“Why am I paying for them? We are very frustrated and scared. My husband and I always discuss, ‘Why do we try to better ourselves, when it seems if you do nothing, you get all the help in the world?’”

– Michelle Fry echoes a feeling that many responsible and hardworking homeowners throughout the United States are feeling in a recent FOXNews.com article on the $75 billion foreclosure rescue plan that President Barack Obama recently announced. Fry and her husband earn less than $100,000 combined and are currently upside-down on their home in Atlanta, Georgia. The couple, however, does whatever it takes to ensure that their bills are paid on time. Meanwhile, the national mortgage bailout plan “appears to reward people who bought more house than they could afford and can’t pay their bills.” In fact, according to the article, the foreclosure rescue plan would help eight to nine million mortgage holders — a fraction of the approximately 50 million mortgages outstanding. Is it fair? Should it be?

“There’s a lot of bargain-hunting going on right now. Florida is one of the harder-hit states as far as the values dropping. Orlando is probably one of the harder-hit areas in Florida. It’s more transient, and there was a lot more speculation in the ’04-’05-’06 time frame.”

– Foreclosure.com Director of Real Estate Owned (REO), Glen Daniels, shares his expert thoughts with the Orlando Sentinel on the foreclosure situation and real estate market in Florida. To check out Florida foreclosed homes and amazing deals click here.

“Lenders’ inventory of foreclosed homes has steadily increased in the past couple of years and is believed to total around half a million homes. Many lenders initially were slow to slash prices, partly because they hoped to avoid huge losses. But more lenders have been capitulating as it becomes clear that delays often merely result in lower proceeds and higher costs for taxes, insurance and upkeep.”

– The Wall Street Journal highlights a significant side effect of the recent downturn in the real estate market — more foreclosures often translates to better deals. When defaulted inventory is high, lenders will naturally accept less for homes to get them off their books and recoup as much as possible from the assets. Always remember that lenders are in the business of lending money and not selling homes. That can work to your advantage, which means that now is perhaps the best time to get in on the action while the prices are right. To search for deals in your area right now click here.

“Real estate became very liquid especially in the condo market. People would buy pre-construction pricing and that’s before the building was out of the ground, and then they would sell the contract while the building was being constructed and for huge gain sometimes 200% gains…. They were selling anywhere from $600,000 to well over a million dollars, and now there is an active foreclosure in this building for $219,000.”

“Most lenders are less aggressive at this point for the holidays. And each lender is dependent on an attorney to do the filing for them. And of course, this is the time of year people are taking vacation…. [However], It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

– Foreclosure.com Director of REO, Glen Daniels, shares some insight with Business Week on a possible reason for the dip in foreclosure filings as 2007 nears its end. Daniels is quick to point out that it may not signal a positive trend. In fact, it could have more to do with the holiday season than a decrease in actual loan defaults.