Joke of the week

Women of Afghanistan

Barbara Walters, of  20/20,

did a story on gender roles in  Kabul, Afghanistan,

several years before the Afghan conflict.

She noted that women customarily walked five paces behind their husbands.

She recently returned to Kabul and observed

that women still walk behind their husbands.

With the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime,

Barbara Walters noted that women now walked in front of their husbands.

Walters  approached one of the Afghani women and asked,

“It appears that customs have changed and women have

 asserted themselves here, how did this come about?”

The woman looked Walters 

straight in the eyes,

and without hesitation said,

“Land Mines.”

Buyers Rejected for Loans Can Now Find Out Why

A provision in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which took effect this week, requires lenders to provide consumers with a free credit score, which will help provide new insights into why they may have been rejected for a loan or did not qualify for the best, lowest rate.

While borrowers can access their credit scores from the credit bureaus, the credit score that a lender uses isn’t always the same one that the credit bureau provides you. According to a report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, some credit bureaus sell consumers “educational” scores that aren’t the same ones used by lenders, or these bureaus may base the score on a different model than the one lenders use.
Now, borrowers for the first time will get a more accurate view of what credit score lenders are using to base their mortgage on.

Under the new Dodd-Frank financial reform law, lenders will be required to provide potential borrowers with a free credit score whenever they reject an application for a loan. Lenders must provide borrowers with an “adverse action” notice, which will include their credit scores as well as an explanation of why they were rejected for a loan.

Lenders will also be required to provide a free credit score and an explanation whenever they approve a loan but at a higher rate than what is given to their best customers.

Governor Signed SB 458 Into Law For Homeowners in California

Gov. signs SB 458 into law      

           
For release:
July 15, 2011

CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® applauds Gov. Brown on signing SB 458 into law
LOS ANGELES (July 15) – The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) applauds Gov. Jerry Brown on signing SB 458 (Corbett) into law.   SB 458 extends the protections of SB 931 (2010), to ensure that any lender that agrees to a short sale must accept the agreed upon short sale payment as payment in full of the outstanding balance of all loans.

Under previous law (SB 931 of 2010), a first mortgage holder could accept an agreed-upon short sale payment as full payment for the outstanding balance of the loan, but unfortunately, the rule did not apply to junior lien holders. SB 458 extends the protections of SB 931 to junior liens.

“The signing of this bill is a victory for California homeowners who have been forced to short sell their home only to find that the lender will pursue them after the short sale closes, and demand an additional payment to subsidize the difference,” said C.A.R. President Beth L. Peerce.  “SB 458 brings closure and certainty to the short sale process and ensures that once a lender has agreed to accept a short sale payment on a property, all lienholders – those in first position and in junior positions – will consider the outstanding balance as paid in full and the homeowner will not be held responsible for any additional payments on the property.”
SB 458 contains an urgency clause making it effective upon signing.

Leading the way…® in California real estate for more than 100 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (http://www.car.org/) is one of the largest state trade organizations in the United States, with nearly 160,000 members dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate.  C.A.R. is headquartered in Los Angeles.

How To Detect Short Sale Frauds

Lenders are losing out on thousands of dollars, sometimes within just mere hours, due to short sale fraud, which is skyrocketing and plaguing the housing market.

In one of the most common short sale scams, an investor submits a low offer on a home that is underwater, in which the borrower owes more on the mortgage than the home is currently worth. Scam artists, working with the investor, present the lowball offer to the lender, asking for a short sale to be completed. Appraisals or broker price opinions may be manipulated to help persuade lenders to do the short sale (one common method: Misstating the home’s location so that the home is compared to lower cost homes).

President Obama Announces More Financial Aid for the Unemployed

Home owners who have lost their jobs will get more mortgage relief. The Obama administration has announced that two programs for unemployed home owners will extend the forbearance period on mortgages to 12 months.

For unemployed home owners with a Federal Housing Administration loan, the forbearance period will be extended from four months to 12 months. The Obama administration also said it will remove hurdles to make it easier for unemployed borrowers to qualify for FHA’s Special Forbearance Program.

“The current unemployment forbearance programs have mandatory periods that are inadequate for the majority of unemployed borrowers,” U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said in a statement. “Today, 60 percent of the unemployed have been out of work for more than three months and 45 percent have been out of work for more than six. Providing the option for a year of forbearance will give struggling home owners a substantially greater chance of finding employment before they lose their home.”

The administration also announced that it will extend the minimum forbearance period in the Making Home Affordable Program from three months to 12 months for eligible unemployed home owners, when possible under regulator and investor guidelines. Forbearance will also be available to borrowers who are seriously delinquent.

All FHA-approved mortgage servicers are required to participate in FHA’s Loss Mitigation Program, which includes the Special Forbearance program. 

Beware Loan Modification Scams

More home owners in Los Angeles who are desperate to avoid foreclosure are finding themselves victims to loan-modification scams that are all over.

In the latest to headlines, attorneys in California, where these scams are particularly rampant, filed the state’s first class-action lawsuit against an alleged loan modification scam, part of http://www.rewiremyloan.com/. In the lawsuit, prosecutors charge that the company collected nearly $5,000 each from at least 90 victims, promising to do loan modifications and offering a 100 percent money-back guarantee. The victims say the company never did the loan modification or refunded their payments.

The majority of the victims in the lawsuit are Spanish-speaking, and while the advertising and discussions they had with the company were in Spanish, they say the contracts they signed were in English. The home owners say they were also told to not contact their bank directly or their contracts would be voided. (Read: How to Spot Foreclosure-Prevention Scams)

Scam Prevention Network
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, government housing agencies, and other nonprofits have created the Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network to compile complaints about such fraud. From February 2010 to June 1, the network gathered nearly 15,000 complaints involving $37 million in lost money. California accounted for the majority of the losses, with 3,105 complaints filed and $11 million in losses from these scams.

For home owners who believe they were a victim of a loan-modification scam, the Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network encourages them to visit www.preventloanscams.org to file a complaint. I have always understood that people need to be surrounded by a team of financial expert, that can guide them so they can potentially reduce dramatically the risk of financial setback, but if for any reason financial setback occur due to unforseen circumstances, they can at least get reliable advice for experts.

Andre Plessis, REALTOR & Financial Educator.

Call - 1-877 APPLYFREE NOW!!!