Foreclosures Top 1 Million, Record High Oil Prices, Unemployment Up, Dow Down 400 Points

Wowsa. It’s been a pretty brutal day for economic news:

Unemployment Up Sharply Nationwide (held its own in Arizona by the way)

As such, the stock market took a pounding today, with the Dow losing 395 points (All the broad market indexes were down about 3% today).

I’m a bit of a news junkie. As I was reading through report after report of today’s economic news I did manage to come across one gem of an article.

No, it’s not good news — not by any stretch of the imagination. But it’s got important information related to home foreclosures, which have hit Arizona particularly hard (per RealtyTrac, Arizona ranked 3^rd in the nation in foreclosure activity in April, up from 4th in March).

CNN Money published this article yesterday, “The Trick to Getting A Mortgage Fixed”.

The title is misleading — there is no trick. It takes a lot of work, sacrifice, and some luck. And the fact is, not all loans can be adjusted or modified no matter what you do or who you talk to.

Misleading title aside, there is some great information in this article. It can help educate you in the loan modification process from the lenders and mortgage investors perspective and provides helpful tips and suggestions.

With so many folks facing foreclosure, we’re going to try to run some articles on how to reduce the risk of foreclosure. We provided some resources and phone numbers for free housing counseling earlier in the week, and will continue to post other items as we come across them and time permits.

Remember, the most important thing you can do if you start getting in trouble with your mortgage payments is talk to your lender. The sooner the better. Don’t ignore it, and don’t be ashamed to reach out for help. Lots of people are in this situation.

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Scottsdale Homes

Quote of the week (by Jay Thompson):
"Remember, the most important thing you can do if you start getting in trouble with your mortgage payments is talk to your lender. The sooner the better. Don’t ignore it, and don’t be ashamed to reach out for help. Lots of people are in this situation."

I think that's where most home owners begin to lose the battle when they fail to take action immediately once financial hardship is evident.

Matt Pellerin

Jon Griffith

Good grief. Am I correct in assuming that investors who are scrambling to buy buy buy oil are inflating the price of oil just like they did with housing in '05/'06? If so, wouldn't that dictate an eventual Tar Pit Bubble exploding, causing the price to recede back to where it should be?

I remember a few weeks ago (at least that's what it seems like) oil was only $33 barrell and I could fill my 1979 Ford Fiesta for only $6.00. Wait...what year is it? GRRRRR!

Charles Woodall

Jay, you forgot dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria!

Gonna get worse before it gets better...

Barry Cunningham

Nice to know we live in ground zero markets isn't it?

Gregory Bain

And, that's the good news! What about the choice between McCain and Obama? Too scared to go to sleep?

Paradise Valley

@ Gregory Bain:
"What about the choice between McCain and Obama?"

Don't get me started... I can not stand 'Billary' or Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama)...
so my only choice becomes our local candidate, John McCain.

How did our government, spinsters and the like, manage to bury Ron Paul so early, decisively and quietly? Where's Ron Paul when we need him... I don't even feel like voting this time around.

Somehow (IMHO), voting always seems to be picking the lesser of 2 the evils (since there only ever seems to be 2 in the running, based on TV, newspapers, magazines, Web sites and so on).

Anyone else feel like I do on this?

Matt Pellerin - REALTOR
Realty Executives Paradise Valley

UK FX Mortgages

It's looking like it's going to be a very tough couple of years globally.

Utah Real Estate

I think as soon as the oil speculators bust out everything should return to normal. Demand isn't driving prices high its oil speculators who can purchase futures with only 7% cash upfront that are increasing the price of oil. This is why OPEC wouldn't increase production because demand doesn't justify it.

Faina Sechzer

The increasing oil prices sooner rather then later could have an impact on residential real estate. Buyers may have to re-evaluate their buying criteria, how far they are willing to drive and how much they can afford to spend on housing given their increased spending on gas, oil, heating, etc. Places close to train transportation could become more desirable.

Rick Belben

People in trouble with their mortgages need to be proactive and call there lenders and get the ball rolling. No a work out will not happen for everyone but some people will be saved by this.

It is not an easy process nor a fast one. A friend of mine applied to get a work out and it took over 90 days to get a response and unfortunately that was a negative one.

Dave Jackson

The way I understand it, the federal government will be repaid on the zero-interest, nonrecourse loans. Loans for homeownership properties would need to be repaid within two years, while loans used to create rental housing would have a maximum loan period of five years. Dave

Auto news

Now is very hard time when gasoline price is growing and growing every day...

<abbr>Auto newss last blog post..Mercedes is Preparing Convertible CLR Class</abbr>

real estate millionaire

Times are changing. Although it may not be moving in a positive trend as quickly as we would like it is definitely moving along. It will be some time when we will be able to notice a difference.