Denver Mortgage Loans and Denver Home Equity Loans
Mortgage article from the Rocky Mountain News:
A record number of homeowners got an unpleasant notice in their mailboxes this spring that their mortgages were being foreclosed.
Read the full story: Thousands to face foreclosure notices
With the Democratic National Convention looming, Hillary Clinton is making a splash. The former Park Ridge, IL native and now NY Senator (I still don’t know how New Yorkers voted for her instead of Rick Lazio) wants to protect people from going into foreclosure.
“I don’t think families should be lured into buying homes they can’t afford,” Clinton said.
Clinton blames adjustable rate mortgages as the culprit for all the foreclosures. She must be getting her data from all the housing bubble blogs which show advertisements from the mortgage companies they rail against.
There’s really no substantial way to protect people from getting sick, losing their jobs, or dying. These are some of the REAL REASONS why people go into foreclosure.
For some reason I get A LOT of visitors searching for “Fix and Flip in Denver” and “Fix and Flip loans.” Most people I’ve talked to regarding “fix and flips” simply don’t have a clue how much time or money is involved in a buying a house, remodeling, then selling it for a profit. People who are unprepared either go broke or wreck their credit or both. However, buying a home, fixing it, and then flipping it has always fascinated me.
Growing up I really enjoyed This Old House and Hometime. 20 years later and much to my surprise these shows are still on Public Television. The cast of characters has changed but the premise remains the same, remodel an aging house.
Today there are several shows devoted to flipping homes and I’m addicted to each and every one of them:
Property Ladder: By far the best of the shows not named This Old House or Hometime. Candidates for this show are fix and flip novices. The show is an hour long and typically the show focuses on the struggles these novices endure while flipping. They do receive guidance from Kristen Kemp a real estate investor. What I like is that follow through to the end and show some flips as complete flops.
Flip That House: If you have a short attention span, this fix and flip show is for you. It’s only 30 minutes long! Experienced and inexperienced flippers are depicted in a quick view of the fix and flip process. The show usually ends with a how much the home was purchased for, how much they spent, and the new price with the expected profit highlighted.
The Real Deal/Real Estate Pros: In one hour this show follows successful real estate flipper Richard Davis and his company, Team Trademark. It’s a pretty interesting show laden with extremely tight deadlines. Getting a house ready in a week only to get one of your employees into the property seems a little far fetched.
Flip This House: I liked this show because of Team Trademark but there was a lawsuit and Team Trademark moved on. There are other “teams” that are featured, one in San Antonio, TX, one in Atlanta, GA and the latest is in New Haven, CT. If you’re in drama you might want to skip the last team, the New Haven group seem to be as cohesive as the 2004 Boston Red Sox.
Flipping Out: Last week a new fix and flip show debuted on Bravo. It’s about Jeff Lewis, a professional real estate investor. Remember it’s on Bravo, the network that brought us Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in other words, expect a lot of drama.
Most consumers really don’t know much about the mortgage world. I know I didn’t before I got into the mortgage world. The extent of my knowledge was applying for a loan, getting hosed (e.g. fleeced) on fees at closing and then having to pay a mortgage payment every month. What I didn’t know was that my mortgage was never truly held by the company that I made payments to, they simply serviced my loan. Mortgages are packaged as mortgage backed securities and sold on the secondary market i.e. Wall Street.
Subprime mortgages or loans with less strict underwriting standards have followed the same process of selling their loans on the secondary market but with dismal results. Due to the multitude of delinquent payments and ultimate foreclosure on subprime loans, these loans are being rejected by Wall Street en masse. Several subprime lenders have already shut the doors: Mortgage Lenders Network, Ownit Mortgage, Sebring Capital with many more on the horizon. In other words, we’re headed for a sub prime meltdown of epic proportions.
What does this all mean for the consumer?
2007 is now upon us. 2006 ended with a blizzard, two blizzards actually. Mother Nature dumped up to 3 feet of snow on us a two weeks ago and then pounded us again with another foot of snow last week. 2006 also saw a blizzard of foreclosures here in Colorado. We ranked either 1st or 2nd in the country.
According to a Denver Post article, they defined the following as ways to circumvent foreclosures:
I really would like to see the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News investigate the following:
According to the Denver Post, home prices in the Denver area have taken a tumble:
Other articles of interest include:
I’ve been tracking this blog: www.iamfacingforeclosure.com for quite some time. Casey Serin, a young dude in his mid 20′s decides to become a real estate investor and does it without deep pockets or the necessary income or assets to qualify for the mortgages on the investment properties he buys.
I’m a 24-year-old aspiring real estate investor from Sacramento CA. After going to few seminars I bought 8 houses in 8 months across 4 states with no money down. I fixed and sold 2 and then ran out of cash. I am now facing foreclosure on 5 houses. I’m learning my lessons, finding solutions and blogging about it. Comments appreciated!
Casey’s blog has gained national exposure including an article in USA Today entitled 10 mistakes that made flipping a flop.
Here’s a summary of the 10 mistakes:
Mistake No. 1 – Using ‘liar loans’
Mistake No. 2 – Overpaying
Mistake No. 3 – Lacking cash
Mistake No. 4 – Quitting your day job
Mistake No. 5 – Hiring an unlicensed contractor
Mistake No. 6 – Buying sight-unseen
Mistake No. 7 – Buying out of state
Mistake No. 8 – Buying too many properties too fast
Mistake No. 9 – Underestimating remodeling costs
Mistake No. 10 – Having a poor exit strategy
Casey isn’t the only one who caught the real estate investment bug and failed miserably but he’s the only one to really document his story as an RSS FEED.
COLORADO FORECLOSURE HOTLINE: 1-877-601-HOPE
The Colorado Foreclosure Hotline was launched on October 12th. Finally! Considering that we lead the country in foreclosures, it’s about time Colorado did something to help out homeowners.
Housing counselors facilitate communication between borrowers and lenders to find ways that the borrower can avoid foreclosure. Urban estimates that statewide, approximately 1,200 borrowers who have called the hotline have now been helped either through face-to-face counseling or other assistance over the phone.
The Colorado Foreclosure prevention directs borrowers to local homeownership counselors throughout the state and is supported by a partnership of the mortgage lenders, counselors, Realtors, and state agencies, including JPMorgan Chase, the Colorado Division of Housing, the Colorado Association of Realtors, and the Colorado Housing Counseling Coalition.
Read more from the Rocky Mountain News.
Appraisers are next up on the Colorado foreclosure agenda according to the Rocky Mountain News article:
Erin Toll’s top priority as the new director of the Division of Real Estate for Colorado is to shut down appraisers who are artificially inflating home values, contributing to the state’s escalating foreclosure crisis.
The article also articulates the ABC’s of appraisals:
For the past couple of months, I’ve devoted a good chunk of my mornings reading the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News. Occassionally I’ll blog about the articles. Most of the time, I’ll pass and blog about something else.
A friend of mine in Las Vegas noted that the Las Vegas real estate market was bad but nothing compared to the Denver roller coaster. He said that everytime he reads anything related to Denver real estate it’s about “foreclosures, high inventory, and lenders getting caught with their pants down.”
Based on two articles in the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, my friend in Las Vegas was right. The Denver real estate market was going through a roller coaster ride during the months of July and August.
The Denver Post view of this roller coaster:
Metro home sales up; prices dip
The median price of condos and town homes sold during the month fell to $160,000, down from $163,000 in July and $164,000 in August 2005.
The median price of single-family homes sold during the month fell to $252,900, down from $259,500 in July and $255,000 a year earlier.
Compared with August 2005, single-family home prices were down 0.8 percent, while condo prices were down 2.4 percent.
The Rocky Mountain News view of this roller coaster:
August home sales drop 11% from year ago
August home sales activity in the Denver area dropped by almost 11 percent from a year ago but showed a 2.4 percent increase from July, according to studies released Thursday.
There were 5,673 previously owned homes placed under contract in August, down from the 6,351 a year earlier, when mortgage rates were lower. But the August number was up from 5,538 in July.