we made an offer on a short sale home. the bank has not approved the sale. we have not started escrow yet. but the escrow company already deposit our check. is this even legal? how do I get my check back?

There are a number of scammers who prey on real estate buyers and sellers, and the Internet is becoming their main playground. Millions of dollars are lost each year to scammers, not to mention loss of credit and reputation through identity theft. Here is a compilation of some real estate scams you should watch out for. Caveat emptor!

Predatory Lending:

This is getting a lot of attention in the real estate world, due to the number of homes going into foreclosure due to high interest rates. There are some companies that will take advantage of a home buyer’s ignorance and desire to own their own home to charge extremely high rates, fail to disclose information that would .

The Fake Landlord Scam:

If you’re selling a house, you might keep an eye out on Craigslist. Scammers have been known to check the MLS for likely looking houses, then advertise the same house on Craigslist and other online buy-and-sell sites. They then use the place to scam people looking for a place to rent, by charging fees for keys sent to the potential renter and even collecting “damage deposits” and “rent”. This often lands scammed renters on the real owner’s doorstep, demanding their money back and/or threatening litigation.

The Bait and Switch Scam:

The bait and switch is when a property is initially advertised at a very attractive price, but things change once you go to close the deal. The seller is banking on the likelihood that you might go ahead with the transaction if you’ve spent a lot of time and money negotiating for the property. Just keep in mind that you’ll be a lot more uncomfortable with an unaffordable mortgage than by suspending the mortgage. Read before you sign.

identity theft:

A mortgage quote can mean that your personal information is fair game for the Internet to play with. Lenders all over the country can see your information if you register with some firms. Applications solicited over the phone or the Internet are also suspicious. Don’t give your personal information to anyone or any company you can’t verify as legitimate. Also, inquire as to what steps your loan officer is taking to prevent your identity from becoming a scammer’s plaything.

The Equity Stripping Scam:

This is played on people who are in bad financial straits. Someone contacts them and promises to help them out by buying the property at a really low price, paying the mortgage, and then selling the property back to the family for a slightly inflated price. Win-win, right? Wrong. When the person/”company” gets hold of the deed to the property, they evict the family legally from the premises and then sell the property at a profit.

A lot of these scams depend on the homeowner or potential buyer being alone without the guidance of a real estate professional. Scammers don’t like it when you have advice from a professional, since it usually runs contrary to the get-rich-quick, it’s-our-little-secret scheme. If you’re presented with an offer that seems too good to be true, it’s probably just that. Get a REALTOR(R)’s or another professionals opinion on the “bargain” you’re getting before you sign anything or relinquish cash.

Our landlord has not told us the home we rent is in foreclosure. I found out through notices addressed to him in the mail and through a website listing our home in foreclosure. As it is we pay rent a month in advance and have decided to pay on time instead so that we do not lose a whole months rent if asked to leave. Sorry to say we do not trust our renter because he has not been honest with us. When this home sells, how long will we have to find a new place? Also, shouldn’t the bank be getting our rent money…especially if rent is more than his mortgage? I am really just concerned about what this means for us and options available? Anyone ever been in this situation?

I have a large piece of property (over 1-1/2 acres) that currently has a mobile home on it. I plan to live in the mobile home while a new home is being built.
However, my contractor tells me that I may not be able to get a construction loan to build the house if I live on the property. Anyone have experience with this?

It will be a while before I’m able to build, so I’m not ready to call up the various mortgage companies just yet.
Thanks! The property is located in the state of Florida.
Thanks. I do not need a loan at this time. I was just wondering if when I decided to get a loan if I would be able to live on site, or if it would make getting the loan more difficult.

Getting a home loan anywhere can be overwhelming, confusing and time consuming, but it’s important to do the proper research when searching for the best financial institution to handle your home loan.

You will find many lending companies that want your business for your home loan, but the most important thing about getting a home loan is that you find one that works best for you and your current financial situation. You want a loan that will be the best choice for you financially, so it’s important to evaluate your current financial situation as well as problem shooting your future financial situation.

You also want to work with a lending company that is interested in your needs, their customer service should be exceptional and their loan rates should be fair.

When searching for a home loan there are many different institutions that offer a multitude of home loan services so it is important to find the loan institution that is best for you, but how do you know who is the best? How do you know who is the most reputable? There are so many questions that are probably running through your mind when looking for the best home loan institution. So where do you begin?

Knowing where you are going to buy a home narrows the field of financial institutions down a whole lot. Start by going through the yellow pages or searching the internet for local lending institutions, then visit the Better Business Bureau and find out what they have to say about each individual company. After you’ve found a couple whose reputations appear to be outstanding visit their websites to see what sorts of programs they offer and what sorts of loan rates they offer, because in addition to wanting a reputable company, you also want an affordable company.

Based upon your findings, make a couple of appointments with a few different loaning institutions, because the next step is to find a loan officer that is right for you. Make sure that before you get started with the interview process that you ask your home loan officer for their license number. You want to make sure that you are dealing with a licensed loan officer. There are numerous lending and banking licensing agencies out there and each state has their own licensing agencies as well.

According to a 2002 publication from Arizona’s Attorney General, you should be on the lookout for predatory lending. These illegal lenders will target the elderly, minorities, and lower income families with less than perfect credit. If you think you have been a victim of predatory lending, or might know of one, contact the Attorney General at 1-602-542-5763.

15 SIGNS OF A PREDATORY LENDER

1.High Interest Rates

2.Excessive Points, Late Charges, Prepayment Penalties

3.Credit Insurance Packing

4.Asset Based Lending

5.Misrepresentations

6.Loan Flipping

7.Multiple Refinancing

8.Balloon Payments

9.High Closing Costs

10.Deceptive Loan Servicing

11.”The Home Improvement Loan”

12.Loan Broker Fees

13.Signing Over Your Deed

14.Stop Payment Advice

15.Discrimination

You should also be leary of lenders who:

1.Promise one set of terms when you apply but give you something different to sign without any explanation.

2.Tell you to sign incomplete or blank forms and say that they will just fill it in later.

3.Falsify information on the home loan application. For example, the lender tells you to say that your income is higher than it really is.

4.Pressures you into getting a home loan for more money than you need.

5.Pressures you into making monthly payment you can not afford.

6.Tells you that it is not important to read all of the fine print within the loan papers, or hurries you into signing.

7.Misrepresents the kind of credit you are getting. For example, calling a one-time loan a line of credit.

8.Will not allow you to have copies of the documents you signed.

If any of these things occurs during the loan process. Just say no! I recommend printing this out and keeping it with you when shopping for a home loan officer. The best way to prevent this from happening to you is to become smarter about the lending policies. One great way is to study and know the terms used in the lending industry.

It is important to find an home loan officer that best fits your needs. You should not feel pressured or uncomfortable when speaking to a lender. If you do, it might be your gut telling you that something isn’t right. If so, just walk away. Move on to the next lender. They should be willing to work with you to help you find the best loan for you and your situation.

Owner builder construction loans are difficult to market successfully. Even though it’s a specialized niche, the nature of the business dictates that an owner builder mortgage company will be structured as an online business, using online marketing to reach its clients.

Owner builder loans require that customers provide large amounts of personal, private information, which makes customers even more skeptical of any business that they can’t see in person. How do you build trust when your company is essentially an online business?

There are a few vital things you can do when you design your web site to help demonstrate to your potential customers that you are who you say you are, and that your company really delivers the product or service that you claim to deliver. Take a look at some of these tips and examples from the owner builder construction loan world, and you can apply the same principles to any online business. In fact, if a mortgage company can build trust online in today’s market, then you can be sure that these tips will work for you.

1. Owner Builder Testimonials.

If you are selling owner builder construction loans, then your must have as many testimonials as possible from actual owner builder customers who used your services. The same concept applies to any business. If you have a web site, then you need as many testimonials as you can get. In fact, even if your company markets offline, you will need as many testimonials as you can get, but that’s a topic for another day.

There is a saying in the marketing world: once you think you have put together enough testimonials for your marketing, double the number. Then, double it again. Nobody speaks better about your business than your previous clients who worked with you or bought from you.

Don’t just gather written words for your testimonial. Instead, use as many photographs as possible. Customers will see the photographs as further proof to go along with the words that you customers write. For example, in the case of owner builder loans, you would use as many photographs of the homes that your clients built through your program. Proof of legitimate service builds trust.

In addition, you may also want to consider using audio to go along with the written testimonials. If a customer can visit your web site and actually listen to other customers who liked your product, it will be much more effective for you.

2. Longevity and Consistency.

Customers, whether they are owner builder clients or any customer buying any service or product from any online company, all want to know that you have been in business for a long time. This builds a sense of consistent service, which in turn builds a sense of trust for your customers.

For an online business, the easiest way to establish this consistency is to simply tell the customer how long your company has actually been in business. The best way to do this is to post this information right on your “About Us” page on your web site.

But, another little tip that works well is to put a copyright date at the bottom of every page on the site. If the copyright is dated at the start date of your business, customers will infer automatically that your company has been doing business since that date.

3. Contact Information.

For the example of owner builder construction loans, customers want to know how they can contact your business. Many online companies in this industry tend to force customers to reach them by email only. From the company’s point of view, it makes a lot of sense - owner builder loans require a lot of time to qualify potential clients. It is difficult to devote this precious time to answering an incoming phone call from a tire kicker customer.

However, if you have an online business that is service oriented like an owner builder mortgage company, then you need to post a phone number as part of your contact information. Without it, the sensitive nature of the industry will cause many potential clients to look elsewhere. If you prefer that your customers contact you by email, simply tell them that on the web site. Post the phone number, though, to help build trust.

And, just as important, make sure you give a physical address on your web site. By telling customers where your company is physically located, it will put them at ease about the fact that they themselves will never actually walk into your office. They will be comforted by the fact that they could walk into your office if the happened to be in your local area.

Furthermore, don’t just list the address. Also include a quick description of the location by mentioning some nearby landmarks. Don’t worry if the local landmark won’t be known by your online customers. The fact that you mention these landmarks will provide extra evidence that your online business actually has a physical location.

4. Owner Builder Information Request Form.

If you collect information from your customers through an online form, then you will want to tell your customers exactly how this information will be used. In other words, tell them how the information will not be used or shared.

For example, an owner builder customer often has to fill out a lot of information about their finances online. Even though no social security numbers or birthdates are collected through these forms, there is still a lot of personal information that is needed to process the online form. Therefore, they want to know that their privacy will be protected.

All online businesses need to tell their customers that they respect their privacy. If you don’t respect the privacy of your customers, you are not going to be in business very long.

In addition to addressing this issue within the web site’s online form, you could also have a specific page devoted to your company’s privacy policy. Then, you can link to that page from your online form. The privacy policy doesn’t have to be a bunch of legalese. Simply spell out how you plan to use the information that you are collecting. And, spell out whether or not you will need to share the information with any other entity.

Overall, owner builder customers are no different from other customers in an online world. If you are an online business, you need to design your website to build trust with those customers. Remember, your web pages will be one of the first impressions that you make on your customer.

Building a house is a landmark event in any person’s life. The decision to build a house comes after a long analysis of the sources of funds to facilitate the process. Luckily, there are a lot of lending companies that offer loans targeted at new home construction. New home construction loans and stated income construction loans are the two types of loans that are offered to people in the process of constructing a new home. Both types of loans offer funding for new home construction, but the difference lies in the way in which they can be obtained.

The first and very crucial step in obtaining a home construction loan is choosing a lender. New home construction loans are offered by all major national lenders and can also be obtained from regional banks or mortgage companies. The important point to note is that the lender must be kept informed of anything and everything that has been planned about the home construction. Typically, the interest for a new construction loan is paid over a period of 12 months, and then replaced by a mortgage, once the home’s construction has been completed.

New construction loans themselves are of two types. The first type is known as the all-in-one loan, in which the loan is automatically converted to a regular mortgage on completion of the construction of the home. The second type is the construction-only loan, which as the name suggests covers only the construction costs of the home. This type of loan is due as soon as the construction is done and must either be paid off or replaced by a mortgage. Lenders have very specific ways of paying for the construction of the home. The payment of funds is divided in to several “draws”. The home-owner must draw up a plan at each stage of the building process clearly stating how much funding was used at that particular stage of construction. For example, a draw can be done after the pouring of the foundation of the home, or maybe during the framing of the home. This drawn up plan is then sent to the lender, who examines it and allocates the funds to be paid.

The other type of home construction loan, called the stated income construction loan is a loan that does not require the verification of the home owner’s income. This type of loan is a boon and is best suited for self employed individuals. Anyone who cannot produce verification documents for their income, or chooses not to reveal their earnings can benefit from this kind of loan. The benefit of a stated income construction loan is that it is generally approved much faster than other kinds of loans. The downside to this type of loan is that the interest rates associated with it are much higher than other loans. Correspondingly, the down payments are also significantly higher. The procedure to apply for a stated income loan is quite simple and all it requires is an online application or a direct application at the office of the chosen lender.

I have been waiting for over 3 weeks for my lenders loss mitigation to get back to me and still haven’t received a call. I have been calling everyday to see if my case has been assigned to an agent. What are my options at this point?

Due to a family emergency I’m looking to take out a personal loan to help. My FICO score is currently 780-800 across all three credit bureaus. I’m wondering how badly the score will be affected by taking out a loan of about $4k. I can definitely pay it off within three or four months tops - there is no plan to open any other lines of credit other than this.
Rayna: I have good credit. Are you a spambot?

In the current financial scene, there is such a concept as hard money loans. The credit facilities are standing by its namesake. Hard money is the amount of loan that is usually hard to outsource especially in the current credit industry situation. There are many lenders and loan providers that are operating in the market. Unfortunately, not all of them are ready to provide loans for whoever needs to secure such products. Most general and conventional lenders are very strict in setting standards to make sure their borrowers would not fail on repaying dents to them. That makes lending hard for many people. People with tarnished credit histories are also having harder times finding such loans.

Coastal La Jolla Funding is here to provide the much needed loans for needy people. The company specializes in providing hard money loans. Coastal La Jolla Funding also provides California bad credit loans, bridge loans, real estate or mortgage loans, residential loans, construction loans rehab loans and personal loans. The company initially started to cover the lending market in California, but to date, the loan provider is also providing hard loans to borrowers and consumers across other states like Virginia, Oregon, Michigan, Connecticut, Arizona, Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Florida and Minnesota. With those expanded branches, the company s able to reach more borrowers and consequently broaden its own market.

The company’s bad credit and hard money loans may start at about $100,000 and may reach up to as much as $20 million. You can easily apply for a loan now and see how you could qualify for larger credit facilities. Coastal La Jolla Funding even takes loans to finance current home constructions. If you are building a house and suddenly runs out of funds, you can opt to take a hard money loan from the company. Coastal La Jolla Funding can commit to finance up to 75% of the request loan. In return, expect that the firm would be securing a 25% to 30% equity in the home construction, which would serve as a collateral. Repaying the loan at agreed upon terms would enable you to regain full equities to the asset.

To qualify for a hard money loan of your type, you could start by filing out an application form online that may take about two minutes of your time. In a matter of hours or days, the company’s contact bad credit lenders and brokers would contact you in the initial phase of the process. For loan applications outside the states covered, be ensured that the company would still be of great help. Coastal La Jolla Funding would refer you to its affiliate lenders and hard money lending contacts within your area.

The maturity terms are another factor. Usually Coastal La Jolla Funding facilitates for loans that are payable for the next six weeks to up to two years. As mentioned above, terms could be extended to 20 years depending on the terms, loan amounts and other loan provisions. The loan could be as large as $100,000 to about $20 million, depending on the collaterals and assets you may be presenting as loan securities. For personal loans, the amounts of loans could vary. You can opt to take smaller amounts or go for the larger. Of course, the company would advise you on which loan product to take considering your payment capacity to avoid future setbacks and troubles.

Coastal La Jolla Funding also serves as a mediator between you, the borrower and the prospective money lending companies that could provide you with the loans. The company is somehow taking some part of responsibilities on your requirements.

In the current lending scene, it is hard to find loan products that would convenient and reliable. That is why if you have urgent needs for loans, make sure you have contacts with reliable and fast loan providers. Entrust your requirements and needs to Coastal La Jolla Funding and see how convenient and effective it is to get a deal with a good hard money lending specialist.