My Blog Has Moved!

Yes, the BLOG is alive and well again! It's been recreated and is better than ever before because now, you get to meet the entire team.

Come visit Michigan's #1 Foreclosure Solution Team Here:
http://www.stopmichiganforeclosure.com/blog/

It's Harder When You Know Them

Last week, I met with a family that I personally knew, as friends, before they started having problems with the house. Boy, this makes it that much tougher to deal with (for me) emotionally.

It's always been tough on me learning what's happened to people to cause them to get behind. In this case, there were health issues, a 2-year old with some health issues, and now the couple is separating and filing for divorce.

It's not easy, but I find that all I have to do is focus on the emotional stress of the foreclosure that I'm removing for them, and know that no one else could possible eliminate that nightmare for them like I can.

Until next time…

Joel

"ARMs are a ticking time bomb"

My PC crashed a little over a week ago, so I've been in catch-up mode ever since. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, so the blogs should be more frequent!

This article pretty much explains why about half of the families I help have adjustable rate mortgages. If you're sitting on one of this time bombs, well, you already know what to do.

Joel

More Borrowers Falling Behind

According to this article, you are NOT alone if you are falling behind on your house payment. The article states several reasons why (slow Michigan economy, adjustable rate mortgages, downsizing, etc.) Getting behind is NOT your fault - failing to take action to correct it IS!

Joel

Kalamazoo/Battle Creek - #44 in Foreclosures

This article reports the top 100 foreclosure rates in metropolitan areas. You'll notice many Michigan cities/metro areas in the report, most in the top 50. It's really just a sign of the times, as the article states:

"Most of the cities with the highest foreclosure rates have above-average unemployment rates and below-average home price appreciation. Unemployment is a major reason why homeowners stop making mortgage payments, and slow home price appreciation can make it harder for homeowners in default to refinance or sell to stop foreclosure."

This pretty much sums up the situation for many of the families we help on a daily basis (and certainly describes the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek economy). It's nothing to be embarrassed about because it's simply out of your control.

What is in your control is what you do about it - which is why our team is here for you - to take control!

Joel

Don't Wait

I was recently contacted by a gentleman who is a week away from having his house auctioned. a the foreclosure sale. He has run out of options and now wants my team to step in and buy his house. As you can imagine, he has extremely anxious for our help after living for weeks with an impending foreclosure and seeing his options one, by one disappear.

We will do everything we can for him, but at this late date, the odds are against us. You see, it takes time to contact the bank, fax them the necessary paperwork and confirm they received it, talk to a live person at the bank about the situation, take pictures, have a contractor give us estimated repair costs and the hundreds of other things that have to happen.

Plus, this homeowner isn’t the only person in trouble that the bank has to deal with. The bank may not be able to give his situation the attention it needs in the short time available. The average person at the bank dealing with foreclosures has 100’s of files on their desk, so it is hard to get their attention on any particular one.

Make no mistake, my team has been doing this long enough to have key relationships established and to know a few tricks to try to defuse this time bomb. Wish us luck as we do everything we can to get this homeowner back to better times.

Don’t wait – call us now. The more time we have to do what we need to do to help you, the more effective we will be and the more options you will have.

Joel (aka Stop Foreclosure Man)

Sheriff Sale

We continue to add people to our team - there's just so many people to help!

Last week, Kelly started attending the Kalamazoo County Sheriff Sale of foreclosed homes. She was amazed at the number of homes auctioned that day. She was also amazed that the Court Official just read out loud, in the middle of the lobby of the Kalamazoo County Courthouse the homeowner’s name, address, foreclosing bank, and amount owed. Of course, this is what the court official is required to do to give other people a chance to come in and make additional bids on the home.

The day Kelly was there at the auction, no one stepped in at the last minute to buy any of the homes (as is the case 99% of the time, it goes back to the foreclosing lender) Sad, because if these people had contacted us with enough time, we could have had a chance to save them this public humiliation process.