The Rescue Scammers
A woman called us this week wanting to know if she could sell her house and buy a new one. She said she thought there "might" be a "little problem" with her credit so could we check that for her. We checked. The "little" problem she has is she hasn't made her mortgage payment in three months -- which is in addition to the little problem that she doesn't appear to have ever paid any of her other bills either.
But she had hope. Because "some guy" was coming over today to look at her house, and he'd offered to buy it from her for $70,000 less than it's worth (which would give her enough to pay off the existing loan, but she'd walk away from all of the equity). We're pretty sure (and we hope) that she cancelled his appointment. There's no shortage of people out there preying on people's lack of knowledge of options during difficult times.
Real Estate isn't exactly "booming" here at the moment, but our market isn't soft either, so no one should be walking away from that much money. We suggested she hurry up and list it below market value and offer to pay the buyer's closing costs, before foreclosure proceedings are started.
As for purchasing a new home, someone in her position only qualifies for such an outrageously expensive loan that we wouldn't even do it for her. Luckily she has a family member who might be willing to purchase the home as an investment property and then add her to title and have her make the mortgage payment -- otherwise the new payment would have to be so high, she'd probably end up in the same position she's in now!
CNN ran an article about another type of scam where someone claims you can stay in your home and they'll take over your payments. It's NOT TRUE. Don't fall for it.
No matter the situation, there are above-board options available to people who are struggling right now. Get several opinions on your situation before you sign over your house to "some guy."
3 comments:
I have heard about this on the news. It's really horrible that these scammers are preying on people in their most vulnerable moments. I hope that people will be informed and report these criminals.
I have been reading a lot on here and have picked up some great ideas. Many many thanks for sharing this post with us.
Your stock broker and insurance salesman all get paid on commission too, nobody ever complains about that. The problem in the mortgage industry
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