Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the two largest mortgage lending institutions in the nation — are cracking down on homeowners in default who literally “walk away” from their homes rather than go through the complete foreclosure process, according to the Herald Tribune.

It’s unfortunately become a growing trend as more and more homeowners become “upside down” on their mortgages — they owe the banks more than their homes are actually worth. In fact, these situations are often referred to as “jingle mail” because the distressed homeowners snail mail their house keys direct to mortgage lenders.

To discourage “jingle mail” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac promise to increase their penalties:

“Fannie will now prohibit foreclosed borrowers from getting another mortgage through the giant investor for five years, unless there are ‘documented extenuating circumstances.’ In those cases, the mortgage prohibition is for three years. Even after five years, borrowers with foreclosures in their files will be required to make at least a 10 percent down payment, and will need minimum FICO credit scores of 680. Freddie Mac, Fannie’s rival, counts foreclosures as major credit blots for seven years, and a senior official said the company is now aggressively pursuing some walkaway borrowers ‘to preserve our deficiency rights’ where permitted under state law.”

Essentially, this is just another reason it is so important for distressed homeowners to work with their mortgage lenders early and often if foreclosure situations emerge. It’s critical for everyone involved to exhaust all available mitigation opportunities before resorting to “jingle mail.”

Foreclosure is something that can ruin credit scores and negatively impact lives now and well into the future. “Mailing it in” before the foreclosure process is even complete will apparently make a bad situation that much worse.

Therefore, think twice before sealing that envelope.

Find out all the essential information you need to begin making money with short sales from successful real estate investor, Sharon Restrepo, during this LIVE 90-minute online educational training session.

“What is a Short Sale?” is set for Tuesday, April 15 at 4 p.m. ET.

From the definition of a short sale to how to select the right deals, this introductory course will walk you through one of the hottest investment techniques today step-by-step.

Sharon — who is also a nationally-acclaimed educator and cunning negotiator — will explain the reasons lenders and banks are willing to accept short sale offers at rock-bottom prices now more than ever.

Sharon will teach you how to:

• Understand the short sale
• Understand the short sale process
• Understand why banks accept short sales
• Understand when short sales will work
• Learn how to choose the right short sale deals

This online real estate course, which is one of a three-part series, will help you better understand the real estate short sale process from A to Z thanks to the latest investment strategies.

Put simply, there’s no reason to pay full price for a home when you don’t have to!

To register now CLICK HERE.

Webinars are LIVE educational sessions that let participants see, hear and interact with real estate experts right from their personal computer screens. In fact, Webinars are driven in part by visitor feedback and questions that are posed during the sessions. For more information and course offerings click here.

… is actually not in Brooklyn. In fact, it’s located at 128 Day Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and even has its own Web site.

There appears to be some confusion swirling around the World Wide Web.

This “Little House” has generated significant buzz on the Internet and in the media because of its unusual size — it’s essentially built in a narrow driveway (laneway). Ellen DeGeneres even made a phone call during her talk show to inquire about its availability.

The 312-square foot home was recently on the market for a little more than $170,000. Proof that big good things often come in small packages.

To check out a video tour of the home click here.

There are multiple reports passing along information that Citigroup — the largest bank in the United States — could possibly sell $12 billion worth of leveraged loans and bonds at a discount (90 cents on the dollar) to “shore up” its balance sheet.

The sale would be to private equity firms such as Apollo Group, Blackstone Group and TPC, signaling “the largest single sale of leveraged loans in recent memory.”

This news comes on the heels of recent word that Washington Mutual — the largest savings and loan in the United States — just received a “capital injection” of $7 billion to help it recover from a glut of mortgages and delinquencies.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Flipping houses is a fantastic means to make a lot of money in a relatively short amount of time. It’s an undertaking, however, which is nearly impossible to do alone, even for the most experienced flippers.

Whether it’s a contractor, investment partner or local real estate agent, flippers often need to rely on several different people to ensure that projects are completed on time and within budget.

But where do you find these folks?

In the past, real estate investors built their teams as projects unfolded. And over time the flippers were able to assemble strong, reliable teams.

That’s still the case today. However, the process, particularly the research aspect, has become a whole lot easier thanks in large part to the Internet and meaningful sites such as FlippingPad.com.

FlippingPad.com is a social community that fosters open dialog between various members of the real estate “flipping” community. It is designed to help people share and discuss real estate investing at the local level.

Here’s a snip from the Web site:

… Talking, sharing and communicating were immensely helpful when we got started. So, whether you’re full-time or just interested in learning about investing, there is a place for you on the Flipping Pad …

Indeed, FlippingPad.com is a great way to meet people in the industry, find some partners in crime, get answers to important questions and basically give you a head start flipping homes.

Check it out when you have some time, you won’t be disappointed.