Some cases also show that mortgages that are supposedly finished due to refinancing are coming back and haunting homeowners. Others who paid in full or through a bankruptcy program are also becoming victims. Worse, homeowners who never had a mortgage are also falling prey. Homeowners claim that repo men are going to their work and harassing them in front of co-workers. They even send threatening letters and phone calls endlessly. One situation reveals that a particular homeowner, after visiting her accountant, learned that she was sued for a foreclosed house that she sold many years ago. The bank said that she had a delinquent account with them. The truth later revealed that fault was with the bank’s encoding error.  The amount of the money allegedly owed by the homeowner amounted to $1.00.

These situations regarding mortgages and foreclosure have made the banks the current subject of many investigations, complaints and lawsuits. With regards to this, the recording systems of mortgage lenders and banks should be improved to avoid these circumstances. Many people are having to go to court even if there is really no case in the first place. Several U.S. Attorney’s General are working with the federal government, and an investigation is still necessary to gather more facts and information.

While these realities are happening in the US and also in other areas, it is important that you fight for your rights as a citizen. Especially if you believe that you have not failed in your responsibilities and following laws and policies.

First time home buyers could benefit from the low prices, but lending institutions are being strict with regards to loan approvals. Cash investors are particularly interested with the foreclosed properties because they can take advantage of a good deal, and ask for a bargain price. Your average home buyer just doesn’t have the cash on hand to take advantage of these deals.

Sales of pre-owned homes rose a bit in January, and the number of first-time buyers went down 29% to its lowest level in two years. Foreclosure sales are making up 37% of all real estate sales. Cash transactions are 32% of all home sales – twice as high than the previous two years. In Florida, Arizona and Nevada, where foreclosures are especially rampant, sales of at-risk homes are 2/3 of total home sales. In Florida alone, foreclosure sales accounted for 63% of all sales in January. In Florida and Arizona, the number was closer to 72%.

First-time buyers are having difficulty in acquiring houses even if it is at a low price because lenders have tightened their standards for credit approval. This made mortgage loan approval harder to acquire. Banks and lenders are now requiring a bigger down payment when purchasing a house, unlike before where buyers could get a house with little or no down payment at all. The average down payment went up by 22% last year in 9 key cities in the US.

Regardless of the low rates, the demand for housing is still weak and unstable. Actual sales are actually lower than the sales forecast, and prices are still dropping. The low interest rates permit lenders to offer their best deals, while borrowers are experiencing a difficult year in terms of meeting the criteria for lending. Still, some home buyers are able to take advantage of the low mortgage rates.

However, these rates are not helpful for a large portion of potential home buyers. This is because they can’t take advantage of the current rates because banks and lenders have tightened loan rules and credit standards. Even with the low rate, loan applications dropped 4.3% against previous week. The same goes for refinance applications, which went down by 5.2%.

In England, the average mortgage rate payment is 494 Euros a month, making it their best mortgage deal in a decade. Records from ten years ago showed that 2008 had the highest mortgage rate. It appears that home buyers could actually cope with England’s base rate should there be any changes on the interest rates or circumstances. Those who would grab the low mortgage rate said that they already have plans in case the rates go up again. Their strategies are cutting down “lifestyle” expenses such as clothes, shoes, holiday trips, dining out, etc to balance mortgage increase. The Bank of England’s forecast is that lenders will widen their mortgage range followed tougher and stricter lending rules. The Bank’s latest survey found that lenders are designing a better deals made especially for small-time depositors. Small-time depositors are first time buyers and this new great deal will somehow help them acquire property. Nevertheless, lenders believed that overall approvals for loan application may drop due to low credit approvals brought about by tighter loan rules following unstable economy and euro crisis.

It dies seem that there are a few states including Florida where the banks are attempting to “buy back” properties from home owners but I haven’t seen a lot of activity or press on this attempt. There also is an uptick in the amount of foreclosures and many say this is due to back log that happened from the robo signing debacle early last year.

But what disturbs me the most in all this is the Federal Reserve’s participation. Whether you like Ron Paul or not he is bringing a lot of things to light about the validity of the Federal Reserve. There seems to be no accountability in place to audit and “see where the money is going”, which is a gross oversight of our government that should be corrected.

I challenge you to find out what part the Federal Reserve played in the recent crisis. I also challenge you to find out how the banks, who supposedly lost millions if not billions of dollars, have made money when they are losing so much in housing and credit cards based on the current economy. The numbers do not add up. My dad was a math teacher and one thing he used to say was this; “Numbers DO NOT LIE!”

America needs to get at the bottom of the numbers game and find out what is really going on. Though it may not affect you this time, your name might be on the list the next go round if we don’t stop it now.

Ask questions, ask questions and ask more questions until our representatives make it a point to get us the answers.

Unlike the previous post, this is not about mortgage relief programs. This is about the crisis around mortgages and foreclosures and why I am coming to the conclusion that this entire housing issue was a setup. I say this because there is way too much information that cannot be readily found having to do with the relationship between the banks, the Federal Reserve and Insurers. In fact, if you were to go search right now you will pull up little outside of regulatory information about the relationship between the bank foreclosures and the Fed. However, there is reason to believe they have a very close relationship. What it is, I can’t be sure but I sure do have some questions that I think need to be answered and over the next few weeks I will get to that.

But first, I would like to ask you a question; If I owed you $1,000 and was making payments of $50 to you a month then I lost my ability to pay you back that much would you negotiate with me to get as much of your money back as possible? I am making a leap here and saying that most sane people would, in fact, negotiate with me.

Now let’s say I bought a rare coin from you for $1,000 and it ended up not being so rare at all and was found to be worth only $500. I contacted you after paying you $100 of what I owed you and let you know that the value of that coin was not $1,000 as we both believed and that I am willing to just return the coin to you or negotiate and pay based on the REAL value of the coin. If this was the case then you might have several options based things that I might or might not know.

First, you may want the coin returned knowing you can shine it up and sell it to another sucker for that $1,000 price tag. You can also just renegotiate the payment based on the $500 real value of the coin. However, if you had an agreement with a coin collector that said he guaranteed the value of the coin at $1,000 no matter what, you could in essence take the first $100 from me, get the coin valued at $500 back and take it to the coin collector who guaranteed it at $1,000 and get that much from him; PLUS keep the coin to resell for another $500.

Because I didn’t know there was a guarantee placed on the value of the coin, I would think your best option is to renegotiate with me and get $500 for the coin; it’s real value. After realizing the relationship you have with this coin collector (who by-the-way manufactured the coin in the first place)it makes sense to me that you would take the $100, the $1,000 and then resell the coin for another $500; turning a $1,000 coin into one worth $1,600.

With this in mind go watch this excerpt from 60 Minutes called There Goes the Neighborhood and just think about decisions the banks are making in this community.

With all the options and amount of information on different foreclosure and mortgage relief programs that pop up all the time, it’s hard to know what to do or where to turn. Believe it or not, from my limited research, there are well over 250 “mortgage programs” for either loan modification or foreclosure relief being advertised or offered. Some are government related, some are through law firms and others through non-profits groups or consumer advocate groups or agencies.

Which ones are legit? What is the best one for your situation? Who can you talk to that can help you figure out what to do? All legitimate questions that any smart person would ask.

First of all, do not call me! I am not the right person to talk to about this. However, I feel good recommending you to a website called www.relieveyourdebt.com. There you can read about the different scams other people have had the pleasure of going through as well as the 2 to 3 programs that are recommended for people who need some type of mortgage relief.

I have only listened in on one of the webinars and Mr. Doug Johnson, the debt relief advocate who is vetting these programs and helping people get exposed to them, recommends to every person that they listen to ALL the webinars, thus all the options for their given situation. Once you have been exposed to the programs you have the best and latest information to make a decision to see if one of these programs is for you or not.

I know Doug is not an attorney because I asked him. He’s just a guy who has seen the damage done by banks and financial institutions over the years and has decided to do the research and help people. You can read more about Doug here.

For those that know me personally, you know I don’t a have problem thinking out of the box and these programs are out of the box programs. Sometimes, it’s just what you have to do.

One of the benefits of the FHA mortgage is that the down payment is quite a bit lower than almost every other type of mortgage today. The rates are also very competitive with current rates you hear about from your local lenders. You can also get the down payment money from many sources that are not allowed by other types of mortgage loan products. For example; you can borrow the down payment from your 401k or get a gift from a family member. This helps a lot of people that could not get the down payment with traditional means still get into a home and secure a mortgage.

One of the great things about the FHA mortgage is, unless you request a variable rate, you will get a 30 year fixed loan. That makes it easier to budget long-term to pay the loan back. Though FHA is more lenient with their credit score requirements, the lender may have additional requirements of their own that you have to meet. Make sure you talk to your lender to find out what their requirements are before you commit to using them.

With this type of mortgage you also need not worry about mortgage insurance because the mortgage insurance is usually approved automatically once the FHA mortgage is approved. This does not mean you are not paying for mortgage insurance it’s just that you have already been approved for it with the FHA loan.

The last benefit is that this type of loans is it allows sellers to contribute an amount to the closing cost within the regulations provided. This can greatly reduce the amount you need for closing.

While the real estate market is still in the process of stabilizing, there is a definite silver lining that all homeowners should be taking advantage of these days. Interest rates are at truly historic lows. What kind of numbers are we talking about? How about rates on a fixed loan of 3.7 percent and another full point below that for variable loans. Think about that for a moment. When in your life have rates been so low? It is staggering. Looking a few years down the road, the rates on home loans will have nowhere to go but up. When they return to the six or 7 percent level, how happy will you be that you refinanced your loan and locked it in at a 2 or 3 percent level?

Can interest rates go any lower on these loans? Nobody knows for sure, but it seems doubtful since inflation is starting to rear its ugly head. I really don’t have to tell you this because you already know. Have your grocery bills gone up? How about the cost of clothes? The simple fact is when the government prints money to revive a dormant economy, it eventually leads to inflation. To fight inflation, the Federal Reserve Bank will have to raise the rates it charges banks to borrow money. The banks will then pass along that increase to the mortgage market. Refinance now and lock in the incredibly low rates that will probably not occur again in our lifetime.

Because of it’s importance, you should make sure it is well designed; inside and out. If you eventually decide to sell a home, then you should remember this: you are not only selling the structure. You are also selling a place where someone else will spend their life. They will certainly want to spend it in a nice home. Research shows that a home that has a good interior design is more likely to catch the eye of potential buyers. If you set up the interior design of your home with the visual effects in mind, you are more likely to sell your home quickly.

These days, most people like the interior style to be a mix of new trends and traditional ones. When people are looking to buy a home, they generally ask questions like these:

1. What kind of area is the house located in?
2. What is the interior style of the house?
3. What type of landscape surrounds the property?
4. When was the home built?
5. How will it stand up to natural disasters?

These are a few of the important questions that are frequently asked by home buyers. If your home can properly satisfy these questions, then you are more likely to sell your house for your preferred price. Most people want their home to act as a statement of their style. This is only possible with the help of good interior design. So, when you want to sell your home, don’t try to do it all on your own. Call an interior designer today.

According to my sources, finding a house that meets your needs or wants is pretty easy right now as that market has been depressed as well and there are some very good buys out there just waiting for the right buyer. On the other hand, the mortgage is another story. If your first home is paid off it’s relatively easy to obtain a mortgage on a second home. However, if you have an existing mortgage on a home, getting another mortgage has some strict requirements based on the type of loan and the amount of money you are putting down on the home. You will need to check and double check with the loan or mortgage officer you are utilizing for the loan.

Of course, here in Nashville, there are several areas where you can buy your first home and never feel like you have to leave to be on vacation! There are many small neighborhoods that back up to the Cumberland River, The Harpeth River or Old Hickory Lake that have homes for sale and are available. Being able to swim, canoe, kayak or go water skiing or fishing right out your front or back door is a real treat. You can have a second home feeling in our primary home.

Unfortunately, not every area has the luxury of having this much water and sport around so they will have to settle for buying a second home; if they need and can qualify for a mortgage.