This post was mentioned on Twitter by RDenny2: http://bit.ly/9bntti - Supply of Foreclosed Homes on the Rise Again

Foreclosures will keep on rising until we can fix the unemployment situation

Hi HollinsSure, what I mean is you should not be rhcaged up front fees for services in the loss mitigation space practices would include retention programs such as loan modifications, and non-retention programs like short sales. Monies should be paid into a third party trust account and utilized as a negotiation tool to show investors of your note or the guarantor of your note that you could make a lower more affordable payment. Companies that claim and promise guaranteed results in my humble opinion are not being truthful. There are any factors that go into say modifications, it's not about what the borrower wants to pay, it should be based off what the borrower can afford to pay. Through experience it can be closely determined what a borrower might expect to pay in terms of affordability, but the first thing to realize is assessing whether you can build a case to present to the guarantor of the note. The guarantor could be a hedge fund manager, it could be some pool manager in some foreign bank or it could be some insurance company, there is no way to know who owns your note without going through an investigative process. I am sorry I can not give you that process as it is proprietary. BUT, you have to understand what has gone on here in the industry with the securitization of these mortgage backed securities. When I refer to servicing companies I am talking about the company you pay your monthly mortgage payment to  Unless and it is pretty rare, that your note is a  portfolio' note, there is an investor/guarantor that actually owns your note. Meaning it was sold off in a pool of other notes-hundreds, maybe it was packaged with some commodoties too and other things, then tranched to individual investors as part of a fund I am trying to simplify it  Your neighbor might own a part of that mortgage pool in his portfolio and not know it but a fund manager manages it. So my point was, if you want to do a loan mod and you call a loan mod company and ask  who do they negotiate with?  and they say the lender, they don't know the real scoop and I'll bet they ask for upfront money  You want to negotiate with the guarantor, the folks who either own or manage the notes. NOT THE SERVICING COMPANIES. SErvicing companies get paid fees to collect debt that's it. They are debt collectors and they get paid no matter what. INFACT, servicing companies do not want to cure loans  It is not in their best interest to do so  I hope that makes sense  There is a lot to consider when it comes to loss mitigation, there are laws too that may play a factor into how many notes can be cured within a pool. PSA Polling Services Agreements. Particpating in government program like H4H, HAMP, TARP are up to the investors, it isn't law.I guess I am saying, have expectations that aren't based off of erroneous information supplied by loan mod companies  I was simply saying that in my opinion those two questions will help you weed out between the scammers and the real loss mitigation folks.

pChristine's point about the ease of identifying and cctatoning recently-foreclosed homeowners is a very interesting one.  The Globe and Mail here in Canada had an article this weekend about subprime mortgages in Canada.  The reporters argue that it is difficult to know exactly how bad our housing market is because foreclosure data is difficult to come by.  Here's the quote:/pp"Unlike the United States, where foreclosure statistics are routinely published because they are a key barometer of economic health, detailed numbers in Canada are hard to come by. Alberta and British Columbia are two provinces where private companies collect the data from the courts, where it costs about $10 to view a single file. In Ontario, mortgages in default are usually resolved through a process known as power-of-sale, which has effectively removed the issue from the courts and shielded the scope of the problem."/ppAre foreclosures published in the newspaper in all US states?  It's interesting to think about this minor regulatory detail (i.e. how is foreclosure data made public) as having effects on the ability of social movements to mobilize./p