THIEVES ARE TARGETING HOMEOWNERS WITH UNTAPPED EQUITY

Homeowners who have equity in their homes are advised to check their credit reports to avoid criminals from carrying out mortgage fraud to tap into their home’s equity.  Check out this information below describing this problem and providing suggestions to avoid this from happening to you.

Thieves Tap Into Home Equity

by Bob Tedeschi

provided by the New York Times

Homeowners who have significant equity in their homes may be well-advised to check their credit reports frequently.

That is one conclusion of a recent report from the Identity Theft Assistance Center, a nonprofit industry group, which said that identity thieves had recently begun making targets of individuals with good credit because such people often have substantial untapped home equity.

A home equity line of credit is an ideal vehicle for criminals, according to Steve Bartlett, chief executive of the Financial Services Roundtable, a consortium of banking-related companies that offers financial support to the Identity Theft Assistance Center.

Mr. Bartlett said such credit lines are typically “big pools of money,” and if consumers do not regularly check their accounts, that pool can drain quickly.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual mortgage fraud report, which was released in April, cited home equity credit fraud as an “emerging scheme” in the slumping real estate and mortgage market.

Those with poor credit have been preyed upon by identity thieves in recent years, because thieves who pretend to be such owners could easily obtain mortgages from subprime lenders with little documentation.

Now that lenders have vastly tightened their lending criteria, criminals who specialize in mortgage fraud have little choice but to move upstream and seek out victims with good credit.

Home equity lines are a favorite option because they are almost as easy to open as a credit card account, as long as a criminal has the proper financial information.

In a typical scheme, the F.B.I. said, perpetrators pose as homeowners to establish home equity credit accounts online.

Criminals will then often send a fax to the bank requesting a wire transfer of funds to a different account. To verify the request, the bank unknowingly calls the perpetrator.

The F.B.I. does not break out various types of mortgage fraud by state, but in general, mortgage fraud is a bigger problem in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut than in many other states. New York is among the 10 states with the highest rate of mortgage fraud, while New Jersey and Connecticut rank in the top 20.

Mr. Bartlett, of the Financial Services Roundtable, said the region was a logical choice for mortgage fraud because of the relatively high value of homes there and the relatively high income of the residents.

Victims of such schemes are typically reimbursed by the lender if a bank investigation confirms fraud, Mr. Bartlett said. But lawyers who represent victims of identity theft said such remedies do not often come quickly or easily.

One way for a homeowner to determine if someone has created an equity credit line is to enroll in an identity fraud detection service like one offered by the Identity Theft Action Center, called ITAC Sentinel.

That service, which costs $10 to $18 monthly, will alert subscribers to credit inquiries or changes to an account.

Mr. Bartlett said that Identity Theft Action Center, a nonprofit organization, earns nothing on the service.

Services like ITAC Sentinel can also provide alerts to debt unrelated to home equity, like credit card accounts recently open in the subscriber’s name.

The major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — offer competing credit monitoring services. And a check of a credit report would also reveal a debt to a bank unknown to the homeowner or a debt to an existing bank that has suddenly grown larger.

CAROL PERDEW
Prudential California Realty
wwwCarolPerdew.com
(209) 239-7979

 

Central Valley Habitat For Humanity Home

Habitat House Update Volunteers gut South Street house and start over.  Written by Aaron Rognstad    Tracy Press

Mike Murray puts in new wood for the windows as crews work on the next Habitat for Humanity house on South Street Saturday morning. When all else fails, start over. Habitat for Humanity volunteers are doing just that to a 107-year-old South Street house. Instead of tearing down the entire structure to the foundation, a diligent group of citizens has gutted the house to rebuild everything but the frame. After finding toxic mold in the house in late June, the volunteers had a month-long delay before city planners determined to gut everything but the frame and start over. Since late last year, Habitat for Humanity has worked to get a home for a Tracy family of five who are living in a rat- and cockroach-infested home, complete with no air conditioning or heat and a septic tank that overflows. Pablo Juarez gets some help from Alex Olson as they work on plates for the foundation on the new garage and back room for the new Habitat for Humanity house.   Volunteers now hope to have the house on South Street ready for the Avalos family by the first of December. Volunteer Betsy Hite said she’s going to volunteer as much as possible on the weekends to see the project through.   “We’ve been at this for over a year,” she said. “If we just had a little more manpower, we’d get a bit more accomplished.” Betsy stressed the need for volunteers skilled in the construction trades to help. Crews removed the wood interior and siding, which had mold, on the next Habitat for Humanity home.   Covered in dirt and sweat, her husband, Larry Hite, said he felt confident the group could have the house done by the Dec. 1 deadline, with the siding on the house up within the next month.  “I really enjoy giving back to the community, and I’ve always liked construction work,” Larry said. “Everybody comes out and has a good time and people get to learn stuff about construction, especially kids like Alex over there.” Twelve-year-old Alex Olsen, an eighth-grader at Williams Middle School, could’ve been playing baseball or video games like other middle-schoolers on the weekends, but instead he was helping out at a construction site Saturay. He said that as long as he keeps his grades up, he’ll keep helping.Crews work on finishing the next Habitat for Humanity home. “It’s really fun; I like helping other people,” he said smiling. “I’ve been in their (the Avalos’) situation.” Alex said he wants to make flyers and put them up at his school to try to recruit people to the construction site. Habitat for Humanity especially needs skilled electricians, plumbers, heating and air-conditioning technicians and painters. For information: 740-7211.

CAROL PERDEW
Prudential California Realty

(209) 239-7979
wwwCentralValleyHomes.com

 

Popular Shopping Destination for the Central Valley

Best Retail Bets for Manteca
Study says stores like Winco Foods, Michaels make sense for market

Dennis Wyatt
Managing Editor
Manteca Bulletin

Manteca is ripe for retailers like Bakers Shoe Store, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Winco Foods, Aeropstale, American Eagle, Michaels, as well as Bed Bath & Beyond.

Those are the seven best bets for Manteca to try and snag according to a $62,000 study compiled by Economic Research Associates. That same study noted Manteca would be in an excellent position to lure Trader Joe’s, Dillard’s, Gottschalk’s, Borders, Marshall’s, Hollister, and Gap between the years 2011 and 2018.

A survey of Manteca consumers by ERA shows that 10 percent want either a Borders or a Barnes & Nobles bookstore. Other most desired stores in descending order of responses were Macy’s, Jo-Ann Fabrics or a Michaels, Trader Joes, JC Penney, Costco, Nordstrom’s, Gottschalk’s, Bath & Beyond or Linen & Things, and either Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel.

The survey was taken before Costco opened. JC Penney will open a store in the Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley next spring.

The ERA study showed:

• Manteca can support an additional 1.8 million square feet of retail and restaurant space over the next 20 years on top of the Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley’s 745,756 square feet now under construction.

• Manteca has the potential to add six to eight auto dealerships over the next 20 years with specific targets being Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Mazda, and Subaru.

• Manteca’s population is projected to reach 96,607 by 2030, up from 65,000 today

• Manteca in the fourth quarter had 2.3 million square feet of rentable buildings with a 5.9 percent vacancy rate that was slightly higher than the San Joaquin County average of 4.9 percent. The average annual rent, though, was greater in Manteca.

The survey of Manteca residents that garnered 878 responses showed that 204 – or 23 percent – patronized Target. It was the highest store in terms of shopping popularity in Manteca based on the survey and beat out both Wal-Mart at 16 percent and Kohl’s at 11 percent.

Spreckels Park was by far the most popular shopping destination as a whole with 22 percent said that is the area where they do the bulk of their shopping.

Other details of the survey show:

• 38 percent of the people responding shop for casual apparel in Manteca, 32 percent in Modesto, 8 percent in Stockton, 6 percent in Tracy and 11 percent elsewhere that included Pleasanton, Dublin, Livermore, on-line shopping and San Francisco.

• 18 percent of those responding bought formal or professional wear in Manteca followed by 34 percent in Modesto, 9 percent in Stockton, 6 percent in Tracy and 17 percent elsewhere.

• 28 percent bought household furnishings and furniture in Manteca followed by 31 percent in Modesto, 10 percent in Stockton, 4 percent in Tracy and 16 percent elsewhere.

• 36 percent bought their electronics and appliances in Manteca followed by 35 percent in Modesto, 5 percent in Stockton, 7 percent in Tracy, and 8 percent elsewhere.

• 73 percent bought groceries and liquor in Manteca, 12 percent in Modesto, 3 percent in Stockton, 3 percent in Tracy and 4 percent elsewhere.

• 70 percent bought building materials and garden supplies in Manteca, 14 percent in Modesto, 3 percent in Stockton, 2 percent in Tracy, and 3 percent elsewhere.

• 25 percent bought specialty items in Manteca, 33 percent in Modesto, 8 percent in Stockton, 7 percent in Tracy, and 17 percent elsewhere.

When all construction at the Promenade Shops as well as the Stadium Retail Center and its annex where Lowe’s is being built is completed, there will be close to 1.45 million square feet of retail space along the 120 Bypass between the Union Road and Airport Way interchanges. That will be close to 50 percent of the city’s overall total of space available for retail.

The study noted Manteca’s on-staff retail recruiter – expected to be the economic development director – will need to develop promotional materials for the city as well as key commercial spaces and properties, meet regularly with building owners and developers to update information, establish working relationships with tenant prospects and maintain a data base of tenant prospects and commercial spaces and development parcels.

The study will be presented to the City Council during Monday’s 7 p.m. meeting at the Civic Center, 1001 W. Center St.

 

 

 

TOP 10 STORES

The top 10 stores that people shop in Manteca based on 878 responses to a survey of residents are as follows: Store Responses 1. Target 204 2. Wal-Mart 140 3. Kohl’s 94 4. Mervyn’s 83 5. Home Depot 44 6. Save Mart 41 7. K-Mart 34 8. Orchard Supply 34 9. TJ Maxx 31 10. Raley’s 30

Carol Perdew
Prudential California Realty
(209) 239-7979
wwwCentralValleyHomes.com

Lehman Adds to the Mortgage Giants Financial Crisis

The melt down of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and now Lehman Brother makes you wonder who will be next among our banking institutions. With the mortgage bail out of mortgage giants and even more banks in trouble, everyone is pondering when our financial crisis will be over.  Take a look at this interesting article.

Investor confidence dwindling, Lehman Brothers may need a miracle to survive

By Joe Bel Bruno, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The Wall Street firm that started the U.S. cotton trade before the Civil War and financed the railroads that built a nation might soon fade into history.

Just days after Lehman Brothers Chief Executive Richard S. Fuld tried to pitch Wall Street on a plan to save the firm by shrinking it, he’s in complicated negotiations with potential buyers that may see the company sold piecemeal as soon as Sunday night, analysts said.

“Nothing short of a miracle can save Lehman as is,” said Anthony Sabino, professor of law and business at St. John’s University. “It is highly unlikely Lehman will be in existence on Monday morning.”

Late Friday, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York held an emergency meeting with top Washington policymakers and major financial institutions to discuss Lehman’s future.

Attendees included Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson; Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; and Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Fed spokeswoman Michelle Smith declined to disclose what financial institutions participated or whether the group had reached any conclusion. The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site that the group included Morgan Stanley chief executive John Mack and Merrill Lynch chief executive John Thain, among others.

Other financial firms may swallow portions of Lehman’s investment banking or bond trading business, analysts said. Considering the firm’s deep financial problems, riskier assets like its mortgage and real-estate portfolios could be sold for just pennies on the dollar.

Potential buyers could include Bank of America Corp., Britain’s Barclay’s Plc, Japan’s Nomura Securities, France’s BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank AG. All have declined to comment.

Randy Whitestone, a spokesman for Lehman Brothers, declined to comment on the firm’s situation Friday.

On Friday, Lehman’s stock closed at $3.65 — an all-time low and down nearly 95 percent from its 52-week high of $67.73 as investors grew more convinced that Lehman may be auctioned at fire-sale prices.

The stock’s plunge was a humiliating beating for the 158-year-old investment bank, one of Wall Street’s oldest firms, and for Fuld, 62, who has run the bank through internal squabbles, the technology bust, and the 9/11 attacks that destroyed its headquarters.

The company’s roots began in 1844 when Henry Lehman immigrated from Rimpar, Germany to Alabama, where he established a dry goods store that catered to local cotton farmers in Montgomery. Lehman Brothers evolved from merchandising to a commodities broker, and then later into underwriting where the firm helped finance construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad, among others.

Lehman built its reputation trading government and corporate bonds. Over his 15 years at the helm, Fuld expanded the firm’s repertoire to investment banking and money management for wealthy clients. He also stretched its overseas reach to better compete with big rivals like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. About half of the firm’s profit comes from outside the U.S.

As it grew, it also took on greater risk, including the kind of real estate investments that have forced global banks and brokerages to write down more than $300 billion since the subprime mortgage crisis undermined the credit markets.

On Wednesday, Lehman reported it lost almost $4 billion because of the sales and write-downs on its residential and commercial real estate assets. Its total losses for the year added up to $6.9 billion.

To shore up confidence among investors and its customers, Lehman presented a plan that called for selling its money management unit and spinning off most of its real estate investments into a separate publicly traded company.

The attempt failed, forcing Fuld to consider selling the firm he has worked at since 1969.

In March, the government helped engineer Bear Stearns’ sale to JPMorgan Chase & Co. with a deal backed by a $29 billion loan from the Federal Reserve .

The difference this time is the government is not likely to provide any financial backing.

Paulson is against any use of government money in whatever deal comes together for Lehman, a person close to his thinking said Friday.

Unlike Bear Stearns, which happened swiftly and with little warning, financial markets have been aware of Lehman’s troubles for a long time and have had time to prepare.

The government may also be less willing to bail out Lehman because the firm has been able to borrow money directly from the Fed through a program the central bank began after Bear Stearns imploded.

Finally, the government might not want to give investors the impression that it is the financial savior of troubled banks, analysts said. Instead, the feeling in Washington is that financial institutions will live or die by the free market.

Lehman Brothers — despite its tarnished image — has been one of Wall Street’s most respected franchises.

The company’s investment banking and trading operations routinely rank among the highest in the industry. For instance, Lehman Brothers is ranked eighth in the global mergers and acquisitions so far this year, advising on deals with a total value of $105 billion, according to financial data provider Dealogic.

Fuld said during a conference call Wednesday that the firm’s core businesses remains healthy.

Banks such as Bank of America may be interested in Lehman’s investment banking division.

With Bank of America, for example, a deal with Lehman Brothers would instantly catapult it to the top ranks of investment banking. For Barclays, buying Lehman would instantly boost its presence in the U.S. and give it a stronger position in stock and bond markets.

Whoever buys Lehman or its individual assets will have their own knot of problems to untangle, however.

“The damage is done,” Sabino said. “The house has been burned to the ground, now you’re just picking through the ashes.”

 

CAROL PERDEW
Prudential California Realty
(209) 239-7979
wwwCentralValleyHomes.com

First Time Homebuyer Home Loans

C a l H F A  H o m e o w n e r s h i p  P r o g r a m s

FIRST MORTGAGE LOAN PROGRAMS CalHFA Conventional Loans interest only PLUSSM This conventional mortgage loan offers up to 95% financing and allows borrowers to pay only the interest for the first five years of a 35-year term. After that, borrowers pay principal and interest at the same low, fixed interest rate for the remaining 30 years. 40-Year Fixed Mortgage This conventional mortgage loan offers up to 95% financing with a 40-year term and a low, fixed interest rate. 30-Year Fixed Mortgage This conventional mortgage loan offers up to 95% financing with a 30-year term and a low, fixed interest rate. Government Insured/Guaranteed Loans 30-Year Fixed Government Insured/Guaranteed Mortgage This program is for mortgage loans that are insured or guaranteed by FHA, VA or USDA and features a 30-year term with a low, fixed interest rate. Real Estate Owned (REO) Loan Programs CalHFA Community Stabilization Home Loan Program This program helps first-time homebuyers purchase vacant homes that are owned by participating financial institutions in certain areas of California. = DOWN PAYMENT ASSISTANCE LOAN PROGRAMS Affordable Housing Partnership Program (AHPP) A joint effort by CalHFA and cities, counties, redevelopment agencies and housing authorities whereby a deferred payment subordinate loan from a locality is utilized by the first-time homebuyer to assist them with down payment and/or closing costs. CalHFA Housing Assistance Program (CHAP) Offers a deferred-payment second loan of an amount up to the lesser of two percent (2%) of the purchase price or appraised value. California Homebuyer’s Downpayment Assistance Program (CHDAP) Offers a deferred-payment junior loan of an amount up to the lesser of three percent (3%) of the purchase price or appraised value. Extra Credit Teacher Home Purchase Program (ECTP) A low interest rate CalHFA first loan, together with a forgivable interest CalHFA junior loan to assist eligible teachers, administrators, staff members and classified employees to purchase their first home. High Cost Area Home Purchase Assistance Program (HiCAP) Designed to assist first-time homebuyers in the highest housing cost areas of the state. School Facility Fee Down Payment Assistance Program (SFF) A conditional grant program that provides assistance to buyers of newly constructed homes throughout California.

Search for homes at wwwCentralValleyHomes.com

CAROL PERDEW
Prudential California Realty
(209) 239-7979
www.CentralValleyHomes.com