Audrey James's (yourmortgagerep) Blog

Put A Stop To Foreclosure!

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:44:27 -0700

Put A Stop To ForeclosureThe recent surge of foreclosures has been getting many of today's homeowners nervous about their home mortgages. The reasons being that many of them are approaching reset dates on their adjustable rate, interest only, or option payment loans. And on top of that, there are far too many people that live in homes that they never should have qualified for in the first place. They live in homes that they were barely able to make mortgage payments for in 2004, and now they definitely can't afford to live in it today. In 2006, the US saw 1.26 million homeowners file for foreclosure. Only halfway through 2007 there have already been over 2 million foreclosure filings.Your first measure towards preventing foreclosure is to ensure that you don't miss a payment. Your second measure towards preventing foreclosure is to ensure that you do not miss any mortgage payments. For obvious reasons, if you don't miss a payment, you'll never have to worry about a foreclosure. And ideally, most people took out there mortgages with every intention of being responsible homeowners; making their mortgage payments on time, keeping your homeowner's insurance current and taxes paid. Nevertheless no road is without its bumps and the road of life is no different. Throughout the course of your 30 year fixed-rate you may lose your job, become seriously injured or ill, experience a death in the family, experience a birth in the family, or even have ever too common exorbitant car expenses; and there are very few conundrums quite like choosing between paying your mortgage or repairing the car that takes you to the job that pays your mortgage.So if you know that you will be missing a payment, the worst thing that you can do is hope that nobody will notice; instead, be proactive. A temporary mortgage shortfall because of an unexpected emergency is quite different from an ongoing problem resulting from a job loss or overwhelming debt. If the problem is short term, maybe there are adjustments you can make; can you slip other payments - utilities, student loans, credit cards? None of your creditors are going to take a missed payment well, but some will be easier to deal with than others. Contact them all and find out what accommodations they might make. Will these adjustments allow you to squeak out the mortgage payment? A great solution as long as you can catch up with everybody else in a month or two.Incase you do miss a mortgage payment just remember to not ignore letters from your lender. If you are having problems making your payments, call or write to your lender's Loss Mitigation Department without delay. Explain your situation. Be prepared to provide them with financial information, such as your monthly income and expenses. Without this information, they may not be able to help.If you don't take action after missing a mortgage payment foreclosure may occur. When this happens, you must move out of your house. If your property is worth less than the total amount you owe on your mortgage loan, a deficiency judgment could be pursued. If that happens, you not only lose your home, you also would owe HUD an additional amount.Both foreclosures and deficiency judgments could seriously affect your ability to qualify for credit in the future. So you should avoid foreclosure if possible.I am a Senior Loan Officer for Carteret Mortgage Corporation. If you would like to receive my "FREE" monthly newsletters, you may sign up on my website at www.oaklandmortgageadvisor.com

Get More Exposure from Your Real Estate Listings

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 20:24:48 -0700

I'll be happy to add your real estate listings to my website for more exposure to google, msn, yahoo, etc. www.oaklandmortgtageadvisor.comContact me if you are interested. Take a look at "my listings" on the website.

Free Informative Workshop "Trading your Tenants for some Terrific T's"

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 19:01:49 -0700

TRADING YOUR TENANTS FOR SOME TERRIFIC T'S Bank of America is sponsoring a 1031 Focus Group discussion for free at the Public Library, 300 Estudillo Avenue, San Leandro, California.Workshop be help on Tuesday, August 7th at 6:30 p.m. and Tuesday, August 14th at 6:30 p.m. This is an education workshop. Seating is extremely limited. You can call 800-368-1031. There will be speakers on "How to trade your tenants", an overview of all 12 options, "How to defer your taxes when selling real estate", "Choosing the right realtor in a buyer's market," and "Refinancing strategies that work for investors considering retirement,"There will be a broad overview of IRS accepted real estate strategies. Go to hear the facts.

Just Bought a Commercial Building using a TIC (Tenants in Common)

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 03:23:45 -0700

WOW, I DID IT!I just closed escrow on this commercial building in Dallas, Texas. What a wonderful feeling. I did what you call a TIC. No more calls in the middle of the night from tenants, termites, trash, toilets, etc. In order to do a TIC, you must be accredited. By that I mean, a net worth of $1 million dollars. Since single family resident home values are hurting and the numbers didn't make since to rent out my SRF again, I sold it. This was a MUCH better choice. I have a great souce, AND RETURN ON INVESTMENT, if anyone needs to know. The company was great to work with and walked me through everything to get my very first TIC.

My new Blackberry 8830 World Edition cell phone

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:25:48 -0700

I stayed up practically all night trying to decide what cell phone do I want to upgrade to now. Well, after searching the internet forums, I finally found one I am truly happy with. It's the new Verizon Blackberry, model 8830 World Edition Cell phone. It has email, web brower and phone, global capable, plays music and video, trackball navigation (by the way the trackball is amazing), bluetooth capable and very easy to send email with a touch of a button practically. Don't look no further. Just go and buy it...period. It perfect for the business professional, realtor, investor, real estate agent, any and everyone.

Shopping at the Great Mall in Milpitas, California.....a shop-a-holic

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 18:14:16 -0700

I just returned from shopping 7 hours at the Great Mall in Milpitas, California. It's HUGE! The Nike Factory shoe store has really good discounts on men and women tennis shoes. I bought my son 2 pairs of tennis. With all the stores there, there is endless of shopping. If I had a choice, I'd shop all day and night. I had plaintain at the food court...boy is it good! Tomorrow is another running day. The Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California from 10 am to 6 pm. More (garlic) food, music and lots more shopping. Call me a shop-a-holic!

Real Estate Investors calling me wanting properties to buy

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 18:36:33 -0700

Investors are calling me asking, "Do you know anyone who want to sell their property at a discount OR buy at a discount?" If somebody, somewhere wants to sell at a discount, let me know. I'll pass the information to them. There are SO MANY short sales and foreclosures going on. The market is pretty bad right now. Some investors I've spoke with have got into trouble....purchasing so many properties with option arm loans and only paying the deferred rate (1.95%) and now, unfortunately, they need to sell with a "short sale." Don't people listen, learn and do their own due diligence as to how these loans change?

NETWORKING IN OAKLAND CALIFORNIA

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 18:13:31 -0700

I just returned home from networking at Everett and Jones Bar-B-Q in Oakland. They announced that every Friday will be for businesses who want to network. The food was great. I have ribs, chicken, links, yams, potatoe salad and greens. Almost forgot, and a virgin pina' colada. Yes, that's right no liquor! I can't afford to have my license taken away from me as a loan officer. No DUI for me. I met two real estate agents. One was a loan officer who just lost his job. We exchanged phone numbers, so looks like he wants to work with me as his mentor. I'm going back next Friday too and take plenty more business cards.

New to Carteret Mortgage

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:38:24 -0700

I just joined Carteret about 3 month ago. The company offer valuable education for new loan officer. Great company!

PLANNING ON REFINANCING? ARE YOU MAKING THE RIGHT DECISION?

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:08:18 -0700

There are many reasons to refinance your home mortgage loan. Refinancing allows you to have lower monthly Mortgage Payments. This can be done by refinancing into a new, lower-rate home mortgage loan, a fixed ARM combination, or an adjustable rate mortgage. You can obtain fixed monthly payments by refinancing your loan into a new fixed rate loan. You have the option to consolidate debts from your home's equity by refinancing your mortgage loan. There are several mortgage calculators available to help you make the right decisions.

LENOX CHINA FOR SALE

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:51:35 -0700

I have so many items of Lenox China (external pattern) for sale. I've sold some on ebay, but I guess I'm tired of going through all the changes of paying listing fees, final value fees, paypal fees, shipping fees, you name it.. I would love to sell this china soon. I think I will put it on craigslist for fee and see what happens. They are all like new. Well, let's see what happens........

Low Down Payment Qualifications

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:02:04 -0700

Qualifying for a low down payment home loan may be just what you're looking for. To qualify, your mortgage broker will look at the adequate appraisal value of the home, good credit background, and an income sufficiently able to pay the monthly mortgage. While these are the more important details, there may be other details to factor in.

INVESTING IN COMMERICAL REAL ESTATE, KNOWN AS TENANTS IN COMMON

Audrey James, Senior Loan Officer (CARTERET MORTGAGE CORPORATION) — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 16:43:40 -0700

I've just begone to start investing my portfolio in commercial real estate for the first time. Now, I'm not new to the real estate market. It's just that I've always invested in single family homes in California. Tenants in Common is a great way to avoid the headaches of rental vacancies on homes, broken toilets and termites and let's not forget terrible tenants who don't pay rent.The property management company takes care of collecting the lease payment and other responsibilities. My investing will be in Dallas, Texas. I have found an excellent company whom I will be working with. So far, I have been very pleased with the sponsor.Unlike closing excrow with homes, commercial (TIC) is another ball game. You must be an accredited buyer, meaning they look at all your assets and liabilities for approval. I will most likely purchase another commercial building in the near future. There are financial risks involved just like any other real estate purchases. Buyers should perform their due diligence.