Boise Real Estate Home > In My Opinion... > Losing Your Home to Foreclosure - Fraud Alert

What to do if Faced with Losing Your Home

Source: http://boiserealestateinfo.net
Publish Date: 2/09/2009

The nation’s real estate market has seen better days. 2008 proved to be one of the worst years in the housing industry and 2009 isn’t looking much better. Foreclosures are at an all time high while home values are dropping making it very difficult for in trouble homeowners to get out from under their financial problems. While we are hearing all the talk of doom and gloom hoping for a bit of good news the sad thing is it may only get worse, much worse, before the housing market begins to improve.

The housing market has an excess of homes currently for sale, according to the NAR, approximately an 11 months supply that is twice the norm. More foreclosures are expected to enter the market as banks add inventory that they have been holding on to and there is speculation that this “invisible inventory” could be substantial. One reason for the delay is that the sheer number of foreclosures the past couple years have overwhelmed the banks’ ability to deal with them. What that means for the real estate market is more inventory, which drives down home values, which drives up foreclosures.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association 250,000 homes enter foreclosure every 3 months.
2009 total foreclosures are expected to be in the neighborhood of 3 million homes.

Some industry experts think that the latter half of 2009 will begin to exhibit some improvement in the housing market while others think it won’t be until 2010.

Nevertheless we are faced with an increasing number of foreclosed properties and with this come con artists and thieves trying to take advantage of desperate homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments.

Unfortunately it is quite simple for foreclosure fraud perpetrators to find potential victims. When banks foreclose on a home they publish a notice. The perpetrator will then contact the homeowner offering to help save their home or free them from their financial burden.

Often times scam artists will leave you worse off, financially, and you will still lose your home to the bank. There are several tactics used by con artists such as;

Lease-back scams – This occurs when you sign over the deed to your home to a con artist and they agree to lease the home back to you and sell it back to at a later date. In this scenario several things can happen:

They take the money you pay them as rent and not pay your mortgage, which you are still responsible.
They refuse to sell your home back to you as promised and they can do what this wish with it, even evict you and sell it to someone else.
They often times will strip the home of any equity you have obtained over the years.
Or all of the above

Other scams include refinance fraud or bankruptcy schemes both of which involve signing over the deed of your home to a scam artist leaving you exposed to many of the above issues.

Protect Yourself From Foreclosure Fraud

The best thing a homeowner can do to protect their home and interests is at the first sign of financial trouble contact their mortgage company. Unfortunately people fail to do so because they are embarrassed or they think it will only make things worse. Sixty percent of homeowners that are going through a crisis and could lose their home are unaware of the services their lender has available. Remember, the bank doesn’t want to own your home and the best way to help yourself is to contact them early on.

Another good resource is to find a HUD approved agency to help guide you to a reputable business or agency that may be able to assist you through the foreclosure process and possibly help save your home.

If you are working with, or considering, an organization to help with preventing the bank from foreclosing on your home it is critical to make sure that they are reputable. Don’t sign over your deed until talking with a lawyer, don’t sign blank or incomplete documents, and never sign anything you don’t understand.

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