Believe it or not, this scenario is actually rather common with the current real estate market and economic situation found throughout the country. As homeowners seek out real estate resources, they often find themselves being solicited by unethical companies that are looking to take advantage of struggling homeowners.

As a homeowner it is essential that you educate yourself on the common foreclosure assistance scams and do your part in ensuring that you do not throw your money away with companies that will not help you keep your home.

Thoroughly Research the Company

One of the best ways to determine if the company you are considering is legitimate is by conducting your own research. Many people that have been scammed by companies will post their experiences online. Therefore, a simple Google search could reveal a great deal of information about the company, which can help you to avoid scammers.

Avoid Unrealistic and Hidden Fees

There are many free programs that aim to help struggling homeowners navigate the foreclosure process. Therefore, unrealistically high and hidden fees should be a red flag when considering a foreclosure assistance company. You can always contact free services, such as the HOPE Hotline to help determine if the company you are considering is a government-backed program or simply a scammer.

Look for Obvious Signs

Many of these companies will even encourage you to pay your mortgage payments directly to their company, which is merely another way to steal your money. Clearly, paying this company your mortgage company will only put you further behind as they will not be utilizing this money to help renegotiate your loan, stop foreclosure, or whatever else they claim.

Another common sign of a scam is a claim of being associated with a federal program. Always remember that federal programs do not charge incredibly high upfront fees nor do they completely guarantee that your home loan will be modified or you will avoid foreclosure. If these guarantees come up in the conversation, then more than likely you are speaking to a scammer.

In the end, there are some great, free real estate resources that are truly supported by the federal government, such as the HOPE Hotline. On the other hand, there are some companies that desire to obtain money from struggling homeowners and will charge upfront fees and make guarantees they do not plan to keep. If something seems too good to be true, then more than likely it is a scam. Do your research and ensure that you are working with an ethical company before shelling out your money in an effort to stop foreclosure.

Over the last few years, as homeowners and investors alike have seen, there have been an unusually high number of residential foreclosures and commercial foreclosures that have taken over the market. Although these foreclosed homes for sale are great for investors and those looking to purchase a new place of residence, the high foreclosure rate is definitely having a negative effect on home prices.

Couple the low home prices and rocky real estate market with the unstable United States economy and the desire to rush the foreclosure process and you have a lot of very unhappy Occupy Wall Street protestors.

As Occupy Wall Street protests gather across the country to call for a change in the greed that dominates our nation, other issues such as foreclosures are also on their radar. Many homeowners have been wrongfully evicted from their homes and therefore are suffering due to back negligence and unethical actions. As a result, protects are strongly opposed to speeding up the foreclosure process due to the number of wrongful foreclosures that have already occurred.

Occupy Vacant Properties has already taken off in San Francisco, California as families that have been foreclosed upon have decided to reoccupy their vacated homes. As bank foreclosures continue to rise, banks are unable to maintain and keep up the homes. As a result, many abandoned properties have become vacated by everyone from squatters to criminals. Now, many families are taking advantage of the bank negligence and are reoccupying their homes.

What, exactly, is the goal of Occupy Foreclosures/Occupy Vacant Properties? Basically, those supporting the movement merely desire to take back their homes—properties that were wrongfully taken from them due to greed and unethical actions that dominate our nation’s businesses and leaders.

Along with the Occupy movements, there is a new foreclosure review program that provides independent reviews of those who believe their homes were wrongfully foreclosed upon in 2009 and 2010. Approximately 4 million homeowners fall into this category and will finally have an opportunity to have their cases reviewed and possibly receive retribution for their wrongful suffering.

It is not surprising to see Occupy Wall Street movements continue to expand across the country, especially with foreclosures being one of the main targets. Protestors have continued to call for a removal of corporate greed, government inefficiency, and true help and support for suffering citizens. The most recent agenda of Occupy Wall Street centers on the foreclosure crisis that continues to dominate the real estate market; time will tell if their initiatives are effective at evoking a response and real change.

Of course, the program has not come anywhere close to preventing foreclosures as originally intended, with only roughly 500,000 permanent modifications being arranged through the program – and only about a 60% success rate with these modifications. In all, the program will keep roughly 300,000 homeowners from losing their homes, so it is fair to say HAMP has not helped people stop foreclosure nearly as well as its designers intended.

Recent studies, however, suggest that elements attempted by federal and state governments can actually work if properly implemented. It may be difficult to understand, especially for those who tried to participate in a foreclosure prevention program but did not succeed, but several principles have been proven to be effective.

One key element found to be effective is forced participation. Under HAMP, lenders have an option to participate or to not participate, with only a small monetary incentive offered to encourage participation. Mandated participation is more effective, especially in states like Nevada that give homeowners the option to use a court-run mediation program.

Another effective principle is timely intervention. Many foreclosures are doomed to failure because the homeowners simply did not attempt to work with the bank or get help soon enough to impact the process. By a certain point, lenders are forced to turn to foreclosure instead of helping homeowners because the property becomes too expensive to hold on its books any longer.

Programs like the Emergency Homeowners Loan Program (EHLP) work by soliciting applications, and only a fraction of the $1 billion given to its budget will actually be spent due to a very short application window and lack of applications. Instead of taking a passive approach, EHLP and other programs could be bettered by proactively communicating with homeowners before they reach the point of no return. Government foreclosures can especially be helped with this approach because the owner of the mortgage in question is the federal government, so there is already grounds to approach the homeowner.

Let’s face it—anything the Obama Administration does is going to be controversial, especially if something as simple as raising the debt ceiling caused such a rift between Democrats and Republicans. But how was the Obama job plan that will require $447 billion in stimulus spending received? In short—as expected.

Yesterday the President proposed his job plan to Congress and delivered a rather lengthy speech on the plan that Obama feels should not be something that Republicans and Democrats have any problems passing. However, before Obama even made his speech and presented the job plan to Congress, there are already words of disagreement on the plan dubbed the American Jobs Act. We suspect that something that should pass easily will actually become the next debt ceiling debate once Congress gets its hands on the matter.

However, if the bill does pass, what does it mean for real estate?

Everybody agrees that the 9.1% unemployment rate is placing a damper on our economy. With such a high number of unemployed citizens throughout our country (many of which who have been unemployed for over a year), the real estate market is bound to suffer. Therefore, the job plan that will do everything from provide tax breaks for employees and small business owners to create jobs for veterans and the unemployed is certain to spark some recovery in the real estate arena.

We all know that if stimulus money is provided to Americans the first thing they do is pay off debt and/or put that money immediately back into the economy by spending it on everything from groceries to luxury items. Part of Obama’s reasoning behind this stimulus package is to do just that—fuel the economy. The question is will the proposed stimulus be enough?

Economists understand that this stimulus package will definitely help put Americans back to work and firmly believe the tax incentive for small businesses will be one of the driving forces behind this plan. However, even these economists wonder if this stimulus package will do enough to help the economy reach stabilization.

It is given that the lower the unemployment rate and the stronger the economy becomes then the real estate market will have better chances of recovery. Currently, mortgage application rates are down despite the decline in mortgage rates. Why? Because people do not have the money to purchase a new home due to unemployment. Therefore, creating jobs—as this plan is designed to do—will spark real estate market recovery and growth.

In the end, there are two questions at hand. First, is this stimulus package enough to reach economic stability? Second, will this bill be able to gain approval with the battling Republican and Democratic parties?

All eyes are on Congress to see how the plan is received and if real estate market recovery will start to occur or if we have to continue to suffer due to the inability for Congress to agree on any measure proposed by either party.

With current market conditions, homeowners are becoming incredibly stressed by the prospect of having their homes lost to foreclosure and an ugly stain placed on their credit report for years. This dilemma has further expanded a buying opportunity for investors and homebuyers interested in getting great deals: short sales.

A short sale is a process by which a homeowner, instead of having his or her home foreclosed, sells the property for less than its worth to a buyer. This eliminates the nasty problem with the homeowners’ credit – which can last for seven years after a foreclosure – and saves the bank the cost and hassle of a foreclosure.

But, many homeowners have reported problems with the short sale process, indicating frustration at a process that in some cases lasts for months, with plenty of stress and irritation to go around. As a result, many are simply choosing to go through foreclosure to avoid the pain.

Naturally, some problems will always persist with any process, especially one involving real estate transactions. But, short sales still remain a viable and profitable alternative to foreclosure – if the parties involved are knowledgeable and diligent.

Navigating the world of short sales for a buyer is not impossible; in fact, it can make the process flow smoothly from start to finish, resulting in a nice discount on a property without having to go battle it out at auction.

For starters, it is imperative that the owner of the home and the buyer are on the same page from the onset. The buyer should discuss the ramifications of foreclosure with the owner – acting in part as a consultant, rather than a mere purchaser – and demonstrate how a short sale can help.

It also helps immensely if the buyer maintains a steady contact with the lender, working with the bank to arrange a deal while accommodating the needs of the lender and the owner. For example, some processes are held up because of a lack of communication between the bank and the owner and the purchaser. Remember: A short sale is a mutual benefit for the bank, owner, and buyer; all three must be satisfied and on the same page before it can proceed.

Merely keeping up conversation with a bank can reduce the response time from one’s initial offer from one month to a matter of days.

A buyer can spare themselves some headache by also looking for properties that do not have private mortgage insurance – often required if the owner did not put down a 20% payment at purchase. Private mortgage insurance often is on a second mortgage and can put a serious kink in the negotiations. Researching properties and finding ones without this obstacle is a way to avoid the stress that comes with a complicated and drawn-out short sale process.

Short sales are very viable alternatives to foreclosure and can provide numerous benefits for all parties involved. It is on the buyer to act more as a consultant and facilitator and less as some person with a check in hand to make the short sale process smooth sailing.

Some cities actually escaped the real estate market collapse relatively unscathed. Others were hammered hard and are still struggling to recover. Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, is a combination of both; early on, from 2007 to 2008, the city saw a pretty large amount of foreclosures. But now, after three years of foreclosure prevention measures taken by the city, things have gotten better.

Numbers released today from a study conducted by the Reinvestment Fund indicate that foreclosure rates have fallen in Philadelphia as a result of a slew of foreclosure prevention programs enacted by the city. The program – called a ‘foreclosure diversion – was mandatory for homeowners and lenders who were pursuing foreclosure. It called for face-to-face meetings between homeowners and lenders with the goal of reaching agreements with the purpose of keeping the homeowners in their homes.

Since the program became permanent, the rate of people in the foreclosure process who lost their homes due to foreclosure fell from 27% to 5.7% within two years. 84.6% of homeowners who participated in this program were still in their homes 18 months after the fact, the study also found.

The big attraction of the program for homeowners was the fact that it virtually compelled lenders to talk with homeowners instead of merely pursuing foreclosure anyway. These homeowners were then able to engage in loan modification programs and better their situations so they could stay in their homes.

It appears that a combination of mandatory meetings and loan modification programs can help stop foreclosures. These foreclosure prevention methods enacted by the city of Philadelphia certainly seemed to work, and as a result, home prices have begun to rise there.

Other cities and jurisdictions should step up their activities in this arena and possibly use Philly’s model as an example of what to do.

Several initiatives to prevent foreclosures have been launched by the U.S. government in the past few years. However, certain areas of the country continue to post higher foreclosure rates at the start of 2011. In Texas, the housing market crisis did not hit as bad, but some parts of the state continue to post higher numbers this year.

Foreclosed homes in El Paso, in Dallas-Fort Worth and in other key markets of Texas remained manageable, but foreclosure rates did go up in some local areas in February, according to the latest figures presented by CoreLogic. In February 2011, the residential foreclosure rate of Dallas jumped compared with one year ago, although mortgage delinquencies did post a decline from February 2010.

During the month, reports concerning Texas foreclosures provided mixed data for each local market. In Dallas, the rate was 1.55%, up from the February 2010 foreclosure rate of 1.47%. In terms of the number of homeowners who are behind in their loan payments for at least three months, the figure was pegged at 5.24%. The figure represented a decline from one year ago when the delinquency rate was over 6%. Those who are at least 90 days late in their mortgage payments are considered the most at risk in losing their properties to foreclosure.

Despite the rise in Dallas' foreclosure rate, it was still less than 50% of the national level as more homeowners nationally failed to prevent foreclosures in February. In terms of delinquency, the national rate for the month was 7.79%. Meanwhile, Clear Capital provided data showing that 32.7% of houses that were for sale in Dallas-Fort Worth during the first three months of the year were foreclosed.

Although that percentage of home foreclosures for sale against the full for-sale residential inventory seemed considerable, Dallas remained way behind hard-hit metro areas like Las Vegas and Orlando; with the former having 53.7% of its for-sale residential inventory for February accounted for by foreclosures, while Orlando had 49.9%. At the state level, Houston's for-sale foreclosure percentage was higher than Dallas at 37.8%. Clear Capital also ranked Dallas-Fort Worth as the fourth best-performing major housing market in the whole U.S. during the month.

The ranking was mainly based on the fact that residential prices in the metro area did not decline as much as in other markets during the first quarter. Most analysts expect Dallas and Fort Worth to be able to prevent foreclosures in the coming months better than most metropolitan regions in the U.S.

To help prevent the number of foreclosed homes in Seattle and in the rest of the state from further increasing, bills designed to initiate a mediation process for homeowners facing foreclosures was passed through the Senate and House committee of the state. The bills underwent several changes and were eventually passed. It garnered support from the banking industry along the way, with anti-poverty groups also providing their support to the measures.

According to lawmakers, the bills will help homeowners cope better with the process of foreclosures, which has left most of them confused and frustrated, and hopefully prevent further increases in cases of foreclosed homes in Washington. They also stated that other states have implemented mediation processes and most of them had been successful, hence the decision to formulate one in Washington.

Substitute bills were recently submitted to the committee in lieu of the original measures designed to avoid foreclosure and provide assistance to homeowners. The changes made to the original bills took into consideration issues that were discussed during negotiations with banks and anti-poverty advocacy groups, lawmakers have revealed. One of the notable changes was in relation to a provision regarding third party mediation.

In the original bill, owners of foreclosure homes would have been allowed to ask for mediation even without referrals. The substitute measure, however, provides that a home counselor or a lawyer will be allowed to refer a property owner to mediation. This would also mean that a lender can work out alternative options with a third party representing the borrower facing foreclosure.

The substitute measures also require lenders to pay a fee of $250 for every property that would be foreclosed. The money will reportedly be used to finance home counseling operations in Washington that will hopefully increase the chances of residents to avoid foreclosure. Bankers have expressed their support to the substitute bills that took into consideration suggestions from the industry.

Find more foreclosure listings in Seattle, WA:

• Seattle Cheap Houses
• Seattle Bank Owned Homes

If you feel you're in danger of defaulting or missing a payment on your mortgage, talk to your lender before the default occurs. The sooner you approach them, the better, as they will be much more willing to help you find a loan modification solution if you commit to nip the problem in the bud early on. Loan modification can take on several forms. In some cases, the lender might be able to set up an alternate payment plan for any loan payments you may have already missed, allowing you to catch back up to regular payments slowly. In others, loan modification can resemble home mortgage refinancing. Refinancing consists of actually taking out an entire new loan at a lower interest rate. Once you secure a lower interest rate, the cost of your monthly payments will likewise go down. This means you have a lower monthly payment to worry about, so that it's easier to make good on your debt.

Best of all, loan modification is a great way to stop foreclosure. If your lender agrees to a loan modification plan, it means they're committing to helping you make home ownership more affordable, and to helping you stay in your home. Therefore, additional costs of default debts are often waived if you actively pursue modification. In fact, the government actually encourages lenders to help homeowners pursue loan modification rather than simply foreclose on them, and provides extra funds to counseling agencies to help homeowners find loan modification solutions.

If you're facing a foreclosure, loan modification is the best way to take care of the situation. Not only can it help you come up with a payment plan for back debt, in can make sure you don't get into trouble with payments again in the future. Loan modification is the preferred outcome for any homeowner dealing with a foreclosure.

One of the main ways a lender can help stop foreclosure is to offer loan modification or mortgage loan refinancing plans. Home refinancing is one of the best ways to stop foreclosure and ensure it won't happen again in the future, because it allows you to take out a new mortgage at a lower interest rate. Your interest rate determines the size of your monthly payments, and if your rate is too high, it can mean a high monthly payment that can be difficult to meet if you lose your job or run into financial trouble. Also, many homeowners who have Adjustable Rate Mortgage choose to refinance, because a monthly mortgage rate that constantly changes can be extremely unpredictable and difficult to meet.

Refinancing or modifying your loan to make payments more affordable is a win-win for you and the lender. The lender won't lose money on the loan they provided you by having to foreclose, and you'll get to keep your home and continue to make payments toward eventually owning it entirely. Any lender can help you stop foreclosure if you approach them early in the process and demonstrate that you are a responsible homeowner who just needs some help adjusting your mortgage to make it match your ability to pay.