What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Brenda — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 13:00:00 GMT

After moving my children across country "to be closer" to my only sister- whom by the way owns the family house and offered it to us if we moved, we are homeless after she and her husband decided to accept an offer of $1000 down and $500 a month until they receive 10k from an out of state investor.. .I want the chance. Anyone know of a finance company that will lend purchase money for an 8k auction home to an SSI recipient with a severe mobility impairment, who just happens to be U-Haul weary?

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Bill — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 13:00:00 GMT

I believe it is too obvious for all of us to see....The first person to blame are the appraisers that call the mortgage person (2nd person to blame) and ask what the subject home should appraise for....fraud. 3rd person to blame are the clients/customers who are signing the papers....

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Maureen — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

I sold my home in a short sale in NJ and the bank was wonderful. They actually took $100k less than was owed on the home. The whole process took less than a month. I told them I had an offer, they sent an appraiser before the offer even came to them. I then faxed them the offer and my financial information. They approved the deal in 2 days. The buyer paid cash, so it took him only a few days to get the title work and close. Was a very easy process.

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

Prospective buyers who have been on the fence about buying a home (as a principal residence in which you intend to occupy for a minimum of five years) should get into the market. It may sound cruel but one person's misfortune is another's opportunity. With home price adjustments the market has become more affordable and prices are much more reasonable. Do not be afraid to make an offer.

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

Yes there were a lot of bad loans made but the market over reacted and is treating all sub-prime loans as if they will default. Not all loans will default. There is no way to know how many will or will not until those mortgages are no longer existent either by being written off (short-sale/foreclosure) or paid off.

If demand drops off and it's coupled with more fear of loss (sellers trying to get out before it's too late) it causes inventories to rise again disturbing equilibrium in the housing market. As long as there are significantly more homes on the market than buyers available to purchase them home prices will drop. Were risky loans made? Yes. Many.

Congress must allow the FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to help homeowners who could otherwise be able to afford a mortgage payment while all others should be settled or foreclosed. Sad but the only real solution. It is better to face the harsh reality than provide a band-aid solution to homeowners who had no business buying in the first place.

As fear of impending defaults are eased by the FHA investors should move capital back into the mortgage markets (including sub-prime) BUT be certain to employ sensibility in credit/risk grading decisions.

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

Really this is a great market. Will you be the one saying how great of a deal you got when the next boom comes knocking or will you join the heard of nay-sayers who will wish they did something with the opportunities were prevalent.

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

Like many I have been trying in the last 6 months to negotiate a short sale of my home, in a neighborhood where prices have dropped more than the appraised values of home and foreclosures are soaring. We have had two good offers on the house, the lender has requested tons of paper work 4 times, been on numerous phone calls, everyone is getting fraustrated. With about 1 week to foreclosure, what else can we do here?

The statement below is very true, I have been trying to get approval from loan Services for short sale to avoid foreclosure and everyone is getting fraustrated, paperwork requested 4 times, etc, we just have a week to foreclosure "In the end this hurts everyone. The homeowner loses their home to foreclosure and irreparably damages their credit. The real estate agent does a ton of work but doesn't end up getting paid"

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Denne — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

This article is great. I am a Realtor and have been working with 25-40 homeowners at any one time facing foreclosure and regardless of who wants to blame who for what...the bottom line is the lenders are shooting themselves in the foot and creating an even worse economic situation by not handling the files and cooperating. Lenders are NOT working with homeowners and I sometimes wonder if the claims of "We never got that fax or paperwork," is bad attempt to weed out and eliminate volume.

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Billy Burke, CAI - AARE — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

By the way: I have personally been involved with over 3000 real estate transactions since 1988, sold my first property on the Internet in 1994, founded the first B2B Internet auction in 1998, raised over $12 million in venture capital during the dot-com bubble in 2000, signed the largest auction contract in history in 2001 and have been working on cracking the code to use the Internet in conjunction with traditional auctioneer methods since August of 2001.

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Barbra — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

Our company buys second mortgages and it really upsets me when I see the Realtor getting more than us. I have quit letting the first tell me that they will only allow the second to receive $1,000. If that is the deal then foreclose. Now back to the Realtor, they want me to take 3,000 on a balance of 200,000 yet the commission is 6% sometimes 7%. That does not happen anymore either. I was a Realtor so I know that when everyone is giving a little they need to give.

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

bob — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

Mortgage brokers screwed me good on a interest only payment 8 percent rate credit score 723 ??

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Long Term — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

Having orginally entered the mortgage industry in the 80's from a true Retail standpoint, I entered subprime in the late 90's only to discover (whoa!) the mindset was different. Throw out the traditional processing/underwriting credit based off the overall credit and look at credit scores and mortgage history only? who cares if there's a BK? who cares if there are NUMEROUS collections/judgments/tax liens!! Talk about culture shock.

Upper management telling you do the loan, when you know in your gut the loan shouldn't be approved, when you sit there and think...OMG WHY aren't they making borrowers clean up their credit with some of the $50k cash out they are getting???? why wouldn't you as the consumer WANT to? because noone is making you do it? it's like digging a deeper hole...get the cash out and spend it fast.

Now I'm not blaming ALL borrowers, ALL lenders however, I do focus on credit scores.....it's bunk, credit scoring should never! have come in to play....someone can have a high 600's even 700 score and have had a bk or have collections OPEN, etc. there is no rhyme or reason to the credit score calculation. If things are "fixed" in the industry Credit Scoring should be one that is eliminated and/or emphasis not placed on it so strongly.

Unfortunately, a lot of loans Underwriters and Processors receive(d) 8 out of 10 times they were told to "let it go" OR upper management SIGNED off on the deals, overriding their decision. Upper management should TRUST in the people they employ to do their jobs as Underwriters, processors to know whether a deal is "solid" or not. Now A LOT OF OPERATIONS PEOPLE ARE OUT OF WORK, UNEMPLOYED, THE UNEMPLOYMENT MARKET IS SATURATED due to CFO, Executive Management DECISIONS.

A lot of people have been in the business for MANY years, it's ALL they know, and now the ones they/we are all treading water hoping the market comes back or at least stabilizes. This Superfund SIV,if it goes through which of course we know it will,future blowup waiting to happen,Financial advising?? ironic how financial advising seems to have become the "latest" big thing. no one was interested in helping a borrower CLEAN UP their credit until it's too late.

I was with one mortgage industry company for 10yrs and this company was considered "Conservative" compared to the top players and yet we still ended up having our doors shut. The majority of the time our business earned was due to customer service not pricing etc. Who is going to pay our mortgages? If it's all you know for 20+yrs what do you do? It's not ONLY people who were given these products the little people IN the mortgage industry are suffering due to BIG business/corporations' greed.

In closing...yes some borrowers took advantage (investor properties, etc, they probably knew what they were doing playing fast and loose taking a gamble) others probably had no clue, lenders/brokers/servicers/securities....CFO's, top executive management, the owners, the financial corporations.....they knew, bottom line...show them the $ and that's where they will be.

It's a terryifying time out there for borrowers, laid off mortgage personnel, the little people. the blame doesn't lie with the little people. you know as well as I if you need a job, short of doing anything illegal, of course! fraud always was and always will be TABOO, you will do what you are told to do to keep your job. The blame goes to the corp's, CFO's who CREATED the products, designed the credit score calculation, etc. They should be the ones's held responsible for cleaning up the mess they created.

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Dolly — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

My spouse and I bought our home 13 years ago (30 year fixed mortgage) and we've always made our house payments on time. We were notified several weeks ago that our mortgage company's check for our property taxes was returned. It's a CONTRACT. If we don't pay our house payments we lose our house. What happens to the mortgage company when they don't uphold THEIR end of the contract? I don't know WHO is responsible for this messbut we really resent being sucked into into it!

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

Donna — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

Both of us are in the business. 18+ Years as Real Estate Agent, 4 Years as Real Estate Appraiser and we're faced with selling our home and are in debt way over our heads. My husbands best intentions in handling our money has carried us for 3 years. My appraisal business while new, bottomed out this year when the sub prime loans were stopped. We're faced with finding JOBS after almost 20 years in this business. We are devestated and heartbroken.

RE:What Is Happening Out There? Share Your Story.

anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:00:00 GMT

I am a Realtor in Florida. Good for me ,yup!! This is a long term problem. I see empty houses,just sitting there, no one taking care of them. Through county records I can find who owns it, usually a bank or finance company.Can not get any response, noboby knows anything.Even with a potiential buyer, getting any answers is impossible. There are good buyers out here-the finance companies have got to get it togeather.The hay days are over.We can't do anything without answers.Florida