Foreclosure Rates Climb on Maui. Good for Some Bad for Most.

Aloha Everyone,

Maui has always been a place where the cost of living was high and the pay for labor was relatively low. The speculation over the years made homes un-affordable for many local people and the Real Estate boom a few years ago seemed insane, but people jumped on the bandwagon local and otherwise and bought houses that seemed like they were at least double the normal price.

The lenders seemed ready to bend over backwards to allow people with barely any income and low or no down payments to purchase these highly over-priced homes and many did.

Well the Chicken has come home to roost and many, in fact a sizable chunk of people are now faced with foreclosure and properties that are worth far less than the loans they took out.

I was one of those people that due to circumstances bought my house after a divorce and paid way to much out of fear that my ex-spouse would drag things out so long that all that we had invested in our home would be lost as it was sold off and we would receive nothing for it in the end.

The lead story in this Sunday morning's Maui News has a picture of people standing around at the Maui County's Courthouse, all ready to see what kind of a deal they can get on a Foreclosed Home. The Banks are finding themselves sitting on abandoned properties as people can't afford to make the payments and so Bank owned Sales and Short Sales are up too.

The number of Foreclosures for just Maui County alone has nearly doubled since last year's. Currently there are 946 pending foreclosures as opposed to 482 last August. This figure really doesn't count all of the homes that are close to Foreclosure or still sitting on the Banks books.

Unfortunately the people that know how to navigate the system are making some money and many people that just don't know enough about their rights or the ways to prevent being Foreclosed on are trying to figure out where they can take their families as they move out of their homes.

Many families find themselves living on the beach or some other out of the way place and being forced to separate their families by putting their children with family members to live. The lack of jobs and increase in people running out of public assistance money isn't helping

There are ways to prevent losing your home, but it takes education on the part of the home owner. One such program is offered to stop Foreclosures and even in some cases clearing your Mortgage completely. These programs and this one below, in particular is something that the Home Owner has to invest the time and money into learning the process, but it involves laws and procedures that have been around along time, but navigating all the information to understand the forms and the procedures that are required has been nearly impossible for the average person. This company has done a lot to bring all the information together and with their assistance and legal advisors, they can often help the "Home Owner" through giving them the ability to file a few forms that will buy them some time and allow them to proceed to stay in their homes and possibly clear their Mortgage all together. the program, as most will require the person to invest some money, but will give them full access to the companies information and advisors. If you are facing this situation or would like to learn more and help spread the information to others, you could join the course and even become an affiliate and make some money for passing on the information.

I have shortened the link to this site so that you can read more about it. That link is http://bit.ly/Stayhome.



On the other hand, if you find yourself in a position that you are able to invest into the Real Estate market at a time when prices are so low, then you will want to know as much as possible about the ins and outs of doing just that and making a profit at it.

If nothing else, just learning how that system works could also help you in the future, should you have to give up your existing house and be in a position to possibly purchase another or possibly get into the business of turning over homes.



While I am no expert in the Real Estate field, I have had to put a fair amount of my time into becoming educated about finances and how the Real Estate market works just to stay in my home. Especially as the prices drop far below the loan I needed to take at the time I purchased it.

My hope is that any of this information I have provided might possibly help at least one family remain in their home and maybe even one day be living without the debt of a mortgage hanging over their head.

Mahalo and have a great Sunday,

Jim
www.EmpowerMaui.com