Renters are among the many silent victims in the foreclosure frenzy that is currently gripping numerous areas throughout the nation.

That’s because even if renters satisfy their monthly payment obligations outlined by the property owners, it does not fully protect them from being forced from their homes if the landlords fail to pay the mortgages.

In fact, the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that 40 percent of the households that lose their homes to foreclosure are renters evicted after the bank takes the home from their landlord, according to the Washington Post.

It’s an alarming and unfortunate trend, which will hopefully be minimized thanks to the foreclosure prevention bill that President Barack Obama today signed into law and will extend until the end of 2012.

Here are the top-level points:

• Tenants who pay their rent on time can remain in their home until the end of their lease unless the bank sells the property to someone who intends to make it his or her own residence.
• Renters must be allowed to stay in their homes for 90 days after the foreclosure even without a lease.
• Jurisdictions that already have more stringent renter-protection laws in place won’t see the rules loosened by the new federal law.

For more on the protections for renters contained in the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act click here. To check out eviction laws in your state visit The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty right here.

Someone might want to tell the members of the Foreclosure.com Community Expert Program (CEP) that the national housing market is struggling. That’s because they won’t be able to tell based on their booming businesses.

Indeed, Community Expert Program agents throughout the United States are enjoying record sales, closing major real estate deals left and right. In addition, the buyers who connect with them through Foreclosure.com are moving into their dream homes at prices they can afford.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

The Community Expert Program helps real estate professionals close more buyer transactions through greater exposure and increased market awareness. We market individual agent services to literally millions of potential buyers as their local real estate expert on our Web site for less than the cost of one open house ad.

Our online destination is ground zero for buyers in this market — it is where millions of buyers begin their home searches for the best deals in their areas. The name, Foreclosure.com, says it all.

We can tell you about how successful Community Expert Program agents are until we’re blue in the face, but it might be better if we let you hear it straight from them. Check out our latest testimonials after the jump, as well as instructions on how to get in on all the red hot action.

Read the rest of this entry »

Foreclosure.com Founder, President and CEO, Brad Geisen, recently shared some expert thoughts on the hot-button issue with the New York Times Freakonomics blog:

“When property values are cheap enough that they equal rental values. What I mean by that is when you can buy a property with very little money down and finance it at a good rate, and then rent it out for just enough to cover the mortgage, insurance, and taxes, then you’ve hit what I call ‘economic value.’ That’s when the property value is the same as its economic value. That’s pretty close to bottom. Now, when you have a pendulum swinging, and values are still dropping a bit, it may swing a little past that. If the property was already 30 percent less than market value, and property values are still dropping, and it gets down to economic value, then that’s when the pendulum will begin to stop and begin to swing the other way.”

To check out the entire high-profile question and answer session click here. It’s a must-read “power session.”

Boca Raton, Fla., April 7, 2009 — Foreclosure.com (www.foreclosure.com) today announced that its Web site traffic has increased more than 30 percent since this same time period last year because of the increased interest among prospective buyers in distressed real estate, including preforeclosure, foreclosure, short sale and other amazing deals.

Historically low home prices, as well as interest rates, and the recently-signed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act from the new administration on Capitol Hill that offers first-time homeowners a no-strings-attached $8,000 tax credit to put toward their principal residences, are all key factors in the recent surge in interest on the Web, according to Foreclosure.com Vice President, James Houston.

“Our servers are getting crushed around the clock,” said Houston. “We have noticed a significant increase in traffic over the last few months, which we attribute to several factors that have created a ‘perfect storm’-like situation.”

Foreclosure.com — already America’s largest and most trusted source for distressed real estate information — is among the top 20 online real estate destinations on the Web, placing twelfth for visits on a recent report from HitWise.com — the leading online competitive intelligence service - for the week ending on Feb. 28.

It’s perhaps no coincidence that the National Association of Realtors® issued a report just last month, revealing that foreclosure-related purchases comprised more than 40 percent of real estate sales nationwide.

Read the rest of this entry »

With mortgage fraud cases up 400 percent from five years ago, the new administration in Washington, D.C., plans to do something about it to protect the increasing amount of vulnerable homeowners who are falling victim to con artists.

ABCNews.com reports today that a renewed effort, which will be spearheaded by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, will “ratchet up its efforts to identify fraud suspects for civil and criminal investigation and issue an advisory to help financial firms flag questionable modification schemes for law enforcement.”

This latest initiative opens up a new front on the battle to stem the foreclosure tide.

Already, the administration has implemented the “Making Home Affordable” program to help “underwater” homeowners refinance their mortgages, as well introduced a limited-time $8,000 tax incentive for first-time homebuyers to spark interest in home purchases.

Here is a snip from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on this important development:

“Just as this administration has intensified our efforts to help American homeowners, those who would seek to prey on the most vulnerable are intensifying their tactics as well, often through purported mortgage modification and foreclosure relief companies. These are predatory schemes designed to rob Americans of their savings and potentially their homes…. We will shut down fraudulent companies more quickly than before. We will target companies that otherwise would have gone unnoticed under the radar. And we will aggressively pursue individuals involved in mortgage rescue scams.”

For more information on how to avoid foreclosure scams and other red flags of which to be aware click here (click on “Five Tips for Avoiding Foreclosure Scams”). In the meantime, if you’re having trouble meeting your monthly mortgage obligations click here. We’ll connect you someone who can help.