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Washington Foreclosure Homes - Tread with Care

Rescue companies working with Washington foreclosure homes, will now need to give written contracts to homeowners with a five day period for them to back out. This is due to a law that was passed on 06/12/08 by Washington State. Also, part of the law says that if the rescue company sells the house after taking possession, then equity to the tune of 82% must be given to the home’s original owner.

Rob McKenna, the state’s Attorney General said that they weren’t trying to forbid all rescues but were giving consumers increased protection.

Owners of foreclosure homes in Washington, as in other parts of the country, have been subject to scams involving the rescue of foreclosure properties.

The federal and state governments, therefore, are passing new laws and filing lawsuits to reduce the number of homeowners falling prey to these practices.

FBI’s Sharon Ormsby, chief of financial crimes, said the instances of scamsters pledging to save properties will continue to rise. She compares it to getting to be as problematic as the problem of mortgage frauds.

The regional director for the Federal Trade Commission, Brad Elbein, said that the FTC has, in comparison with filing no cases for rescue of major foreclosures last year, filed three in this year. A particular case he spoke about concerned thousands of homeowners and millions of dollars worth of property.

Elbein also said that this problem has risen considerably in the past.

Ormsby spoke of instances where scamsters approached homeowners facing foreclosure, with the offer of acting as a go-between between them and the lenders for a fee; they would then take the fee and take-off, leaving the homeowner in a lurch.

Speaking of other instances, she said that homeowners would sign the property over to rescue agencies and then start to pay the rescue companies rent, with the knowledge that the rescue company would pay on the mortgage. The company instead, would sell the home, with none of the equity going to the original homeowner.

Owners of foreclosure homes in Washington should take extra care while dealing with rescue agencies or professionals.

Related Posts:

• Foreclosure Process Timeline
• Real Estate and Foreclosure Homes Improve a Bit
• The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act
• Government Helping New York Foreclosure Homes
• Maryland Foreclosure Homes Sales on a High