Home, School, and Community Relations

This is the most interesting, comprehensive, and practical educator resource available today for working with families. Designed for students in community colleges and four-year programs and teachers/administrators who work with children of all ages. HOME, SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS is a core course in an Early Childhood Education curriculum. Sometimes called Child, Family, and Community, the course includes coverage of: children’s learning and behavior viewpoints, and how they are affected by family members of the immediate and larger community; evolution of the role played by home, school, and community on the child’s life; the demographics and the diverse nature of families in the U.S. today; features of the community; and parent involvement. Annual enrollments in the course and current Cengage market share. Include both total enrollment and percentage of market targeted to determine true potential market share. (Include source of estimate.) Over 120,000 students enroll in early childhood education annually. The early childhood education two-year market size consists of approximately 80,000 students obtaining an AA degree or AS degree in ECE from one of the 687 early childhood education programs. ECE four-year programs consist of approximately 40,000 students obtaining a bachelor degree from one of the 884 four-year programs. Due to the increasing demands for quality child care providers, enrollments for early childhood education continue to increase.

Real Estate Prospecting: The Ultimate Resource Guide

This book is the ultimate game plan for prospecting. It carefully outlines methods to select likely groups of prospects, how to contact those target groups, what to offer them, and how best to follow up.

Top Real Estate Foreclosure States

In the first quarter of 2008, RealtyTrac listed Nevada as the state with highest rate of foreclosures. It was 3.6 times the national average and became #1 of top real estates foreclosure states. The runner up, not surprisingly, was California. Foreclosure rates continue to climb at 32% from the previous quarter and show no signs of leveling out. Arizona was next with an increase of 45% from the previous quarter but with far fewer filings based on numbers alone when compared to California. There were 169,831 filings in California when compared to Arizona’s 27,404. Florida and Colorado remain in the top real estate foreclosure states, still in the top five.

Why These States?

There are a lot of reasons why these particular markets continue to show up as the top real estate foreclosure states in the United States. The housing bubbles in these areas and speculation from investors drove prices so high that after the bubble burst, the housing depreciation left many homeowners who bought high owing much more than what their home is worth now. Seeing this sad state of affairs, homeowners decided it was far better to return the keys to the lender than to try to keep up a mortgage that was a losing investment. Add to that the problems with the loss of jobs in these states when the bubble burst and that was a perfect recipe for a mortgage meltdown.

Previously Hot Inner City Markets

During the time when people were buying into a high real estate market, they mostly picked large cities where they felt prices would continue to increase and the jobs were plentiful. So, the cities most affected were: Las Vegas, Detroit, Miami, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. House builders began to provide more and more housing in this area, building it up, to a point where, when the bubble burst, the inventory far outlasted the number of new buyers. Now, you can go into neighborhoods in these top real estate foreclosure states and see row after row of abandoned and foreclosed homes for sale.

Keep An Eye On Inventory And Foreclosure Rate

The turn-around in these top real estate foreclosure states will happen when the inventory of homes begins to decrease as the foreclosure rate declines too. Until then, either one or the other make the top real estate foreclosure states a buyer’s market at deep discounts to some of the previous prices that homes were going for before the bubble burst. Some experts suggest it will be many years before the inventory drops sufficiently to signal a turn-around in the top real estate foreclosure states.

Learning About Foreclosure & Short Sale

Foreclosure on a home is a devastating process for the homeowner. They often feel that all their life-long dreams of home ownership are going down the drain. For whatever reason, they are no longer able to make the payments on their home so the home is in foreclosure. When a home is in foreclosure, the lender is selling the home at public auction where the highest bidder gets the home. Sometimes as an alternative to the actual foreclosure, short sale may take place.

A foreclosure short sale may take place if the lender agrees to sell the home for less than what is owed to the bank. The bank accepts a discounted payoff and releases the mortgage. However, many times the bank will list the home as a foreclosure short sale, but they may not accept the offer given by the new buyer. A home may not actually be in foreclosure for a lender to offer a short sale. If the value of the home has fallen way below what is owed on the mortgage, the lender may consider a short sale as an attempt to bring the price of the home in line with market value.

Although to avoid a foreclosure, short sales are often accepted, there are circumstances where the lender may not want to accept a short sale. In some circumstances, the lender will come out ahead if they go through with the foreclosure. This may be the case when the value of the home is much higher than what is owed on the mortgage. In a situation such as this, the lender may be able to sell the home for less than it’s worth but still be over what is owed on the mortgage.

If you are a buyer looking for a cheap home to buy, be aware of the negatives involved in a pre-foreclosure short sale. You may see a home on the market that seems to be too good to be true. Check with a real estate agency to see if the home is a short sale. The lender may not accept your offer and short sales are seldom simple to complete, often taking months to complete.

A foreclosure short sale may seem like the answer to the homeowner facing the loss of their home. They will have the opportunity to be out of debt, but there are also consequences to a short sale. The largest consequence is the tax liability that may fall on the seller (homeowner). The lender has to notify the IRS of any taxable sales and they may give you a 1099 for the amount they were shorted. Although the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 forgives many debts in foreclosures, some of the dollar amounts are exempt from this act.

Before you get too excited about a short sale, contact a lawyer to find out your possible tax liability. Another negative about a pre-foreclosure short sale is what it does to your credit rating. It will show up even more negatively on your credit report than a foreclosure. So consider all options when your home is facing foreclosure.

REO’s Little Black Book: A Foreclosure Guide for the Future

In today’s economy, there is much foreclosed real estate available at a good price to the homebuyer or investor who knows how to shop or buy in a savvy manner. Much paperwork is involved; there are many requirements, and even some real estate agents are intimidated.

In this concise guide, the author, Jane T. Wilcox, owner of a real estate business in Florida, presents a detailed, but easily understood, description of the hows and whys of buying foreclosed real estate property. Although this is technically a guide for realtors, it is also must reading for anyone who is considering investing in or purchasing bank-owned real estate.

REO’s Little Black Book: A Foreclosure Guide for the Future Home Owner, Investor, or Real Estate Professional

Home: A Hymn to the Planet and Humanity

Save My Home!: 10 Steps to Avoiding Foreclosure

New methods to determine the true value of your home

How to find hidden sources of equity

The pros and cons of modifying existing loans

Information to avoid scams

How Find a Foreclosure Home for Sale

Foreclosure is a process that banks and other lenders use to get their money back when a homeowner has defaulted on their loan. This process is put in motion when the borrower defaults on the loan. After the borrower has missed a couple of payments the lender will file a public default notice. If you want to keep your home, you will have to act fast to keep from losing it to a forced sale. Your home will then be listed as a foreclosure home for sale.

Once the borrower has been issued the Notice of default, he/she has three months in which to rescue the default. The payments owed have to be paid in full plus the interest that has accrued. If the time expires without the borrower making good on the defaulted payments the property goes into foreclosure, and will be listed as a foreclosure home for sale.

Cashing in on a foreclosure home for sale can be a little risky. It is always good to hire an attorney and an agent that specializes in foreclosure properties when acquiring a foreclosure home for sale. It is possible to purchase a home that is in foreclosure for as much as a 30 percent discount, because the bank wants to recoup as much of the amount owed as possible.

Finding a qualified agent that is experienced in handling foreclosure properties is very important, because the original homeowner (seller) may be leery of being scammed by an unrepresented buyer. If you are interested in locating a foreclosure home for sale in your area, you may call the lender real estate owned (REO) properties department at your local bank and ask for a list of foreclosed properties. When you contact an REO you may or may not be able to negotiate an estimate. The rules pertaining to price negotiation varies from bank to bank, and some banks will stick with the broker’s estimate.

When you find a foreclosure home for sale that you are interested in, never buy it sight unseen. Take a look at the property. Some homes may be in good shape, and others may be in a bad state of disrepair, so it is always better to inspect the home inside and out to know just what shape the property is in. You also need to know if you are truly getting a bargain for the price of this foreclosure home for sale. Your agent should check some other homes in the area that are in foreclosure to see if their asking price is similar to the price of this particular foreclosure home for sale. If you are still interested you can then proceed to negotiate for the foreclosure home for sale.

.

Foreclosure Properties: Opportunities for Investors

Foreclosure properties are those that lenders have closed on because the homeowner has failed to make payment on the loan. The home itself rarely has any problems with it, and in many cases, the value of the home is more than the sale price. With these key facts in place, you can see these types of properties are in fact quite an investment opportunity for most investors. If you are planning to purchase a home, you may want to consider the benefits of foreclosure properties.

Finding foreclosure properties is easy to do, too. Your local real estate agent can help you to locate homes within your area that have been foreclosed on. This often means you will get the information on these homes just days after the foreclosure has gone through. Some real estate agents actually specialize in this type of loan, which can help you to get information on these homes as soon as they hit the market. This gives you, the investor, the opportunity to grab up the house or other property type quickly before other investors can steal it from under you. This is an opportunity any real estate investor needs.

Before purchasing foreclosure properties, you do have to take into consideration the value of the property. Some of the areas in which these properties are located have grown in value since the home was lost to foreclosure. Others have seen a decrease in home prices. In addition, the bank who currently owns the house must be willing to see at or below the appraised value of the home at the time of the sale to you if you will qualify for lending on this home. Having an appraisal and working out numbers is an important part of the process of getting these loans.

Foreclosure properties are readily available in many areas. They are not just homes, though. They are also commercial buildings and even vacant land that has been taken back by a lender who owns the loan on that land. Being flexible and willing to work with these lenders is the best way to take advantage of these loans.

Foreclosure properties are not limited, nor are they problem properties. Like any other type of lending situation, you must consider the overall value of the property as well as the risks involved in purchasing these homes. Doing that will insure that you are getting the best price for the home available to you, and that you are making a wise financial decision for your own personal needs and budget

How to Sell a House When It’s Worth Less Than the Mortgage:

Due to the wave of refinancing in recent years, and the fall in home values, in 2009 about 12 million homeowners and investors will be “underwater”–owing more than their property is worth. This book explains all the options for these homeowners who are trapped with houses they want to get free from, people whose property value has dropped so low that they can’t sell the property, people whose mortgage payment has adjusted and now they can’t afford the property. In addition to offering advice on subject to’s, rentals, leases, loan modifications and more…the book will teach America how to short sale their own home.

How to Sell a House When It’s Worth Less Than the Mortgage: Options for “Underwater” Homeowners and Investors

Next Page »