Category: Real Estate Market

Homeowners facing foreclosure should realize that companies or individuals who offer to help them financially are probably looking to increase their own real estate income, not to save their home or to purchase and rent their home back to them at a bargain price.

While the services offered by these companies may help to save your credit rating they are not designed to save your equity.  If you are facing foreclosure action you need to be talking to your lender in an effort work out of your situation. Do not sign papers with a “rescue” company, then go to your lender. At that point you likely no longer own your house. 

Investing Secrets That Quadrupled My Real Estate Income
By Marko Rubel

When I started buying foreclosures, I typically closed only one out of every five deals. Today, it’s closer to four out of five. The secret is really two secrets:

I learned all the options a seller in foreclosure has.

I mastered the art of positioning myself as the best of those options, getting the seller out of foreclosure with minimal damage to their credit rating.

This may not seem like much for you to do, but I assure you it’s made a major difference in my bank account! My six-figure income shot up to $1,348,000 in a single year. More recently, these secrets helped me make $180,510 in a single month. Here’s how it works…

Before you meet with an owner, it’s crucial to fully understand all the ways they can get out of foreclosure. Every owner facing foreclosure has the following options:

In September of 2005 the US Department of Justice filled an antitrust lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors.

The lawsuit is a good example as to how the use of the Internet by some real estate brokerage firms who want to bring more efficiently to the process of selling homes and lower prices (commissions) for the consumer has run into opposition by groups, like the NAR, that want to preserve outdated pre-Internet business models.

The lawsuit was filed in September of 2005 and amended in October of 2005. The case was allowed by the Federal District court of Chicago and is ongoing. It is an interesting case as it seeks to prevent Realtors from restraining competition from real estate brokers who use the Internet to more efficiently and cost effectively serve home sellers and buyers.

The amended complaint is as follows and as displayed on the US Department of Justice Website:
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AMENDED COMPLAINT
The United States of America, by its attorneys acting under the direction of the Attorney General, brings this civil action pursuant to Section 4 of the Sherman Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 4, to obtain equitable and other relief to prevent and restrain violations of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 1. The United States alleges:

1. The United States brings this action to enjoin the defendant — a national association of real estate brokers — from maintaining or enforcing policies that restrain competition from brokers who use the Internet to more efficiently and cost effectively serve home sellers and buyers, and from adopting other related anti competitive rules.

The National Association of Realtors ( NAR ) website in the realtors own words is “the voice of real estate”. No doubt the NAR website does contain a great deal of information related to the US housing market and real estate market.

The website also contains articles that are of interest to anyone who is an investor or homeowner in US real estate. One article about unsavory and unwise subprime lending practices that have been carried out by some lenders is quoted below.

The subprime leading market will be in the news this year and next as many ARM loans are reset to higher interest rates. The potential is there for a severe negative impact on the entire US real estate market as well as the US economy as borrowers find themselves unable to pay the higher mortgage payments.
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WASHINGTON, June 29, 2007 - The National Association of Realtors® welcomes today’s statement issued by the federal regulators of banks, thrifts and credit unions that prescribes strong underwriting and consumer protection standards in connection with certain subprime adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs). Those mortgages can impose an unaffordable “payment shock” on borrowers when the interest rate resets. They include “2/28” mortgages that have a two-year “teaser rate” that adjusts as often as every six months based on a high margin.