Featured Links

Other Topics






Quote of the Day

"I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them."

Pablo Picasso








 




 
Featured Mortgage Refinance Articles

Bad Credit Mortgage Refinancing - Refinance And Improve Credit
Many homeowners have a goal of improving their credit. Despite efforts to maintain a good credit rating, situations arise that can have a damaging affect on our credit. A common problem involves acquiring too much debt. In this case, some homeowners are ...

Home Loans and Mortgages – Time to Consolidate Loans?
Home equity loans and lines of credit are useful tools for homeowners. They allow the homeowner to borrow against the value of his or her home for all kinds of purposes – home improvement, debt consolidation, vacations, and more. The loans, backed ...

Refinance Home Loan and Refinance Home Loans
Refinance home loan lenders are eager to lend money to any individual regardless of credit as long as the homeowner has a fair amount of equity in the home and the home itself is in a condition that can be resold. Refinance home loans are different than a ...




Deed Theft Criminals Get More Aggressive at Stealing Your Home
 
Deed theft is an increasingly popular crime in the real estate industry. It usually works like this: A company will post signs around town offering to "help" those facing debt problems that might lead to foreclosure. Representatives of the company meet with the homeowner and offer to take over the payments for a year or so while the owner gets his or her finances in order. The company urges the owner to sign over the property to the company, with the understanding that after a year or so, the owner may buy the property back. It seldom, if ever, works that way. Once the property is signed over, the company often evicts the former owner and sells the property at a profit. The owner gets nothing.
This scam has been working well for years, but apparently isn't efficient enough for some crooks. In a new twist, some clever criminals have found a better way. Now, instead of pretending to help, the crooks just forge the owner's name on a quitclaim deed and file it with the county. A quitclaim deed is a statement from a property owner that he or she no longer wishes to maintain any interest in the property. That document specifies who will take over ownership.
In some places, the thief will have the document notarized by an accomplice. In others, the thief will simply take advantage of an overworked or inattentive notary public before filing the document with county clerks who usually don't bother to check if the document is legitimate. In either case, the result is the same. The thief now "owns" the property and is free to sell it or refinance it. Usually, once having done so, the thief and the money disappear. Under the right circumstances, this can even happen without the real owner even realizing that it has happened.
This type of theft is becoming more and more prevalent in hotbeds of mortgage fraud such as the Southeastern United States. Law enforcement agencies are often at a loss as to how to follow up on this crime, as they often will have little more to go on than a name on a document, which may not even be real. In the meantime, clerks and notaries public are being urged to scrutinize such documents more carefully. Deed theft and mortgage fraud are serious problems that are costing Americans hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

About The Author

©Copyright 2005-06 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including http://www.homeequityhelp.net, a site devoted to information regarding home equity lending.


Google


Mortgage Refinance News

Freddie Mac report: 30-year mortgage rates are in free-fall - Toledo Blade
WASHINGTON - Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a record level for a fourth straight week, dropping to the lowest mark since Freddie Mac started tracking nearly 38 years ago. Rates have been falling since late November, when the Federal Reserve ...

Refinance interest up as mortgage rates fall - MLive.com
The economic turmoil of 2008 has left few bright spots, but here's one: Mortgage rates have plummeted. Rates on 30-year, fixed loans are hovering around 5 percent - the lowest level since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971. Some economists ...

Mortgage rates fall to lowest level since weekly survey started - Providence Journal
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to a record low for the second straight week, causing refinancing applications to surge to the highest level in more than five years, a month after the Federal Reserve pledged to channel ...

More hoops to jump through for enticing mortgages - Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumers rushing to refinance a home loan or get a new one to take advantage of the lowest U.S. mortgage rates in nearly four decades are in for a surprise: the new rates aren't for everyone. The process takes longer and is ...

REFILE-Mortgage lending jobs thrive as other sectors dive - FXStreet.com
NEW YORK, Jan 9 (Reuters) - It's so 2005. Even as the rest of the U.S. job market plumbs new depths, hiring by mortgage lenders is surging now that home loan rates have hit multi-decade lows. Employers have ruthlessly slashed jobs and unemployment is ...

Mortgage lending jobs thrive as other sectors dive - Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - It's so 2005. Even as the rest of the U.S. job market plumbs new depths, hiring by mortgage lenders is surging now that home loan rates have hit multi-decade lows. Employers have ruthlessly slashed jobs and unemployment is at its ...

Freddie Mac report: 30-year mortgage rates are in free-fall - Toledo Blade
WASHINGTON - Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a record level for a fourth straight week, dropping to the lowest mark since Freddie Mac started tracking nearly 38 years ago. Rates have been falling since late November, when the Federal Reserve ...

Don't miss the refinance window - HometownAnnapolis.com
CHICAGO - Lured by low mortgage rates, many homeowners have been rushing to refinance. Interest is gaining for good reason: Eligible borrowers can lock in rates that haven't been this attractive in decades. "With interest rates hovering around 5 ...

Mortgage Rates Drop, Owners Refinance Save Email Print - WOWT
Mortgage rates continue to drop. This week rates on 30 year mortgages fell to a record low. The lowest level since 1971. John Kortes loves his turn of the century home. He bought it in 2001. Kortes has updated his kitchen, the appliances and now he ...

The rush to refinance - Boston Globe
The mortgage interest rates have gone down again. Does that mean that refinancing is the best thing you can do? It’s a dirty little secret that most of the homeowners who are under water got there through refinancing, not by borrowing for their ...