Phoenix area mortgage defaults rising, Arizona Republic reports

I saw an interesting article by Catherine Reagor of the Arizona Republic the other day, which began "The number of people losing their homes to foreclosure or falling behind on their mortgages in metropolitan Phoenix is near a two-year high, the latest and most tragic sign of the Valley's housing market slowdown." The article goes on to say that when the Phoenix market slowdown started in early Spring of 2006, sales started slowing and listings of homes for sales spiked. (I know from Arizona MLS data that we have about an 8-month supply of houses on MLS. There are around 45,000 for sale and only 6,000 or so selling per month. This makes it very difficult to sell fast if you owe more than you can net at sale or is your foreclosure auction date would occur long before you could get your house under contract and closed.)

The article continues that foreclosures are not only occurring in the West Valley, where they've been traditionally common, "but also in pricey neighborhoods in the East Valley, where credit-card debt levels are higher than average."

Folks in this situation used to be able to sell quickly or refinance into a new mortgage to get cash out of their houses, but now if they've fallen behind on their mortgage they often can't qualify for a refinance. Even if they can, the payments are often higher because now the value of their house has actually dropped or their credit scores are lower, leading to higher interest rates.

All signs point to even higher rates of foreclosure in 2007 and 2008. Our company can help families in this situation, even if it looks hopeless. Please call our free educational message at 1-800-433-8563 extension 86186, and leave your name, address and phone number. If you do, we'll send your our free Consumer's Guide to the Foreclosure Process. It contains a wealth of information you simply must have if you are facing this situation. Then we can get with you to see how we can work together to put this difficult situation behind you once and for all!

Foreclosures Up 17% Nationwide in 3Q06!

I just saw a Fox News report about how foreclosures are up nationwide by 17% in the 3Q06 over the prior three months. In fact, over 318,000 properties entered some stage of foreclosure across the country in this past quarter. The report went on to say that most people facing this situation tend to stop answering the phone or opening their mail, and some even avoid talking to their lender altogether.

That's where we can help. We work with clients everyday to work on their behalf to stop their foreclosure from happening before the auction takes place. The most important thing we do is provide information and answers to our clients so they can make the best informed intelligent decision possible regarding how to proceed.

If you are facing a foreclosure situation, we can help you too! Please call our free educational message at 1-800-433-8563 extension 86186, and leave your name, address and phone number. We'll get back to you right away.

Pending Divorce Can Make it Hard to Prevent Foreclosure

We've been really busy lately working with clients on preventing their foreclosures from happening. We always get some calls each month from folks with only a couple days to go before their auction date. These are always challenging, and often the banks are NOT willing to stop the auction when it is that close to happening.

One call we got last week was particularly sad. It was from a lady who was going through a divorce and just found out that her soon-to-be ex-husband was not making the mortgage payments, so the house was going to auction in two days, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. Since both she and her husband were both on the loan, the foreclosure would be on HER credit too, not just on her husband's.

These situations are always sad, and underscores how important it is to start EARLY to stop the foreclosure from happening, and also to keep communicating with the other spouse to make sure everyone is aware of what's going on. If both parties can be on the same page about what's to be done with the house, it makes our job much easier, and we can provide the best possible outcome for our clients.

If you are facing a foreclosure situation, please call our free educational message at 1-800-433-8563 extension 86186, and leave your name, address and phone number. We'll get back to you right away.