Special Day

Today is President Obama's birthday. Despite the conspiracies surrounding the location of his birth (see link in title of this post for a good laugh), there has yet been no question as to when.

President Obama and I have this day in common. Maybe that makes me special. I like to think that makes him special.

Maybe he too will be going to Domino's to pick up the free birthday lava cake this evening, or visiting the Real Seafood Company for their b-day discount. I suppose he doesn't really have to be on the lookout for special birthday deals like myself.

Either way, in the illustrious words of Marilyn Monroe: Happy birthday, Mr. President.

Foreclosing on the Rich

(Information pulled from the Lucas Co Sheriff's website.)

For those of you not paying attention, during the month of July two multi-million dollar properties have went up for auction here in Lucas Co.

5507 , 5523, 5525 & 5535 LEWIS AVENUE TOLEDO OH 43612
- Sold for $1,266,667.00 on 7/15/09

2107 W ALEXIS ROAD TOLEDO OH 43613
- Sold for $1,800,000.00 on 7/29/09

Both were purchased by the lien holders (IE: the banks that held the mortgages).

Foreclosures span the gamut of wealth. From $6,000 parcels to millions, everyone has to pay up eventually.

Tech Advice - DVRs/PVRs/TiVo

I was speaking with my mother recently when she excitedly told me that she was getting TiVo installed soon. I could only sigh...

TiVo, and nearly any DVR/PVR (digital video recorder/personal video recorder), is an overpriced, unnecessary product. Not only do you have to pay a monthly fee on top of what you are already paying for cable, but the equipment that you're getting isn't yours. If and when you cancel your subscription, that box they give you needs to be returned.

I've found that DVRs are marketed to those people who are unfamiliar with technology, or at least not as nerdy as myself. Let me be frank: They are ripping you off.

All you need for a DVR is a computer. Do you own a desktop or a laptop? Chances are good that if you're reading this blog, you do. Well, I am here to tell you that you can have your own TiVo for the one time fee of approximately $100, and the equipment is yours to keep. You'll be able to record live TV, playback seconds that you may have missed of live TV, and program it to record things while you're not there.

Assuming your PC doesn't already have it, and most PCs don't, you will need to purchase something for your PC called a TV Tuner. (You can get these for Macs too, but I'm not a Mac person, so this article will only discuss PC.) TV Tuners allow you to plug your coaxial cable directly into your computer. TV Tuners come in the form of cards that you install inside your PC, "thumb drives" that you plug into your USB port on the PC, and external boxes like a TiVo that go into the PC. There are a wide variety of brands and prices, some of which will come with a remote and some that even receive FM radio tuning.

Check around, but I recommend NewEgg and TigerDirect for purchasing computer equipment.

Once you get your tuner and install it in your PC, you will need proper software in order to start recording live television. If you have Windows Vista or Windows XP Media Center, the you already have the necessary software. Simply use your Windows program.

If, like me, you don't like Vista and would rather use a third party program, there are plenty of free and pay options out there. Just do a Google search for "tv recording software". I'm a big fan of AVS Media.

Find something that works for you. This may take a number of attempts. And never, ever download from a source that looks suspicious.

Once you have your program recorded on your computer, you can either watch it on the PC, or you can use your TV (generally only newer, flat-panel displays have the hookup). Simply plug your PC's video output into your television. Basically, if your TV came with a "PC Input" slot, it will work just like a regular computer monitor works.

All in all, this is going to take you a couple hours and roughly $100.

My mother was quoted a price of $17.99/month for TiVo with a 2 year contract, one of those years being free because it was on "special". That's $215.88, a contractual commitment that you can't end whenever you feel like, and equipment that isn't really yours.

You do the math, then consult your local nerd, and get a TV tuner. :)

Darwinism

I read my news religiously through my Google Reader. It's a fabulous program that feeds me all the area media sources to one convenient screen. As I was scrolling through the Toledo Blade's articles, this headline caught my eye, "1 injured when car plunges from parking garage at St. Vincent's". My initial thought was, "Well, at least they were already at the hospital..." I'm cruel, I know. Though, so is the Toledo Deputy Fire Chief who was quoted saying, "she somehow drove through a cement barrier on the second floor of the parking lot." No sugar coating there. She went through the wall Kool-Aid-Man style...

As I continued my news perusal, the next grabber was, "Man convicted of fatally shooting 16-year-old acquaintance". According to the article, this guy was playing video games with his buddy (the deceased) when he decided to screw off with a gun. He thought the gun was empty, so he pointed it at his buddy's' chest and pulled the trigger. Now, it's not like he (the shooter) was some young kid who didn't know what he was doing. No, this was a 24-year-old man who thought it would be a good idea or perhaps funny to "mock shoot" his friend. Whoops! Not so funny anymore now that he faces up to 11 years in prison. Not bright dude, not bright at all.

Finally, I come to, "2 treated for injuries after South Toledo fire". I'm rendered speechless by this article. All I can do is quote it directly, "The fire started when Mrs. Quisenberry, who is on oxygen, was smoking in the first-floor bedroom at the back of the house, causing an oxygen tube to catch fire from her cigarette, Chief Hickey said."

Just remember, these people have already or will someday contribute to the gene pool. For our sake, I hope that there are some unreported, extenuating circumstances that will make these situations more rational. Either that or maybe these people will soon receive a Darwin Award as a result to their inane behavior.

Foreclosure and Ohio Sub. H. B. No. 3

When I was a child, I never considered that I would one day have a career in the foreclosure/bankruptcy industry. Even while I was getting my bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice, I imagined myself working as a U.S. Marshall or probation officer, a public servant. Little did I know that what started as a secretarial job to pay my way through college would turn into a career move, which would put me at the ground level of Lucas County's foreclosure meltdown. Day in and day out, I get to see foreclosures happen in my community from complaint filing to, in some cases, eviction.

Now, while I may be informed about this industry, it is necessary I make the following disclaimer: Nothing said in this blog should be constituted as legal advice. These are my opinions and are not to be misconstrued as anything otherwise. If you are having legal issues or are currently struggling with an impending foreclosure, I highly recommend you contact a licensed attorney. You can find listings of attorneys at the Ohio Bar Association's website. For those who cannot afford an attorney, you may be able to find assistance through LAWO & ABLE. Finally, the Lucas Co Clerk of Courts offers some foreclosure prevention advice at there website here and a brochure on agencies here.

With that out of the way, today I read Ohio's House Bill #3. I'm going to summarize the Bill's objectives and then give some opinions on those points. If you have the time and inclination, you can read the entire Bill here.

Firstly, the Bill has limits. Not all properties are going to qualify for the entire (or even most of) the Bill's provisions. The Bill only really applies to...

Residential properties. That is, those properties with, "four or fewer residential units". Commercial and/or apartment complex type properties do not qualify.

Owner or tenant occupied properties. Vacant properties are not included.

Private/Bank lender mortgages only. If your "Mortgage Servicer" is the government or a credit union, it will not entirely affect you.

"The moratorium this section provides does not apply to foreclosures that are filed by credit unions and depository institutions that service their own mortgage loans, when the mortgage loan that is being foreclosed is held and serviced by such a credit union or depository institution."

"Mortgage servicer" does not include any of the following:
(a) The federal deposit insurance corporation or the resolution trust corporation, in connection with assets acquired, assigned, sold, or transferred pursuant to the "Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Act," 64 Stat. 873 (1950), 12 U.S.C. 1823(c), or as receiver or conservator of an insured depository institution;
(b) The government national mortgage association, the federal national mortgage association, the federal home loan mortgage corporation, the resolution trust corporation, or the federal deposit insurance corporation...

Opinions will differ on how much the government should involve itself in the affairs of private business. However, H.B.#3 goes above and beyond reasonable regulation and more or less lays a framework for an entirely government controlled banking system. While some may like the idea of big government and big government's control over everything, I'm of the opinion that anything big and controlling cannot be good, government or otherwise.

The Bill will create an oversight position called the superintendent. This superintendent will work for the department of commerce and have broad discretion in exercising regulations over lenders and loans. This superintendent will set minimum loan modification standards. No details of what these standards will be are provided. I assume it will be entirely up to the superintendent to decide. Banks would be wise to keep him or her happy.

This Bill will allow judges to adjust and control any mortgage contract with or without the acceptance of the contracted parties. While this is can happen to a minor degree now, H.B.#3 will expand judges' powers dramatically, and we will have judges across the State (whose knowledge of loans and the housing market will vary) changing previously agreed upon contracts at the whim of their gavel. The court will control your loan. Also, note that there will be a balloon payment that the borrower will have to pay at the end of the modification period. Strange that, as balloon payments were one of the big problems with loans that got us into this mess in the first place.

"Any adjustment in mortgage payments a judge makes pursuant to this section shall be for not more than five years. Any difference in the payments the court establishes pursuant to this section and the payments due pursuant to the mortgage contract shall be due as a balloon payment at the end of the modification period. No interest shall accrue on this amount. During the time of the adjustment, the court shall maintain jurisdiction over the payments and may modify those payments as this section permits at any time as conditions merit and upon petition from the mortgagee."

This increased governmental control over the private industry is a running theme throughout the Bill. Some of it entails monitoring (through the establishment of a foreclosure database) and research, some of it focuses on force and punishment (listing ethical "do's and dont's" for lenders, requiring their registration with the government, and granting the superintendent the ability to rip that registration permit away if he/she feels a violation has occurred.)

All of these things are provisions that will be put into place over the 6 month moratorium if H.B.#3 is passed.

All of these things fail to include any requirement for personal responsibility on part of the borrower.

Instead, lenders are going to be charged for a borrower's inability to pay their mortgage. The State will charge an additional $1,500 fee for filing a foreclosure complaint (that's the court case), which already run upwards of $500 to file right now, not including attorney fees or other extra court costs. That money will be placed in a trust fund, managed by the State and this superintendent. The trust fund will be used to pay the borrower's mortgage payment when he/she cannot.

So, let's look at a hypothetical. Bob borrows money from me, and we sign a contract where Bob will pay me back over a period of time. Bob fails to make those payments. I warn Bob that if he doesn't make those payments soon, I'm going to collect on the collateral he chose to use to back the loan. Now, shouldn't Bob be held accountable for that money he owes me? Why should I pay $1,500 more, on top hundreds to thousands of dollars of court and attorney fees, to collect my money from Bob?

In the end, those lenders are going to filter down this extra cost to those consumers who are paying their bills. Why must everyone else be forced to pay Bob's tab?

"Sec. 1323.11. (A) In addition to any filing fee required by law, a creditor that files a complaint to initiate a foreclosure action involving a residential mortgage loan simultaneously shall transmit a certified check in the amount of one thousand five hundred dollars payable to the department of commerce for deposit into the trust fund established under section 1323.10 of the Revised Code."

Using our previous example, Bob is not even going to held accountable for his default if he ends up paying up. His credit will never be impacted, and he will be just as credit-worthy as those of us who never default on our loans. That's fair... right?

"Upon cure of a default, the servicer shall reinstate the borrower to the same position as if the default had not occurred, and nullify, as of the date of the cure, any acceleration of any obligation under the residential mortgage loan or note arising from the default."

If a borrower cannot afford the home they are in, it is unlikely that they will be able to afford the home six months from now. Previous moratoriums that have been imposed have proven to be mostly ineffective at keeping occupants in their homes. I have seen the majority of cases get pushed back month after month in hopes of loss mitigation being worked out, only to have the property end up at the auction block regardless.

This "wait and pray method" is not going to provide what people need: INCOME. Only jobs and a turnaround in our slumping economy is going to give them that.

And consider this: Each delay requires paperwork. Each piece of paper requires additional workers. Who is paying for this extra time and effort?

I am.

You are.

We all want to help the Bobs of the country out. We want them to live happy, productive lives. We want their families to have homes. But there comes a point where you must ask yourself when you're struggling in a sagging economy...

How much more do you have left for Bob?