Tag Archives: homeowners

nevada county fair

Nevada County Fair Competition Handbook Now Available

Fair entry Mechanical Bear
Fair entry Mechanical Bear

 

Book includes all the information you need to enter exhibits in this year’s Fair

 

The Nevada County Fair’s Competition Handbook, which includes all the information you need to enter exhibits in this year’s Fair, is now available. If you can make it, bake it, grow it or show it, there is a category for you – and it can be found in the Competition Handbook!

Why not showcase a child’s artwork project from school, a cooking skill, or a special collection? Try baking cookies, entering a photo, creating a produce character, making the Ugliest Decorated Cake, writing a poem, entering the Pet Look-A-Like photo contest, or making a bookmark. This year, we have some fun new categories like button art, plastic utensil art, decorated cake pops, beach art, and a decorated reusable grocery bag.

Fair Entry Seahorse
Fair Entry Seahorse

There are also special contests like the Seafaring Squash Mobile Races, Daily Special Food Contests, 4-H Still Exhibits, and an exhibit video contest. With hundreds of categories available for children and adults, the Competition Handbook has something for everyone.

Copies of the free handbook are available at the Fairgrounds’ Office, Chamber of Commerce offices, post offices, county libraries, Raley’s, SPD, Ben Franklin, Foothill Mercantile, and other local businesses, as well as online at NevadaCountyFair.com.  

It’s easy to enter! Look through the book, pick your favorite categories, and follow the simple steps for completing the entry forms. You can even enter online at NevadaCountyFair.com.   Most categories are free to enter, and you can enter online or at the Fair office. The deadline for submitting entry forms and online entries is July 21 at 4 pm.

The 2017 Nevada County Fair is August 9 – 13, and the Fair them is “Sea You at the Fair!” For more information, visit NevadaCountyFair.com or call (530) 273-6217.

 

For all your real estate needs
Please contact 
John J. O’Dell 
ODell Realty
BRE 00669941

Error: Contact form not found.

Real Estate

Home Owners Equity Rising Above Water

Jenga Style Homes Photo courtesy of Pleated-jeans.com
Jenga Style Homes Photo courtesy of Pleated-jeans.com

In the next 15 months, 8.3 million home owners — about 18 percent of home owners who have a mortgage — are expected to gain enough equity to be in a better position to sell their homes, according to RealtyTrac’s September report on home equity.

“Steadily rising home prices are lifting all boats in this housing market and should spill over into more inventory of homes for sale in the coming months,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “Home owners who already have ample equity are quickly building on that equity, while the 8.3 million homeowners on the fence with little or no equity are on track to regain enough equity to sell before 2015 if home prices continue to increase at the rate of 1.33 percent per month that they have since bottoming out in March 2012.

The 8.3 million of home owners have a range of 10 percent negative equity to 10 percent positive equity, according to RealtyTrac. Home owners with low equity may face challenges in selling a home due to the cost of the sale and having a down payment on a new home. As equity rises, more home owners are in the position to sell their home without having to resort such actions as a short sale.

The report also notes that one in four home owners in foreclosure also were found to have positive equity. Home owners with equity may have a better chance at selling their homes before letting the foreclosure process run its course, Blomquist says.

But that’s “assuming they realize they have equity and don’t miss the opportunity to leverage that equity,” Blomquist says. “Even home owners deeply underwater have reason for hope, with about 150,000 each month rising past the 25 percent negative equity milestone — although it will certainly take years rather than months before most of those homeowners have enough equity to sell other than via short sale.”

Source: National Association of Realtor©

Related articles

Help us keep this blog going
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email

DRE# 00669941

Enhanced by Zemanta
Real Estate

The Top 10 Real Estate Tax Deductions for Homeowners

popular tax time apps verizon wireless midwest area image by vzwmidwestarea.com
popular tax time apps verizon wireless midwest area image by vzwmidwestarea.com

As the time to file income taxes approaches, we need to take a new look at the changing tax landscape for homeowners. The dynamic atmosphere in Washington, D.C. has a different effect each year on which tax breaks are proposed, rescinded, changed, and extended for taxpayers who own a home.

Thanks to the efforts of many real estate industry groups including the National Association of Realtors, many of the  tax benefits that homeowners enjoy–which were on the chopping block over the past few months–have been protected and extended through the 2013 tax season.

Disclaimer – This is only an informational summary of current tax issues in the news. If you need tax advice, please contact a tax attorney or CPA

 

READ MORE

Related articles

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Enhanced by Zemanta
Real Estate

Fighting Back Against Lowball Home Appraisals

Photo courtesy of Atlas Real Estate Appraisals
Photo courtesy of Atlas Real Estate Appraisals

Record-low interest rates are a boon for home buyers and for homeowners seeking to refinance.  But low appraisals are making it difficult or even impossible for some borrowers to take advantage.

  • Lenders report that “overly pessimistic appraisals caused by appraisers using distressed sales as ‘comparables’ are a key reason why deals are falling through.
  • Part of the problem is that home prices have plummeted further than many people would like to believe.
  • Another key factor is the appraisal changes enacted in the wake of the financial crisis that were designed to eliminate improper pressure on appraisers that often led to inflated valuations during the housing boom.  However, critics say those changes resulted in unnecessarily conservative valuations and the greater use of appraisers with little knowledge of local market conditions.
  • Additionally, accurate valuations can be difficult to come by when sales are thin and prices are just beginning to edge upward after prolonged declines.  Many borrowers are “in a holding pattern for extended periods” because it’s difficult to find comparable sales to support the appraisal value.
  • Despite these issues, there are ways consumers can improve their odds of getting a deal done.  For example, borrowers can look at comparable sales from the last three to six months before seeking a mortgage to know the range of home values in the area.
  • Secondly, although borrowers cannot choose their appraiser, they can accompany the appraiser during the inspection, pointing out improvements that add to the home’s value.  They also can provide the appraiser with comparable sales that can be used to support the valuation.
  • Borrowers also can request that the lender review the appraiser’s findings, though the chances of success are slim.  If the borrow thinks the value is unreasonably low, they should first look for factual errors, such as an erroneous number of bedrooms or miscalculated square footage.

Read the full story

 

Related articles

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Enhanced by Zemanta
Real Estate

Three Sarcramento Attorneys Arrested For Mortgage Scam

1 Comment

 

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris  announced the arrests of  Sacramento  attorneys that took thousands of dollars in up-front loan modification fees for services that were never performed for homeowners, many of whom ended up losing their homes.

Attorneys Gregory Flahive of El Dorado Hills, 39, Cynthia Flahive of Folsom, 41, and Mike Johnson of Elk Grove, 42, were arrested on 19 felony counts, including grand theft by false pretense, conspiracy and false advertising. They were booked at the Sacramento County Jail with bail set at $50,000 bail each.

“Homeowners facing foreclosure are being targeted by predators, including those who use their law license to gain credibility and scam innocent Californians,” Attorney General Harris said. “My office’s Mortgage Fraud Strike Force is dedicated full-time to cracking down on these deceptive practices and protecting homeowners from fraud like this.”

Gregory and Cynthia Flahive, ex-spouses and owners of Flahive Law Corporation, and Johnson, the firm’s managing attorney, took up-front fees of up to $2,500 from homeowners in Placer, Sacramento, Butte and Yuba counties for loan modification services that were never performed. In California, it is illegal for foreclosure consultants to collect money for services before they are performed.

The Folsom-based law firm advertised their services on flyers, radio and televised infomercials, offering to provide loan modification services and help clients with bankruptcy, IRS tax relief and credit card modification.

In a 2010 infomercial, the Flahives said that, as a law firm, they had “extra leverage” with the banks. They described one of their unique services as a “mortgage violation audit” in which they reviewed a client’s loan documents to find bank violations that could be used as leverage to modify a client’s home loan.

In fact, the investigation revealed that, in some instances, the client’s lender had no record of contact with the Flahive Law Corporation.

Former clients of the Flahive Law Corporation filed complaints with the Attorney General’s office, as well as with the Better Business Bureau and the State Bar of California.

The State Bar of California launched an investigation, which was turned over to the Attorney General’s Mortgage Fraud Strike Force in summer 2011.

In one example of the firm’s deceptive practices, a victim who sought to lower his mortgage payments was told by Gregory Flahive to reject his lender’s offer of modification. The homeowner was told the Flahive Law Corporation could secure a better interest rate, reduce his principal, and possibly get his second mortgage eliminated. Four months later, the victim lost his home to foreclosure.

 

Related articles

For all your real estate needs:
Call or email today
John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Real Estate Broker
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE #00669941

Enhanced by Zemanta
Real Estate

New Mortgage Deal Could Bring Billions In Relief

English: A Wells Fargo bank on College Avenue ...
Image via Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, federal and state officials announced a $26 billion foreclosure settlement with five of the largest home lenders.  California is expected to receive approximately $12 billion in principal write-downs, including through short sales, over the next three years, according to the state attorney general‘s office.

 

  • The deal settles potential state charges about allegations of improper foreclosures based on robo-signing, seizures made without proper paperwork.
  • The settlement sets up a federal monitor to oversee the process and try to prevent the challenges that tripped up many homeowners seeking help in earlier programs designed to address the housing crisis.
  • Most of the relief will go to those who are underwater on their homes.  That relief will come over the course of the next three years, with banks having incentives to provide most of the relief in the next 12 months.
  • At least $17 billion will go to reducing the principal owed by homeowners who are underwater and behind on their mortgages.
  • Up to 750,000 other underwater homeowners who are current on their mortgages will be able to refinance their current loans at lower rates.  They will not receive a reduction in principal, but with mortgage rates near record lows, they could receive substantial savings on their monthly payments.
  • Approximately $1.5 billion will go to homeowners who had their homes foreclosed upon between Jan. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2011, and who meet other criteria.  They will receive up to $2,000 each.
  • The five mortgage servicers that are parties to the settlement include Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Ally Financial (formerly GMAC).

Read the full story

Related articles

 

For all your real estate needs:
Call or email
John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Real Estate Broker
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE #00669941

Enhanced by Zemanta
Real Estate

Mortage Aid Open To More California Borrowers

 

Image by Casey Serin via Flickr
Image by Casey Serin via Flickr

The state-run program, “Keep Your Home California,” which helps homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages now has broader eligibility guidelines.  Borrowers who did “cash-out” refinances and own multiple properties now are eligible for the program, according to California Housnig Finance Agency officials.

  • To date, Keep Your Home California has helped approximately 8,000 low- and moderate-income households that are behind on loan payments or close to default.
  • There are four parts to the program: Mortgage help for the unemployed, mortgage aid for homeowners with documented financial hardship, relocation help for those in the midst of a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, and reduction of principal.
  • Homeowners who completed “cash-out” mortgage refinancing now are allowed to take part in the four programs outlined above, and borrowers who own more than one property also can apply for the program.  Previously, these two groups of borrowers were excluded from participation.
  • Mortgage aid to unemployed borrowers also has been extended to nine months, instead of six.  Such homeowners can receive up to $3,000 a month.  To qualify, borrowers must be receiving unemployment benefits.
  • Additionally, the program has reinstated up to $20,000 in past-due mortgage payments instead of the previous $15,000 cap.
  • To review qualification guidelines, visit www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org or www.ConservaTuCasaCalifornia.org.

Read the full story

 

Related articles

For all your real estate needs:
Call or email
John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Real Estate Broker
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE #00669941

Enhanced by Zemanta
Real Estate

Protect Yoursef Aganist Mortgage Fraud

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris
California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris

5 Tips to Avoid Being Scammed

  1. Don’t pay up-front fees. Foreclosure consultants are prohibited by law from collecting money before services are performed.
  2. Don’t ignore letters from your lender or loan servicer. Responding to those letters is your best bet for saving your house.
  3. Don’t transfer title or sell your house to a “foreclosure rescuer.” Beware! This is a scam to convince homeowners they can stay in the home as renters and buy their home back later. It might also be part of a fraudulent bankruptcy filing. Either way, a scammer can then evict the victim and take the home.
  4. Don’t pay your mortgage payments to anyone other than your lender or loan servicer. Mortgage consultants often keep the money for themselves.
  5. Never sign any documents without reading them first. Many homeowners think that they are signing documents for a loan modification or for a new loan to pay off the mortgage they are behind on. Later, they discover that they actually transferred ownership of their home to someone who is now trying to evict them.

Where Do I Report Fraud or File a Complaint?

File a complaint with the California Attorney General’s Office.

File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

If your complaint is against a real estate broker, visit the Department of Real Estate website.

If your complaint is against an attorney, visit the State Bar of California website.

You may also wish to consider filing a Small Claims Court action. These are informal courts where disputes are resolved quickly and inexpensively by a judge. You can recover up to $7500 in Small Claims Court. You represent yourself and can request a judgment for monetary damages. Visit the California Courts Self-Help Center for further information.

Source: Attorney General of California

Related articles

For all your real estate needs

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker

O’Dell Realty
(530-263-1091
Email Email John>/a>

DRE# 00669941

 

 

Enhanced by Zemanta
Real Estate

Another Arrest in Nationwide 6$ Million Loan Modification Scam

December 7, 2011

LOS ANGELES— Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the arrests of two Southern California men who, under the guise of an attorney-backed loan modification company, collected more than $6 million from homeowners nationwide for services that were never performed.

Christopher Fox, 37, of Laguna Niguel and Curtis Melone (AKA Curtis Kubat), 37, of Huntington Beach were arrested Tuesday on 37 felony counts, including conspiracy, grand theft and unlawful collection of advance fees. They are being held at the Orange County Jail on $500,000 bail and will be arraigned today in Orange County Superior Court.

Fox and Melone – along with King Harris III, 42, of St. Louis, Missouri – collected more than $6 million in up-front fees through Orange County- based Green Credit Solutions. The Attorney General’s office will seek extradition of Harris, who currently faces federal mail and wire fraud charges in Missouri.

“Homeowners continue to struggle throughout California and across the country to hang onto their homes, and this prosecution is another warning to predators who would seek to profit from their distress: this kind of criminal conduct will meet with swift and certain consequences,” Attorney General Harris said. “Homeowners should never pay up-front fees to reduce their loans. Californians who face mortgage difficulties should instead contact a non-profit housing counselor, either through www.HUD.gov or a local non-profit housing clinic, to learn about the mortgage process and their rights as homeowners.”

In June 2009, the Attorney General’s office launched an investigation of Orange County- based Green Credit Solutions – later renamed Guardian Credit Services and Get My Credit Grade – in response to numerous consumer complaints filed with the office, as well as with the Better Business Bureau, the California Department of Real Estate and the State Bar of California.

Through witness interviews, analysis of the company’s marketing materials, and its business and financial records, DOJ investigators uncovered a scheme in which thousands of victims paid $3,500 for what they believed were attorney-backed loan modification services to reduce their interest rates, monthly payments or principal balance.

From November 2008 to October 2009, Fox, Melone and Harris collected more than $6 million from thousands of homeowners across California and nationwide. Victims were told their funds would be held in a so-called “attorney escrow account” until services were completed. In fact, those fees were often deposited into the account of a disbarred attorney and then promptly transferred to GCS.

Likewise, the company fraudulently claimed that loan modification services would be performed by attorneys; Harris is a disbarred Tennessee attorney and marketing materials referred to his alleged partners at the defunct law firm of “Smith Harris PLLC.”

In May 2011, Attorney General Harris formed a Mortgage Fraud Strike Force to investigate and prosecute mortgage fraud. In August, the Strike Force filed its first suit against a law firm that took millions from desperate homeowners: Click to view

The complaint is attached to the online version of this release at http://oag.ca.gov/

 

Thinking of buying or selling?
For all your real estate needs
Email or call:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

Real Estate

Troubled Homeowners Get A Lifeline

1 Comment



The government is changing its Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), making it easier for homeowners to refinance their underwater, high-interest mortgages.

Making sense of the story

  • Although HARP has helped more than 890,000 homeowners nationwide by reducing their monthly mortgage payments, there are still millions of homeowners who are too far underwater to participate.
  • Under the new rules, homeowners who owe more than 125 percent of the market value of their homes will be allowed to refinance into new loans.
  • The program also streamlines the refinancing process for homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments and reduces or removes fees that previously hindered them from refinancing.
  • Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also will reduce the fees they charged in the past to enable borrowers to better afford the new loans.  Among the fees that will be reduced or eliminated are those for appraisals, title insurance, and closing costs.
  • Fees also will be waived for some underwater borrowers who are refinancing into 20-year or shorter-term loans.
  • HARP is only open to borrowers who are current on their payments for the past six months with no more than one missed payment in the past 12 months.  The loans must have been originally issued before May 31, 2009, and purchased by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Read the full story

Thinking of buying or selling?
For all your real estate needs
Email or call:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com