To check out the industry’s most effective solution when it comes to coordinating short sale transactions in record time head over to QuickSale.com.

… Angela Logan of Teaneck, N.J., has one, raising money with “mortgage apple cakes” to catch up on her defaulted home loan:

“A New Jersey woman hopes her bake sale will help forestall foreclosure and keep a roof over her head … [the divorced mother of three sons] has until July 26 to raise $2,559.54 due her lender under a federal program to help homeowners in financial trouble.”

At $40 a pop, Ms. Logan — who already has 42 pre-orders for her mortgage apple cakes — needs to sell only 22 more in nine days to avoid foreclosure, which appears within reach based on her current pace.

Yum.

If a local bake sale can’t solve your financial problems remember that professional foreclosure consultants can be reached right here. It’s free help.

NBA stars present and past, Dwyane Wade and Alonzo Mourning, recently joined the foreclosure fight in South Florida, taking part in a roundtable discussion and bus tour that highlighted the growing foreclosure issue and how it’s affecting Miami communities.

HOPE NOW Alliance sponsored the Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida (NHSSF) event, which was designed to raise awareness of the housing crisis that has gripped the region, as well as promote the free foreclosure assistance resources that are currently available to cash-strapped homeowners.

Here’s a snip from Wade via the Miami Herald:

“It hurts my heart. I know it hurts everyone’s heart in here. I’m here to help bring awareness to this and to let everyone know that there is an opportunity for them, and that there is hope.”

Wade plays professional basketball for the local Miami Heat and is currently among the top talents in the league. Mourning — who played for the Heat on-and-off for about 10 seasons — retired in 2008 and is the only player to have his number retired by the organization.

Their collective star power and celebrity undoubtedly helped garner much-needed attention for a problem that needs fixing fast to reduce the amount of residents in the area losing their homes.

In addition to the roundtable discussion, Wade and Mourning participated in a bus tour, visiting distressed homeowners and educating them about their options such as renegotiating the terms of their loans. The pair, naturally, also posed for photos and signed autographs for fans at each stop.

According to the report, “Miami was the third stop on HOPE NOW’s nationwide ‘Bringing Hope Home’ bus tour. Earlier this year, the caravan rolled through Newark, New Jersey, with Queen Latifah and Wyclef Jean, and Atlanta, featuring Mary J. Blige and Big Boi.”

Keep the wheels on that foreclosure bus turning round and round ….

Foreclosure is unpleasant for several different reasons. Not only are homeowners forced out of their homes, but their credit scores suffer long after the banks repossess them.

In fact, a foreclosure can affect a credit score by as much as 250 to 280 points for up to seven years. That of course can become a major problem and inconvenience down the road when it comes to buying/leasing a car, renting a new place or even getting approved for a credit card.

It’s a horrible gift that, unfortunately, keeps on giving.

For the sake of comparison, short sales and deed-in-lieu are less of a drain on your credit. Short sales can affect a score by 80 to 100 points and deed-in-lieu is anywhere from 120 to 175. Clearly, it’s in homeowners’ best interests to try and short sale or sell their homes by some other means before losing them to foreclosure altogether.

The good news is that a credit score can never drop below “0.” It’s also always changing — when credit takes a ding for any reason time is a reliable ally that helps improve the rating.

Of course, a person needs to focus on doing the things that will not make a situation worse for a score to get better. The key to great credit is to be educated on how prompt payments and buying behaviors affect long- and short-range financial goals.

Nationwide consumer credit reporting companies such as Experian, Equifax and TransUnion allow one FREE credit file disclosure every 12 months. The first step, clearly, is finding out what your credit score is and the factors that went into it.

From that point on raising your credit score is like getting into shape — it takes some time and there is no quick fix. If you are having credit problems or would like to speak with a professional about how to best go about repairing your credit — especially if a foreclosure is involved — visit CreditLawGroup.com today.

Mortgage Bankers Association today released a report that revealed 12 percent of borrowers with home loans are behind on their payments or in foreclosure, setting a record that is a 36 basis point increase from just one year ago.

In fact, it’s the highest seasonally adjusted rate since the MBA National Delinquency Survey began tracking defaults in 1972.

Here’s a snip from Jay Brinkmann, MBA chief economist, on the sobering findings:

“The increase in the foreclosure number is sobering but not unexpected. The rate of foreclosure starts remained essentially flat for the last three quarters of 2008 and we suspected that the numbers were artificially low due to various state and local moratoria, the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac halt on foreclosures, and various company-level moratoria. Now that the guidelines of the administration’s loan modification programs are known, combined with the large number of vacant homes with past due mortgages, the pace of foreclosures has stepped up considerably.”

The report confirms that adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) that have re-set to higher interest rates and rising unemployment figures are likely the two key contributing factors behind the spike. And it’s being felt the most in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada, which remain the hardest hit states in the nation, accounting for nearly half (46 percent) of all new foreclosure filings.

For information on foreclosure assistance remember that professional consultants can be reached right here. It’s free help. To check out the latest on the “Making Home Affordable” program and see if it will work for you go here.