Real Estate Investing Resource

While most people brood and scheme, complaining
why they don’t have this and that…

…There are a few who dream of better things…

…And act on those dreams to make them a reality.

So which are you? A “schemer” or a “dreamer”?

We’ll talk about this more at Happy Hour TV today
at 8am CST.

Watch and join here > http://dodeals.com/go.php?l=HHTV&e={EMAIL}

Merry Christmas to you and I hope you walk away
with a fr.e.e deal today!

Go invite your friends to join us.

To happiness!

Marvin Mai

Get your deals at

Watch us every morning at 8am Central

Add us

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The housing market is in the midst of a rocky recovery, but it’s
too soon to declare an end to the worst real estate slide since
the Great Depression.

That became clear Wednesday, when the government reported
that sales of new homes dropped a sharp 11.3 percent,
surprising and disappointing forecasters who had expected
an increase.

The report dashed cold water on recovery hopes that had been
raised Tuesday by news that sales of existing homes picked up
sharply last month. But sales of existing homes got a big boost
from a tax credit program for first-time home buyers that was
scheduled to expire Nov. 30, before it was extended and expanded
by Congress.

For technical reasons, the tax break didn’t give new sales the
same boost as existing homes in November. That’s because
new sales are recorded when contracts are signed, while existing
sales are logged when the sale closes. To get the original $8,000
tax credit, buyers had to close by Nov. 30, so new homes purchased
in November likely wouldn’t have closed in time to qualify.

Although the tax break was extended through April, it remains to
be seen whether the housing momentum will carry over into the
new year. The uncertainty surrounding the program in the fall could
result in some distortion in the monthly numbers, analysts said.

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Former Fugitive Arraigned On Mortgage Fraud Charges

Lucette Montane, 26, a fugitive since June 2008, was arraigned
on a 2008 indictment in federal court.  Montane surrendered to
Customs and Border Protection officials at the San Ysidro Port
of Entry, San Diego, California.

On July 18, 2008, a federal grand jury returned an indictment
charging Montane and five others with devising a plan to defraud
and to obtain money and property by false and fraudulent means,
related to mortgage fraud.  As previously reported on Mortgage
Fraud Blog, according to court documents, in 2005, Abner Betech,
Said Betech and others started Creative Financial Solutions, Inc.
(“CFS”), a mortgage brokering company located at 707 Broadway
Avenue, Suite 1720, San Diego. CFS was in the business of
sending loan application packages and other documents to
lenders for review and funding. The court documents further
allege that CFS did not fund loans, but instead received
commissions from the lenders when the loans closed. The
defendants were loan officers at CFS and in addition to the
commissions, they received payments from lenders, sellers,
and buyers when loans closed.

The documents also allege that CFS obtained mortgage loans for
unqualified borrowers by, among other things, concealing the true
purchase price of the homes by submitting false purchase contracts;
submitting false loan applications; intentionally concealing the fair
market value of the home; using misleading appraisals; and
submitting false bank statements and income documentation.
In total, the victim lenders funded more than $16 million in loans
on properties that have been foreclosed or are in the foreclosure
process. The lenders have lost over $3.9 million, with potential
losses in excess of $5.1 million, due to the fraudulent loans.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal
Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, arrested
Montane based on a pending arrest warrant.

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US Home Foreclosures Top One Million Mark

The number of US homes in foreclosure topped the one million
mark for the first time ever, according to figures released this
week by federal agencies. The continued deepening of the
housing crisis is being driven by the relentless economic
squeeze on working people, confronted with declining wages
and persistent and growing mass unemployment.

While millions are facing the loss of their jobs and their homes,
corporate profits have reached their highest levels in five years.

The number of prime-rate mortgage borrowers in default doubled
from a year earlier, according to figures released Monday by the
Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and the Comptroller of the
Currency (OCC). The portion of such “prime” mortgages in
serious delinquency reached 3.6 percent in the third quarter,
up 19 percent from three months before.

The report surveyed the 34 million home loans made by banks
under the purview of the OTS and OCC, which amount to about
65 percent of all mortgages issued in the US. Given that the
figures only covered this share of US mortgages, the real
number of foreclosures is undoubtedly well over 1 million.

The total percentage of “nonperforming” mortgage loans climbed
for the sixth straight quarter, reaching 13 percent of all mortgages
in the survey. The percentage of mortgages that are “seriously
delinquent” reached 6.2 percent, while 3.2 percent of all
mortgages were in foreclosure.

Extrapolating from the survey of all US mortgages, 6.8 million of
US households were behind on their mortgage payments in the
third quarter. These figures do not count those families who have
already lost their homes. A loss rate of 3.2 percent on the $6 trillion
in loans measured by the report would represent write-downs of
some $192 billion.

How good are you at keeping commitments and
promises?

Can you honestly say, “My word is my bond, for it’s
stronger than oak”?

Or are you among those who write promises off in
water?

We’ll talk about this more at Happy Hour TV today
at 8am CST.

Watch and join here > http://dodeals.com/go.php?l=HHTV&e={EMAIL}

Take some time to spread the word and invite your
friends so we can get 200 viewers till Christmas.

We still got a couple fr.e.e deals to give away.

See yah in a bit.

To happiness!

Marvin Mai

Get your deals at

Watch us every morning at 8am Central

Add us

Follow us

Troubled home loans continued to mount in the nation’s
banks in the third quarter as even once-solid borrowers
increasingly fell behind on their mortgage payments.

For the first quarter ever, the number of homes in foreclosure
with mortgages serviced by U.S. national banks and savings
and loans topped the 1-million mark, according to figures
released Monday by the Office of Thrift Supervision and the
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The percentage of prime borrowers whose loans were 60
or more days past due doubled from the July-to-September
period a year earlier. And more than half of all homeowners
whose payments had been lowered through modification
plans defaulted again.

The report, which covers about 34 million loans, or about
65% of all U.S. mortgages, underscores the obstacles to
strengthening the nation’s rickety housing market. Stubborn
unemployment is making it tough for millions of homeowners
to pay their debts. In addition, many people whose monthly
installments have been lowered still are unable to keep up
with their payments.

Of the mortgages serviced by national banks and thrifts, only
87.2% were current and performing. It was the sixth straight
quarter that the quality of those home loan portfolios had
slipped.

“Mortgage performance continued to decline as a result of
continuing adverse economic conditions including rising
unemployment and loss in home values,” the report said.

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Distressed Short Sellers Locked Out Of FHA Loans

Short sales are becoming increasingly popular as a means
to avoid foreclosure. Even the administration is encouraging
both homeowners and servicers to pursue a short sale when
loan modifications aren’t a viable optionby offering cash
incentives for a short sale transaction under the Making Home
Affordable program. But HUD doesn’t look as favorably on
short sales for distressed homeowners.

HUD has issued a mortgagee letter to lenders and underwriters
explaining that effective immediately, borrowers in default on
their mortgage at the time of a short sale or pre-foreclosure
sale will not be eligible for a new Federal Housing
Administration (FHA) -insured mortgage for three years.

From the language of the letter, it seems HUD views a short
sale by homeowners behind on their mortgage as a so-called
“strategic default.” The agency says borrowers are not eligible
for a new FHA mortgage if they pursued a

short sale agreement on their primary residence “simply to take
advantage of declining market conditions and purchase, at a
reduced price, a similar or superior property within a
reasonable commuting distance.”

Lenders may make exceptions to this rule if the default was
due to circumstances beyond the borrower’s control, such
as the death of the primary wage earner or long term un-insured
illness, and a review of the borrower’s credit report indicates
satisfactory credit prior to such circumstances.

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Defendant Convicted For Selling Property He Didn’t Own

Tracy Carmichael, 46, Detroit, Michigan was convicted after a
4 day jury trial in connection with a fraudulent scheme to obtain
an over $149,000 mortgage on a church property located on
11731 Mount Elliot, Detroit.  Carmichael was found guilty as
charged of eleven felony counts: Embezzlement over $100,000;
Forgery (4 counts), U&P (4 counts); False Pretenses over
$20,000; and Money Laundering 2nd degree.

As previously reported on Mortgage Fraud Blog, between May
and June, 2007, Carmichael allegedly offered to sell the Temple
of God Deliverance Mount Elliot property to a female as an
investment property. He represented that he would handle all
of the paperwork, manage the property and give her the payments
for the mortgage company. The victim later discovered that all
documents conveying the property to her were false. The rightful
owners never authorized Carmichael to sell the property and
discovered their signatures were forged on the documents.