that is where they start. They list just about everything everything about a property from the size, and number of bedrooms, to the owner of the mortgage. You can even see a picture of the property on Google Maps.

Many people attend auctions either locally or on-line. At these auctions, you can bid on foreclosure properties for sale and hope to score a bargain that way. You can decide how much you want to spend for a property before hand and if you can stick to your decision you will probably get a great bargain. If you get the bid, then you might get the best possible deal. However, an obvious drawback is that you’re not guaranteed to be the highest bidder, so you always risk leaving empty-handed.

And finally, the government always keeps a current list of foreclosed properties for sale on the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) website. While most of the listings are for modest single-family homes, you’ll occasionally come across exotic mansions that are being offered for pennies on the dollar. These places have likely been seized in drug raids or from white-collar criminals and are now being sold in order to pay off fines, which means bargain prices for buyers.

The foreclosure crisis has created great hardship for homeowners, but it does mean that there are more affordable homes out there today. If you’re in the market for a new place, it would be smart to check out foreclosure properties for sale instead of hunting for a house through regular channels.

You can search for foreclosures at PalmSpringsForeclosures.net where we have a free search tool powered by ForeclosureRadar. PalmSpringsForeclosures.net has the critical information you need.

As I drive around town I see lots of commercial buildings that are either empty or with multiple vacancies. There are so many “For Lease” signs in the windows that it is easy to see that the economic melt down has hit the commercial section heard. Homeowners are not the only ones worried about losing their properties these days, landlords and commercial property owners are having many of the same headaches, but on a bigger scale.

The bad economy is making many companies close branch operations or otherwise consolidate operations and personnel. Many other companies have had to stop doing business altogether as business dried up. Bankruptcy has caused others to close their doors. In every town I have been in lately, I’ve seen the same thing. When these businesses fail we frequently don’t think about their landlords, but in this market, they are in trouble also.

They are in trouble for a couple of reasons but the immediate problem is that they are losing the cash flow from their vacating tenants. Banks expect commercial foreclosures to increase as the property owners start to experience cash flow problems. Although landlords are fighting to increase cash flow and decrease expenses to make their payments, it might be a losing battle unless they can refinance their loans or get loan modifications.

Tenants are the building owner’s lifeblood. Without the rent they pay he can lose thousands of dollars of income and be unable to make his mortgage payments. In this bad rental market, with all the vacant space around, it could take months or even years to replace the income from lost tenants. Bankers are watching this closely. They know that as the owners lose tenants, it will be increasingly difficult for them to make their mortgage payments. For many of them this will mean defaulting on their loans. When the loans were made seven or eight years ago they were usually short-term with interest rates of 7% to 10%. Everyone expected the property market to continue to increase in value and they were expected to refinance the loans when they came due over the next three years. Now with property values at a 30 to 50% discount from when the loans were made, refinancing is nearly impossible.

Although interest rates are lower, property values are sliding down every month. On top of that the landlords are losing tenants and income as businesses fail. Lending practices are now much tighter than anyone expected and they could get worse. When lending requirements are this tight it means that the building owner will find it much more difficult to get the commercial refinancing he needs, even if he has great credit.

About the only thing will save many of them is a commercial loan modification. Hopefully they will be available when the landlords need them. Commercial loan modifications should help these landlords more than the residential loan modifications have helped homeowners. Most of the loan modifications, so far, have only lengthened the payout from 30 years to 40 or more. That doesn’t really solve the problem because the homeowner is still upside down in his mortgage and still owes more than the property is worth. The only thing that will really work, is to reduce the principle of the mortgage so the borrower is not underwater anymore. Otherwise there’s no way to refinance.

Getting started is not hard but requires a lot of paperwork. There’s a detailed application that needs to be filled out along with all the financial data that the property generates. A commercial appraisal needs done and that’s pretty expensive. The commercial negotiators that I just mentioned know exactly what to do to help smooth the process tremendously. Once you make the decision to go forward, it should go pretty smoothly because both the negotiator and the bankers are professionals who deal with this everyday. So if this applies to you, get started now before it’s too late.

Balloon Mortgages are coming due on Commercial Loans between now and 2013. Will this be the next financial crisis? Learn more at www.PalmDesertForeclosures.org