A few highlights from the video:

NOD’s were down 7.5% from September – BUT – they are pretty much within a range.

NOD’s up 103% year over year.

Bank owned inventories are up 5.6%.

Properties that are being bought by 3rd parties are up 16% since September – and is up 381% year over year.

With better information available to investors such as Foreclosure Radar, it is becoming less risky to buy on the courthouse steps.

Two highlights from clip:

“We need a two year moratorium at least for homes that are under $200,000…”

“You bailed out Wall Street, how about helping out Main Street…”

As part of the press release about the California Loan Modification Boiler Room, AG Brown issued the following tips for homeowners to avoid becoming a victim:

• DON’T pay money to people who promise to work with your lender to modify your loan. It is unlawful for foreclosure consultants to collect money before (1) they give you a written contract describing the services they promise to provide and (2) they actually perform all the services described in the contract, such as negotiating new monthly payments or a new mortgage loan. However, an advance fee may be charged by an attorney, or by a real estate broker who has submitted the advance fee agreement to the Department of Real Estate, for review.

• DO call your lender yourself. Your lender wants to hear from you, and will likely be much more willing to work directly with you than with a foreclosure consultant.

• DON’T ignore letters from your lender. Consider contacting your lender yourself, many lenders are willing to work with homeowners who are behind on their payments.

• DON’T transfer title or sell your house to a “foreclosure rescuer.” Fraudulent foreclosure consultants often promise that if homeowners transfer title, they may stay in the home as renters and buy their home back later. The foreclosure consultants claim that transfer is necessary so that someone with a better credit rating can obtain a new loan to prevent foreclosure. BEWARE! This is a common scheme so-called “rescuers” use to evict homeowners and steal all or most of the home’s equity.

• DON’T pay your mortgage payments to someone other than your lender or loan servicer, even if he or she promises to pass the payment on. Fraudulent foreclosure consultants often keep the money for themselves.

• DON’T sign any documents without reading them first. Many homeowners think that they are signing documents for a new loan to pay off the mortgage they are behind on. Later, they discover that they actually transferred ownership to the “rescuer.”

• DO contact housing counselors approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), who may be able to help you for free. For a referral to a housing counselor near you, contact HUD at 1-800-569-4287 (TTY: 1-800-877-8339) or www.hud.gov.

If you believe you have been the victim of a mortgage-relief scam in California, please contact the Attorney General’s Public Inquiry Unit at http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/general.php.

According to the LATimes, firms that were named in lawsuits here in California include:

• U.S. Homeowners Assistance, based in Irvine, and its executives Hakimullah “Sean” Sarpas and Zulmai Nazarzai. U.S. Homeowners Assistance also did business as Statewide Financial Group Inc.

• U.S. Foreclosure Relief Corp. and its legal affiliate, Adrian Pomery, based in the city of Orange

• Home Relief Services, with offices in Irvine, Newport Beach and Anaheim, and its legal affiliate, the Diener Law Firm

• RMR Group Loss Mitigation and its legal affiliates Shippey & Associates and Arthur Aldridge. RMR Group has offices in Newport Beach, Orange, Huntington Beach, Corona and Fresno

• United First Inc. and its lawyer affiliate, Mitchell Roth, based in Los Angeles.

Many of the firms accused of wrongdoing across the 20 states were accused of collecting up front fees in exchange for promises to negotiate with a borrowers lender for a loan modification. If you or someone you know has had problems with a loan modification company who has charged up front fees, be sure to contact the California Attorney General’s office.

Freddie Mac has produced a brief video titled “Stop Foreclosure: Documents Your Lender Needs To Help You” via YouTube. For anyone who lives in California and is considering a loan modification, this video is very useful because it shows you what documents your lender will be needing from you during the process. Almost all lenders are extremely busy with loan modification requests and this video is just one more resource to try to help people be prepared.

California Loan Modification: Documents You Will Need

• Copies of your most recent tax returns
• A recent copy of your mortgage statement
• For any other debt such as credit cards, car loans, etc. – have account balances and minimum payment amounts
• A copy of your most recent paystubs that show your net take home pay
• A second mortgage and/or HELOC statement

California Loan Modification: Hardship Letter Is Important

If you are wondering if you really need to write a hardship letter — don’t wonder. A well written hardship letter is a vital part of the loan modification process. Hardship letters bring out the “human story” that often can make the difference between your loan modification getting approved or denied – so don’t neglect it!

Sound familiar?

What many people don’t know is that there is actually a way better solution to this problem than loan modification – it is called an FHA short refinance. An FHA short refinance works much like a short sale – except that you get to keep the house rather than sell it to someone else.

If you think that the FHA short refinance program might be right for you, the first step is to get on the phone with your lender and tell them that you are interested in SHORT SELLING your home. Once they hear that, they will usually transfer you to the loss mitigation department – which is the right one.

Once you get to the loss mitigation department, you want to negotiate for something called a SHORT PAYOFF – which means that the lender will agree to accept less than you currently owe. If they say they won’t allow short payoffs, then ask them what they are doing when they accept a SHORT SALE.

No matter what – don’t take NO for an answer! Many times (most of the time) the lender will give you a different answer depending on who you talk to. If you don’t get the answer you want – just try back the next day and speak with someone else.

Once you get the SHORT PAYOFF, then you should be able to get any FHA loan officer to help you get a new FHA loan for that amount – and easier than you can say the words “loan modification”, you will have a new fixed rate FHA loan that is 95% of what your home is now worth.

Don’t give up! A FHA short refinance can be a much better long term solution than a loan modification.