Studio City Homes are renowned for their excellent location in sunny Southern California. Just over the hill from Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Downtown Los Angeles, lays Studio City, ideal for living, working or relaxing. With a variety of homes, from old Spanish style homes to Modern Architecture, 70.6% of residents who reside in Studio City live in single family homes.
Home prices went from a high of $848,500 between 2006 and 2007, to a decline of $637,100 in 2009. Homeowners are earnestly waiting for the housing market to resume its typical position.
 
From April 2009 to May 2009 average sales prices of homes in Studio City went down 0.12 percent. The average estimated value went down 0.03 percent from May 2009 to April 2009. Although, the city’s average sales price and average estimated value are still above both the National average and the California State average. Studio City has an average listing price for homes for sale of $1,092,239. The current number of properties on the market is 243 with a median listing price of $894,000. The Los Angeles county average listing price for homes for sale is $898,758. The Los Angeles county total real estate listings are 26,126 and a median listing price of $446,662.
 
No brand new Studio City Homes have been sold. California, among Florida, Nevada, Arizona, and Michigan are the top five states with the most foreclosures. Foreclosures are becoming habitual in the housing market. In the Golden State, 4.19 percent of housing has resulted in foreclosures, following Florida which is a striking 8.95 percent. Studio City is ranked 2495 out of all city foreclosure rate rankings. Foreclosure activity accounts for 39 percent. Home sales since 2005 have consistently declined. Los Angeles is ranked the number 10 city with the worst housing market in 2009. In contrast, sales are slightly rising in many mid- to high-end markets.  Many homeowners are anxious for the housing market to resume its standard standpoint. You might be asking, when will the housing market get better?  The amount of new and resale houses and condos sold in the state of California this past month was up by 2.9 percent since April 2009 and up 18.3 percent since May 2008.
 
Homeowners are tossing and turning due to the lessening of their property value, increase in foreclosures and the sluggish real estate market. There is no need to worry anymore. There is always a solution to a problem, and we have your solution. There are steps which homeowners could take to present their home to a buyer in the most appealing fashion. Eliminate all odors, cleanliness should be a given, clean carpet, and brighten up the rooms by installing new lighting or opening curtains and letting the California rays shine in. Lastly, outside presentation is everything, so make sure the grass is nicely manicured and the outside paint isn’t chipping. There are many Homes for sale in Studio City; yours might be sold if you take the appropriate steps.

Does this scenario seem familiar? You’ve lost that high-paying job you thought you had tucked in your pocket; your finances are upside down, you miss a couple mortgage payments and now your home is in pre-foreclosure. You owe more money than the home is worth. You’re not sure which direction to turn or what strategy to adopt to escape this difficult situation. You’re looking for help from someone who has mastered the art of saving people from real estate peril. You need someone to help you with the details of short sales.

Real estate short sales are a process which basically means selling a piece of property for less than is owed. This enables the seller to sell his house while in pre-foreclosure, enables the lender to at least get a good chunk of their investment back and enables the buyer to procure a beautiful home for a lot less money than usual. Short sales are another way of saying let’s make a deal.

The headaches and ominous black clouds of foreclosure are increasingly common in cities across California, but banks do not really want homes to go past pre-foreclosure. Banks are not in the real estate business. It’s just too much time, struggle and money for them to go all the way. A good real estate agent guides you through the steps needed to make short sales happen.

Typically, a person will call the lender a half-dozen times or more before contacting the person who is in charge of short sales. Ask for a supervisor so that you deal with someone with the authority to make a decision. Don’t let the lackeys give you the run around. Of course, with a great agent, you avoid some of the more common headaches of short sales.

If you choose to use an agent to assist you with a short sale, you’ll need to give them the proper authorization. A letter containing your name, the current date, the address of the pre-foreclosure home and the reference number of the loan should suffice. Also include the name and information of your agent so that the lender may contact them. The lender will be far more cooperative and willing to discuss personal information with your agent when they’ve been given proper authorization from you.

Another letter that you must write is a letter of hardship. You’ll need to explain what has happened to cause your upside down situation. Did you lose your job? Were you incapacitated and unable to make ends meet for a while? The letter of hardship is a way to put a human face on a pile of missed payments.

From bank statements to pay stubs, the lender will want to see them all to assess your situation. But don’t let their monolithic features intimidate you; lenders are humans just like you or I. Quite likely, especially in California where many homes have been going into the pre-foreclosure, they know someone personally in a situation similar to yours. Turn to an expert and let them ease your fears during the short sales process.

The two-county Inland region once again led Southern California in the rate of foreclosure-related filings, including notices of defaults, trustee sales and lender repossessions. In Riverside County, 7.9 percent of homes faced foreclosure and in San Bernardino 6 percent of homes entered the foreclosure process. Riverside County’s foreclosure-related filings last month totaled 7,960, an increase of 30 percent from February and 127 percent from March 2007. San Bernardino County had 6,182 filings, up 25 percent from February and 118 percent from a year earlier.

Foreclosure activity is expected to peak later this year based on subprime mortgage resets, said Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors.

RealtyTrac reported that foreclosure filings on 64,711 homes were recorded in California in March, the most for any state for the 15th consecutive month. California’s foreclosure activity last month increased nearly 21 percent from February and almost 106 percent from a year earlier.

Los Angeles Foreclosures –

Hardest hit cities Los Angeles (2060), Lancaster (869), Palmdale (852), Long Beach (499) and Santa Clarita (264)

Orange County Foreclosures -

Hardest hit cities Santa Ana (629), Anaheim (413), Garden Grove (211), Orange (150), Fullerton (136)

Riverside Foreclosures -

Hardest hit cities Riverside (1028), Moreno Valley (945), Corona (742), Murrieta (494), and Perris (478)

San Diego Foreclosures -

Hardest hit cities San Diego (1620), Chula Vista (582), Escondido (373), Oceanside (370) and El Cajon (260)

San Bernardino Foreclosures –

Hardest hit cities Fontana (770), San Bernardino (668), Victorville (609), Hesperia (384), and Rialto (341)

With all the bad news about Foreclosure the Senate with an overwhelming decision in favor of the 84-12 voted to pass the “Foreclosure Prevention Act” Part of this package would give the buyers of foreclosure homes a $7,000 credit to help provide relief to struggling banks who have huge inventories of foreclosed properties.

If you are thinking about buying a home that is a bank repo, start shopping on the web with mortgage company web sites like countrywide has.

http://countrywide-foreclosures.blogspot.com/2008/04/14220-reos-offered-for-sale-on.html

Total REO (As of April 17, 2008)

State Count Total Asking Price($) Average Asking Price($)

CA 4,293 1,218,980,585 283,946

Daniel Doane can be reached at Hardmoney_direct@yahoo.com

www.Hardmoney-DIRECT.com

We analysed 34 major cities in the East Bay Market .Sales of November 2009 were compared to November 2008

Median Price Change in Home Prices

The major cities that had double digit drop in median home prices as compared to last year were Lafayette Homes (-19.31%) ,Walnut Creek Homes(-18.44%),Alameda Homes(-13.88%),Emeryville Homes(-13.61%),Antioch Homes (-10.07%).The good news is all other cities had single digit drops and some cities actually showed gains in home prices over last year .Oakland homes(12.84%),Bay Point Homes(14.19%),Danville Homes (16.22%),Fremont Homes(17.64%),El Sobrante Homes(21.54%) and Discovery Bay( 22.54%)

Median Days On Market

28 of the 34 cities actually had homes for lower median days on the market as compared to last year. That is also evident from the number of multiple offers being received on individual homes and the number of rejections Buyers are receiving.25 cities had double digit drop in median days the homes were on the market. Pinole Homes (-65.14%) ,Pacheco Homes(-64.91%),San Lorenzo Homes(-64.06%),Hercules Homes(-62.97%),Bay Point Homes( -61.93%),Pittsburg Homes(-51.05%)and Hercules Homes(-50.29%)had the median days on the market down  by more than half.

Homes Sold

Overall the homes sold last year in November 2008 were 2008 homes as compared to 1932 homes this year in November 2009.Some cities faced increases and some faced losses but overall the decline was not noticeable

Where have the Bank Foreclosures gone?

It’s a fact that Bank Owned listings/ homes are few to find. Everybody is scratching their heads to figure this one out. We have numbers in our report to show that Bank Foreclosures have dropped as compared to same time last year. But since the sale of homes was quite comparable to last year where did  the difference come from. It most likely includes property flippers, short sales and regular sales by sellers. It is difficult to pinpoint the break down of this one .However we do have changes in Bank REO homes .29 of the 34 cities had decreased Bank Foreclosures.27 of the 29 cities had double digit decreases . Major decreases in Bank Owned properties was in Pleasanton Homes(-68.18%),Danville Homes (-66.41%)Dublin Homes( -61.54%)Fremont Homes(-56.93%),Pinole homes(-56.04%),Hayward Homes(-55.75%)

No of Months Inventory

The leader in number of months of homes  inventory  were Pittsburg Homes(8.25Months),Discovery Bay Homes(8.04M),Hercules Homes(7.31M).The lowest inventory was in El Cerrito Homes(2.4M) Berkeley Homes(2.87 M),Union City Homes(4M)

You can see detailed charts on East Bay Ca Homes For Sale which include  comparison for November 2009 to November 2008 and Summary of Numbers for November 2009.

You can view individual city data , view properties and qualify for East Bay Ca Foreclosures on our website.

Santa Rosa is a city always on the move and continuously growing and developing. Many people believe that Santa Rosa is the best place on earth to be in if you wish to live in harmony with nature but are also interested in being up to date with business.

There are many Santa Rosa homes for sale that are fairly new and still in the developing stages. Even if you have no intention of living there just yet they are perfect for investment purposes as the city is on an upward spiral in terms of growth and economy.

Certain sections of Santa Rosa are still steeped in history as many of the Victorian buildings fortunately escaped destruction in the major earthquake of 1906. Much of Santa Rosa was flattened and had to be rebuilt from scratch; these parts constitute the vibrant growing modern Santa Rosa as compared to the easy-going, laid back, time tested parts of Santa Rosa.

The community of Santa Rosa is a diverse and happy one, striving everyday for better lives for all their fellow residents and encouraging prosperity through diversity and growth. Santa Rosa homes are varied in design and can be quite expansive. Whether a one is looking for a large family home or a smaller apartment or a luxury condo, you are sure to find exactly what you are looking for.

When you purchase one of Santa Rosa’s propertiesand decide to live there, you will soon discover that you can find everything you need to get started in the main streets itself. The city center is perfect for anyone to relax in and enjoy some free time. There are small stores and restaurants with children’s parks and green areas, the City Hall, libraries, schools, various community groups, mall spaces, and more.

This is a safe and secure city where both, its people and its authorities have strong values and are absolutely interested in preserving its heritage and nature, while stabilizing infrastructure and encouraging economic stability.

Santa Rosa is an ideal place for any enterprising person interested in starting his or her own business. You can purchase business premises in the various developments around the city and work with the community to improve it financially and technologically while at the same time you prosper in a relaxed environment.

The educational system in Santa Rosa is well developed and consists of over 30 excellent private and public schools, as well as four colleges and a university.

If you are looking for a great community and secure environment then look no further. Move to this peaceful city and purchase one of the lovely Santa Rosa properties for sale . Indeed, Santa Rosa is a great place to buy a home in and raise your family in.

Today, it is estimated that one in ten homeowners is either in foreclosure or behind in their payments. As the economic crisis becomes more severe and the recession feeds upon itself, people have become more and more desperate to find some way to hold onto their houses. With such conditions, the average member of the public is ripe for a scam and the and those who try to dupe you or use trickery know this. It is no surprise, therefore that the number of foreclosure type scams are on the rise.

If you’ve been the victim anywhere in Southern California of real estate fraud or the target of an unscrupulous loan modification service, foreclosure consultant or someone acting on your behalf to modify your mortgage or cure your problems who is in violation of the strict regulations in California, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson at any of the numbers on our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com .

If you are a licensed real estate broker or agent and have either been wrongly accused of being in violation of the laws and regulations governing loan modification services and foreclosure consultants, or acted as such without being aware of these strict regulations and need legal defense, we urge you to call us at any of the numbers which you can find on our website.

Those who are most likely to be targeted by persons attempting to perpetrate a fraud are the elderly, anyone entering foreclosure, people who have recently lost their jobs, families who have lost a loved one, people who have limited knowledge of English, people with limited resources, and homeowners whose payment amounts have recently been raised.

The moment you enter foreclosure, expect to be inundated with offers of help from many individuals with generic type sounding names, and some claiming even to have references from churches near you. These are, in most cases, some of the people you should stay away from at all cost.

The person who will approach you in this type of scam is more often than not, well-dressed, well groomed, and seems personable, kind, and trustworthy. Some utilize social skills to put you at ease such as their representation to be of the same religion as you, or even the same church, to have been in the military if they think that will put you at ease or feel more trusting of them, and others will claim to be working for non-profit organizations, or branches of the government.

These are some of the most common scams and what you can do to avoid being a victim.

1) The Disappearing Foreclosure Consultant – With a helpful sounding name, and armed with references and a kind voice, the person who contacts you promises to help you stave off foreclosure with just an up-front fee for their time. The only problem is, as soon as the money clears their bank, you never see or hear from them again. The soon-to-be phantom performs little or no service, takes your money and you are left with your original problems and less time to try to save your home from foreclosure.

2) Loan Modification Helpers – Unlike Santa’s Helpers, in this scam you pay a fee up front to the “loan modification expert” to negotiate directly with your bank, only here you don’t get a present from Santa. If the expert really gains your trust, you also make your mortgage payments directly to the expert rather than to the mortgage company. Both the up front fee and the mortgage payments go directly into the pocket of the loan modification helper with the white beard and the kind voice and by the time you receive notice that your house is in foreclosure, this elf has disappeared and is back at the North Pole.

3) Just Sign Here Scams – As you face the prospect of foreclosure, one offer of help seems far better than all the others because it allows you to stay in your home as they save it from foreclosure. Unfortunately, in the papers you sign without having a lawyer look at them, you agree, knowingly or unknowingly, to sign over the house to the person offering this help and still remain responsible for the mortgage payments. The person then either sells your house, collects other fees from you or holds onto the house and evicts you.

4) Sale and Leaseback Scams – In this scam, if you are a homeowner who still has some equity in your home, you will be convinced to sign over title in your home and pay rent to the scam artist with the promise that they can bail you out, cure your problems and that you will be allowed to buy back the house later at a bargain price. All of this can be accomplished, but only if the property is in the consultant’s name. The payments you make go directly to the scam artist and eventually you will find yourself holding the bag. You may also find yourself evicted when you can no longer make the excessive rent payments. If you have lost your job and are having trouble making your house payments, even if you have equity in your home, you may be tempted by this scam. And while you would be entitled to the excess equity in your home if the house is sold in foreclosure, when you fall victim to this scam, you will lose the equity when it is either sold out from under you or the equity is stripped away by the new owner.

5) The Trust Me, I’m Religious or I Was In The Military Too Scam – These people posing as Christians, former members of the military or members of whatever social organizations you belong to come complete with references from members of your church or with military haircuts and promise that by adding them to the title to your home, they can rescue you from foreclosure, and have your credit repaired. Having gone through your mail or your trash, they probably know all about you. There’s no need to see a lawyer, they tell you. Just pray with them or have a drink with them and swap military stories. Just be sure to hold on to your wallet, don’t give them any money and don’t sign anything.

6) Sign Me Up Scotty And Get A New Loan Scam – In this scam, you are told that if you add the nice looking good Samaritan onto your title by signing a Grant Deed or other legal instrument, (which you are told, you don’t really need to read) this friendly person can apply for a new loan, which, unfortunately, if approved, will leave you on the hook for both the old loan payments and the new loan payments, and any up front fees you pay for this service will disappear with this fraud.

7) Buy My Books, Take This Seminar And Make Millions Scam – You may see this offer on late night television, on roadside signs or even on billboards. Only this time, you are talked into buying materials that are full of worthless information that will do nothing to help you avoid foreclosure. Even worse, the materials you receive may offer advice that will land you in jail by telling you how to approach others in foreclosure and advise you to tell them you can save them from foreclosure. The trouble is, what you will be doing is either practicing law without a license or acting as a credit repair agency or loan modification expert without a real estate license and without an advance fee agreement approved by the Commissioner of the California Department of Real Estate and without being registered with the California Department of Justice.

The Short Sale Scam – In this scam, the “short sale specialist” who contacts you promises his expertise to accomplish a short sale in a small amount of time that will protect your credit. There is a fee of course that would have been better spent on groceries. When the real estate market was better, there were additional wrinkles to this scam that today are more difficult to perpetrate due to the difficulty of selling homes in this economy.

9) It’s Like Magic – Here the homeowner is told to sign one thing, but the homeowner winds up signing something altogether. In some instances of this bait and switch scam, the scam artist will serve as the notary as well. In conjunction with this and other scams, or in other variations, forgery may be utilized, and identity theft employed as well.

10) Want Somewhere Cheap To Rent Scam – Here the bogus homeowner or leasing agent takes your rent payment and security deposit and rents or leases you vacant residential or commercial property, that isn’t owned by the person you are talking with and if you are talking with a leasing agent, this “agent” has no authority to offer you the property for rent or lease.

11) How About A Nice Loan Modification Scam – As with foreclosure consultants, loan modification services are strictly regulated by California statutes. If you have lost money or your home to a foreclosure consultant or someone promising to obtain a loan modification or cure to your problems and they have violated these statutes, in some cases you may be entitled to any moneys paid to them, but also, in some cases, your other actual damages, equitable relief, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs and punitive damages of three times the compensation received or misapplied by the foreclosure consultant or loan modification service who contracted with you.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to recover your money when you have been the victim of any of these types of fraud. However, there are times when the persons attempting to defraud you simply don’t know better and are otherwise responsible citizens and business people who don’t know the law, or conveniently fail to research the law, and who may either have errors and omissions insurance or assets which may cover their indiscretions.

Such defendants may include real estate brokers, foreclosure consultants, loan modification companies and services and mortgage brokers.

These parties may be responsible if they made misrepresentations to you, committed fraud, charged you fees and collected such fees in advance for foreclosure consultant services, failed to follow the strict regulations set forth in the California Civil Code and Business and Professions Code or had you pay fees in advance for loan modifications under agreements that have not been approved by the Commissioner of the California Department of Real Estate. The laws in California are very strict as to when you may be charged fees for such services and under what circumstances.

If a person makes promises or representations to you without any intent to perform the services promised, and if you have been damaged as a result of your reliance on those promises or representations, you may have a valid claim against that person for fraud. Such promises may include a promise that they will be able to obtain a modification of your loan or to save you from foreclosure, and will likely require you to pay up-front fees that do little, if any, good.

Here are the five tips of advice we recommend to anyone in this situation being approached by people offering help.

1. Avoid any solicitations of help that come unexpectedly, by mail, e-mail and by telephone or to your door.

2. Avoid using any help agency whose name you find on roadside signs such as those which state “We Buy Homes For Cash” and those which promise to “Stop Foreclosure.”

3. Avoid paying up-front fees to foreclosure or loan modification experts.

4. Disregard anyone who tells you not to talk to your bank or tells you to avoid consulting with a lawyer.

5. Don’t sign anything without having it reviewed by a real estate lawyer.

Red flags to you that you are about to be scammed should include requests of you for any of the following: to pay money up-front before any service has been performed, payment by cash, cashier’s checks or bank wires only, transfers of title, actions to be taken immediately, power of attorney, signatures on grant deeds, signatures without any explanation or while under time constraints, signatures on incomplete documents, and mortgage payments to persons other than the mortgage company.

Other red flags include unqualified promises, offers that sound too good to be true, failures to provide you with copies of what you sign, oral promises that are in conflict with written provisions, refusals to put the oral promises in writing, oral statements that the provisions in writing don’t mean what they say or won’t be enforced, and warnings not to discuss the matter with an attorney, your lender or anyone else.

If you have a business or real estate legal matter in Palm Springs or Palm Desert, in Ontario or Rancho Cucamonga, Temecula or Murrieta, Newport Beach or Huntington Beach, Anaheim or Santa Ana, El Cajon or Carlsbad, Palmdale or Victorville, Long Beach or Santa Monica, Ventura or Oxnard, or anywhere in Southern California, our Palm Springs, San Diego, Orange County, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo law firm has the knowledge and resources to be your Business Lawyers and Real Estate Attorneys. If you’ve been the victim of a real estate, business, loan modification or foreclosure scam or fraud, be sure to hire a law firm with experience in loan modification, foreclosure and real estate fraud in California and who will endeavor to ensure that your rights are properly represented.

To learn more about such scams or the statutes which regulate loan modification and foreclosure consultants, or for legal representation, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson at any of the numbers on our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com .

News Alert – On October 11, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law Senate Bill 94 which took effect immediately upon his signature. This law now prohibits any person, including real estate licensees and attorneys from demanding or collecting an advance fee from any consumer for loan modification or mortgage loan forbearance services affecting dwellings with one to four residences. Advance fees inadvertently collected after October 11, 2009 must be refunded. Agreements entered into before October 11, 2009 are not affected and the below rules still apply to those prior agreements. If you already entered into an agreement with a licensed real estate broker for loan modification or other mortgage loan forbearance services prior to October 11, 2009 and that broker had received a “no objection” letter from the California Department of Real Estate, they are permitted to continue providing those services to you according to the terms of the contract. However, they are not permitted to collect any further advance fees from you. The California Department of Real Estate website states, “If you are approached by any person requiring up front fees for these services, do not pay them.”

Today, everywhere you look, there are commercials, billboards and roadside signs by entities offering to help you prevent a foreclosure of your home. Known as Foreclosure Consultants, some, if not many of these services and the persons whom they employ may be acting in violation of the strict regulations in California which regulate this growing industry. Others, may be outright frauds and scam artists.

The focus of these foreclosure consultants is anyone who is behind on their mortgage payments, which is now estimated to encompass one out of every ten homeowners. However, those who seek to defraud the public have their focus especially on the elderly, the newly unemployed, those whose properties are entering foreclosure and those whose payments have recently spiked upwards.

If you’ve been the victim anywhere in Southern California of real estate fraud or the target of an unscrupulous loan modification service, foreclosure consultant or someone acting on your behalf to modify your mortgage or cure your problems who is in violation of the strict regulations discussed in this article, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson at any of the numbers on our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com .

If you are a licensed real estate broker or agent and have either been wrongly accused of being in violation of the laws and regulations governing loan modification services and foreclosure consultants, or acted as such without being aware of these strict regulations and need legal defense, we urge you to call us at any of the numbers which you can find on our website.

To help you wade through the regulations in California on such services, here are some of the most important regulations. Keep in mind, that there is some overlap between foreclosure consultants and loan modification services. For that reason, the laws and regulations governing both services are included.

California Civil Code Section 2945 regulates foreclosure consultants. There is an additional requirement with respect to loan modification services, as discussed below. As with many code sections, the restrictions are complex and many. But here are the primary ways in which foreclosure consultants and loan modification services are regulated.

First, no foreclosure consultant and no real estate licensee is allowed to collect any advance fees for services as a foreclosure consultant once a Notice of Default has been recorded against your property. California lawyers are exempt from this prohibition.

Second, even if a Notice of Default has not been recorded against your property, in order for a real estate broker to assist you in obtaining a loan modification, or to otherwise negotiate a possible resolution to your problem, the broker must have you sign an agreement that specifically states what services will be performed, when they will be performed and how much you must pay.

Third, a broker may not have you sign any such loan modification agreement until it has been submitted to the Department of Real Estate for review and the broker has received permission from the DRE to use it and collect an advance fee.

Fourth, licensed real estate brokers who provide loan modification services without collecting fees in advance are not required to receive the DRE’s permission so long as their services are fully completed before they are paid by you.

Fifth, foreclosure consultant contract must allow the homeowner the right to cancel the contract until midnight of the third business day as defined in Section 1689.5 of the California Civil Code.

Sixth, foreclosure consultant contracts must provide an additional notice to the homeowner in 14-point boldface type stating when fees can be taken and notifying the homeowner that the consultant cannot ask you to sign any lien, deed of trust or deed.

Seventh, it is a violation for the foreclosure consultant to claim, demand, charge, collect, or receive any compensation until after the consultant has performed each and every service the consultant contracted or represented he or she would perform.

Eighth, it is a violation for the foreclosure consultant to charge any fee or interest which exceeds ten percent per annum of the amount of any loan which the foreclosure consultant may make to the owner.

Ninth, it is also a violation for the foreclosure consultant to take any wage assignment, consideration from any third party, acquire any interest in the residence in question, take any power of attorney, induce the owner to sign other contracts which are not in compliance, or enter into an agreement to assist the owner to obtain surplus funds prior to 65 days after the trustee’s sale has been conducted.

Tenth, an action may be brought against a foreclosure consultant for any of these violations and judgment shall include actual damages, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, equitable relief and exemplary damage of at least three times the compensation received by the foreclosure consultant. The foreclosure consultant may also be punished by a fine of up to $25,000.00 or imprisonment for up to a year or both for each violation.

The reason for these regulations are many. Foreclosure consultants have, in many cases, been found to charge high fees, require the payment to be secured by a deed of trust on the residence, and then have either performed no service or worthless services. Some foreclosure consultants have then been known to purchase the homes at a fraction of their worth shortly before the homeowner loses their home.

Additionally, some foreclosure consultants have required payment of exorbitant fees for services such as to obtain the remaining funds from a foreclosure sale when the homeowner could have obtained those remaining funds from the trustee of a trustee’s sale directly for minimal cost if the homeowner had sufficient time to receive notices from the trustee regarding how and where to make a claim for excess proceeds under Civil Code Section 2924j.

Among the services foreclosure consultants are known to offer, legitimate or otherwise, are to stop or postpone foreclosure sales, obtain forbearances from beneficiaries and mortgage companies, assist in getting reinstated, obtain extensions of time, obtain waivers of acceleration clauses, assist in obtaining loans and advances, avoiding or ameliorating the impairment of the owner’s credit, saving the home from foreclosure, and assisting in obtaining the remaining proceeds from the foreclosure of the residence. If a foreclosure consultant promises any of these services, he or she is bound by Civil Code Section 2945 discussed above.

If you are dealing with a loan modification service, even one with a contract which has been submitted to the DRE and the broker has received permission to use it and collect an advance fee, if the real estate broker does not follow the strict procedures for handling the advance fee as contained in California Business & Professions Code Section 10146, the agent will be presumed to have violated Sections 506 and 506a of the Penal Code and the homeowner may recover treble damages for amounts misapplied and shall also be entitled to reasonable attorney fees in any action to recover those amounts.

Representatives of foreclosure consultants must be bonded real estate licensees. Foreclosure consultants must also be bonded and registered with the California Department of Justice (and submit advertising and promotional materials) and the homeowner must be provided with written proof that the consultant’s representative has a valid California real estate sales license, and is bonded in an amount equal to at least twice the fair market value of the property in question. If the foreclosure consultant performs any activities which include negotiating loans or performing services in connection with real property loans, the consultant must also be a real estate licensee.

While real estate agents are in some respects exempt from the foreclosure consultant regulations contained in Civil Code Section 2945, they are subject to it’s regulations under certain circumstances and it is in those circumstances that a real estate agent can be in violation of the Act. If they collect fees once a Notice of Default has been recorded, if they collect advance fees before acts have been performed, if they acquire an interest in a residence in foreclosure, if they assist the owner in obtaining the remaining proceeds from the foreclosure sale, or if they make a direct loan for a residence in foreclosure, they may be in violation of the foreclosure consultant laws.

A real estate broker cannot collect an advance fee under California Business and Professions Code Section 10026 unless the broker has submitted to the California Department of Real Estate an advance fee agreement for approval.

A loan modification contract, even one with a licensed real estate broker, for their assistance in working out a loan modification or negotiating another resolution of your problem must still state what services will be performed, when they will be performed and exactly how much you must pay. If the fees are to be collected in advance, the contract must be pre-approved by the Department of Real Estate.

At the Law Offices of Sebastian Gibson, we specialize in the field of real estate and stand ready to assist you if you have been the victim of any type of real estate scam. If you have lost money or your house to a foreclosure consultant or loan modification service as a result of their wrongdoing, we can assist you in pursuing the parties who victimized you and in some instances, we may be able to seek not only any moneys paid to them, but also, in some cases, your other actual damages, equitable relief, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs and punitive damages of three times the compensation received or misapplied by the foreclosure consultant or loan modification service who contracted with you.

If you have a business or real estate legal matter in Palm Springs or Palm Desert, in Ontario or Rancho Cucamonga, Temecula or Murrieta, Newport Beach or Huntington Beach, Anaheim or Santa Ana, El Cajon or Carlsbad, Palmdale or Victorville, Long Beach or Santa Monica, Ventura or Oxnard, or anywhere in Southern California, our Palm Springs, San Diego, Orange County, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo law firm has the knowledge and resources to be your Business Lawyers and Real Estate Attorneys. If you’ve been the victim of a real estate, business, loan modification or foreclosure scam or fraud, be sure to hire a law firm with experience in loan modification, foreclosure and real estate fraud in California and who will endeavor to ensure that your rights are properly represented.

To learn more about the statutes which regulate loan modification and foreclosure consultants, or for legal representation, call the Law Offices of R. Sebastian Gibson at any of the numbers on our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com .