Links and Minifeatures 03 21 Wednesday

Carnival of Consumer Oriented Real Estate Recommended: Silicon Valley Real Estate (selling strategies)



Carnival of Debt Management

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Blacks suffer most in U.S. foreclosure surge. Actually, I found a couple other things in the article more telling:

The predatory lenders reach out to those who don't really know, people with a lack of education," said Cassandra Hedges, a black 37-year-old mother of two fighting to stave off foreclosure of the Ohio home she bought three years ago.



"One of the first things my broker asked me was 'How do you know you are ready to buy a house. Have you done any research?' We said 'No'. At that point I think he realized 'Okay I got some people that don't know what the heck they are doing'."

and

Many traditional banks do not run branches in poor minority neighborhoods, creating a vacuum often filled by predatory lenders and unscrupulous brokers, said Stephen Ross, a University of Connecticut economist who studies lending.



When the property market was strong, those brokers could tell borrowers that rising prices meant they could easily remortgage their properties to keep up with payments. But since the market peaked in 2005, millions are struggling to repay those loans. This year, some 1.5 million homeowners will face foreclosure, research firm RealtyTrac estimates.

I am not trying to refute the article's theme that race played a role. What I'm trying to show is how shoddy practices were a necessary component - and you can easily protect yourself against shoddy practices, if you will only try. It's like yanking the pillars out from under the Temple of Shady Real Estate.



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Name this song and the artist:



Spring is here

Spring is here

Life is Skittles

Life is Beer

But I think Spring is the loveliest time of the year, don't you?



Yes I am twisted. Thank you.