URBALO

Finally, the Bush administration has decided to step in and try to help those that are finding themselves in a foreclosure situation. The new plan is suppose to help 1.2 million distressed homeowners.

There is a catch though: mortgage interest rates will be frozen only for ARM borrowers who are not yet in foreclosure.

Here are a few main keypoints:

1. The plan will include a five-year freeze on interest rates for borrowers current with their monthly payments, but the freeze is limited.
2. It excludes anyone more than 30 days late at the time the mortgage would be modified or anyone who has been more than 60 days late at any time within the previous 12 months.
3. It also only covers borrowers with adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) resetting beginning in 2008 and leaves out any who are judged capable of continuing to make mortgage payments at the higher reset rates.
4. Borrowers who can’t afford the loan even at low introductory rates also will be ineligible.

The plan is very courageous but there are too many impediments to its widespread adoption by investors and servicers.

To read the full details on this, go to Money CNN

For the past few months, I have been giving you advice on how to manage a foreclosure situation that you might find yourself in. But what if you are on the other side of the fence and you are constantly trying to find a cheap property to invest in? How would you go about finding a foreclosure property?

1. Check out a couple of the new online services like propertyshark.com, foreclosurefreesearch.com and foreclosure.com . These foreclosure listing sites provide the latest foreclosures in your area and often include the amount owed and the estimated value. Both of these websites provide a free trial so you can test the site out before you commit to their paid service. Very useful websites even though they cost money.
2. Unless you’re an experienced investor, you should skip for now the public foreclosure auctions. These auctions are mainly controlled by financial institutions so there are slim chances that you will get a good deal on a foreclosure property. The online websites actually have a feature that will show the properties that will go into default. During that time there is a brief window to negotiate directly with the property owner which is your chance to get the property before it even hits a public foreclosure auction.
3. First thing you should do is to get in touch with the default property’s owner. If they have a lawyer, feel free to contact them as well. Your goal here is to ask the owner if there is any way to negotiate a purchase of their property before it goes into auction. Remember, DO NOT only negotiate with the lawyer because he basically has no interest to work out a deal before the property goes into foreclosure.
4. If the owner is willing to work out a deal then the next step is to negotiate the price and terms. There are a few occasions when the owner might want to partner up with you. How does it work? Well, you can start by paying the mortgage-backed payments to get the loan out of default. Once you fix up the house and sell it, you give the owner a check for a portion of the profit.

Of course, there are many other way to get a foreclosure property and the amount of websites that offer these kind of properties are increasing every day, but the above points should be a good starting point for you.