Miami Beach Waterfront Homes Blog

The foreclosure problem has left many struggling homeowners looking for a means of relief in order to avoid having to give up their cherished South Florida homes and thus become the next foreclosure statistic. While positive efforts are being made to stop foreclosures and give homeowners some relief, others are taking advantage of the foreclosure situation to scam homeowners.

Foreclosure scammers often keep any eye out for public foreclosure notices and then drop business cards or even handwritten notes in the homeowner’s mailbox asking to be contacted. Upon the initial meeting, a scammer will promise the homeowner peace of mind and they will also sell the home back to the homeowner eventually. They will also suggest that all contact with a lender is cut off. Eventually the scammer or “rescuer” will set the rent much too high for the original homeowner to afford which essentially forces them out of their home altogether due to delinquency. The homeowner still owes mortgage payments but is now without a place to live.

The first method of knowing whether someone is legit and is actually looking to help you keep your Miami Beach home is when they request that contact with a lender is ceased. If foreclosure might happen, it’s imperative that the homeowner stay in contact as much as possible with the lender in order to try and reach a mutually agreeable solution at all times. With that in mind, any request for payments by a third party should also be a cause of concern. All payments should be made exclusively to the lender and no one else.

A scam can usually be “sniffed out” by the average homeowner but desperate times can sometimes cloud judgment. If a homeowner becomes a victim, there are legal routes to use but they can become a headache. Usually, simply taking the time to contact a lender before delinquency becomes a problem can lead to a payment schedule or loan term adjustment that the homeowner can agree with.

In one’s lifetime, there comes that point when the thought of buying your first home begins to manifest itself. Alas, buying South Florida homes these days is something many will advise against due to the uncertain status of the real estate market. Yet there are those people who will tell you the complete opposite and passionately explain to you why buying in the current inventory of property for sale is actually wise.

With conflicting opinions and advice coming from both sides, it’s easy to be intimidated by the home buying prospect. You may be thinking, “Okay, I really want a Miami Beach condo by the water to call my own so…should I buy a home right now or not?”

Any real estate agent well-informed in Miami Beach real estate and/or the industry itself will explain to you that during tricky market times such as these, the decision doesn’t come down to an easy yes or no answer. Those people who may have told you that you will be losing money if you buy are indeed correct. Whatever you choose to pay now, you could pay less for in a few months. Also, due largely to the mortgage and foreclosure issue, lenders are playing hardball with borrowers and have become quite selective about who they lend to.

Then again, the prospects could be extremely worthwhile. For one, property prices have gone down considerably which should bring you closer to obtaining that four bedroom home in Miami Beach you’ve always wanted and interest rates on mortgages have gone down which should translate to a more affordable monthly mortgage payment, particularly if you’ve maintained an outstanding credit history.

It can be safely assumed then that there is no real right or wrong when it comes to buying a home. Yes you will lose money and this is something you need to be able to deal with before you do anything else. Sometimes however, it’s not so much the money that matters as it is finding a home to call your own.