Credit Crises, Mortgage Crises, Bank Crises, Bail out, Wipe Out...Whatever you call what is happening the hurt really has a human face. The impact on the Hispanics/Latinos is enormous.
Specially, the crises is eliminating the wealth and savings of African Americans and Latinos to greater degree as stated: "The housing and subprime-mortgage crisis stands to cost minority homeowners 40 percent more of their wealth than white homeowners in similar circumstances, an advocacy group says. Some estimates put the loss for African-American homeowners who lose homes to foreclosure at $122 billion, while Latino homeowners stand to lose up to $129 billion, according to a study by the nonprofit group United for a Fair Economy.
A national conference on subprime lending, foreclosures and race is being held today and Friday, hosted by Ohio State University's Kirwan Institute for Race and Ethnicity.
National experts on race, law, finance and real estate will examine the subprime crisis' disproportionate effects on African-Americans and Latinos, and try to develop solutions for the growing problem, said Jason Reece, a senior researcher at the Kirwan Institute."
(Thursday, October 2, 2008 3:06 AM , By Tracy Turner
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH , http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2008/10/02/racial_foreclose.ART_ART_10-02-08_C8_VABG18N.html?sid=101)
Monday, October 13, 2008
Friday, May 09, 2008
Bank Refuses To Help...Seller forced into foreclosure.
This is a another real Customer case:
Facts: Seller bought condo in Daly City for $385,000 with 10% down in March 2006. Towards the end of 2006 several Condos in the same building foreclosure and where later sold for under $300,000. Ever since the Seller has tried to refinance to get of a 2 year fix-adjustable loan.
Each time the banks have declined her due to value going down. In Daly City (as of 5/08) there are bought 9 condos similar to hers for under $200,000.
Action: Since October 2007 I have been working with the her lenders and/or servicing company: America's Servicing Company(Fremont was the lender originally). I submitted all the paper work a short sale and on 3/17/08 I submitted a offer from a Agent representing a Buyer. Since then I have tried to contact the Lender and I was always told that it was been looked. However, the Seller called me yesterday 5/8/08: Her condo will be up for sale at the Redwood City Court House on 5/30/08.
Results: So I really think that Lenders are not motivated enough to act faster and with better intention to help distressed Sellers.
So now we have another statistic. And just this week I've have 3 other people consulting with me on what to do. I really don't think I can help them.
This business of short sales is a very stressful sale, and a lot of it comes from dealing with the Lenders.
Facts: Seller bought condo in Daly City for $385,000 with 10% down in March 2006. Towards the end of 2006 several Condos in the same building foreclosure and where later sold for under $300,000. Ever since the Seller has tried to refinance to get of a 2 year fix-adjustable loan.
Each time the banks have declined her due to value going down. In Daly City (as of 5/08) there are bought 9 condos similar to hers for under $200,000.
Action: Since October 2007 I have been working with the her lenders and/or servicing company: America's Servicing Company(Fremont was the lender originally). I submitted all the paper work a short sale and on 3/17/08 I submitted a offer from a Agent representing a Buyer. Since then I have tried to contact the Lender and I was always told that it was been looked. However, the Seller called me yesterday 5/8/08: Her condo will be up for sale at the Redwood City Court House on 5/30/08.
Results: So I really think that Lenders are not motivated enough to act faster and with better intention to help distressed Sellers.
So now we have another statistic. And just this week I've have 3 other people consulting with me on what to do. I really don't think I can help them.
This business of short sales is a very stressful sale, and a lot of it comes from dealing with the Lenders.
Monday, May 05, 2008
How did I get into this mess? Should I stop paying my mortgage? Help?
Hello readers. This is not easy to write. Like many of you the current credit, mortgage, housing crises has finally hit me hard! And it is hard to admit that as a real estate agent myself I cannot figure a way out.
Problem: I bought a second single-family home in Richmond, California in 8/2005. I refinanced in 4/2006 and now I cannot make the mortgage payments and I need to decide whether to continue making payments or not. I have to make this decision by May 15, 2008.
I have invested a lot of time researching what the consequences may be, and I have found out that there are a lot of contradictions in the opinion of experts.I have patiently waited to see what comes out of Congress or the Lenders but nothing so far has helped.
Background: In 8/2005 a friend and I bought a house for investment purposes in Richmond. The goal was to buy and hold and eventually sell at a profit.We did not speculate, we did not lie to get our loan, we did not over buy. We bought something that we could afford and responsibly pay for. We bought a moderate house less than $400,000. The only possible mistake was that we ended up getting a 2 year fixed loan after which it would adjust. This loan was obtained from Fremont Savings Bank.
Then my friend lost her job and could no longer help make the payments. I continued paying it on my own. Then in 4/2007 I was able to refinance. I say that I refinanced just in time, because a few weeks later the whole mortgage/credit crises hit hard. Suddenly this house loss about 40% of its value. I had 10% equity at the time of refinance, but when the value dropped I lost all equity.
Overnight it seems that houses around my house were now worth 50% of less. And signs of foreclosures, and boarded up houses starting appearing.
Still I made my payments. As a real estate agent I was still closing transactions. There were still buyers, sellers, borrowers and mortgage CREDIT. But then the buyers dried up. And those that wanted to buy could not get loans. So my income went down. As I write this I have about 6 Short Sales transactions going on but either buyers cancel or the Lenders refuse to negotiate.
Since 12/2007 I still made my payments, but I knew I was heading for trouble so I started to call my lenders, Bank of America and Washington Mutual to see if I could modify terms. They refused then and continue to refuse to negotiated. They tell me that I first have to stop paying my mortgage before they talk to me about loan modifications, short sale, etc.
I called the many counseling help lines, and still no help. Everyone tells me that as long as I pay my mortgage then the lenders have no reason to negotiate anything.
In Summary: And so my house is worth much less than I owe. There are too many houses for sale, and now I have to decide whether I stop paying my mortgage in order to get the Bank's attention. But this has consequences:
The Consequences: I have researched the California foreclosure laws, my loan contract,the new and proposed State and Federal laws and nothing seems clear.
If I let the lender foreclose on or short sale my house, what are the tax consequence? Since it is not my primary home.
Will the lenders foreclose and stop there, or will they try to go after my primary home.
If I stop making mortgage payments in order to begin the process of getting the banks' attention, I will need to ruin my credit score. And this then has a lot of other consequences.
Responsibility: I know that I am responsible to pay this mortgage. However, the decrease in value of my house wasn't of my doing. Also, the lenders don't want to extend credit even though my FICO score is (as of 3/08 it was 756) very good since they think values will still go down. I also see the Federal Government is rescuing major banks, lenders (persuading Bank of America to buy CountryWide under favorable loan rates, helping JP Morgan buy Bear Sterns, etc).
From a purely investment perspective it doesn't make sense to keep the house. In my opinion, it will be at least 10years , if ever, bythe time my house goes back up to its current loan value.
And I have to decide whether I will make the mortgage payment to Bank of America (1st) and Washington Mutual(2nd) by May 15, 2008 or begin to let this nightmare finish.
Problem: I bought a second single-family home in Richmond, California in 8/2005. I refinanced in 4/2006 and now I cannot make the mortgage payments and I need to decide whether to continue making payments or not. I have to make this decision by May 15, 2008.
I have invested a lot of time researching what the consequences may be, and I have found out that there are a lot of contradictions in the opinion of experts.I have patiently waited to see what comes out of Congress or the Lenders but nothing so far has helped.
Background: In 8/2005 a friend and I bought a house for investment purposes in Richmond. The goal was to buy and hold and eventually sell at a profit.We did not speculate, we did not lie to get our loan, we did not over buy. We bought something that we could afford and responsibly pay for. We bought a moderate house less than $400,000. The only possible mistake was that we ended up getting a 2 year fixed loan after which it would adjust. This loan was obtained from Fremont Savings Bank.
Then my friend lost her job and could no longer help make the payments. I continued paying it on my own. Then in 4/2007 I was able to refinance. I say that I refinanced just in time, because a few weeks later the whole mortgage/credit crises hit hard. Suddenly this house loss about 40% of its value. I had 10% equity at the time of refinance, but when the value dropped I lost all equity.
Overnight it seems that houses around my house were now worth 50% of less. And signs of foreclosures, and boarded up houses starting appearing.
Still I made my payments. As a real estate agent I was still closing transactions. There were still buyers, sellers, borrowers and mortgage CREDIT. But then the buyers dried up. And those that wanted to buy could not get loans. So my income went down. As I write this I have about 6 Short Sales transactions going on but either buyers cancel or the Lenders refuse to negotiate.
Since 12/2007 I still made my payments, but I knew I was heading for trouble so I started to call my lenders, Bank of America and Washington Mutual to see if I could modify terms. They refused then and continue to refuse to negotiated. They tell me that I first have to stop paying my mortgage before they talk to me about loan modifications, short sale, etc.
I called the many counseling help lines, and still no help. Everyone tells me that as long as I pay my mortgage then the lenders have no reason to negotiate anything.
In Summary: And so my house is worth much less than I owe. There are too many houses for sale, and now I have to decide whether I stop paying my mortgage in order to get the Bank's attention. But this has consequences:
The Consequences: I have researched the California foreclosure laws, my loan contract,the new and proposed State and Federal laws and nothing seems clear.
If I let the lender foreclose on or short sale my house, what are the tax consequence? Since it is not my primary home.
Will the lenders foreclose and stop there, or will they try to go after my primary home.
If I stop making mortgage payments in order to begin the process of getting the banks' attention, I will need to ruin my credit score. And this then has a lot of other consequences.
Responsibility: I know that I am responsible to pay this mortgage. However, the decrease in value of my house wasn't of my doing. Also, the lenders don't want to extend credit even though my FICO score is (as of 3/08 it was 756) very good since they think values will still go down. I also see the Federal Government is rescuing major banks, lenders (persuading Bank of America to buy CountryWide under favorable loan rates, helping JP Morgan buy Bear Sterns, etc).
From a purely investment perspective it doesn't make sense to keep the house. In my opinion, it will be at least 10years , if ever, bythe time my house goes back up to its current loan value.
And I have to decide whether I will make the mortgage payment to Bank of America (1st) and Washington Mutual(2nd) by May 15, 2008 or begin to let this nightmare finish.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
LULAC Receives $25,000 Donation From Countrywide Bank For Homebuyer Education Programs.
Washington, DC - The League of United Latin American Citizens National Housing Commission (LNHC) today announced that it has received $25,000 from Countrywide Bank, FSB, the third largest federal savings bank in the U.S. and a member of the Countrywide (NYSE:CFC) family of companies. Countrywide Bank’s financial support will allow the National Housing Commission to continue to promote educational programs on home buying, foreclosure prevention, financial literacy, credit and other areas for Latinos, especially for young people and the elderly.
January 10, 2008
http://www.lulac.org/advocacy/press/2008/homebuyer.html
January 10, 2008
http://www.lulac.org/advocacy/press/2008/homebuyer.html
Friday, March 14, 2008
The Real Real Estate Crises
As a real estate agent, I am suppose to sound optimistic about what is going on in the real estate industry. However, the reality is that I don't think things will get better until late 2010 or 2011. Also, I think that what is going on is more than just real estate problem. It is only the beginning. Our economy is going through structural changes.
Here are some things I think contribute to what is going on:
1. the oil consumption : we now have billions of new people who can buy cars, washers, dryers and therefore, need energy: India, China, Latin America, Africa....where having a clothes washer was a luxury it is pretty much becoming a common item, as a car, motor bike.
2. US and world real estate prices exploded. I think this is primarily due to an increase of credit (credit card, mortgages) being more easily available.
Now, I don't think it is because people are getting richer. Yes, people may getting paid more (eg. India, China, Mexico for example). I think it is because the big banks are making credit more available.
And, the forthcoming, credit crises as the mortgage crisis today.
That's globally. Locally,
In San Francisco, who really can afford to make a mortgage payment of $800,000 without a minimum of 2 salaries?
How many service jobs pay well enough to pay a $4,000 mortgage? Plus property taxes, etc.
Add a car payment of at least $400 per month.
Again, what's the problem credit. We are no longer willing to safe to buy something. We want it now using credit. I recently was talking to friend who has stopped making his mortgage payments, and bought 3 LCD TVS....He spent $7,500 on 3 othem and bought them on credit.
I asked why not just 1, or save up to buy them. His response that he wants TODAY, will enjoy them TODAY, and if he goes bankrupt tomorrow at least he enjoyed already.
wow.
Here are some things I think contribute to what is going on:
1. the oil consumption : we now have billions of new people who can buy cars, washers, dryers and therefore, need energy: India, China, Latin America, Africa....where having a clothes washer was a luxury it is pretty much becoming a common item, as a car, motor bike.
2. US and world real estate prices exploded. I think this is primarily due to an increase of credit (credit card, mortgages) being more easily available.
Now, I don't think it is because people are getting richer. Yes, people may getting paid more (eg. India, China, Mexico for example). I think it is because the big banks are making credit more available.
And, the forthcoming, credit crises as the mortgage crisis today.
That's globally. Locally,
In San Francisco, who really can afford to make a mortgage payment of $800,000 without a minimum of 2 salaries?
How many service jobs pay well enough to pay a $4,000 mortgage? Plus property taxes, etc.
Add a car payment of at least $400 per month.
Again, what's the problem credit. We are no longer willing to safe to buy something. We want it now using credit. I recently was talking to friend who has stopped making his mortgage payments, and bought 3 LCD TVS....He spent $7,500 on 3 othem and bought them on credit.
I asked why not just 1, or save up to buy them. His response that he wants TODAY, will enjoy them TODAY, and if he goes bankrupt tomorrow at least he enjoyed already.
wow.
como calcular su tasa de interes cuando no es fijo
Hay various tipos de prestamos hipotecarios....se pueden categorizar en 2 sectores:
prestamos figos y prestamos adjustables....
Son los prestamos adjustables la razon de muchos de los problemas de cual los proprietarios no puedan pagar su casa.
Como se calcula el interes de un prestamo adjustable? Tiene que leer la Nota o hablar con "customer service" y conseguir la informacion seguiente:
1. la fecha en cual se combierte en adjustable: el premier dia, en 6 meses en 2 anos?
2. El "margin"
3. el index y el nombre de index: existen muchos indicis: labor, 12th, etc.
el nuevo interest es Interest = Index + Margin
ejemplo:
Hoy tengo la tasa de 6.9, y se adjustable april 1, 2008, el margin es 4.1, y el indice es el Labor 6 Meses
su nueva tasa (usand el indice de 2/08) seria Interest = 3.1 + 4.1= 7.2%
prestamos figos y prestamos adjustables....
Son los prestamos adjustables la razon de muchos de los problemas de cual los proprietarios no puedan pagar su casa.
Como se calcula el interes de un prestamo adjustable? Tiene que leer la Nota o hablar con "customer service" y conseguir la informacion seguiente:
1. la fecha en cual se combierte en adjustable: el premier dia, en 6 meses en 2 anos?
2. El "margin"
3. el index y el nombre de index: existen muchos indicis: labor, 12th, etc.
el nuevo interest es Interest = Index + Margin
ejemplo:
Hoy tengo la tasa de 6.9, y se adjustable april 1, 2008, el margin es 4.1, y el indice es el Labor 6 Meses
su nueva tasa (usand el indice de 2/08) seria Interest = 3.1 + 4.1= 7.2%
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
The real estate meltdown and life changes -a private note.
Hi everyone. I want to share parts of an article I wrote recently for LatinoWebWatch on online marketing for Latinos. I was reflecting on the current state of real estate and my career as a Broker and an Online Real Estate Marketing:
I work as a real estate broker in San Francisco, but I am hoping that I can make Online Marketing my full time profession(ie. money making job). Online Marketing is my passion and my hobby but until recently I have been so busy with real estate and mortgages. I am still quite busy, however, I see the writing on the wall--the home buying and home financing industry has dramatically changed. And I think that these industry/consumer changes are economical and STRUCTURAL. You see, with the high number of foreclosures, the short sales epidemic, the credit crunch and election year politics the real estate and mortgage industry has changed. New laws are being created that may over regulate, that may eliminate hard working and willing to pay home buyers from buying, and home owners from refinancing.
Oh, I forgot to add that although I am still quite busy, a lot of my work seems more like non-profit counseling trying to help customers either to refinance, renegotiate with their lenders or just try to comfort them and help them move out.
Although I like helping people, and this is one of the reasons I got in real estate [being a member of the communities I serve] I see that it will be very hard to make a living. I think that what has helped me "survive" this long is that all throughout my real estate career I have been very proactive in real estate online marketing.
Coming from an eCommerce background before getting into real estate I knew and still believe that the Internet/eCommerce will completely change the Real Estate & Mortgage business...and it has, see move.com, zillow.com, realtor.com, ziprealty.com, trulia.com, etc.
And this is all happening real time and now.. So I hope to focus more on my passion of Real Estate Online Marketing and Latino-Hispanic Online Marketing, and I hope to make a living out of my dream.
I work as a real estate broker in San Francisco, but I am hoping that I can make Online Marketing my full time profession(ie. money making job). Online Marketing is my passion and my hobby but until recently I have been so busy with real estate and mortgages. I am still quite busy, however, I see the writing on the wall--the home buying and home financing industry has dramatically changed. And I think that these industry/consumer changes are economical and STRUCTURAL. You see, with the high number of foreclosures, the short sales epidemic, the credit crunch and election year politics the real estate and mortgage industry has changed. New laws are being created that may over regulate, that may eliminate hard working and willing to pay home buyers from buying, and home owners from refinancing.
Oh, I forgot to add that although I am still quite busy, a lot of my work seems more like non-profit counseling trying to help customers either to refinance, renegotiate with their lenders or just try to comfort them and help them move out.
Although I like helping people, and this is one of the reasons I got in real estate [being a member of the communities I serve] I see that it will be very hard to make a living. I think that what has helped me "survive" this long is that all throughout my real estate career I have been very proactive in real estate online marketing.
Coming from an eCommerce background before getting into real estate I knew and still believe that the Internet/eCommerce will completely change the Real Estate & Mortgage business...and it has, see move.com, zillow.com, realtor.com, ziprealty.com, trulia.com, etc.
And this is all happening real time and now.. So I hope to focus more on my passion of Real Estate Online Marketing and Latino-Hispanic Online Marketing, and I hope to make a living out of my dream.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Affordable Housing in Oakland
A constant battle we have in California is that of affordable housing. In some cities, like San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, you often end up in bitter fights depending on which side you're on...As a resident in San Francisco we usually have long bitter fights. We all agree we need affordable housing. We need it for renters and we need it for home buyers. Renting and home ownership is beyond the reach of a lot people. Oakland will be dealing with the same:
"Oakland officials are ready to wade into one of the city's thorniest housing issues: whether to require developers to include below-market-rate housing in future projects.
The council deadlocked last year on the hot-button issue before then-Mayor Jerry Brown cast a tie-breaking vote against the rule. One of the hallmarks of Brown's two-term administration was his "10K" plan to build enough units for 10,000 new residents downtown as a way of revitalizing the city.
On Tuesday, a citizen panel formed to deal with housing will recommend that affordable housing be required in some cases, although not enough to appease some housing advocates.." San Francisco Chronicle, see sfgate.com
"Oakland officials are ready to wade into one of the city's thorniest housing issues: whether to require developers to include below-market-rate housing in future projects.
The council deadlocked last year on the hot-button issue before then-Mayor Jerry Brown cast a tie-breaking vote against the rule. One of the hallmarks of Brown's two-term administration was his "10K" plan to build enough units for 10,000 new residents downtown as a way of revitalizing the city.
On Tuesday, a citizen panel formed to deal with housing will recommend that affordable housing be required in some cases, although not enough to appease some housing advocates.." San Francisco Chronicle, see sfgate.com
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