Kit

Thank you guys for your tips -

Don, Would we even qualify for HUD anything, especially for the areas we are looking at... Between us, my husband and I make approximately $120 K/yr, so I don't know that any assistance is available, since we are not in a lower income bracket. And, the regional areas we are looking in are right here by the beach, and Los Angeles is trying to get buyers in the city proper, not it's more affluent neighboring areas. Same goes for the tax credit, we are right on the edge there, too. I could be wrong, though. I am researching now, probably won't buy until next year - I agree with the comments earlier, the prices will need to come down a bit more, we still haven't hit close to bottom in my area.

Erin, I agree that it is giving your industry a VERY bad name. While we are not ready to buy just yet, we have been looking around to find a larger place to rent in the interim, and even there it's to the point that I am going to have to deal face-to-face with someone before I so much as write my name for them. I had a "Real Estate Management" company email me an application (okay so far) AND an online credit check form to fill in and submit, but they conveniently didn't answer my question regarding the actual street address (just a city name doesn't cut it with me), or confirm the asking price. When I went to the BBB, and also did a Google on them, nothing came up in either place. And their website is conveniently down for maintenance.

The sad thing is, this is a very lucrative market area (Santa Monica to Hermosa Beach) for someone who legitimately wants to build a business doing what these guys purport to do, which is:
- Contract with homeowners in Pre-Forclosure (or in danger) to rent their properties to pay the mortgage. They would be well within market rent for this area, and could in most cases rent for more than the payment due and STILL be at market rent

Unfortunately everyone I have found who is advertising these services has been a fraud so far. How the heck does someone like me find a legitimate operation that handles these kinds of properties? - Sun Jun 28 2009, 11:03

As a potential buyer (just researching at the moment), I hope you don't mind my 2 cents.... I am starting to look around, and am trying to learn about pre-foreclosure assumptions, foreclosures, REO's etc., which not all realtors are experienced in.
But a HUGE issue I am running into right now are the number of scams and outright frauds out there - just today I have researched 5 outfits through BBB, all of them were bogus.
One very popular theme right now has to do with getting a government grant to help finance downpayments, but it seems like they all want lots of money up front.
Let's face it, we're all looking for short sales or other bargains, but it is extremely hard to know who to trust now. - Sat Jun 27 2009, 17:55

Tim, 321Foreclosures is the website for 321Networks LLC. I did a national BBB search on them last night - Rating is F. The BBB has their address in Las Vegas, the company's official business type is listed as Trash Removal. They are not a member of the BBB, also flagged as not having proper licensing / requirements for their nature of business.
5 official complaints have been submitted through BBB, all seem to be your kind of problem. Some refunds have been obtained, so I would advise the same for you.
Another "company" like this that is really working the Southern California area (although they advertise nationally) is My Home Selects. Same kind of scam, only they hit you up for a "one-time" fee of $210, supposedly good for one full year. - Sat Jun 27 2009, 11:04