Sunday, February 21, 2010

Foreclosure in McHenry County, Illinois

I'm sure that you may have been hearing "foreclosures are on a decline" lately.....and this may be true, but there are signs that is it not true as well.

Check out Metrovisions Realty, Inc. on the web.

Everyone has theories about how this financial meltdown started, some blame it on people who should never have been able to get loans in the first place defaulting. Some blame it on greedy banks, others will say that it is because of lazy people who don't want to work but want to have everything working people have. So what is the truth? It could be each of these things, a combination of all.

The government, in 2002, started with this speech:

http://www.hud.gov/news/speeches/presremarks.cfm

This 2002 speech started the beginning of low down payments, tax credits to make the houses more affordable, and the rules are too strict so lets make that more lax. People who qualify will not have to save the money to come up with a down payment, the government will supply it. And by 2010 we will have 5.5 million homeowners.

It is 2010. In just the first half of 2009 there were a reported 1.5 million foreclosures.

The present administration is trying to help these people losing their homes. If you haven't lost your job and can still make your payments they will help you to refinance at a lower rate for a period of time. This has helped many people lower their mortgage payment to a more reasonable rate so they have more money to live on during the month. If enough people do this it will help to free up some money for people to spend.

Banks do not want to have to report to the government how high their foreclosure rates are right now, so the banks are holding off on some of the people who are not paying. This keeps the banks numbers low and the government off their back. How long can this last? The banks are not going to be able to let homeowners stay with out paying forever.

If you are in foreclosure, you should seriously consider selling your house. Yes, when you are in foreclosure you CAN sell your house. If you owe more to the bank than your house is worth you can do a short sale, in which case the bank accepts less than you owe to sell the property. The bank allows the costs of selling to be absorbed into the sale, so no money will come from the homeowner. The banks usually do not ask for anything, but in rare cases if the homeowners are in foreclosure and can afford the payments, the bank may ask for an agreed amount to be paid back to them.

Pricing your property at the same price as similar homes in the area are selling for is essential to getting an offer on your property. This may be significantly lower than you owe on the property, but if the price is not comparable to what has been selling no one will even look at your house.

Once an offer is made on your property, then the work begins. The bank will need paperwork from the homeowner, as well as documents and letters showing the reasons behind the foreclosure. Once this is provided to the bank they begin crunching numbers and deciding what they will be willing to accept to pay off the loan.

The best thing to do sometimes has to be to cut your losses and move on. A very difficult thing to do, but well worth it in the end.

Friday, February 19, 2010

2010 Census

It's time for the 2010 Census! You will start receiving them in the mail in March, and as I'm sure you are hearing from just about everyone.....it's important to fill it out and send it in!

There are 10 questions and it comes with a postage-paid envelope to send it back. If you do not send it in, you will receive a visit from a census worker. Your responses are strictly confidential and protected by law. The 2010 Census will not be released for 70 years, and how wonderful it will be for your grand-children or great-grandchildren to look at the 2010 Census and see your name!

The previous census work has proved invaluable to genealogy research. It has helped people to find long lost relatives and lines of family that have not been in contact.

The state and federal government distributes funds based on the population calculated off the census, so you can see how important this will be to all of our communities. These funds help provide for our schools, transportation, healthcare, housing, and much more!

If you do not receive a census form please call 1-866-872-6868.

If you have any questions or for more information please visit www.2010.census.gov

Visit our website at www.metrovisions.com to start a search for homes for sale. Our agents will work hard for you to find the house that suits you, and nothing is more exciting than walking into a house that you know is where you want to call home.

Our agents work in all of McHenry and Lake counties. From Zion, Winthrop Harbor, Waukegan, North Chicago, Round Lake, Grayslake, to Hebron, Woodstock, Crystal Lake, McHenry, Johnsburg, Island Lake, Bull Valley, Marengo, and everywhere in between, if you are looking to buy a house we will help you find it!

If you purchase a house before April 30th 2010 you may qualify for tax credit!!! Call us today at 815-669-4944 for more details.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Buy a Bank Owned property in the snow!

How much snow is there where you are? In Johnsburg there isn't that much snow yet! In Lincolnshire I have heard there is more snow than here.

We were out looking at houses today, which is a difficult thing to do with lots of snow on the ground. The bank owned properties are rarely shoveled, but we'll bring a shovel to shovel our way in if we have to!

When you are ready to buy a house, no amount of snow should stop you, especially right now, when you can get government tax credits. If you have the means to buy a house you should start looking for a house right now, today. Go to our website and sign up for a free search that will email you houses based on your self set criteria.