Credit Repair Scams Hurt Homebuyers

Credit repair scams are nothing new, but prospective home buyers have to be particularly aware of the risks of dealing with these predatory agencies. As a general rule: if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

Interest rates have held near record lows for much of the last half-decade, and credit repair companies tout their services to potential borrowers looking to increase their credit score to qualify for a home loan. Continue reading

Buyer Wants out of Serial Killer House

Buying a new home is exciting, but requires spending some time on due diligence. As part of the deal, your agent should do some checks into the history of the property. Sometimes that brings up deaths, criminal activity, and other undesirable history. Other times, it brings up nothing, until it is already too late. Continue reading

Banks Foreclose without Papers

A foreclosure is pretty much the worst situation a homeowner can go through. It is stressful, embarrassing, and incredibly difficult to lose a home. Because of this, the government has created extensive regulations regarding foreclosures. These consumer protections are very important and do a lot of distressed homeowners. However, they only work when the banks actually follow the rules. Continue reading

Some Agents Should Lose their Real Estate License

If someone gets hit with a lock box, the attacker belongs in jail, not on the street selling real estate. However, the Minnesota Department of Commerce decided a seven month suspension was plenty for this dangerous agent.

Not only did agent Bill Bernier, a licensed real estate agent in Minnesota, beat a client with a lock box, he also violated a restraining order and threatened employees of a Saint Paul based inspection company. Continue reading

Foreclosed Owners Trash Homes

Most home owners pack up and clean when moving out of a house, but foreclosed home owners forced out of their property for not making their payments are not most homeowners.

Disgruntled former homeowners have made a new habit of seriously vandalizing their old home on the way out, and it is leaving the new buyers with more than a lighter bank account. When owners trash homes, nobody wins. Continue reading

Don’t Let The Bed Bugs Bite, Unless You Have A Good Lawyer

Bed bugs can hop on someone’s clothes while sitting on a friend’s couch or jump in a suitcase on a hotel stay. A few hours later, you are on the way to a full bed bug infestation.

While the bugs were busy invading luxury hotels, schools, and city offices in New York City, it is tough to deal with the critters when you live in a multi-unit building, as many New York residents do. Even worse is when you live in a rental and your landlord ignores your pleas for assistance. Continue reading

Cleaners Find Cremated Remains in Foreclosed Home

Most real estate horror stories involve agents behaving badly, fraudsters, sex scandals, and criminal activity. In Ohio, a contractor cleaning up a foreclosed home ran into something much more horrifying than the usual leftover clothes, trash, and furniture. In the boxes in this particular home, the cleaner found boxes containing the cremated remains of 56 dead people. Continue reading

The 5 Worst Mortgage Horror Stories

During the great recession, foreclosures became commonplace all across America. While any foreclosure is a horror story on its own, some people had worse than typical foreclosure experiences. Business Insider compiled a list of some of the worst mortgage horror stories from the recession. Here is a summary of what they found. Continue reading