Believe it or not, but we’re nearly finished with January. How are those New Year commitments working out so far, eh?

If you aren’t as on track as you’d hoped, you are definitely not alone. Making big changes in your life can seem overwhelming, especially when it comes to your finances.

And getting overwhelmed throws many people off track.

Don’t let it happen to you! Now is the time to pursue your real estate investment goals and recommit to growing your wealth through foreclosures, short sales, bankruptcies, rent-to-own homes and more.

Yes, now is the time to recommit, but not only now. Success in life takes courage and perseverance. Recommit to your goals not just once or twice, but every single day. You’ll be amazed at the changes that come your way if only you can focus on your goals!

The January 2012 edition of Foreclosure.com’s free educational newsletter, “Investment Exchange,” is now available, which shows you you the way to a 2012 paved with real estate wealth.

Articles include:

• Site Feature Spotlight: 2012 scholarships for undergraduates
• Website Search Tips: Find foreclosures FREE!
• Hot Off The Press: Real Estate’s latest trend, rent-to-own homes
• Our Success Stories: James Gage on smart real estate investing
• Real Estate Tips: How to get started investing in real estate
• Deals of the Month: Hot foreclosure deals!
• Linda’s Learning Lane: Focus on Wealth

There has never been a more perfect time to invest in distressed real estate. The housing market is inundated with foreclosures and short sales. Interest rates are at all-time lows. Prices are at the lowest we are likely to see in this lifetime.

Don’t miss out on these tremendous opportunities!

To read this month’s free educational newsletter from Foreclosure.com CLICK HERE.

In case you somehow missed the bad news, which borders on impossible, foreclosures are a pretty big problem these days. In fact, the national housing market has been in turmoil for about four years now.

The United States government was initially slow to respond, failing to recognize the magnitude of house of cards (pun intended) that was about to collapse. Eventually, several housing/foreclosure assistance programs, along with their requisite acronyms, were gradually rolled out over time.

Not a single one, or all of them in combination, however, have had their intended impact on recovery. Not yet, anyway.

In fact, in a recent Gallup Poll, 58 percent of Americans want the government to do more to prevent additional foreclosures. In contrast, 34 percent of Americans are against increasing government intervention and prefer that “housing market resolve its problems in its own.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the foreclosure Twilight Zone, where a distressed homeowner struggles to save his property from bank repossession, while at the same time, attempts to evict the illegal Occupy Wall Street protesters who set up shop in his living room when he (unwisely) decided to leave.

Such is the curious case of Wise Ahadzi, a single father with two young girls, who vacated his house in Brooklyn, N.Y., when he could no longer afford to pay the mortgage. He apparently didn’t realize that he could remain in the home until the foreclosure was complete. In fact, the lender has recently confirmed that he is still the rightful owner of the property until the foreclosure process has run its full course.

Meanwhile, “Occupy” members targeted his house and vowed to fix it up and move in a new family, looking make a bold statement against the major financial institutions that the movement blames for the current economic crisis in the United States.

Read the rest of this entry »

Even though he retired from the National Football League (NFL) in 1979, Hall of Fame inductee O.J. Simpson can’t seem to avoid the hits, which have come fast and furious since the 1994 murder of his estranged wife, Nicole Brown.

Simpson — who was charged with her murder, but ultimately was found innocent after the “Trial of the Century” concluded — is facing foreclosure on the five-bedroom Miami, Fla., home that he purchased back in 2000 for $575,000.

To see Simpson’s preforeclosure listing on Foreclosure.com click here.

In an odd twist, the lender apparently attempted to serve Simpson “on a daily basis” with foreclosure papers; however, “Juice” is currently locked up behind bars in a Nevada prison, “serving a nine-to-33-year prison sentence in a 2007 armed confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas casino hotel room.”

According to the report from FOXSports.com, the attorneys for the former Buffalo Bills running back are attempting to have the foreclosure case dismissed. It’s unclear who is living in the house while Simpson rides out his jail term and/or what he intends to do with the property if he can rescue it from repossession.

Stay tuned.

Coming off its most successful year ever, the Foreclosure.com scholarship program will once again reward five college students with money to put toward their studies who can best provide a solution(s) to its latest essay topic for 2012.

The subject of the 2012 Foreclosure.com Scholarship Program is as follows:

“What creative solutions, programs and/or initiatives to stimulate the United States housing market, as well as to turn the foreclosures tide, must a presidential candidate outline/promise to earn your vote? Feel free to include your very own original stimulus plan and/or ideas in your response, which can also be used to enhance existing platforms from candidates and/or other influential thought leaders.”

Foreclosure.com, which received a record-setting amount of entries (nearly 10,000) from students throughout the nation during its scholarship program in 2011 alone, will accept written essays/plans (800-word minimum, 2,000-word maximum) through its website (www.foreclosure.com/scholarship/) from Jan. 1, 2012, to Dec. 1, 2012.

Five winners will be selected by a third-party panel of judges at the conclusion of the contest and will share $9,000 in allotted scholarship funds. The top prize is a $5,000 scholarship and four $1,000 grants will be awarded to the runners up.

Read the rest of this entry »