Avoid Foreclosure and the Rescue Scams

It’s estimated 6500 new foreclosures are filed everyday nationwide. That leaves many homeowners who are struggling to hold onto their homes which are easy targets for forclosure rescue scams. Learn how to avoid both foreclosure and the rescue scams.

Austin Area Feeling the Foreclosure Bite

GEORGETOWN — Alma and Adolfo Vasquez might not appear to be prime candidates for foreclosure. Their 3,100-square-foot home near two golf courses is appraised at nearly half a million dollars. They were far from irresponsible buyers, making a 20 percent down payment after selling their California home in 2006, just before the housing bubble burst.

But by early April, the Vasquez family, slammed by a double whammy of rising property taxes and tough times for Adolfo’s home-renovation business, were three days from losing their home at a foreclosure auction.

“It’s an emotional torture,” Alma Vasquez said. “We never thought we could end up in this situation, but it happened. It’s kind of embarrassing; you don’t want to let your friends or anyone know.”

The conventional wisdom is that Central Texas and Austin in particular — thanks to its dynamic economy — have largely escaped the foreclosure epidemic ravaging states like California, Florida and Arizona. The Austin area’s foreclosure rate is still a fraction of the nation’s: 0.5 percent of properties with active mortgages in May, compared to the nation’s 1.8 percent.

But foreclosures are quietly rising here, according to First American CoreLogic, one of several private companies that compile foreclosure statistics.

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Notify Landlord of Problems in Writing

I live in a senior community. In the attic area, insulation has been haphazardly blown, and it looks like pink cotton candy. There are pieces all over the attic. There are little flecks of crystals that shine when light is put on it. Because there are no out ducts for dryers, all of the lint goes right into the ceiling. When we turn on our air conditioning, it fills our apartments with lint and white dust. It is everywhere! Also there are no ducts over our kitchen stoves, and when the fan is turned on it blows right back into our face. In the bathroom, where the fan is in the ceiling, there are no flaps on the outlet on the roof. Whom do I get in touch with about these problems? I have made several phone calls and I always get the runaround.

What are this tenant’s rights?