Faces Of Foreclosure

The Nation’s top mortgage companies do not want to modify even though they have been given money to do so, they have mortgage insurance, they have been asked to help fellow Americans. It’s to the point where more and more people have no choice but to walk away because of seriously reduced income and/or illness.

Consequences of Walking Away

Most homeowners don’t walk away, meaning they don’t strategically default. Yet industry experts contend that millions of Americans who are underwater, would be financially better off if they did walk away, just like Morgan Stanley recently walked away from five properties in San Francisco, five buildings which were underwater. Morgan Stanley just gave the properties back to the bank. As a company, they will not suffer shame and guilt as will a homeowner. Middle Americans are not trained to renege on debt.

These emotions of fear and shame and guilt are cultivated by the government, by the financial industry and, to some extent, the media. And they do this by cultivating a double standard, a standard in which Americans, average Americans are told to have a moral obligation to pay their mortgage and to meet their financial obligations, whereas corporations freely and frequently default when it’s in their financial best interest to do so.

Jason Opland of Columbus Ohio posted on “Real Town,” a real estate network: The difference in norms between average Americans and banks leads to distributional inequalities whereby average Americans are bearing a disproportionate burden from the housing collapse.

Brent Arends, League of Corporate Responsiblity Voters, says that the reason no one is pumping money into the economy is because millions and millions of people are paying into un-redeemable, un-repayable mortgages that are taking all of their otherwise productive income. The astronomical amount of debt, debt that these financial institutions helped to create, is what’s keeping the economy from recovering, according to Arends. His advice? Let the corporations, those financial institutions that are sporting record profits and writing record bonuses, eat the losses.

Strategic Mortgage Defaults

It’s all in the timing. Most middle-Americans would think such a move as dishonest and unethical. We agree.

However, given that lenders do not want to help in any way, such defaults are a calculated financial maneuver primarily by people with high credit scores. We know of at least one person — an attorney — who made such a calculated move. His house was underwater. He set up a corporation, brought a much finer and equally undervalued home under the corporate name. He walked away from the first home – and his mortgage on that homes – with little to no warning or indication of stress typically identified by increased delinquencies on the mortgage payment or other credit payments. And, at the time he purchased his new home, his credit standing was still good. It was a clean move.

Ethical. No, we don’t think so. But compared to what today’s mortgage lenders are doing, well . . .

Why are people doing this? Over the last decade, many people purchased homes, including their primary residence, for investment purposes as much as for shelter and protection. As with other investments, these high credit and financially savvy people are assessing the market value of their home relative to their carrying costs (mortgage payments, taxes, utilities, etc) and making the decision that they are financially better off walking away from the property and mortgage than continuing to make the payments.

Is there a moral failure in this practice on behalf of those individuals who do have the financial wherewithal to make their payments? Perhaps, but it seems apparent that people do not bring their morals into their financial affairs. This harks back to “situational ethics.”

Who Takes the Hit

Homeowners: They lose their homes. However, In California, lenders are generally barred from getting money from a defaulting borrower. The lender gets the house and that’s it, even if the borrower has $1 million in the bank. Only judicial foreclosure allows the lender to get the borrower’s other assets, but it’s slow, expensive and encourages a defense of loan origination fraud.

Mortgage bond investors: Rising homeowner loan defaults led to a loss for MGIC Investment Corp., Milwaukee, in the fourth quarter, and a return to profitability is unlikely in 2009. The Milwaukee company, the nation’s largest insurer of mortgages, posted a loss of $273.3 million, or $2.21 a share, compared with a loss of $1.47 billion, or $18.17, a year earlier.

Not the Banks: As we understand it, in additional to federal bailout funds, the mortgage lenders are covered by this mortgage insurance.

Almost any Option is Better than Foreclosure

In our frustration, many of us just want to walk away. However, the period for eligibility of a future loan differ greatly between a homeowner who loses a home to foreclosure and a homeowner who successfully negotiates and closes a short sale. In an attempt to dissuade homeowners from walking away from their delinquent mortgages, the lender announced that it would bar defaulting borrowers from getting additional Fannie Mae financing for seven years unless they can prove that they didn’t have the capacity to pay, or they attempted to negotiate in good faith for a workout alternative in lieu of foreclosure.

This latter should be easy to prove. Keep notes and a binder of every piece of paper and every phone conversation you have had with your lender (include date, time, name of person, phone number, extension, and badge number if they have one). We guarantee that you will have sufficient evidence of inept banking practices and ongoing lost paperwork to substantiate your efforts at pinning down a modification to no avail.”

At 9 a.m. California time, a call came from a Wells Fargo employee informing us that Lindsey Rose, Executive Mortgage Specialist in the office of the President (Oman in Des Moines) would now be the contact in negotiations for a home loan modification. Lindsy Rose actually was in the picture in late October, bowed out and two people have been “working closely” with our client in the interim.

One Herman Purewal lasted less than 24 hours as near as we can figure; we received a letter from him on December 1, 2011.

Following Herman came Paul Gruber, Executive Mortgage Specialist, Office of the President (Oman in Des Moines, Iowa) who had written to us on December 9, 2011 stating that he was our contact and “will be working closely with you . . . ” We sent 110 pages of requested documents to Mr. Gruber in their own FedEd package on December 15th or 16th. It seems now that Paul is not “working closely” with us. Perhaps the 110 pages threw him over the edge.

Curious, we counted all the people contacted for one client since 2008 in our attempts to secure a loan modification on a $725,000 house now worth about $400,000. Our list is 14 pages long and includes dates, names, phone numbers, badge numbers, office locations, etc., of all the people we’ve talked to in order to save just one house. How many are there? We have 40 different names and we have another 40+ letters and calls from people who did not leave their names or numbers. This is all documented in that 20+ pound binder pictured here.

So, how do we stay with this? Why do we continue Battling the Banks? To save people’s homes. Pure and simple. But not without a great deal of stress. The following are excerpts from an eMail that arrived this morning. Excellent timing!

6 Ways to Conquer the Fear of Rejection

The going price for any worthwhile win is 10 setbacks. If you can handle that failure rate, you have what it takes to succeed.

(Editor’s Note: Only 10? Then we are superstars!)

Early in my career, when I was struggling to start my company, I made a list of all the accounts I wanted to sell. Some, I admit, were far out of my reach, and to my dismay, they wasted no time in telling me so.

If you’re in the entrepreneurship game you better get used to hearing the word “no” . . . Rejection helps knock out the weak. In my case, those early rejections forced me to really listen to my potential customers and find out what I needed to do to change “no, thanks” to “where do I sign?”

You can’t escape rejection, but you can let it go. Here are some exercises that paid big dividends for the author:

• Dissect thoughts under the microscope. When faced with a challenge, what do you tell yourself? “I’m no good . . . this is too hard . . . I’ll never make it . . .?” Don’t let negative self-talk sabotage your attitude.
• Identify realistic fears. Whom do you fear? What might go wrong? Who has the power to reject you? Why would that person say no? The answers will help you prepare your best offer, and facing them will help you keep your composure.
• Focus on the moment. Keep your perspective. Rejection lasts only a moment, and once it’s over, you’ll be able to move on to the next opportunity.
• Be more assertive. Most fears of rejection rest on the desire for approval from other people. Don’t base your self-esteem on their opinions. Learn to express your own needs (appropriately), and say no when it is appropriate to say NO. In this instance, it means NOT accepting a lame modification when we all know the lenders are capable of truly helping and we know they are covered with taxpayers’ dollars for any of their financial “setbacks.”
• Analyze every failure, but never wallow in one. Harry Truman once said, “As soon as I realize I’ve made one damned fool mistake, I rush out and make another one.” Failure is a condition all of us experience. The reaction to failures distinguishes winners from losers.
• Don’t rationalize away the hurt. Turned down for funding? Didn’t get the contract? Don’t let your worth be defined by others. Get back in the game. It’s not a permanent condition; it’s a short-term setback.

Ten setbacks are the going price for any worthwhile win. Look at the major league baseball standings at the end of any season: Out of 30 teams, only eight make the playoffs, and only one winds up winning the World Series. Are those annual standings the end of the world for the 29 losers? Hardly.

Editor’s Note: We are neither agreeing or disagreeing with the following message from noted muckraker/filmmaker Michael Moore. This was sent to us by a hard-working family who fought to save their home from foreclosure for four years . . . and lost. They had to vacate their property and it still sits empty one year later. At least one judge presiding over foreclosure-related cases in Marin is a real estate investor in that that person owns multiple properties and rents them out. Who do you think that judge would side with? That is extremely illogical to us and, unfortunately, we have seen it repeated hundreds of times in our small community.

Our elected officials, namely Senators, have NOT done their jobs. Too many are responding to their special interest backers and not working on behalf of the people. You need to be in front of THEIR homes and/or in front of the homes owned by senior bank officials.

The Winter of Our Occupation

A proposal from Michael Moore Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

Friends,
And now it is winter. Wall Street rejoices, hoping that the change of seasons will mean a change in our spirit, our commitment to stop them.

They couldn’t be more wrong. Have they not heard of Washington and the troops at Valley Forge? The Great Flint Sit-Down Strike in the winter of 1936-37? The Michigan Wolverines crushing Ohio State in the 1950 Blizzard Bowl? When it comes to winter, it is the time historically when the people persevere and the forces of evil make their retreat!

And they're crazy if they think that a little climate chaos (otherwise known as winter in the 21st century) that they've helped to bring about is going to stop us.

I would like to propose to my Occupying sisters and brothers that there are many ways to keep Occupy Wall Street going through the winter months. There is perhaps no better time to move the movement indoors for a few months -- and watch it grow even bigger! (For those who have the stamina to maintain the outdoor occupations, by all means, keep it up -- and the rest of us will do our best to help you and keep you warm!)

The winter gives us an amazing opportunity to expand our actions against the captains of capitalism who have occupied our homes with their fraudulent mortgage system which has tossed millions of families out onto the curb; a cruel health care system that has told 50 million Americans "if you can't afford a doctor, go F yourself"; a student loan system that sends 22-year-olds into an immediate "debtors' prison" of working lousy jobs for which they didn't go to school but now have to take because they're in hock for tens of thousands of dollars for the next two decades; and a jobs market that keeps 25 million Americans un- or under-employed -- and much of the rest of the workers forced to accept wage cuts, health care reductions and zero job security.

But we in the Occupy Movement reject this version of the "American Dream." Instead, I suggest we shift our focus for this winter to the following actions:

OCCUPY THE WINTER

A proposal to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street from Michael Moore

1. Occupy Our Homes. Sorry, banks, a roof over one’s head is a human right, and you will no longer occupy our homes through foreclosure and eviction because well, you see, they are our homes, not yours. You may hold the mortgage; you don’t hold the right to throw us or our neighbors out into the cold. With almost one in three home mortgages currently in foreclosure, nearing foreclosure or “underwater,” the Occupy Movement must form local “Occupy Strike Forces” to create human shields when the banks come to throw people out of their homes. If the foreclosure has already happened, then we must help families move back into their foreclosed homes — literally (see this clip from my last film to watch how a home re-occupation is accomplished). Beginning today, Take Back the Land, plus many other citizens’ organizations nationwide, are kicking off Occupy Our Homes. Numerous actions throughout the day today have already resulted in many families physically taking back their homes. This will continue every day until the banks are forced to stop their fraudulent practices, until homeowners are allowed to change their mortgage so that it reflects the true value of their homes, and until those who can no longer afford a mortgage are allowed to stay in their homes and pay rent. I beseech the news media to cover these actions — they are happening everywhere. Evictions, though rarely covered (you need a Kardashian in your home as you’re being evicted to qualify for news coverage) are not a new story (see this scene I filmed in 1988). Also, please remember the words of Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Toledo (in ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’): Do not leave your homes if the bank forecloses on you! Let them take you to court and then YOU ask the judge to make them produce a copy of your mortgage. They can’t. It was chopped up a hundred different ways, bundled with a hundred other mortgages, and sold off to the Chinese. If they can’t produce the mortgage, they can’t evict you.
2. Occupy Your College. In nearly every other democracy on the planet, students go to college for free or almost free. Why do those countries do that? Because they know that for their society to advance, they must have an educated population. Without that, productivity, innovation and an informed electorate is stunted and everyone suffers as a result. Here’s how we do it in the U.S.A.: make education one of our lowest priorities, graduate students who know little about the world or their own government or the economy, and then force them into crushing debt before they even have their first job. That way has really worked well for us, hasn’t it? It’s made us the world leader in … in … well, ok, we’re like 27th or 34th in everything now (except war). This has to end. Students should spend this winter doing what they are already doing on dozens of campuses — holding sit-ins, occupying the student loan office, nonviolently disrupting the university regents meetings, and pitching their tents on the administration’s lawn. Young people — we, the ’60s generation, promised to create a better world for you. We got halfway there — now you have to complete the job. Do not stop until these wars are ended, the Pentagon budget is cut in half, and the rich are forced to pay their taxes. And demand that that money go to your education. We’ll be there with you on all of this! And when we get this fixed and you graduate, instead of being $40,000 in debt, go see the friggin’ world, or tinker around in your garage a la the two Steves, or start a band. Enjoy life, discover, explore, experiment, find your way. Anything but the assistant manager at Taco Bell.
3. Occupy Your Job. Let’s spend the winter organizing workplaces into unions. OR, if you already have a union, demand that your leaders get off their ass and get aggressive like our grandparents did. For chrissakes, surely you know we would not have a middle class if it weren’t for the strikes of the 1930s-1950s?! In three weeks we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the workers in my hometown of Flint, Michigan taking over and occupying the General Motors factories for 44 days in the dead of winter. Their actions ignited a labor movement that lifted tens of millions out of poverty and into the middle class. It’s time to do it again. (According to the Census Bureau and the New York Times, 100 million Americans either live in or near poverty. Disgraceful. Greed has destroyed the core fabric of our communities. Enough!) Here are two good unions to get your fellow workers to sign up and join: UE and SEIU. The CWA are also good. Here’s how to get a quick primer in organizing your place of employment (don’t forget to be careful while you do this!). If your company is threatening to close down and move the jobs elsewhere, then it’s time to occupy the workplace (again, you can get a lesson in how to successfully occupy your factory from my movie).
4. Occupy Your Bank. This is an easy one. Just leave them. Move your checking and your credit card to a nonprofit credit union. It’s safe and the decisions made there aren’t based on greed. And if a bank tries to evict your neighbor, occupy the local branch with 20 other people and call the press. Post it on the internet.
5. Occupy the Insurance Man. It’s time to not only stand up for the 50 million without health insurance but to also issue a single, simple demand: The elimination of for-profit, privately-controlled health insurance companies. It is nothing short of barbaric to allow businesses to make a profit off people when they get sick. We don’t allow anyone to make a profit when we need the fire department or the police. Until recently we would never allow a company to make a profit by operating in a public school. The same should be true for when you need to see a doctor or stay in the hospital. So I say it’s long overdue for us to go and Occupy Humana, United Health, Cigna and even the supposed “nonprofit” Blue Crosses. An action on their lawns, in their lobbies, or at the for-profit hospitals — this is what is needed.

So — there are my ideas for the five places we can Occupy this winter. Help the foreclosed-upon to Occupy their homes. Occupy your college campus, especially the student loan office and the regents meetings. Occupy your job by getting everyone to sign a union card — or by refusing to let the CEO ship your job overseas. Occupy your Chase or Citi or Bank of America branch by closing your account and moving it to a credit union. And Occupy the insurance company offices, the pharmaceutical companies’ headquarters and the for-profit hospitals until the White House and Congress pass the true single-payer universal health care bill they failed to pass in 2010.

My friends, the rich are running scared right now. You need no further proof of this than to read this story from last week. The Republicans’ top strategist met privately with them and told them that they had better change their tune or they were going to be crushed by the Occupy Wall Street movement. They didn’t have to change their greedy actions, he assured them — just the way they talk and PR the situation. He told them never to use the word “capitalism” — it has now been made a dirty word by the Occupy movement, he said. Only say “economic freedom” from now on, he cautioned. And don’t criticize the movement — because the majority of Americans either agree with it or are feeling the same way. Just tell the Occupiers and the distressed Americans: “I get it.” Seriously.

Yes, in just 12 short weeks we have killed their most sacred word — Capitalism — and we have them on the run, on the defensive. They should be. Millions are coming after them and our only goal is to remove them from power and replace them with a fair system that is controlled by the 99%. The 1% have been able to get both political parties to do their bidding. Why should only 1% of the population get to have two parties — and the rest of us have none? That, too, is going to change. In my next letter, I will suggest what we can do to Occupy the Electoral Process. But first we must start with those who pull the strings of the puppets in the Congress. That’s why it’s called Occupy Wall Street. Always better to deal with man in charge, don’t you think?

Let’s Occupy the Winter! An #OWS Winter will certainly lead to a very hopeful American Spring.

Yours,

Michael Moore

No matter what your situation in life, always stay on top of your credit. Poor credit will affect everything you do and everything you buy on time, whether it’s a house, car, refrigerator, computer, will cost you more. If you do not know how to handle this yourself, click through to Lexington Law Firm to Clean Up Your Credit Report. Before I started paying strict attention to my credit reports, I had a home loan at 12% at a time when it should have been 7%. I sold that house thinking the payments were too high and I could no longer afford them; all I had to do was reduce the interest by getting my credit report cleared!

Once I realized what I had done, I read everything I could find, including Rich Dad’s Advisors®: The Abc’s Of Getting Out Of Debt: Turn Bad Debt Into Good Debt And Bad Credit Into Good Credit and Perfect Credit: 7 Steps To A Great Credit Rating starting in the year 2000. Each book got me closer to living debt free and I was so good at it prior to our current financial crises that I was able to travel to 24 countries around the world.

Because Wall Street caused our current Mortgage and credit crisis, in part due to our lack of their deep financial machinations, many of us are having to climb out yet again. Even though it’s been depressing, earlier reading provided knowledge that it is in fact possible to climb out of almost any financial crevice. You can get out of debt and stay out of debt with almost any of these books, including The Everything Improve Your Credit Book. While you are climbing out . . . or before you fall into credit traps, think about ways to make additional income at least for the short term until America turns around . . . which is predicted to be another five years!

Secure your business’s future using the right SBA loan bank loan or equity financing for you. Whatever path you take, do NOT use your home as collateral; thousands of families assume their property value would continue to rise, took out small business loans against their home, and hit a brick wall. Their business proceeds are down and they cannot pay back the line of credit against their home.

Do what some of the wealthy did when younger: Own one house free and clear. Do not touch it. Do everything you can to protect your home.

When it comes to your chances of receiving financing and doing it right Financing Your Small Business provides you with all the answers you need. It helps you find ways to combine various types of financing and shows you how to get the money you need. This book shows you how to get a bank loan, presentations, writing business plans . . . another “don’t:” Never start a business without a solid business plan. Yes you may love mountain bikes or golfing gear, but have you run the numbers on income/outgo, market fluctuations based on seasons? This book also has working with professionals, how to value your business, how to find and evaluate investors From SBA loans to venture capital sources Financing Your Small Business shows you the ways to get the money you need.

Consider reading at least one tome about the Rise and Fall of the US Mortgage and Credit Markets: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Market Meltdown. Again, I believe that part of what millions of us are facing is the result of not having sufficient financial education; it is NOT taught in our schools; only five states teach financial literacy. With the current debacle, let’s all hope that changes.

An interesting proposition is put forth in The Debt-Free Millionaire: Winning Strategies to Creating Great Credit and Retiring Rich is a call for a generation that was brought up on spending tomorrow’s money today. This pragmatic and refreshingly contrarian approach to the real secrets of cash-flow management—and leveraging the credit system—are a breath of fresh air in a smog-choked world of misinformation and confusing financial advice. Start living the dream. Take charge of your financial future. The Debt-Free Millionaire offers unique insights, little known strategies and easy-to-understand practical tools to first manage then eliminate debt. It is amust read for both consumers and financial professionals to better explain the often complex world of debt management. The book is a straightforward guide to debt, and how to eliminate it, that is as timely as it is needed. Anyone who follows the program in this book will be glad they did. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. We need a paradigm shift in our financial thinking processes; this is an excellent start.

I’m sorry if you found us . . . odds are it means that you or someone close to you has been been impacted by America’s ongoing financial nightmare and are incredibly distressed. I started this blog to help maintain my sanity as I tried to save my home from foreclosure.

It was also started with the hope that one or more of my favorite crime shows would pick up stories and air them as a “Queen For A Day” fundraiser for families . . . you know: “Save A Home Today” by voting for the family you think needs/deserves the most help. TV and movies have the power to help people through these messes. Incredible TV episodes and movies HAVE been aired addressing lending fraud, but none, that I know of, have directly helped anyone with their mortgage mess. TV spends far more time playing with bachelors and hoarders.

I’m 2.5 years into working to save my home from foreclosure. After two years of battle, and an 8-inch thick 20 pound binder, I was accidentally given a 5-year loan modification.

“Accidental” meaning that after all paperwork was signed, my lender tried to rescind the offer. I took the paperwork to an attorney; he supported my premise that it was a legal and binding document. The lender wiggled but I do have a modification.

Since I seem to have some breathing room, I thought I would take time to give you some notes on what I did to survive this nightmare of fraudulent forbearance agreements and fear of foreclosure during forbearance periods, which is NOT uncommon.

I wrote my way through cancer, so I am writing my way through this, along with volunteering with Marin Family Action to help others save their homes.

When I was laid off from my real estate marketing job in 2009, my life became an ongoing attempt to control my own thoughts and fear so I would not go crazy; volunteering and trying to help others made a huge difference in maintaining balance; I was not alone by a long shot.

Years ago, during drug experimental days in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury, a friend suggested I could stay balanced with classes and tapes of Yoga. He was serious. I started classes which kept me fit and out of psychological trouble through renewed strength and a sense of peace. Of course, given that I’m from San Francisco, we also joined Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation crew and practiced Zen meditation for hours on end. All of this stuff works!

Because I could not get work after 40 years of full time employment, I had to retrain myself in something. I happen to like computers and working from home, so I opted for Starting and Operate My Own Home-Based Business by taking online courses. I couldn’t afford to attend school. Because of the Internet, online learning is easier to do now than ever.

For any business, you need to know Marketing on a Shoestring.

If you have a family and can’t leave home, or don’t have the funds to take courses outside of your home, consider online learning. Online learning does work and during these times you may have to reinvent yourself. Dust off your dreams; see if you can put together a future that is appealing rather than frightening.

A note of caution, please consider carefully, especially if your dream career is photography. Yes, it is a seemingly “romantic” career path. It is also an extremely difficult one because everyone with a tiny camera or cell phone is shooting these days. If you don’t need income (and I’m assuming you wouldn’t be on this site if you don’t), this is a rough road.

I was a professional photographer and won a couple of awards; however, my daughter, who is a banker, has an exceptional eye for composition. Shots from her cell phone often equal or exceed what I take with my “professional” cameras. (The photo above right was taken with her cell in a very dark chapel in Greece.) Photography, like Web design, carpentry, database administrator, accountant, etc. takes a great deal of skill. None of those skills are random.

That link up there will also take you to business classes; if you have never taken, say, a financial planning course or never developed a business plan for a start-up, I highly recommend either or both. They will serve you well no matter what you do in life.

No matter what you decide to do, ALWAYS have a Plan B, a way out. For years, my car was stocked with a year’s supply of basics;  in my case that included a tent, sleeping bag, backpacking stove change of clothes, flares, first aid kit, etc. It came in part from being a camper, but beyond camping that stuff came in handy repeatedly. It also gave me a strange sense of freedom, as in “I don’t need these people.” And in the case of America’s lenders, that is how I feel. On a brighter side, if I decided I wanted to stay in a coastal campground at a moment’s notice, I could.

My goal when I bought my home in 2006 was to figure out a way to pay off my home within five years; due to illness and job loss I was thrown off track, but I’m getting back on that track now. This link takes you to 900+ products to help you with your emergency preparedness and I truly hope some of this works for you to give you peace of mind as you Battle the Banks.

I will be writing more about what is helping me and others get through this and, again, I hope this helps you find ways to stay calm and WIN!

No matter what your situation in life, always stay on top of your credit. Poor credit will affect everything you do and everything you buy on time, whether it’s a house, car, refrigerator, computer, will cost you more. If you do not know how to handle this yourself, click through to Lexington Law Firm to Clean Up Your Credit Report. Before I started paying strict attention to my credit reports, I had a home loan at 12% at a time when it should have been 7%. I sold that house thinking the payments were too high when all I had to do was reduce the interest by getting my credit report cleared!

I read everything I could find, including Rich Dad’s Advisors®: The Abc’s Of Getting Out Of Debt: Turn Bad Debt Into Good Debt And Bad Credit Into Good Credit and Perfect Credit: 7 Steps To A Great Credit Rating starting in the year 2000. Each book got me closer to living debt free and I was so good at it prior to our current financial crises that I was able to travel to 24 countries around the world.

Because Wall Street caused our current Mortgage and credit crisis, in part due to our lack of their deep financial machinations, many of us are having to climb out yet again. My earlier reading provided knowledge that I would in fact climb out and I’m against just about there. You can get out of debt and stay out of debt with almost any of these books, including The Everything Improve Your Credit Book

If your finances are crazy now and you’re down to the wire with a non-cooperative lender — which IS probably the case if you are trying for a loan modification – and if you have anything resembling equity in your home, you CAN sell your own home. Pulling out as much money as possible without having a significant percentage going to a real estate agent could save you enough to start over elsewhere.

I have nothing against most real estate agents, but times are rough now and you probably need to realize as much profit as possible so that you can keep your life going.

In 2003 when I wanted to sell my home in Fairfax, California, I called the local real estate agents for consultation. They said I wouldn’t get more than $535,000-$560,000 (out of which they would have taken their 5%, or whatever it was at the time). I said they didn’t know what they were talking about.

The location was splendid. The house — actually a 100-year old building that was once the town barn — was built of old-growth redwood. It was solid, it was a duplex, zoned multiple-use . . . meaning one could live upstairs and run a legal business downstairs or rent one unit out and live in the other. The area was high-traffic during the day, quiet at night and within walking of world-class restaurants, a theater, health food stores, bookshops, etc. It was also at the foot of Mt. Tamalpais with its superior mountain biking trails . . . actually Fairfax was the town where mountain bikes were first designed by Gary Fisher.

I ignored the realtors, priced the house at $625,000, put one ad on craigslist.org (the ads are free). I’m quite good at marketing:  I figured the house would be perfect for a young entrepreneur who wanted to start a business, or mountain bikers — who happen to have some of the highest demographics in the U.S. That is how I positioned the craigslist.org ad.

As it turns out, there was a “for sale” sign board near my driveway. Oddly, the “for sale” sign wasn’t even mine — it was for a cute retail gift shop next door.

Within one week, I had two prospective buyers:

1. A young Scandanivan woman who wanted to own her own knitting studio. This would have been absolutely perfect for her; she could live up and run a knitting shop/studio downstairs.
2. Mountain Bikers! (See, I told you.) A wonderful couple from Scotland (who didn’t think 100 years was old for a building) loved the solidity of it, and knew the value of the location — actually, they were riding their mountain bikes down from Mt. Tam when the saw my neighbor’s “for sale” sign and stopped by to inquire.

With two weeks the mountain bikers bought the home. We paid $1,000 to a local real estate attorney who drew up sale papers. I discounted the sales price a bit because no real estate commissions had to be paid.

They are a wonderful couple. He happens to have some background in building and has done wonderful upgrades to the home. They have since had a child and are still living happily in that splendid town in that great old building; I still miss the duplex and wish I kept it.

Again, if you do have to move on, at least consider taking on the sale yourself. This might help:

If you decide to purchase the book and get stuck, please eMail me. I’ll be happy to guide you along at no cost.

Again, if you are in the middle of America’s current financial nightmares with today’s lenders (and their questionable ethics and sloppy business practices) and if you are thinking of selling, consider doing this yourself.

I’m about to try a trade — my three bedroom home for a condo. I have no idea if this will work, but anything is worth a try. At my age, I cannot recover from just walking away from my home; if I could, I would, but I can’t. I am using a real estate agent for this deal and, of course, I’ll update progress on this site.

I hope this helps and my very best to you.

The FBI is currently investigating crimes in California relating to illegal real estate transactions at foreclosure sales (refer to You Read it Here First, Maybe . . . which follows this entry.

Please include attorney Michael T. Pines in your list of questionable people; while he may not be involved in illegal sales yet, he has taken $5,000 from individuals who then lost their homes because he admittedly does NOT do his job; I’ve seen eMails wherein he said he “forgot” to file papers on time on one case.

In another, a man took out his retirement savings, paid $5,000 to Pines, who then apparently did NOTHING; the 78-year-old-man involved has just left his home of two decades and moved to another county with his cat.

Michael T. Pines advised a 74–year-old women to move back into her already-sold house. She did. Within hours, she was taken to jail in handcuffs which seriously bruised her arms. Michael T. Pines IS a white collar crook. He took $5,000 up front from dozens of families and did nothing! Also because of Michael Pines, one senior man recently left his home of 20+ years and, with his cat, moved to another county.

Pines and others of his ilk belong in jail.

We started wondering about Triple Investments, Charter Properties in Sausalito, Scott Dixon, John Lundy, Joe Giraudo and Peter Kerman in November 2009.

While trying to save a friend’s home through the non-profit Marin Family Action and its workshop for Families Fighting Foreclosure, an associate delivered papers to Charter Properties offices in Sausalito (image right taken November 2009 by D.A. Levy).

Nothing was apparent in viewing their offices through walls of glass, but there seemed to be questionable behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the principals of Triple Investments, Charter Properties and Lecale Investments. We were questioning the sale of a prime piece of Tiburon property . . . and its sale price, which was staggeringly low.

We are digging to resurrect our notes from November 2009 and early 2010 to see if anything makes sense.

Our first post was Triple Investments, Sausalito on November 12, 2009 questioning the activities of various employees of these companies and of Lecale. These companies have just “hosted” the FBI in their offices at 2300 Bridgeway in Sausalito while the FBI burrowed through boxes of files.

Years ago, Lewis Long, an architect who worked for Desmond Muirhead Architects on a sinking barge in Sausalito, repeatedly said: “What goes around comes around,” which was his Southern black translation of “As ye reap so shall ye sow.”

And maybe that is coming about now for the companies mentioned in the top paragraph. Check www.MarinFamilyAction.com. They just might feret out Marin’s white collar thieves in this mortgage mess and have just filed a report with the District Attorney on one questionable group. “Insider trading” seems to have a lot as to who gets what.

From one of our earlier posts: “Want a duplex in Tiburon worth about $2.5 million for less than $1 million? Might be on the market soon due to lies and subterfuge. I’m serious. This all sounds nuts. Actually, it is nuts. But it is also true.”

On January 21, 2011, Carolyn Said of The San Francisco Chronicle reported:

Foreclosure auctions take place every weekday on the steps of courthouses throughout California . Now the FBI is investigating whether some real estate speculators are illegally rigging bids for these sales.

"Last week, the FBI conducted interviews and executed search warrants through the entire Bay Area as part of a long-term investigation of anti-competitive practices at trustee sales of foreclosed homes," said bureau spokeswoman Julie Sohn.

The probe is shaking up the tight-knit world of investors who bid at these auctions. The issue, sources say, is that some participants allegedly pay others to refrain from bidding on certain properties to keep their prices low.

Such bid-rigging violates the federal Sherman Antitrust Act and can carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. That maximum can be increased to twice the perpetrator’s gain or twice the victim’s loss.

"There have always been rumors of collusion at the courthouse steps," said Sean O’Toole of ForeclosureRadar.com, a Discovery Bay company that provides detailed information on properties sold at the auctions. At a typical auction, many investors clutch clipboards with printouts from his website.

"If you have a small crowd of guys that talk to each other every day, it’s natural for them to say, ‘Why are we bidding each other up? Let’s just buy this and work it out afterward.’ " O’Toole said. But when he speaks to real estate clubs and others, O’Toole said, "I am very clear. I say: ‘This is illegal. Don’t do it.’ "

Most properties revert to lenders at courthouse-step auctions, which are the final step in California’s foreclosure process, but about 20 percent get sold to outside investors.

More on this issue as it affects Marin, Sonoma, Napa counties . . . Faces of Foreclosure and here Families Fighting Foreclosure and here, as these companies have directly affected Marin County families.

The full article: SFGate.com

If you are in California and if you are in a position to get a modification through Wells Fargo/Wachovia, please read the following.

Even if they do agree to work with you, they will likely start with a three-month forbearance period. A word of caution: Even when that starts, you will have to stay on top of them. They will screw up, probably by losing your paperwork. They will blame it on you and, as a result, they will try to deny a modification agreement, thus the importance of keeping copies and sending everything registered/certified.

As soon as you pay your second month forbearance payment, request a copy of the permanent modification offer; they will try to get out of it. You won’t believe it, but I’m not going to let you go into denial of how botched it all is. It is worse than you could possibly imagine. America is in fact in trouble financially and big banks such as Wells Fargo are part of the problem.

When you make your first payment of the forbearance, send a letter confirming that to Wells Fargo, along with a receipt, and copy bank regulatory agencies such as:

• President Obama, WhiteHouse.gov; 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20006
• If you are in California: Governor Edmund G. Brown, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814
• Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Response, 600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20580
• Office of Thrift Supervision, 1700 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20552
• Your local senators 
• Your local Better Business Bureau
• Your local newspapers

My story: After a year of “negotiations,” Wells granted me a forbearance agreement in December 2009. I paid January/February/March and then their records and our conversations were screwed up for months.

If I did not keep accurate records I would not have my home. (That’s my binder on the right — 6 inches thick, 20 pounds, 22 pages of single space types notes indicating who said what to whom during this process.)

AFTER I started paying the forbearance agreement, it took from April 2010 to December 2010 for Wells Fargo to finalize the agreement; I have 10 pages of single-spaced notes during that period alone indicating glitches made by Wells! Excerpts from those notes follow. YOU will need to stay on top of it. The lenders have undertrained staff dealing with processes new to them that they don’t understand and don’t want to follow, and from executives who are larcenous on an international level.

I learned a new concept today from a investment research firm relating to this . . . the average American is in denial about the severity of our nation’s finances because it has never happened to us before. We just can’t believe it so we have tunnel vision.

A sample timeline starting with the 3-month forbearance period:

• April 2010:  Meeting w/Wells Fargo to discuss modification. Five times during that meeting they said they had missing paperwork. Because of that huge binder I had with me, I was able to pull out the appropriate paperwork and give them a copy to duplicate. In addition to showing them the paperwork, I was able to supply either a receipt from Kinko’s indicating when it was FAXed and received or a copy of my FedEx receipt indicating when it was received by Wells Fargo.
• January-March, 2010: Forbearance payments made. They did NOT offer a permanent modification.
• April 26, 2010: Attended meetings Wells Fargo had in Oakland and brow-beat them into signing a modification agreement with me.
• May 2010: Modification Agreement received in the mail from Wells with incorrect amounts — interesting to note tha tthe modification agreement was dated April 22, thereby predating the April 26 meeting with them.
• June 29, 2010: No statements received reflecting new terms.
• July 19, 2010: Notices on front door saying Wells wants to talk with me.
• July 19, 2010: Fed Ex delivered a package from Wells with NEW blank modification agreement. I called Wells to see what is going on. Was told that my loan is an “unconverted brokerage account,” and the modification had not been approved. Bottom line is that they did not want to honor the signed agreement.
• July 23, 2010: Letter from Wells saying I was in default, that the modification agreement they signed was not “approved” on their end. I met with two attorneys who verified that the document I have will hold up in court, so I told Wells to back off.
• July 24, 2010: My calls/issues could only be dealt with by one person — an “executive specialist” in the Office of the President. Works for me.
• July 29, 2010: First payment under this agreement sent w/USPS tracking system. They received in July 31, but had not applied it as of August 1.
• August 13, 2010: They tried telling me again that the modification was “moving through settlement right now.” I again reminded them that I have a modification agreement that will hold up in court.
• Phone calls on August 31, September 6, 13, 17 to straighten them out.
• October 9, 2010: 10:31 a.m., Melissa Slater called. Account is in “escrow analysis.” Seems they did not account for taxes and that is why there are discrepancies in the figures. They made a mistake (another one). Account is showing $2609.65 due instead of $2567.76 due. It is also showing that the October payment is still due – it is not.
• November 17, 2010: Still inaccurate. Executive said that 11/02 payment was not applied, she did not know why. She then said it was applied to the wrong account.
• December 1, 2010: Mortgage statements are finally accurate.

If you are here, you may need to Repair Your Credit. If you do not want to take on yet another battle and you are in Marin County, please contact Marin Family Action, a non profit which has been working with housing, financial literacy and credit issues since 1997. If you are not in their area, consider Lexington Law Credit Repair

I didn’t think anyone could be in worse shape than the U.S., but the crooks that are crippling America will bring Ireland to her knees — Spain is expected to follow on Ireland’s heels. Neither government has sufficient funds to bail out these poor people. Ireland has been bandied about so much during the centuries that this is painful to read, particularly for someone with Irish heritage.

Excerpts from International Living:

In short, the mother of all real estate and banking bubbles has imploded. The Irish government guaranteed the entire financial system’s liabilities. The extent of banking losses is breathtaking. Losses will be in the region of two to three years’ worth of the country’s total tax take.

Official statistics tell us that real estate prices have fallen by 40%. This is misleading. It hides the fact that there is no liquidity . . . no buyers whatsoever in many cases. To find a buyer you may have to drop prices by 70% or more. And if you do find a buyer, chances are the sale will fall through anyway. Financing is almost non-existent.

Let me give you an example of how bad things are. Earlier this year I met an old friend for lunch in a Dublin hotel. He just bought a new home in central Dublin. He paid $1 million. His neighbor paid $2.5 million for the same house a couple of years ago.

To clear unsold inventory of new apartments on the outer reaches of Dublin’s commuter belt, developers now need to cut prices to the $96,000 to $110,000 range. This is a fire sale. The list price on the same units would have been much higher—somewhere in the $274,000 to $356,000 range.

Before taking the plunge you need to understand the foundations that Ireland’s real estate market sits on.

In September 2008, fearing a run on the banks, the government guaranteed all deposits and liabilities of Irish banks. This put Irish taxpayers on the hook for every bad loan made and every bond issued.

After guaranteeing these loans, the government created a “bad bank” called NAMA (National Assets Management Agency). Years—maybe even decades—of inventory are now in NAMA’s hands. We have no idea what NAMA will do with it. Will NAMA offload at fire sale prices? Whatever it decides will have a dramatic impact on the market.

Foreclosures (or repossessions as they’re called in Ireland) are rare. The legal process for foreclosures is difficult. And the banks are worried about the bad publicity. But this situation may not last. This means that even more inventory could come on stream on top of excess supply. If it does, there will likely never be a level of demand that will meet current supply levels.