Real Estate News for Monday, March 27th, 2006

Foreclosure Fraud Finds a Home. The crime that preys on strapped mortgage holders is on the rise in the Southland and elsewhere. Foreclosure fraud is a relatively simple crime. Once a property owner misses two or three monthly payments, a lender routinely files a notice of default with the county recorder's office. That public document is a precursor to formal foreclosure, and all a scam artist has to do to find victims is read the notices, descend on the homeowners and trick them into signing over title to their homes. It is a crime that consumer advocates fear could become increasingly common — especially in Southern California, where many homeowners have stretched themselves to their financial limits to afford the region's record high housing prices. Click here to read more.

REAL ESTATE: Realty Q&A. Private mortgage insurance and insurance risk scoring. PMI stands for private mortgage insurance, which is provided by private insurance carriers. The FHA, or Federal Housing Administration, is Uncle Sam's version of a private insurer. It insures loans, typically the ones the private guys don't want to cover, made by private lenders. In both cases, the premiums are paid by borrowers, but the insurance protects lenders in case borrowers default on their payments. For any condo loan and the few rehabilitation mortgages that were made during the time the mortgage insurance premium was not collected upfront at closing -- pre-2006 -- you pay a monthly premium for the life of the loan. Realize, however, that the premium declines as the mortgage amortizes. That is, the amount you pay for FHA insurance is reduced each year as the balance on the mortgage declines.
But yes, since you will continue to pay and pay and pay some more, it may be a good idea to pay the loan off sooner rather than later, or to dump the loan altogether and replace it with another one with perhaps a lower rate and no mortgage insurance at all. Click here to read more.

NAR Asks Home Owners: If You Sell It, Will Buyers Come? Home owners who try to sell their home without professional help must overcome a number of hurdles. As mentioned in the TV spots, the obstacles include making the appropriate disclosures, preparing the home for sale, pricing the home appropriately for a dynamic market and, most importantly, attracting qualified, motivated buyers. According to the 2005 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, only 17 percent of do-it-yourself home sellers used the Internet to market their home; that's at a time when Internet use in home searches has risen dramatically - in 2005, 77 percent of all home buyers used the Internet to look for a home. Finding an interested buyer is only the first step toward a successful sale. The typical home sale today involves more than 20 steps after the initial contract is accepted to complete the transaction. Consumers can learn more about potential post- contract pitfalls by visiting "http://www.realtor.org/realtororg.nsf/pages/post_contract _pitfalls". Most home sellers in today's market recognize the hazards inherent in do-it-yourself home selling, and rely on the expertise of a real estate professional to assist them when they sell their home. The percentage of owners who sell without representation has been trending down and is now at a record low - according to the 2005 profile, only 13 percent of recent home sellers sold their home without professional help, and only half of those would do it again. Click here to read more.

~Tina Jan~
Coldwell Banker Kivett-Teeters
1655 E. Sixth St.
Beaumont, CA 92223
Work: 951-845-5520 Ext. 105
Fax: 951-845-4916
Cell: 909-446-2666
Toll-Free: 1-877-TINAJAN
tina.jan@coldwellbanker.com
www.tinajan.com