Stacey Maxwell

• Classic Investment Community

• Manage |RSSForeclosure Real Estate Investor

Sorry Benny but you are flat out wrong about being able to get a mortgage after bankruptcy. In fact, conventional and FHA allowed for a new mortgage one year post bankruptcy. Why? Because since it is impossible to file again fro 10 years, these people were actually a better short term risk than the standard borrower. Of course the lending was also predicated upon how the borrower had handled their credit post bankruptcy. Right now it is impossible for a person who is not a full time employee with a steady stream of income to file for bankruptcy to protect their real estate investments. All this as a result of the re-writing of the personal bankruptcy code in 2007(?). Even if one choose to file a chapter 11 personal bankruptcy, they are unable to have the same protections as a corporate Chapter 11. Not to mention the cost for filing chapter 11 is prohibitive in many cases.

I am offended by the blanket assumption that people who are working to help others through a most trying time in their lives are all being lumped together as sharks preying on people in distress. There are many of us who are honored to have the knowledge and expertise to assist homeowners in their hour of need. To expect to be reasonably compensated for our professional abilities is not an unreasonable expectation. I don't hear anyone complaining about attorney's fees for assisting with bankruptcy, divorce, P&I or other times when an individual might find themselves in distress. Why is it that when a licensed real estate or mortgage professional chooses to assist a homeowner in distress their integrity and compensation questioned. Perhaps the answer here is that rather than compensate further the lenders who have been so financially irresponsible themselves, that the government compensate licensed professionals to represent the interests of the homeowners in distress. Now let's take a look at the psychological and emotional state of the distressed homeowner. Here is a person who's whole entire life has been turned upside down. Their family is in a state of turmoil and the phone is ringing off the hook with creditors. More often than not this individual has little to no knowledge or understanding of real estate, the real estate market, mortgages, financing options, or the options available for them to resolve their problems. When the homeowner contacts the lender it is the sole purpose of the lender to work out an agreement that is most advantageous to the note holder, not to the borrower. Anyone who has ever attempted to work out a "deal" with a creditor knows how stressful those conversations are. The lender is not being paid to counsel the borrower nor to negotiate in the borrowers best interest. The results of this scenario can be seen in the high number of foreclosures that still resulted from the previous attempts of loan modification programs. The resulting emotional burden placed on the homeowner as a result of a second personal failure when they can not meet the new loan terms, can be down right devastating. I think it is highly unfair that we keep telling homeowners who don't know where to turn, to turn to those who created the loan products that led to their precarious situation in the first place. Hello fox, here is your second shot at the hen house, and we are going to pay you to enter! We need to be far more aware that not every person has the knowledge base or competancies to be able to negotiate and make complex financial decisions for themselves and that they deserve to be served by competant, licensed professionals.

As any good investor knows, if you are holding more than 4 properties, your best bet is going to be with a blanket loan through a local lending institution. These commercial instruments are dependant on the ability of the investment to make money and make sense. In addition, as the credit market has tightened investors who have had multiple mortgages showing on their credit reports have had their credit scores "dinged". Word on the street is that although Fannie and Freddie are upping the limit once again, most lenders are not going to be jumping on this bandwagon. The best alternative would be government funds to community banks that allow them to be able to up the size of thier portfolios and lend in their communities.