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William Bud Gragg Jr
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Joined EzineArticles on Sep 11, 2009 Tsunami 2012 - Why More of Us Will Find Ourselves With Underwater Mortgages
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 23, 2010
Very few people even considered this as a possibility from the 1990s on, but a tsunami was building then that led to the millions of underwater mortgages that are with us today. In fact, 24% of homeowners in the US have a mortgage that's under water, and one in ten of them owe 25% more than what their houses are worth!
The Most Common Underwater Mortgage Mistakes And How to Avoid Them
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 23, 2010
Life can be stressful enough before you discover that you've got an underwater mortgage. There's a good chance that you were already pressed financially, and finding out the house you'd invested in for your retirement probably won't pay you a dime just seems to add insult to injury, doesn't it?
How to Do a Short Sale and Why
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 21, 2010
A lot of people today want to know how to do a short sale. With the state of the housing market and the economy, who can blame them? And the fact is that a short sale is one way to at least put off a foreclosure if not avoid one altogether. That said, here's what you need to know about how to do a short sale.
Save Our Home - Mortgage Help For Struggling Homeowners
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 21, 2010
If you're struggling financially and you're looking for mortgage help to save your home, we're sorry but we don't have any easy answers for you. You could try doing what so many of us did earlier this decade-borrow against your home. But that assumes you have equity to borrow against and that there's no chance your house's value won't go down and leave you underwater on your mortgage and loan.
Underwater Mortgage Loan Modification - Just a Band-Aid?
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 21, 2010
If you're feeling trapped by your underwater mortgage and are having trouble making your payments, you may be tempted to start thinking that the modification program you heard about just might be for you. We wish we could tell you differently, but that's just not the case. Most of the mortgage modifications out there aren't even a Band-Aid-they just prolong the pain; they don't heal it. And for the most part, you can't even get the Band-Aid.
A Stroll Through the Short Sale Process
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 20, 2010
If you're having trouble making your mortgage payment but want to avoid foreclosure, the short sale process is one way to go. At the very least, you'll be able to put off a foreclosure for up to a year; at best, you could even end up renting the house you're living in now for half of your current monthly mortgage payment!
The Underwater Mortgage - What to Expect in Pre-Foreclosure-and Beyond
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 20, 2010
If you're faced with an underwater mortgage and have decided to foreclose, congratulations! We get that this is a sad time for you and your family, but on the other hand, you have almost certainly made the best decision you can in a difficult situation. That takes courage! But what can you expect in pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, and life after foreclosure? Let us take you on a tour.
Rebuilding Your Credit After Foreclosure on an Underwater Mortgage
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 20, 2010
We know it sounds unbelievable, but the truth is that there is life after your underwater mortgage and there is life after foreclosure-and it's not such a bad life after all! Kristin and I know what we're talking about. After the real estate bubble "popped" in 2007, we found ourselves underwater on several mortgages. We're Realtors, after all, and we believed what the "experts" had to say about how property values would never stop rising.
Coming Soon to Your Neighborhood - Falling Home Values Mean More Underwater Mortgages
Real Estate: Mortgage Refinance • Published: August 20, 2010
If you think the tidal wave of underwater mortgages has receded, think again. The fact is that the underwater mortgage situation is almost certainly going to get worse before it gets better. Why is that? In part because of an ugly little mortgage product called adjustable rate mortgages, or ARMs.
Can't Afford the Payments? Free Mortgage Advice From a Realtor
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 20, 2010
If you've gotten into a hard place financially and are having trouble affording your mortgage payments, the last thing you need is bad mortgage advice. Your lender will tell you to pay that mortgage no matter what you have to do, from taking on 4 simultaneous part-time jobs to selling your plasma. Paid "consultants" will charge you an exorbitant fee to give you advice and help that you could have found online.
What is an Underwater Mortgage?
Real Estate: Mortgage Refinance • Published: August 20, 2010
If you read the news at all, you've probably seen the term "underwater mortgage," but do you know what that means? When a mortgage is underwater, it means that the homeowner owes more on the mortgage than the house is actually worth.
Your Life Or Your House - Key Questions to Ask Yourself If You're Facing an Underwater Mortgage
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 20, 2010
We aren't assuming that there's a one-size-fits-all answer to the question of what to do if you're dealing with an underwater mortgage. You're going to want to factor in a lot of different criteria before you decide whether to keep the house, try to short sell it, or walk away and foreclose on it.
Mortgage Advice From an Industry Professional
Real Estate: Mortgage Refinance • Published: August 20, 2010
Normally the kind of mortgage advice we give is for people who may need to get out of their mortgages. But what if you're looking to dive into the housing market? What kind of mortgage advice do you need?
More People Walking Away From Underwater Mortgages
Real Estate: Mortgage Refinance • Published: August 20, 2010
No one knows for certain the exact percentage of foreclosures that are the result of people's decisions to walk away from underwater mortgages, but we do know those numbers are on the rise. Reports indicate that from 14% to 18% of mortgage foreclosures are actually strategic defaults. In other words, people who are choosing to default on their underwater mortgages while keeping up on their other bills.
Where to Look For Help For Your Underwater Mortgage
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 20, 2010
Unlike the way they rushed to help the banks in 2009, the government is not in a huge hurry to do that much for you if you're in an underwater mortgage. Your mortgage holder is more likely to try to guilt you into continuing your payments than to offer anything approaching real help. And loan modifications are a joke-only 2.8% of the people who have applied have actually received them.
LTV - The Key to the Underwater Mortgage
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 20, 2010
If you're wondering whether or not you're in an underwater mortgage, the key is to understand your loan to value, or LTV, ratio. The LTV reflects how much you owe as a percentage of the total value of your house. So, for example, if you originally took out a $130,000 mortgage on a house that was appraised at $150,000, your LTV ratio would be 87%. In other words, you would then owe 87% of what the house was actually worth-a win for you once the mortgage was paid off, provided that the property value didn't change. Which, of course, never happens, does it?
Don't Be Fooled Again - Avoid Underwater Mortgage Advice Schemes
Real Estate: Mortgage Refinance • Published: August 20, 2010
If you're like Kristin and me, you've already been fooled once-fooled by the real estate bubble into thinking that it would never be possible for you to be faced with an underwater mortgage. We all know how well that's worked out for us, don't we? But if you're in an underwater mortgage now, don't let yourself be fooled again (with thanks to The Who) by falling for one of the underwater mortgage advice scams out there.
How Did We Get Here? Why Underwater Mortgages Are at an All-Time High
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 20, 2010
Homeowners weren't supposed to be drowning in a tsunami of underwater mortgages in 2010. Up until 2007, everyone-the government, the economic experts, and certainly the mortgage lenders-told us that property values were supposed to keep rising, not fall so hard! So what happened? Why are 24% of US homeowners dealing with underwater mortgages, with another 5% facing that prospect soon?
Don't Look Back and Other Tips For Life After Foreclosure
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 20, 2010
It doesn't matter why you're in the position of figuring out what your life is going to be like after foreclosure. Whether you're unemployed or in the midst of a financial crisis, or you found yourself unwilling to continue with an underwater mortgage, or you are in both positions, the fact is that you don't deserve to feel the guilt that your mortgage lender will try to heap onto you. Let alone the government and even some people in our society!
Underwater Mortgage Meltdown - What Caused This Mess?
Real Estate: Mortgage Refinance • Published: August 20, 2010
Roughly a quarter of homeowners in the U.S. are dealing with an underwater mortgage, and that number is probably going to rise to as high as a third. How did this happen? Wasn't residential real estate supposed to be the one guaranteed solid business investment a family could make?
Short Sale Training Boot Camp For the Underwater Mortgage Homeowner
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 18, 2010
Before you start down the long road of doing a short sale to get out from under your underwater mortgage, there are a few things you need to learn and other things you need to do. Don't worry-we know you'll be able to get through this. We're both Realtors, and while our training and connections certainly helped us, we've also seen more people than we can count get through short sales and come out the other end smiling.
Underwater Mortgage Foreclosure Options - Yes, You Have Them and Here's What They Are
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 16, 2010
It can be rough finding out that you've gotten stuck with an underwater mortgage. For more than 20 years, Americans have been making housing decisions based on the advice of experts who told us that investing in our own house was the way to the American Dream. Now, here we are with a house that's not worth what the mortgage lender wants us to pay for it. And at the same time given our country's current economy, many of us are out of a job or making way less money than we used to. Having our supposed retirement investment go south on us, too, just adds insult to injury!
Pre-Foreclosure and You - Making Lemonade Out of Lemons
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 16, 2010
Even when you know you're going to come out of the other end OK, being in pre-foreclosure and then moving on to foreclosure can be tough. You're walking away from the money you've already put into your house, after all, as well as walking away from an investment that's gone bad.
How Long Can I Stay in My House and Other Underwater Mortgage Questions Answered
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 16, 2010
When you first find out you've got an underwater mortgage, anxiety is a natural response. After all, you were counting on that house for your retirement, and suddenly you need to look at how to get out from under it before you get bled dry! But don't worry-the first thing you need is solid information, and we have that to give you! Kristin and I are Realtors and we've been through just what you're going through right now. So let us assure you, you can survive life after an underwater mortgage.
The Underwater Mortgage and the Cash-Strapped Homeowner
Real Estate: Foreclosures • Published: August 16, 2010
If the recession already has you strapped for cash, the last thing you want to find out is that you're one of the 24% of homeowners who are stuck with an underwater mortgage. After all, your house was supposed to be a good investment against hard times, wasn't it? You were supposed to at least be able to count on proceeds from the sale of your house to help you have a decent retirement.
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