When you are desperate to keep a roof over your head, it’s incredibly easy to find yourself falling for even the most obvious of Pinellas County stop foreclosure scams. But if you take the time to keep in mind the tips below, then there’s a good chance that you won’t fall victim for the innumerable scammers prowling the Internet and looking for unsuspecting homeowners to deceive.

Offers to prevent foreclosures from showing up on your record

A lot of scammers attempt to deceive trusting homeowners into signing over their properties to their name by promising them the chance of preventing foreclosure from showing up on their records. This, however, is highly improbable. Foreclosure will always show up on the borrower’s record and – possibly – on other names listed for the title of the property even if he or she did had not been one of those who took part in applying for a loan.

Offers to “cure” the default

The truth is thatsome Pinellas County stop foreclosure scams have a grain of truth in them. This type of offer can be genuine but proving it is so is the difficult part in the process. There are just so many uncertainties involved in the process that it’s highly likely you would end up being scammed rather than helped. Possibly, the only time you should trust this kind of offer would be when it’s extended by someone you personally trust as well.

Offers for leasing back and options to re-purchase property

Again, technically speaking, this is possible. Foreclosure can be prevented if someone else purchases the property. The offer to lease back the property and to even have first dibs on re-purchase may also be valid. But one thing you should remember is that you may not have enough money to lease your home back, much less re-purchase it. After all, your lack of finances is the reason why you are in danger of getting your property foreclosed in the first place.

Offers for a new loan

Again, this is technically possible but it’s not the most efficient or practical solution to your problems. Your old loans and your inability to pay them back could be one of the major reasons why you have foreclosure problems today. Are you really sure getting a new loan can help you out? More often than not, it would just end up a digger and darker hole for you to sink into.

The list above features only a few of the various Pinellas County stop foreclosure scams that are littering the Internet. Just remember that if the offer sounds too good to be true, then you’re better off avoiding it altogether.

Pinellas County Short Sale Realtor – I can provide you with information about how to avoid a foreclosure, explain the effects it can have on you and your family, and offer other options that may be available to you. This includes a short sale, and we can help you determine if you qualify. For more information, visit http://www.wendysmithshortsales.com/ or call 727-452-3301.

Due to several unfortunate foreclosure stories I have heard and came across to as a real estate agent, I am now more determined than ever to support Pinellas County Stop Foreclosure.  In these unstable economic conditions, foreclosure can happen to just about anyone.  You might personally know someone faced with foreclosure: a friend, a neighbor or a relative.   The fear and anxiety that comes with the thought of losing one’s home can lead anybody to make poor decisions or sometimes even succumb to desperate measures, thus making him a vulnerable target of fake foreclosure rescue firms. These firms have several means of acquiring information of distressed homeowners such as going through public records, and soliciting clients through Internet, TV and newspapers advertisements.  These firms have one thing in common and that is to promise the distressed homeowner exactly what he wants to hear.

As a real estate agent supporting Pinellas County Stop Foreclosure, I make it a point to read all information relevant to this cause.  I am happy to know that Pinellas County residents who might be under this predicament have a Pinellas County Foreclosure Fraud Prevention Team to run to for real and honest assistance.

The following are some of the scams that you should be aware of:

        §  Rent-to Own

The ‘so-called’ rescuer would convince you to surrender the title to your home so you can stay as a renter and you would be promised that your timely rental will help restore your credit to qualify for new financing to buy your home back. Often, the terms of the new deal are more complicated that buying your home back is almost impossible.

§  Phony Counseling

You would be advised by the ‘so-called’ rescuer that he can negotiate a deal with your lender to save your home, but you must first pay an upfront fee and once you’ve written the check, the scam artist takes off with your money.

§  Bankruptcy Relief

The ‘so-called’ rescuer would promise to negotiate with your lender for a refinancing if you would pay an upfront fee. However, he would file a bankruptcy claim in your name which often temporarily stops a home foreclosure. The foreclosure continues if you’re unable to follow the strict conditions of the bankruptcy proceeding. You might end up losing your home, the money you paid the ‘so-called’ rescuer and face up to 10 years of bad credit because of the bankruptcy. 

 §  Bait and Switch

You would be asked by the ‘so-called’ rescuer to make your mortgage payments directly to him while he negotiates new terms with your lender and after a few months you’ll find yourself more behind on your payments and your so-called ‘rescuer’ nowhere to be found. Oftentimes, you would be asked to sign documents to make your delinquent mortgage “current” which is a trick and what you’ll end up doing is to surrender the title of your house for a nonexistent “rescue” loan.

Many Pinellas realtors, I myself included, support Pinellas County Stop Foreclosure. There are other options available to save your home. All you have to do is be well-informed.

For free counseling assistance on foreclosure, you may contact the following:

Tampa Bay Community Development Corporation

(727) 442-7075

http://www.tampabaycdc.org

Neighborhood Housing Services

(727) 821-6897

http://www.stpetenhs.org

According to the IRS, the Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 generally allows taxpayers to exclude income from the discharge of debt on their principal residence.

Discharge of debt is more specifically defined in Publication 4681.  Generally, the Act includes debt forgiven via foreclosure, short sales and principal reduction.

The Act was designed to help homeowners avoid additional financial hardship created by short sales, foreclosure and mortgage restructuring.  Therefore, debt forgiven on investment properties, vacation homes, and business properties does not qualify for this relief.

Like any ruling from the IRS, The Mortgage Debt Relief Act is easily misinterpreted.  That said it would be prudent for any homeowners anticipating a 1099 to consult an accountant to determine if any expected reduction of debt is eligible under the Act. 

Misunderstanding of the Mortgage Debt Relief Act can be found on numerous websites misstating the Act to be forgiveness of the deficiency loan balance resulting from a short sale or foreclosure.  This is an incorrect representation of the Mortgage Debt Relief Act.

The Mortgage Debt Relief Act passed in 2007 was scheduled to expire December 2010. Legislation extended some of the Mortgage Debt Relief Act tax savings thru December 2012.

It is anybody’s guess as to whether or not further legislation will extend the expiration beyond December 2012. 

The short sale process continues to be a long drawn out process therefore

any homeowner considering a short sale should consider

the consequences of not having the benefit of the

relief provided by the Mortgage Debt Relief Act. 

Fortunately, some states like California have adopted similar laws on a state level. 

Take the time to consult with a professional now while there is time and opportunity to make the most of this valuable relief.

Visit www.WendySmithShortSales.com for more information.

As the beginning of November approaches, I can’t help but be overly excited about the holidays that are up coming and the events that come along with them, especially the ones around Pinellas County. Several hours from now, we will all be done and over with all the Halloween costumes, spooky decorations and pumpkin carvings, and we’ll start anticipating holidays and events that will keep us entertained and occupied for the next couple of weeks. So, in case you’re wondering what’s up for the rest of the year in Pinellas County, your Pinellas County Short Sale Realtor has got news for you.

One of Pinellas County’s widely known tourist destination is the historical museum called the Heritage Village.  This historic building is a 21-acre living history museum located in the heart of Pinellas County. The heritage village is housing a few events through the rest of the year.

On November 19, 2011, Saturday, the Heritage Village will host a “Farm City Day” celebration from 10 am to 2 pm. This is going to be the kick-off event for the Farm City Week, an annual celebration held nationally, leading up to Thanksgiving. In this event, participants get to view and enjoy arts and crafts which are agriculturally-themed, and play “old-time” games. There will also be lots of giveaways and “make and takes”. The Farm City Day is sponsored by the Pinellas County Farm Bureau.

There will also be “Holiday traditions” from November 26 until December 31 of this year. Here, each of the Heritage Village’s historic houses will be embellished with decorations that will represent its time period, locality and lifestyle. The house designs range from an elaborately decorated Victorian home to a simply adorned 1852 log cabin.

Trees and Traditions – A centennial celebration will be featuring an open house sponsored by the Pinellas County Historical Society will be held on the 3^rd of December 2011 from 11 am to 3 pm. The open house will hold children’s activities and crafts, play music and carols, showcase how Pinellas residents celebrated the holidays back from the mid-1800s through the 1950s, and finally, host a special “visit” from Santa Claus! They also offer uniquely crafted holiday gifts at the Beach Cottage Gift shop.

I’m sure Pinellas County has a lot more events going on during the last two months of the year. I’ll definitely keep you posted on the happenings that I know of. I always try to keep myself in the loop being your Pinellas County Short Sale Realtor.

As a Pinellas County Short Sale Realtor, all sorts of news in the county, good or bad get to my knowledge. And now, more than the last few busy and almost holiday-less months, being Halloween season, I hear news about Halloween festivals happening all over the county. Although it doesn’t surprise me, I realize there are just plenty of them, especially starting this weekend through the next one. Well, the last week of October is always a stretch of days dedicated to spooky events when the streets turns into some Halloween haven and gets filled with people in their competitively creative Halloween costumes.

This year, one of the biggest and widely known family-friendly Halloween celebrations is the 17^th Annual Halloween Spooktacular event to be held in Largo Florida, in Pinellas County on the 29^th of October, 2011. The event will be held at the Largo Central Park (101 Central Park Drive) from 4 o’clock in the afternoon to about 10 in the evening.

 The event is mostly, if not entirely for families to enjoy. There will be a free trick-or-treat trail, rides, games, music, and a lot more.  Specifically there will be bounce houses, a mechanical surf board, Wii games on big screen, etc.  To avail of all the games, rides and activities, wristbands should be bought either in advance or on the same day, and be worn at the event premises. Wristbands bought in advance cost $5 for the recreation card holders and $6 for the non-card holders. On the day itself, the wristbands will be sold at $7.

To complete the whole package there will be shuttles transporting attendees every 15 minutes throughoutthe event. The event shuttle is sponsored by Largo High and the Pinellas County School Board.

I almost want to blame it all to this economic season. Now, more than ever, I hear dreadful and distressing foreclosure stories everywhere – word of mouth from people I deal with everyday as I work as a Pinellas County Short Sale Realtor, and stories I come across to, as I read foreclosure-related articles online. Trust me, these stories are NOT beautiful. There are testimonials of people who have gone horror-stricken upon receiving letters from the bank informing them that their properties will be put up for auction. There are people who wanted to destroy their house rather than turn it over to the bank. I read about people having been through a shoot-out with police officers who were force-evicting them. These, and probably a thousand more other stories which details we don’t know of, could be exactly why the whole foreclosure process is traumatizing to everyone who has experienced it.

However, the good news is, mortgage doesn’t always have to end in foreclosure. It doesn’t have to be a horrifying experience since there are ALTERNATIVES which should be taken into consideration even before resulting to foreclosure.

One option available is to re-establish the loan. It allows the homeowner to modify their loan terms to try to adjust the amortization according to their ability to make payments. There are financial programs to aid this process. They aim to find a solution that’s beneficial to both the lender and the home owner.

Short Selling your home is also a good option. Short sale is the term used when the sale of the home is lower than the balance owed on the mortgage given that the lender is willing to accept the payoff. While this doesn’t give the home owner the proceeds of the sale, this option offers a win-win solution, unlike foreclosure. It is the better choice as it helps the borrower avoid foreclosure, thus minimizing the cost that would have been incurred if the home was foreclosed. Also, short selling a property doesn’t have as much adverse effect to an individual’s credit score as foreclosure does, and that’s an important advantage short sale has over foreclosure.

Deed in-lieu of foreclosure allows the financially distressed homeowners to exchange their deed or ownership of the property for the cancellation of their loan. Although this process is actually more complex of a process than it sounds, it is still better than foreclosure considering that it has a little less impact on a homeowner’s credit score.

Declaring bankruptcy doesn’t sound like an option any one would choose in a heartbeat, but it might be able to give a little bit more leeway than foreclosure would. Bankruptcy is a temporary order that helps release a borrower from most of their debts. It also gives a borrower some sort of a breather from both the creditor and lender who are attempting to collect money from them. There’s also this type of bankruptcy called “save a home bankruptcy” which gives a distressed homeowner a chance to offer repayment plans to their creditors. Bankruptcy, on the other hand definitely has its own drawback. The process still involves quite a bit of expenses in the form of court and attorney fees, and it can only be availed by people who are in a critical financial condition. Also, once one declares bankruptcy, it stays on their credit report for several years.

Foreclosure is a sad and unfortunate dead end we don’t want to be in. We could choose to play a role in a particular foreclosure horror story, or we could take any of the alternatives at the very least.

Below is a screen shot of an email from Bank of America that I received as a Florida Real Estate Broker.

This is an incredible (& long past due) offer from Bank of America

(Chase has been doing the same thing for nearly a year)

IF you have a Bank of America mortgage,

(you don’t have to be behind in payments)

IF you are even considering a short sale…

NOW is the time to take action.  Call me. 

Contact info:             Wendy Smith, P.A.    cell 727-452-3301

                                    shortsaler@gmail.com

Website:                     www.WendySmithShortSales.com

Free consultation.   It’s just that simple.

Note:  I am a full time real estate broker specializing in helping homeowners that are having problems making payments or just need a short sale.  I am not affiliated with the government or Bank of America – I just help homeowners.     

Mike Phillips sits in front of me staring blankly at the table as the coffee in front of him slowly goes cold. He runs a hand across his face and sighs heavily. “What am I supposed to do now?” he says. His usually bright blue eyes are blank with hopelessness as they meet mine. He has hit a brick wall and he knows it.

This 55-year-old father and grandfather from Clearwater, Florida, who has worked all his life and done all he could for his family has now lost his job through no fault of his own. He is a victim of our depressed economy and his story is being played out in almost every town in every state across the country as homes slide into foreclosure leaving families who can’t afford to move on.

Mike is a skilled worker but there are no jobs. “I’ve tried to find work,” he says. “Believe me. But there’s nothing.”  His unemployment benefits ran out two weeks ago and his only income is an unskilled job that gives him just 15 hours per week. “At least I get food stamps,” he says. “So the grandkids can eat.” He picks up the spoon and begins to stir the coffee round and round.

Mike lives in a home that is in foreclosure. The owner could no longer afford the payments when rent stopped coming in on a property that has lost 40% of its value. “What happens when the sheriff comes to change the locks?” he says, half to himself. “What do I tell the kids?”

I don’t know what to say to him. Where does this good, hardworking man take his children in a county with such severe budget cuts that there is no housing for children? And while politicians enjoy the luxury and comfort of their expensive homes immune to the policies they make, an unacceptable and rising number of Americans have literally nowhere to go. People can turn their heads and pretend not to see what’s happening, but these people are real and many of the ones suffering most are children.

“You know,” says Mike putting down his spoon, “I used to be the guy who gave a few cents to homeless people on the street.” He gets up, leaving the coffee still untouched on the table. “I never thought I’d be one of them.”

He walks to the door and then looks back at me. “Where am I supposed to go?”