Beware The Sheep

Everyone knows that the housing market is having some problems. Prices are flat, sales are slow and the foreclosure rate is way up. Over the last several years, home buyers "over bought", took out risky loans or didn't adequately prepare for the future and now they are faced with danger.

As a result of the boom in foreclosures, a new industry is popping up. I am beginning to see billboards, road signs, hear commercials on the radio and see commercials in the newspaper and on TV. It's the "Save Me From Foreclosure Industry." And It could spell further danger for you if you are not careful.

Many of these companies and individuals are unscrupulous and ruthless and there main objective is to get control or ownership of you home for as little money as possible. There is a huge profit ptential for them. They have many different methods. The most common way they will "save your home" from foreclosure are the following.

1) They will buy your home from you for whatever you owe the bank, and always far less than the home's appraised value.. They will write a contract which will allow you to live in and rent the home for a fixed period of time after which you must buy the home back for a fixed price (usually at least 25% more than what you sold it to them for.) If you can not buy the home back at the said time, you will be out on the street anyway.

2) Another way they can bail you out is similar to the example above except you don't even sell the home to the company or individual, you simply sign the home over to them giving them ownership. In return, they pay the bank all past due payments, fees and penalties. And like the example above, if you are unable to buy the home back, you are out on the street anyway and you have lost any equity you may have had to begin with.

I'm sure there are other methods of doing this that are being thought up. I am equally sure that none of them will be beneficial to the home owner and a huge money maker for the person or company who is "there to help you." Be careful. Always run any such offers by an attorney whom you trust. When you are faced with such a dilemma, it may be difficult to to see clearly, so a sound outside opinion may be your best answer.

Now, here are some of today's best WHOLESALE 30 year fixed rates.

rate 15 day 30 day 45 day
5.2500 97.233 97.158 97.127
5.3750 97.935 97.860 97.829
5.5000 98.589 98.514 98.483
5.6250 99.049 98.974 98.943
5.7500 99.584 99.509 99.478
5.8750 100.171 100.096 100.065
6.0000 100.568 100.493 100.461
6.1250 100.892 100.817 100.785
6.2500 101.494 101.419 101.357
6.3750 101.979 101.904 101.841
6.5000 102.306 102.231 102.168
6.6250 102.485 102.410 102.348
6.7500 102.885 102.810 102.748
6.8750 103.275 103.200 103.169
7.0000 103.479 103.404 103.373

Keep An Eye On Your Credit Report

Even though you think you have good or great credit, you may be in for a surprise. Last week, I was working with a client who was buying his first home. He thought that his credit was great. He only had two charge cards which carried no balances, and he had a car loan which had recently been paid off.

However, when I pulled his credit report there were numerous credit card accounts, two mortgages and a car loan which appeared. None were his. All of them were his father's. Although they had different first names, for some reason his father's accounts appeared only on his Equifax report.

As you can imagine, this was and is a nightmare. My client no longer qualified for the mortgage because his debt to income ratios are now too high. Of course, banks and lenders will need proof to show that all the disputed accounts are not his. This takes time. In order to have all this removed may take weeks. In the meantime my client and the homeowners whose home he is buying are left hanging in the wind until all this is resolved.

Let this serve as a warning. In this computer age that we live in, one small glitch can cause major headaches and take months to correct. You must keep an eye on your credit report. You should probably check out your report annually just to make sure everything is kosher.

If you discover any problems you can begin to correct them before it's too late. This will avoid the nightmare of having to scramble in order to fix the problem when you are under the gun.

Now, here are some of today's best 30 year fixed WHOLESALE mortgage rates.

rate 15 day 30 day 45 day
5.2500 97.577 97.502 97.440
5.3750 98.279 98.204 98.141
5.5000 98.933 98.858 98.795
5.6250 99.393 99.318 99.255
5.7500 99.928 99.853 99.790
5.8750 100.515 100.440 100.377
6.0000 100.911 100.836 100.774
6.1250 101.235 101.160 101.098
6.2500 101.713 101.638 101.513
6.3750 102.197 102.122 101.997
6.5000 102.525 102.450 102.325
6.6250 102.704 102.629 102.504
6.7500 103.104 103.029 102.904
6.8750 103.338 103.263 103.200
7.0000 103.541 103.466 103.404