Honor Killing and Shari’a Explained

Here is an exerpt from The Middle East Forum, a newsletter.  Here is the link to the entire posting:  http://www.meforum.org/2745/problem-of-honor-killings


“ …the evidence illustrates that Islamic orthodoxy generally condones the practice, whilst not explicitly recommending it per se. The most egregious case in point is the Umdat Al-Salik ("Reliance of the Sojourner" in Arabic), a manual on Shari'a (Islamic law) certified by Al-Azhar University, the most prominent and authoritative institute of Islamic jurisprudence in the world, as a reliable guide to orthodox Sunni Islam.
The manual states (01.1-2) that "retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right," except when "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers)" kills his or her "offspring, or offspring's offspring." Hence, according to this view a parent, who murders his or her son/daughter for the sake of "honor," whether owing to issues of chastity, apostasy and the like, incurs no penalty under Shari'a. This ruling is derived from a hadith (Sahih Muslim, Book 19, Number 4457) where it is affirmed that one should not kill a child unless one could know "what Khadir had known about the child he killed." Khadir is a figure featured in the Qur'an who accompanies Moses on a journey and kills a son of believing parents for fear that he would rebel against the will of God (18:74 and 18:80-81)”

The Power of Dissuasion...Real Estate As An Investment

Here is an article in a Florida Realtors newsletter that gives four rules for purchasing an investment property.  The only thing the article leaves out is that there are almost no properties available that meet all these guidelines.  Are they suggesting investors stay home?

"Investment property: four considerations


NEW YORK – Sept. 7, 2010 – Real estate entrepreneur Ryan Moeller offers these four tips for anyone considering a consumer real estate investment:

1. Don’t count on appreciation. Appreciation is a bonus.

2. Watch the loan-to-value ratio. Ideally, the total cost of the purchase, fees and repairs should be no more than 70 percent of the appraised value of the property in good condition.

3. Maximize annual return. Aim for properties that can be rented for at least 1.5 percent to 3 percent of the purchase price. For example, plan to pay no more than $50,000 for a property that can be rented for $750 per month.

4. Have an exit strategy. Seek properties that are attractive enough to have value no matter what happens to the market – as rentals, for sale to other investors, or for sale to somebody who plans to live there via conventional financing or lease purchase.

Source: BiggerPockets.com, Ryan Moeller (09/01/2010)
© Copyright 2010 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD (301) 215-4688

RENT A LIS PENDENS (Pending Foreclosure) USE TED.

I checked with the Realtor’s legal hotline the other day. Tenants have 90 days to stay in the house after the house has ACTUALLY BEEN SOLD ON THE COURTHOUSE STEPS. That can easily take a year or more. AND IF THE PURCHASERS THEMSELVES ARE NOT MOVING INTO THE HOME, (purchasing it as a second home or investment) YOUR LEASE MUST BE HONORED if it goes beyond the 90 days.

If you are a well qualified renter with a clean history, I can work with you to find a real bargain home to rent. No trailer trash or scam artists please.

If you have just been served with a LIS PENDENS, contact me about finding a good tenant and keeping the rent money.

Check out this info gathered in response to Wells Fargo’s aggressive tactics to get renters of houses in foreclosure to move out. Then drop me a line in the comments section below. Maybe we can work together.

“Wells Fargo Bank is committed to following all rules that protect tenants who are living in foreclosures, spokesman Jason Menke said. At the same time, Wells Fargo is in the business of lending money for home purchases, not in managing rentals, he said.

“Generally, it’s our object to get a new owner into the house as quickly as possible,” Menke said. “It’s in our best interest and that of the community to return properties to the market.”

California Attorney General Jerry Brown launched an investigation into the issue last month, partly in response to the Tenants Together report. Brown sent a letter in June to California banks, lenders, investors and law firms asking them to explain their procedures for dealing with tenants in foreclosed properties in an effort to find out whether laws are being broken.

Tenants are protected by a 2009 federal law that allows them to stay in their units for 90 days after a foreclosure notice is posted, but they have other rights as well:


• Renters can insist on staying in their units until the end of their leases, except when the new owner of a single-family home wants to move in.


• They can require banks and their agents to put all communication in writing.


• They are not required to take cash incentives to move out before the law requires.”


• Harassment, such as changing locks without a court order, entering the home without permission or shutting off utilities, is illegal.

BACK TO BUNGALOWS?

The market for resale homes new construction suggests we may need a new kind of house. One that conforms better to our recent decimation of what once was a large middle class and our new rush into poverty.
I subscribe to a newsletter that sometimes has very interesting stuff. It is written by Joe Keller, Senior Loan Consultant at Prospect Mortgage in Newtown, PA. http://bit.ly/bcYAjL

The first house my parent purchased was a small, two bedroom bungalow. I still drive by it when I am in my hometown and think about how Dad shoveled coal into the furnace and took out the ashes. All within my generation!

"The American Bungalow

The American Bungalow, or Craftsman home, grew out of the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 19th century. The movement rejected the Industrial Revolution's increasingly ornate machine-made products and the overly decorated, impractical architecture of the Victorian era.

The word "bungalow" originates in India and refers to a simple, low-built structure with porches on the outside. The American Bungalow emphasized a visibly sturdy structure, clean lines, natural materials, simplicity and efficiency. Use of space was maximized by clustering the kitchen, dining area, bedrooms and bathrooms around a central living area.

The American Bungalow also reflected a changing America — members of a growing middle class who sought an affordable home of their own where they could raise a family. This meant a floor plan integrating the kitchen with the common areas providing easy sight lines of the dining and living rooms so one could easily watch the children while preparing meals.

The American Bungalow was immensely popular. Kit homes that suppliers could ship anywhere in the country led to "bungalow mania" in the 1910s and 1920s. Sears was the most prominent supplier of these kits and reportedly sold more than 100,000 homes between 1908 and 1940. Sears bungalows are now highly prized by bungalow enthusiasts.

The American Bungalow has a distinctive style: a low, gently slopping roof, usually one story (some Bungalows have attics and dormer windows), wide overhanging eaves, exposed rafters (rafter tails), an incised porch (set beneath the roof) and tapered or square pillars (corbels) supporting the roof. Throughout the interior, designers showcased the wooden craftsmanship with exposed beam ceilings and built-in cabinetry, shelves and benches."

Want one of the least expensive homes in the US in one of the best places to live?
Move to Palm Coast...Talk To Ted!

Humm...OM, Aum...Pork U.

I found this on a tattoo blog I follow…note at the end, she isn’t sure the tattoo is correct!  All the more reason for the government to support research on temporary tattoo ink!  Maybe one of my elected congressmen will append a research grant for temporary tattoo ink onto the next defense funding bill and include a provision the research be conducted in his home district.  I support pork and no term limits!


“Om and Aum are the same thing; it's just written two different ways. Think of "Om" as the phonetic spelling and "Aum" as the actual spelling. The sound of "Aum" - the slow, calming chant many associate with the word, is the sound that was made when all of creation came into existence. The essence of the universe and all creation, wrapped up in one unimaginable and indescribable aggregate (for lack of a better term), is known as Brahman. The "Om" represents the four divine states of Brahman - metta (loving kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy), and upekkha (equanimity). Brahman is actually a core belief system in both Hinduism and Buddhism, both of which use Om regularly in their daily life. (Feel free to research further on this with the links below - it's quite fascinating.)

So, just the sound of "Aum" is so beyond human comprehension that it boggles the mind, and then there is the symbol as well. Just as Brahma is the culmination of everything, so is the Om symbol. It's written in Sanskrit, and each part of the symbol has a very significant purpose. The two curls on top of each other (that sort of look like the number 3), with the downward curl that spirals out from the "3" shape, each represent a state of consciousness. The large, bottom curl stands for the normal state of being awake, which you probably are in right now. The curl above it stands for deep sleep, while the curl emanating out from the center of the two represents the dream state. Those are the states of consciousness that every human on earth experiences. But the dot and the open curve above that is what elevates the symbol to a much higher and more sacred meaning. The dot represents absolute consciousness; that's not the same as merely being awake, but it means being fully aware of yourself and everything around you. The open curve that cradles the dot represents an infinitely open mind, which is required to achieve that level of absolute consciousness.* (See note below)

As you can see, it's not just a soothing chant or a pretty symbol. If you plan to place an "Om" on your body, you need to understand and embrace all that it stands for.

Note: After my own personal research on this symbol, it occurs to me that the symbol in the tattoo seen here may actually be incorrect as it's missing the dream state curl to the right of the "3" shape. I'm not knowledgeable enough on the subject to know if this is an acceptable variation to those in the various faiths that hold the "Om" in great esteem. I'm going to continue doing some research and will hopefully have more information to add in coming weeks. There are, however, known acceptable variations: the Jain Om, the Tibetan Om, the Vedic Om, and the Sikh Ek Onkar.”

I TOLD YOU…THE U.S. GOVERNMENT WILL SOON OWN LOTS OF HOUSES!

Hot off the Florida Realtors newsletter is this quote from a meeting Obama just had with a bunch of big bankers: “Bill Gross, the managing director for bond giant Pimco, suggested Fannie and Freddie should be formally merged into the government. He also called on the administration to allow millions of homeowners to automatically refinance their loans to help stimulate the economy.”
Others were a bit more coy about it…”A more widely held view at the conference is for the government to do away with Fannie and Freddie, and instead provide a guarantee that mortgage investors get paid even if borrowers default in droves.”

To read the entire article go to http://bit.ly/cqKvM2

PALM COAST RUSSIANS (Ukraine)

This video is being promoted on YouTube. It’s about Kiev and Odessa’s sex problem. It’s very long, but you might be interested. It would be nice to see an outreach from the Palm Coast Russian community to the street kids. Some groups are mentioned in the video-you might try contacting them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL-Y-W59BFo
If you have a Russian relative or friend who wants to move here. Talk ToTed ! I use my next door neighbor, Janna, to translate. (Also use other next door neighbor, Alex, for my Haircuts!)

DEMOCRACY HAS A PROBLEM

I went to a “Meet the Candidates” night last night. I had attended one a few weeks ago. Want to become more politically active and informed. Think the country is at a tipping point.

The Problem: too many choices, too little  information, no organization of content. We are having a primary election here on August 24. The sample ballot had 78 names on it; some of them duplicated in the “Nonpartisan” sections. And the labels: "Circuit Judge, 7th Circuit, Group 3"   Define that for me please??

You can’t do good research on all these candidates. The best I can do is get a quick first impression or take some partisan’s word that their guy is best…and not too many of my friends-one’s whose political judgment I respect and feel akin to-are political partisans.

I have put “Campaign Financing” at the top of my list of priorities for the country. This is one area where the government does have to step in. Integrating and evaluating info from my internet, TV, print, and radio sources is impossible for me to do well. We need an effective system in place that makes it easy to become educated on issues and to learn where candidates stand.

I will take a shot and vote in this election, but who I vote for will depend more on the Holy Spirit than my reasoning capacity, and I am not sure God wants to take a position for me.

Term Limits is second on my list of political priorities. But if I can’t figure out who to vote for in the first place; why worry more about term limits.

Since I can’t make a well-informed decision on who to vote for, I offered to sign an absentee ballot for $10 for anyone who wants my vote. I think that would be a better way to buy votes than spending money on all those negative, Taqiyya and Kitmun television ads that are driving me crazy. Can I do that legally?

Know what a Twelver is?

O'Bama opted out from opening a discussion about whether CAIR and the NY Mosque Muslims are a religious movement or a political movement.

I don't know much about the nuances of Islam.  I wanted to know about the 'Twelvers'.  My Wikipedia-derived explaination (a) taught me a little and (b) gave me a glimpse of how much division there is among Muslims.

TWELVERS:
"Twelver or Imami Shīa Islam is the largest branch of Shī‘ī (Shi'a) Islam. Adherents of Twelver Shī‘ism are commonly referred to as Twelvers, which is derived from their belief in twelve divinely ordained leaders, known as the Twelve Imāms and their belief that the Mahdi will be none other than the returned Twelfth Imam that disappeared and is believed by Twelvers to be in occultation. Approximately 85% of Shī‘a are Twelvers, and the term Shi'a Muslim as commonly used in English usually refers to Twelver Shī‘a Muslims only."

Twelvers share many tenets of Shī‘ism with related sects, such as the belief in Imāms, but the Ismā‘īlī and Zaydī Shī‘ī sects each believe in a different number of Imāms and for the most part, a different path of succession regarding the Imāmate. They also differ in the role and overall definition of an Imām. The Shia Muslims believe that following the Prophet Muhammad's death, leadership should have passed directly to his cousin/son-in-law, Ali.

The Twelver faith is predominantly found in Iran, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, ((Afghanistan)) and Kuwait. It also forms a large minority in India, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Throughout history, Shia Muslims have not recognized the authority of elected Muslim leaders, choosing instead to follow a line of Imams which they believe have been appointed by the Prophet Muhammad or God Himself.


WHAT ABOUT SUNNI'S?

"The division between Shia and Sunni dates back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad, and the question of who was to take over the leadership of the Muslim nation. Sunni Muslims agree with the position taken by many of the Prophet's companions, that the new leader should be elected from among those capable of the job. This is what was done, and the Prophet Muhammad's close friend and advisor, Abu Bakr, became the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. The word "Sunni" in Arabic comes from a word meaning "one who follows the traditions of the Prophet."

Sunni Muslims make up the majority (85%) of Muslims all over the world.

THE GREAT DIVIDE BETWEEN SUNNI AND SHIITE: Shiite Muslims share the belief that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet's own family, among those specifically appointed by him, or among Imams appointed by God Himself.


NOW I KNOW THAT...SO WHO IS COMMITTED TO KILLING ME; A KUFAR?  ALL OF THEM?

Palm Coast Florida Houses Are Selling for Half What Was Paid

Want a quick look at our real estate market? Without struggling through lots of who, what, when, where info?

I just read a Real Estate Transactions article in our weekly Palm Coast Observer newspaper (Great new paper!) where they gave a report on all the real estate transactions recorded for the week of July 19-23. The data was comprehensive by neighborhood, houses and condos. Toby Tobin of GoToby.com helped to compile it.

To give you some idea of the housing bargains here the $625K house that sold for $350 is in Palm Coast Plantation, a gated community on the Intracoastal. It has a pool that features an island with a palm tree on it and 2457 sq ft of living area.

MY LIST:  I took just the amount the property sold for and the amount the sellers paid for it and made this list:
PAID/SOLD

$625,000-$350,000
231,000-113,000
499,000-215,000
177,000-168,500
290,000-120,000
136,000-95,000
358,000-120,000
254,000-116,000
290,000-139,900
92,000-54,000
430,000-208,600
47,500-95,000
415,000-213,700
149,900-55,000
164,900-175,000
314,000-120,000
?-110,000
242,600-110,000
183,700-109,000
148,500-135,000
?-112,000
248,000-127,500
257,000-125,000
258,000-125,000
145,000-170,000
285,000-132,000
There has never been a better time to buy a home in Florida. For the best deal, Talk To Ted ! (me). tedleshersr@gmail.com

It's Time To Stop Losing Money On That 'Investment' House

South Florida home values see nation’s biggest drop in a year.  Yes, this is SOUTH FLORIDA, but we are not doing any better, just not big enough to get headlines.

"MIAMI – Aug. 10, 2010 – South Florida home values suffered the worst decline of 25 large metropolitan areas in the second quarter of this year, falling 15 percent compared with 2009, according to a national real estate report.

The data, released Monday by analysts at Zillow, found that the median home value in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties fell to $146,500, down nearly 7 percent from the beginning of this year and a whopping 52 percent from housing’s peak values in 2006.

Nationally, median home value, including townhomes and condominiums, dipped 3.2 percent from the same time in 2009"

AND THE “OIL BELOW THE SURFACE: “Zillow found that 44 percent of South Florida single-family homes with mortgages are underwater – real estate slang for owing more on a loan than the home is worth.”

TALK TO TED If you are sitting on an investment property, waiting for the price to come back up or if you have an “Over-Priced Turkey” listed way above what the Flagler Property Appraiser says is it’s “Just Market Value” you are making a mistake. ‘Talk To Ted’ about a strategic default or a for-sale-by-owner at the market price to limit your loss on this fast-depreciating asset.

RIP OFF: Air Conditioning Repairs Rate Fixing.

I was burned once already by my Palm Coast ‘five star’ air conditioning sales and repair outfit. I always used “the best” when I was younger and my income and finances were much better. No more. My first clue was when they started a “duct cleaning” service. An almost worthless service for which they charged hundreds of dollars. It doesn’t take much research to discover how near useless that investment is.

Now, the air conditioner (heat pump) I purchased from them…the one that required their “special hand made air filters” that were premium priced (and looked like they were made by ten-year-olds)…has stopped working. I think it is a thermostat problem; but I am not sure. So I called them up to make an appointment:

$70.00 for a ‘service call’ to drive to my house. Then they want a ‘parts and labor’ payment payable on completion.

Well, I have to budget from my social security payment, so I asked what their labor charge would be. They don’t have a labor rate.  They charge a combined ‘parts and labor’ fee based on the part they replace.    Huh?

I used the yellow pages and called someone who was advertising a lower price for the drive to my house; the ‘service fee’. I could have sent a taxi for them and it would cost less. When asked their labor rate I got the same answer…”we charge a combined rate for the part needed and the labor to install it”. When questioned further, it turns out that MOST OF THE AIR CONDITIONING REPAIR OPERATIONS IN OUR AREA USE A NATIONAL ‘RATE BOOK’ TO ESTABLISH THEIR CHARGES.

This is a neat way to avoid head-to-head competition on rates, expertise and service. And it allows them to hire the cheapest, least qualified help, charge the “rate book” rate, and maximize their profits. I think it’s a monopolistic practice and a scam.

I am continuing to look for an individual with a good reputation who will give me a reasonable charge for coming to my house and diagnosing the problem-it’s not rocket science. I will pay a fair fee for that.

Then I should be able to decide about who will fix it at what price. This tightly coupling of the service call, the diagnostic exam and the fixed-price repair call into a "one call/one price/payable upon completion" policy is wrong.


I think I can find an air conditioning repair person to do travel to my house and do the diagnostic for a reasonable fee and then I can check my checkbook to see if I can pay for the work they say needs to be done or get a second opinion.

If you have a good Palm Coast air conditioner repair person who does not use the “national rate book” to establish rates, please drop me a comment..





RATE FIXING-A COMMON PRACTICE:  Most auto repair places use this same “rate book” monopolistic practice. But with auto repairs you can take your car to a shop, get your problem identified, and then shop for a repair price. With a plumbing or air conditioning or electrical problem in your home, you cannot.

I had one auto repair shop say I needed a new head gasket. Another said I needed a water pump. I finally took it to highly-recommended John who is US Auto in Bunnel. He said I had a leaky radiator and might also need a water pump, he had to look. He fixed the radiator and replaced the water pump after telling me what it would cost His bill was very reasonable and the car is running fine.

Gaaa! What if I had paid to have the head gasket replaced and the radiator still leaked!

"Made in America" is taking on a new meaning to me when it comes to repair services.  But No, I don't want the government to take over shopping for me!

Lawyers Being Sued Over Fraudulent Foreclosure Practic

The amount of delinquent Florida loans foreclosed and sold on courthouse steps has slowed down.  Some of the slowdown can be attributed to the new law that requires arbitration befoe filing suit. 

Another reason is that the process can be delayed by homeowners demanding proof of who really owns their loan.  A major foreclosure law firm in Florida is being sued for attempting to get around this "proof of ownership" issue. This excerpt from an article from the 8/4/2010 Florida Realtor News newsletter helps explain why it is hard to determing just who owns your mortgage  ..derivitives!

THE EXERPT:
"... The suit, filed last month in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, says David J. Stern and his Plantation-based legal team violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by generating fraudulent mortgage assignments when pursuing foreclosures.


An assignment is held by the entity that has the right to receive mortgage payments.
Stern’s practice, which the lawsuit claims filed up to 7,000 new foreclosure cases in Florida every month last year, is also alleged to have pursued foreclosures for lenders that didn’t own the debt on the homes.

“There really is no proper plaintiff to sue and foreclose and that’s what this charade is designed to cover,” said Fort Lauderdale Attorney Kenneth Eric Trent, who is seeking class action status and filed the suit on behalf of Oakland Park resident Ignacio Damian Figueroa. “There is no real holder of the note and the mortgage anymore because they broke it up and sold it to 10, 12, 20 people.”

During the real estate boom, loans traded hands often, sometimes being bundled or split up and sold to investors.

Tracking the true owner of the debt sometimes can be a challenge. When pressed for proof of debt ownership, Trent said Stern’s office would create an assignment signed by a Stern employee instead of a representative of the lender attempting to foreclose."

The Oil Leak Is Halted But The Foreclosure Torrent Has Not

Sell your “investment” house now. It is a depreciating asset that will continue to decrease in value for several more years until the foreclosure flood recedes!
Talk To Ted!

HUFFINGTON POST-It's like picking fly shit out of pepper


Whenever I tell my friends I follow the Huffington Post on Twitter, they berate me and think I must be a left wing activist. Truth is, this Blog has some of the best writers in the country contributing to it.  It has great news coverage. If you follow it on Twitter and pick out articles that interest you, you will really be surprised. Of course, you have to ‘verify’. Just like what you see on TV or read in magazines and newspapers. But this is not a 'political-only' Blog.

 For example, here is what they have to say about Obama’s sleight-of-hand to mask the real crisis that still exists in housing.

EXTEND AND PRETEND: “President Barack Obama's signature plan to combat the housing crisis has fallen short of its goals -- rather than significantly and permanently reducing home foreclosures, it is only delaying them.

The administration unveiled its Making Home Affordable plan in February 2009. Obama vowed in front of an audience gathered at Dobson High School in Mesa, Ariz., that MHA's signature effort, the Home Affordable Modification Program, would "enable as many as three to four million homeowners to modify the terms of their mortgages to avoid foreclosure."

The $75 billion initiative -- $50 billion from the bank bailout, $25 billion from government-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- was designed to induce lenders, servicers and investors to modify distressed mortgages through a series of cash incentives.

It's not working.

In its first year, 1.5 million people were invited to try HAMP. About 40 percent of those who tried it have been kicked out of the program; fewer than that have been given an actual shot at keeping their homes.

When President Obama took office, it took an average of 319 days to complete a foreclosure, according to Jacksonville, Fla.-based data provider Lender Processing Services. Now it takes 461 days.

Extending the process by which homes enter foreclosure allows banks to continue carrying the loans on their books at full value, delaying loss recognition. That allows unhealthy banks to appear healthy, staving off costly bank failures.

As a result, fewer homes hit the market in a distressed state. Home prices stopped their free fall.

"Extending and pretending was the right thing to do last year," says John Burns, a housing industry consultant based in Irvine, Calif. "It pains me to say that, but that's the situation they've got us into. Throwing these people out on the street and selling their homes would have depressed home prices."

The strategy has achieved stability for the housing market, but not for the people inside the houses. Families are merely given more time to wonder when sheriff's deputies will finally pile their belongings on the curb.

A Year Into HAMP, 'We're Losing Our Home'

Bea and Terry Garwood applied to JPMorgan Chase for HAMP help in April 2009 and were approved for a "trial" modification that July because they met the core requirements: their house payments took up more than 31 percent of their monthly pre-tax income; they lived in their home; they owed less than $729,000; and they were at risk of default. Garwood says the HAMP trial reduced their monthly payment on their two-story home in Pinckney, Mich., by nearly $500 to about $1,175 -- a huge relief, she adds.

A HAMP trial is supposed to become "permanent" after three months, but Garwood's dragged on for nine. "They kept on saying a bank statement was missing, or one of the documentations wasn't signed, or they didn't have the affidavit, or the hardship letter," Garwood says. "And then on March 19, I received a letter saying, 'You do not qualify for a permanent modification. You now owe us $12,000.'"

Chase rejected the Garwoods for two reasons, according to the letter Garwood received: The bank claimed their monthly mortgage payment amounted to less than 31 percent of their income and they failed HAMP's opaque "Net Present Value" test, a complex Treasury Department formula that servicers use to determine if a modification will make investors more money than a foreclosure. Garwood says that Chase assumed they had an inflated income by looking at deposits to their bank account and ignoring the money paid out to the people who work for her husband, a roofing subcontractor. If Chase went by the Garwoods' tax forms, she claims, the bank would realize they make thousands of dollars less every month and the couple would qualify for a permanent modification. Chase declined to comment.

Garwood says that the difference between their reduced payments during the trial period and what they would have paid otherwise, plus late fees, is $12,000. She says they can't possibly afford it all at once but that they would have found a way to make full monthly payments if they hadn't been lured into HAMP. They stopped making payments in April, shortly after they were turned down for a permanent modification. Sheriff's sales have been set for June, July, and now August. Garwood says she thinks she may be able to continue to dodge the foreclosure for a little while longer, but she's not exactly grateful for the extra time.

"They told us we were a great candidate, so we went for it," she says. "And as a result we're losing our home."

Treasury Department officials downplayed HAMP's role in the administration's foreclosure prevention efforts in an interview with HuffPost, insisting that the goal of helping three to four million people is broader than just HAMP or even the umbrella program under which it falls, Making Home Affordable.

"Foreclosure prevention was only one piece of the administration's approach to stabilize the housing market that included... interest rates at historic lows [for] increased affordability and refinancing, support for [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] to make sure there was a mortgage market available, and the homebuyer tax credit to stimulate demand," says Phyllis Caldwell, chief of Treasury's Homeownership Preservation Office. "HAMP is one part of foreclosure prevention."

'Anemic' Number of Permanent Modifications

HAMP gives servicers and investors $1,000 incentive payments for permanent modifications, and additional payments each year that borrowers stay current. Through June, Treasury has disbursed just $247 million for successful modifications, according to a July 21 report by the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The TARP auditor called the number of permanent modifications "anemic."

"HAMP has not put an appreciable dent in foreclosure filings," SIGTARP's report to Congress notes. "[F]oreclosure filings have increased dramatically while HAMP has been in place, with permanent modifications constituting just a few drops in an ocean of foreclosure filings."

"There is some extending and pretending going on," says Celia Chen, an economist and specialist in housing for Moody's Economy.com. "Many trial modifications have failed to become permanent modifications. We're starting to see the number of REOs [bank-owned homes] rising."

During Obama's first three months in office, banks repossessed nearly 191,000 homes. In the three-month period ending in June 2010, that number jumped to 270,000 -- a 42 percent increase.

More than 529,000 homeowners have been kicked out of HAMP through June, Treasury figures show. About 1.2 million entered the program with a promise and expectation of permanent relief. Roughly 389,000 are benefiting from the "permanent" modifications guaranteed to keep their payments down for five years.

Lenders have repossessed more than three times as many homes during this time.

The Treasury Department rolled out the program quickly, and initially allowed servicers to put borrowers into trial modifications without solid documentation of their income -- a mistake that auditors of the program say inflated the number of people in trial mods that would never pan out. Every few months, Treasury released additional directives that, among other things, have expanded the criteria that servicers might use for income verification, from 4506-T tax forms and pay stubs initially to documents that reflect unemployment benefits and alimony payments.

Servicers frequently complain that such constant changes to the program make it difficult to administer, according to government auditors, including SIGTARP and the Elizabeth Warren-led Congressional Oversight Panel.

HAMP homeowners know a thing or two about delays and supplemental directives: Banks' requests to resend lost paperwork dominate complaints about the program. Of the 364,077 trial plans, 166,000 have dragged on for longer than six months.

Teresa Follmer, an interior designer in Mesa, Ariz., tried over a year to modify her mortgage with Countrywide (now Bank of America) before discovering that she'd met HAMP's eligibility requirements in May 2009. But when she tried to apply, Countrywide told her it didn't do HAMP mods, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in July. After Follmer called the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions to complain, a Bank of America executive got in touch and initiated a long series of back-and-forth discussions.

Many unhappy HAMP recipients have similar stories to the one outlined in Follmer's lawsuit: In response to the executive's request, Follmer compiled personal financial information and sent it to the bank, which acknowledged receipt the following day. A week later, Bank of America sent Follmer a notice of its intent to foreclose on her home. The bank then advised Follmer to gather up her financial information again and resubmit her application. In October, she received a package indicating her HAMP trial would begin -- and another package days later asking her to send additional paperwork. In January, Bank of America asked her to send a missed payment (which she denies she missed) and yet more documentation. In February, the bank thanked her for making payments and asked her to send her pay stubs and her tax returns (again). In May, Bank of America said it would foreclose because Follmer missed trial payments. When Follmer protested, she was told she could start her trial period all over again. But then in June, the bank told her she owed $23,988 and would lose her home if she didn't pay.

Follmer's suit, one of several across the country seeking class-action status, alleges that Bank of America "regularly falsely informs borrowers that it did not receive requested information and demands that documents be re-sent."

A Bank of America executive acknowledged the paperwork problems in June: "We continue to train and retrain to try to improve our process and we've done a lot of things to try to make sure we don't lose documents anymore," he said during a conference call with reporters. "We do think the experience is getting better and better, but again, it's still not the level we would hope it to be because we still have more customer complaints than we believe are acceptable."

Homeowners in New York City sued JPMorgan Chase for allegedly telling them to quit making payments in order to qualify for the program (similar suits have been launched against Chase in California and Seattle). "I trusted them because they're a big bank. I did whatever they asked me to," plaintiff Alex Lam told HuffPost. "Just to get a modification, that's all I'm asking for... Since day one, that's all I'm asking for."

The Government Accountability Office notes in a June 24 report that Treasury had yet to fine a single servicer for noncompliance. In fact, Treasury had yet to even formalize its penalty scheme. The GAO says that Treasury's lack of clear consequences "risks inconsistent treatment of servicer noncompliance and lacks transparency with respect to the severity of the steps it will take for specific types of noncompliance."

Treasury's enforcement of the rules has been limited to prodding servicers to do better, and requiring them to review borrowers' applications. While Treasury has the contractual right to claw back payments made to servicers, it has yet to do so. The agency declined to offer reasons why it has not done so.

TO SEE THE REST OF THIS STORY, GO TO: 'EXTEND & PRETEND': Inside Obama's FAILED Foreclosure-Prevention Program http://huff.to/cFg3pP (via @HuffPostBiz)

What New Houses Will Look Like

 I just read and article in my Florida Realtors newsletter about what the architecture of a new house will look like once the market for new builds revives.  It is and easy read and I agree with what it predicts.

Here is the most interesting part of the article:

"Andy Chambers has seen the boom and the bust. He’s president of both MasterCraft Builder Group and the Northeast Florida Builders Association. “Are people going to build bigger, higher-cost houses for the most part?” he said. “I think not.”

Rooms that encourage just a single use -- formal living rooms and dining rooms, isolated media rooms --will be the first to go.

“People are just looking more carefully at the space that’s useful,” said Skinner.

In coming years, look for multi-use rooms of flexible design, featuring lots of open space. That central living area is more spacious, tied into a kitchen that’s functional but not over-the-top.

The family area will be focused even more so around the TV screen, which will be even larger, said Skinner: “The TV has taken the spotlight, and people aren’t as ashamed of it as they used to be.”

He also expects kitchens to be more practical than extravagant. And bathrooms? They won’t be the “palaces” of past years. They’ll be nice, sure. But who really needs a palace for a bathroom?

Skinner said there’s plenty of room in the future for modern-looking houses, but he expects something of a return to a more traditional look. “I think there’s this sense of what a home looks like,” he said. “Proportions will become closer to something that looks classically driven; the scale of homes will be more pleasing to the eye. There’s been a lot of movement in the directions of neighborhoods that are more into the Avondale, Riverside, San Marco design.”

For years, people have been envisioning smart “Jetsons”-style houses packed with centralized high-tech systems that will run the whole building.  Those predictions were likely overblown, said Chambers, the builders association president. “The high-tech houses, quite honestly, have never taken off, and I think that’s because technology has exceeded the high-tech houses, because of wireless for the most part.”

And the much-ballyhooed green house?  People are slowly moving that way, though Leinenweber points out that most green construction methods remain too expensive for widespread use. Better insulation and more efficient windows, however, have come down in price enough to be popular.

Leinenweber said he’s also seeing less reliance on conventional building materials. Instead, there’s more cement composite siding and recycled plastic and PVC trim."

One key issue this article leaves out is the trend toward multi-generation living. Parents and a divorced child with kids of her own sharing Mom's house. Children moving in to care for a parent; a sick and aging parent moving in with a child rather than a nursing home (the parent usually bringing along an income and some nice assets). It's very evident here and, in this Great Recession, very practical. Moranda is selling lots of six bedroom houses in Palm Coast!

Where homes are affordable in the US

CNNMoney.com published a story about "Residents who live in these 25 growing towns see their incomes go the furthest."  Two of the towns are in Florida; Deltona and Deerfield Beach.  Neither one offers as good a lifestyle as Palm Coast as was reported in Fortune when we were chosen one of the five top places to retire in the country.

But I did get an interesting perspective on each of the 25 they picked.  They gave a little rationale about the area after each selection.  You might want to skim through the article and see who was picked and why...meanwhile, I am studying Canopy Walk and all the condos in Palm Coast and have an appointment to help a homeowner do a "For Sale By Owner" in Island Estates, a gated part of Hammock Dunes on the Intracoastal that I think is the finest section of Flagler County...if you have over a million to spend on a home! 

Looking for a Real Estate Consultant or Buyers Agent?   Talk To Ted!

HERE'S THE LINK:
http://bit.ly/99rPhV

Today, It’s Almost An ‘Investors Only’ Housing Market-You Got The Cash, You Get the House.

I have written before about how difficult it is for the everyday person to purchase a house at the bargain prices most are selling for today.
Today I read the article below. It confirmed what I told my Broker/Owner cousin in New Jersey who I visited last week. “Bank-Owned” is where it’s at and only investors are savvy enough and willing to take the risks of purchasing a Bank-Owned house and put up with all the crap they give you...’take it or leave it’; ‘Our way or the highway’…and they still get multiple offers because many investors have not yet read “Aftershock” and think the housing market is near bottom. I don’t.

Here is the article. I have highlighted the good parts so you can skim it.



                      "Hungry for homes, buyers are edged out"
MIAMI – July 23, 2010 – When Joel Flores learned that his girlfriend was pregnant, he decided it was time to get serious about buying his first home. After 12 years of saving up, the 38-year-old computer technician set his eye on South Florida’s depressed foreclosure market, certain he could land a steal.

But like many other middle-income Floridians looking to buy, he found savvy investors were beating him to the punch on foreclosures in the under-$150,000 market he could afford.

As South Florida’s home sales have continued to outpace national trends, distressed properties are still dominating the market, with more than half of all homes and condos sold last month at some stage in the foreclosure process. And cash-happy investors have been scooping up these bargain basement deals at a fast clip, often before middle-income buyers can get financing.

According to figures released Thursday by Florida Realtors, South Florida’s sales of existing homes and condos saw increases in June compared to the same month last year, even as national sales slumped with a post-tax-credit hangover. Miami-Dade sales of single-family homes increased 1 percent to 686, and condo sales jumped 33 percent to 855.

In Broward, single-family home sales were down 2 percent year-over-year to 862 in June, and 1,003 condo sales represented an 8 percent increase for the year.

Year-over-year prices are down nearly across the board, and a deeper look offers up one reason for the ever-falling home values: Most of sales taking place these days involve distressed, discounted properties. Short sales and purchases of bank-owned home accounted for 60 percent of home sales in Miami-Dade last month, and 56 percent of sales in Broward. Nationally, distressed properties have accounted for about 30 percent of sales this year.

With plenty of properties still defaulting – South Florida has had 95,357 foreclosures in the first six months of 2010 – investors from across the country and abroad have decided to come to the rescue, cash in hand, and often to the detriment of people needing a mortgage to buy a primary residence.

“It’s outrageous,” Flores said. “Investors have a pretty good monopoly on it.”

Since foreclosures sell at an average discount of about 25 percent, their dominance of the local real estate market – and the presence of investors negotiating all-cash deals – have put additional downward pressure on average home prices.

Median sales prices for single-family homes in Miami-Dade were $203,300 in June, down about 4 percent from June 2009. That price represents an increase of 3.4 percent from May. For Miami-Dade condos, median sales prices were $128,800 in June, down 9 percent from the same month a year earlier.

In Broward, the median single-family home sold for $209,600 in June, up 2 percent from the year before, but down 3 percent from May. Broward condos saw their median prices slip to $78,600 last month, down 6 percent for the year and 3.5 percent for the month.

Statewide, median home prices were at $143,400 in June, down 3 percent for the year. Florida condo prices found a median at $95,000, down 16 percent for the year.

The low prices and deluge of foreclosure filings have given Miami-based investor Julian Dominguez plenty of properties to choose from as he decides where to invest his money and the funds of clients who have hired him.

Tough deals

Dominguez, president of Foreclosure Investment Systems, said market forces are at play, and while those forces tend to prefer investor cash over the often-uncertain financing of the average buyer, the market may actually be protecting the novices from themselves.

He said he has watched many unprofessional buyers try to take advantage of a foreclosure deal, only to be frustrated by how difficult and unpredictable the process is. Many inexperienced buyers, he said, have had to learn the hard way that along with deep discounts, foreclosures often come with baggage – huge repair bills, complex contracts and other unexpected problems.

“It’s a very dangerous thing to do,” he said of buying foreclosures without having full knowledge of the process. “But it’s a fair competition. Whoever [offers] the most takes it. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you could end up spending a lot of money.”

Flores said the discounted prices – and his girlfriend’s upcoming delivery date – encouraged him to take the plunge into homeownership after more than a decade of preparing for it financially. But each time he tries to pick up a low-priced home, he said, he finds savvy, well-connected investors standing between him and his property of choice. One investor even offered to buy Flores’ property of choice at auction and sell it to him at a 20 percent premium.

Condo-mania

Vanessa D’Souza, a sales associate with Coral-Springs based Exit Team Realty, said the swarm toward Broward County condos has intensified this year.

“We’ve seen a lot more with investor interest,” she said, pointing to Broward County’s off-peak prices as the main draw. “I’d say on average they’re getting between 10 and 12 percent return.”

While some investors, like Dominguez, aim for a quick flip, the Broward buyers D’Souza has worked with are using acquisitions to generate rental income.

In Miami-Dade, investor interest has sparked bidding wars in the under-$100,000 market, an analysis from Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors shows. Single-family homes selling at five-figure prices account for 20 percent of all sales and spend an average of 67 days on the market, down from 98 days last year and less time than any other price bracket. Short sales are up astronomically, with 562 single-family short sales in the second quarter of 2010, compared to just 10 in the same period last year.

The average short sale is purchased after about five months on the market, down from about 10 months a year ago. Bank-owned properties are being scooped up after an average of 37 days on the market, compared with 77 a year ago.

Flores, who has about seven months until his first child is born, said he plans to continue his search for a high-quality, low-cost foreclosure deal.

“I’m going to keep trying,” he said. “But from what I see my chances of getting a foreclosure deal are pretty low.”

Copyright © 2010 The Miami Herald, Toluse Olorunnipa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

The Rules Are About To Change for Bank Loans

Knowing which real estate agent's suggested price to use to sell your home has always been a challenge.  Did the agent price the home too high to show she could get the best price for the home and thereby get chosen to list the property?   Did the Realtor price the home too low to insure it would be sold very quickly with little expense or effort?
Just how good is that "Comparable Market Analysis" anyway?

Well, banks need to sell loans to FANNIE MAE and FREDDIE MAC and they generally use their rules when making a loan to a borrower.  And you house is probably going to sell for the amount the bank will loan on it based on the price the bank's appraiser puts on it plus the minimum down payment percentage they require.  I think "Overpriced Turkey" listings will disappear from the marketplace. 

Check out info from this article about accurate bank appraisals just sent out to Realtors:

"...Recognizing a problem, Fannie Mae instituted a new rule that becomes effective on Sept. 1.   "...Fannie Mae told its participating lenders that they must contact the appraiser to resolve disagreement" (about whether they agree the bank's appraisal is accurate). "If that fails, banks must order a second appraisal."

As a Buyers Agent, I have been suggesting to all my customers that they have me get them an appraisal from a bank-certified appraiser to use when making their offer to purchase a property.  When advising someone who is listing their property, I suggest the same thing.

Also, some real estate agents doing BPA's are being pressured to give high priced, BPA's or "Broker Price Opinions" to qualify Short Sale offers.  These price estimates are very similar to the "Comparable Market Analysis" agents use for listing presentations to suggest "Market Value".  Agent  BPA's are much cheaper than Fee-Paid Appraisals from professional appraisers and are used to get short sale offers approved by cooperating banks.  I think these BPA's are now less likely to be affected by what the homeowner wants to have the BPA come in at.  

All told, the new regulation will probably do two things; tend to lower amount banks will loan so they will be sure Fannie and Freddie will back them; and provide more uniformity to house pricing so comparable houses for sale will tend more to be listed at about the same prices.

You can read the full article at
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=243247

Looking to buy a condo or a house in Palm Coast?

Talk To Ted !
Broker Associate, Sunburst Realty Group Inc.
386-503-1101

Caught between devalued homes and job loss? Will Congress step in?

I just read this article in the latest edition of The Christian Science Monitor.  It gives the clearest and most up-to-date info on what is happening with foreclosure legislation. 
I have taken the liberty of putting in bold copy that I think constitutes the meat of the article so you can skim this blog if you like.  To see the whole article from its source you can go to the link provided below.

By Alissa Figueroa, Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor / July 12, 2010 Boston              http://bit.ly/aATPRt 

For almost a quarter century, Cynthia Johnson, a Boston homeowner, has paid the mortgage on her three-bedroom single-family house on time.  But in July, for the first time, she'll miss a payment.

"I'm on [the bank's] doorstep at this point, saying, 'The savings are gone. I can't pay you as promised,' " she said.

Unless something changes, Ms. Johnson (not her real name) is set to join the nearly 2.4 million Americans with prime loans seriously delinquent on their mortgages. They are the new face of the housing crisis. Unlike subprime borrowers, most of these homeowners did everything right. They bought houses they could afford and used standard mortgages. But falling home prices and a protracted recession have pushed them into a classic squeeze: They can't keep up their mortgage payments because someone in the household has lost his or her job. They can't sell because they owe more than the home is worth.

"In the next 12 months it's going to be tragic – most people are just starting to fall behind now," said Avi Liss, a lawyer helping homeowners avoid foreclosure in the Boston area. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit research and policy group, as many as 9 million homeowners could go into foreclosure between 2009 and 2012.

Is there a solution? Yes, but it's controversial. Congress would have to force banks to write off part of homeowners' troubled loans as a way to keep them in their homes.

There are plenty of reasons to avoid this course. Chief among them is the moral hazard. If banks write down one homeowner's loans because of hardship, what's to keep other homeowners from claiming hardship, too? And the losses don't accrue to some faceless bank; they add up for individual shareholders and pension funds that have money tied up in mortgage loans.

"In a way, reducing principal is like rewarding [homeowners] for backing out of an obligation," said Stan Longhofer, director of the Center for Real Estate at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kan.

But the current program isn't working either, critics say. And the debt write-down happens anyway, whether a homeowner goes through foreclosure or the house is relinquished in a short sale. So isn't it better, they ask, for the bank to take its losses early and keep the owner in his home?

Foreclosed on, but kept his home

Osazee Egharevba, a Nigerian immigrant who came to the Boston area in 2000 after his wife passed away, worked two jobs and saved enough to bring over his five children in 2006. That same year he purchased a two-family home. He could afford the $3,950 monthly payments by renting out the first floor.

Then Mr. Egharevba lost one job, and the extra $800 a week it brought in, and started missing payments. Deeply "underwater" on the $510,000 property (owing more than it was worth), he was foreclosed on this past winter, after five failed attempts at attaining a loan modification.

"My children were going to be on the street because there was no way, there was no home," he said.

But he stayed in the house. In April 2010, a nonprofit called Boston Community Capital was able to buy the home and sell it back to him for $296,000 – the home's current value. His monthly payment has fallen to a manageable $2,300. Egharevba doesn't get off scot-free. He is bound to share with BCC any profit he makes when he sells the property.

"There's no incentive for someone to do this to make money," says Patricia Hanratty, who runs the loan program at BCC. "This is for people who desperately want to save their homes."

In the year that the program's been running, almost 70 homes have been either sold back or rented to foreclosed homeowners. None have redefaulted. When the group buys a foreclosed property, it routinely asks the selling bank if it wants to participate in the shared equity deal. Every one has declined the offer.

"They said it was too complicated; it wasn't something they were used to doing, they didn't want to get involved in it," said Ms. Hanratty. "Maybe that will turn, that will change in time."

A lesson from the farm?

There is a precedent for widespread principal reduction on property loans. During the farm crisis of the 1980s, young farmers who had bought farmland at inflated prices suddenly saw crop prices plunge and, soon after, land prices fall as well. It was a debt squeeze not unlike today's crisis for underwater homeowners who have lost their job. Seeing the unfolding rural disaster, Congress created a new chapter in the bankruptcy code. It allowed bankruptcy judges to modify loans, including partial debt write-downs, so family farmers could stay on their farm.

"People who will pull themselves out of trouble and be good credit risks again, those are the people who merit this kind of intervention and who will also help stabilize the markets," said Neil Harl, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University who helped write the bankruptcy language.

In 2008, Sen. Harry Reid (D) of Nevada introduced a similar bill for the housing crisis. But the measure languished, in large part because, at the time, subprime borrowers were in the eye of the storm and many of them had stretched to buy homes they really could not afford. Will the new foreclosure wave of prime borrowers change the political calculus? Professor Harl isnt’t optimistic.

"Unfortunately, people in Congress listen to [lobbyists]" said Harl. "They tend to drown out those that don't have as much money."

Instead, homeowners facing foreclosure can try to get their loan modified through the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP. Typically, the bank servicing the loan tries to make monthly mortgage payments affordable by extending the mortgage to a 40-year loan and reducing the interest rate. One year into the program, however, only about 300,000 of an estimated 4 million eligible homeowners have received permanent loan modifications.

Why modification requests get denied

That's partly because loan servicers were unprepared for the massive influx of loan modification requests. It's also because a loan modification is difficult to qualify for. This is particularly true for owners with big mortgages whose income has decreased, like Cynthia Johnson.

Her spiral toward foreclosure began with a divorce in 2006, which halved her $160,000 a year household income. She took equity out of her home to buy her husband out of the mortgage. When she was forced to take a $22,000 pay cut, her $2,000 monthly mortgage payments became impossible to manage.

She's gone through about $14,000 in savings to keep paying her mortgage – which now eats up more than 40 percent of her paycheck. Still, she's about $60,000 underwater and, because of that, she can't refinance again or borrow off the equity on her home. Johnson appealed to her loan servicer to adjust her monthly payments, but because she is not yet in arrears, her request was denied.

Lenders test to determine whether it is more beneficial for the investor to modify the loan and get a lower monthly payment or foreclose on the home.

"In many cases where the person's income has dropped substantially, they decide it's better to foreclose," explained Ms. Cohen.the home.

For homeowners who do qualify for a modification, few are offered principal reductions. Because less than 30 percent of the mortgages modified so far (about 98,000) included any reduction in the loan amount, many homeowners with modifications remain underwater. Some blame continued negative equity for HAMP's high redefault rate – about half of the loans modified through the program go into default.

The Treasury Department has taken sweeping steps to address problems with the program. In late March it announced a new initiative for unemployed homeowners – starting this month they will be given a three-month forbearance period before applying for a loan modification.

Underwater homeowners current on their loans will also be able to apply for refinancing from the Federal Housing Administration. This is the first time that modifications for people not yet in arrears will be performed as part of the program.

Perhaps most significantly, HAMP will now incorporate principal reduction into the refinancing process. Servicers will be required to consider the advantages of reducing principal to match the current value of the home. As an incentive, banks that reduce principal on loans will also get a fee based on how much debt was forgiven, and how deeply underwater the modified loan was beforehand.

The changes to HAMP have been hailed by housing and consumer lending advocates as a move in the right direction. But some insist that Treasury's reluctance to make one key change could significantly limit the revamped program's reach: principal reductions remain voluntary for banks.


As long as servicers can opt out of reducing principal, they will, say housing advocates – even when the only other options are a foreclosure or a short sale, which ultimately results in the property being devalued to the current market price.

"The way loan servicers get paid is that they earn a percentage of the principal balance of their book of business," said Julia Gordon, a Washington-based senior policy counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending. So when the dollar value of the principal outstanding on a mortgage is reduced, so are the bank's fees, she added. "You can see right there why the servicer doesn't want to write down principal."

Balancing risks

Mortgage bankers, though, insist that that argument is misguided. "The servicer would find some very minimal reduction [in fees] if a principal reduction is made," said Jay Brinkman, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association. "But they're not the one making that decision – they make the recommendations, but the principal reduction has to be made by the investor."

Ultimately, the issue boils down to balancing risks: the possibility that banks are pushing too many people into foreclosure versus the danger that banks' leniency will encourage more homeowners to default so they can get their mortgage principal reduced.

There are effective ways to modify loans (like reducing interest) that won't encourage such defaults, Mr. Brinkman says. "While [principal reduction] might improve things for one borrower, will it help the economy if 10 more homeowners default and ask for a reduction?"

Should Children Learn About Condos in Kindergarten?

Well if their parents are looking for one in Palm Coast, Florida they should learn about the Canopy Walk Condominiums. This, in my estimation, is one of the most desirable family oriented condominium complexes in our area with its child friendly swimming pool and water playground and its Tree House Playground. For older kids it has play lawns, a sand volleyball court, and a basketball court.

Got a boat? It has boat slips with lifts and a gazebo on the Intracoastal Waterway for fishing, or dolphin watching; a Sandy beach for launching canoes or kayaks; a seven-mile nature trail and stocked fishing lakes!

I am a Buyer’s Agent.  There are great buys available in this condo complex. It has a very solvent Homeowners’ Association. Its Marina is only available to occupants and it, too, is very solvent. May Management Services manage the complex and they are about the best. 

There are foreclosures, short-sales, for-sale-by-owners and MLS listed properties in Canopy Walk. Priced from below $200,000, I would love to hunt one up for a well qualified prospective buyer.

A group of local realtors with listings in the complex and headed up by Branka Damaini, Broker Associate with Palm Coast Real Estate worked with May Management and the Homeowners Association to organize a well-run Real Estate Open House that is held the first Sunday of each month.  I visited the Open House for a couple hours yesterday and chatted with some of the real estate agents. My conversations confirmed this would be a very good place to buy a condominium on the Intracoastal.

The Homeowners Association allows you to rent your condo for a day, a week, a month, or a year…take your choice. You can see and read more about it at www.canopywalkca.com. Any interest in renting or buying a condo in Palm Coast? Condominiums are one of my specialties, so TALK TO TED! 386-503-1101 or tedleshersr@gmail.com

Sniffing Under The Canopy

I have been checking out the May Management Website listings and contacting 'for-sale-by-owner' ads about whether they would like me to show their condos and list them on our MLS at no charge.  Getting good response. (Canopy Walk is on the Intracoastal, right near the pay bridge) 

Also planning to be at the Canopy Walk Realtor Open House  Sunday, July 11 from 12-5 to check out properties, talk with owners, and learn as much as possible about this condo complex.  I have started a notebook with all the sales and rental listings, foreclosures, for-sale-by-owners, slips for rent and everything else I can learn.  I think this well managed complex is priced right and will be recommending it to my buyers.  

Please add your comments about Canopy Walk to this blog post so we can see what you think.  Or call me at 386-503-1101

Ted Lesher

Buyers Agent-Condo Specialist

Sunburst Realty Group, Palm Coast, FL

Ted's Going Condo

I have been carefully watching the real estate market begin to improve.  Or at least look like it might be beginning to pick up a bit.

I attended a learning session on Bank Owned properties last week and confirmed banks are treating prospective buyers of their properties as if they were vagrants begging for a handout.  They treat their listing agents and buyer prospects with arrogance bordering on contempt.  The flow of bank-owned (REO) properties onto the MLS is slowing down.  Hopefully there may be less of these we have to deal with.

But I think a bright spot in the market is condo sales.  I plan to get agressive with my AboutPalmCoastCondos.com and AboutCanopyWalk.com domains and concentrate my efforts on knowing everything there is to know about the Flagler/Palm Coast condo market so I can be the best Buyers Broker available.

Got one for sale?  Let me know about it!
Want me to promote your "For Sale By Owner" condo, no charge?
Want me to research Tidelands, Grand Haven, Canopy Walk or any other condo complex for you, a prospective buyer?

Or add your comments about your HomeOwners Association or Condo complex as a comment to this Blog Post.



TALK TO TED !
   

Florida Not Spending Foreclosure Releif Money

Any ideas about why, anyone?


Foreclosure help: Millions in federal money unspent in Florida



TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – March 31, 2010 – Florida and several local governments within Central Florida are way behind in spending $91 million statewide in federal funds aimed at stabilizing neighborhoods shaken by foreclosures.



Florida trails all but three other states in putting the foreclosure-relief dollars to work and could lose any funds not committed to projects by the end of September, according to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report this month on the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

“It’s obvious that the state … was unprepared to handle processing of those kind of grant resources and has dropped the ball,” said U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, a Republican who represents parts of Polk, Osceola and Hillsborough counties.

Though HUD officials say most local governments in the country have committed about one-third of their funds by now, the cities of Deltona and Lakeland and Brevard and Volusia counties have fallen behind. Deltona, for instance, still has more than $6 million of its $6.6 million allocation.

“The challenges have been learning the … system, finding the [housing] units, negotiating with the lending institutions,” said Lee Lopez, a spokesman for Deltona city government.

Apopka, meanwhile, was one of only two of the hardest-hit cities in the state that opted not to take the federal money. City officials there did not return phone calls seeking comment, but state officials said the money Apopka would have received, had it applied for the funds, is going instead to Miami Beach, which has already exhausted its original funding.

Local and state problems in spending the foreclosure-relief dollars have come to light at a time when Florida is slated to get its largest housing-rescue package yet – $418 million as part of the federal government’s Hardest-Hit Fund. Next week in Orlando, the Florida Housing Finance Corp. will accept public comments about how to distribute that windfall.

The coming pot of money – enough to give $10 to each owner-occupied house in the state – will be distributed by Florida Housing Finance, an agency that has been unable to spend most of a $30 million pot that the state Legislature approved last year to boost homeownership across Florida.

By mid-March, only about $4 million of that money had gone to homebuyers, even though the program effectively ends April 30. The agency said it provided the money to local governments, but those agencies then had trouble finding takers. The program fronts as much as $8,000 for downpayments to qualified homebuyers who are supposed to repay the money once they get a federal homebuying tax credit for that amount. The unused millions are now likely to be rolled into other, existing housing programs.

Cecka Green, spokesman for Florida Housing Finance, said it may be difficult for the public to imagine how so much money can be allocated to a state with such great needs, only for much of the money to go unspent. But it takes time to ensure that accountability measures are in place so that such money is spent wisely, she said.  SOUNDS LIKE POLITICAL WRANGLING GOING ON-TED

Like those downpayment funds, the federal Neighborhood Stabilization funds have been slow to make it to people’s doorsteps in Florida. The money is supposed to filter down from the state Department of Community Affairs to local governments and other funding groups, which then use the money to buy, rehabilitate and resell foreclosed homes in low-income areas.

If the state “doesn’t pull it together pretty quickly, they’re walking away from a lot of opportunities to help Florida homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages,” said Putnam, who serves on the U.S. House subcommittee for Housing and Community Opportunity.

State Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, said he may push for an extension of the deadlines rather than risk Florida losing the money.

“Obviously a lot of us are disappointed with how slowly these monies are being spent, and a lot more is coming online,” said Soto, an Orlando lawyer. “I understand we need to be thoughtful in how we spend this money, but we can’t be thoughtful forever.”

In response to criticisms of the Neighborhood Stabilization program, the Department of Community Affairs recently hired three rapid-response technical-assistance firms to help local governments distribute the funds. It made other personnel changes to expedite the program and changed some of its requirements for cities and counties getting the funds.

“When these programs came out, everything was about fraud and oversight, and we had high levels of oversight looking for credibility,” said Janice Browning, director of housing for the Department of Community Affairs. “Did we go overboard? Maybe. But it seemed to be the right thing at the time.”

The state is now giving local governments more flexibility to look at how they spend the money, though “we will check on them” as the funds are spent, Browning added.

Putnam said he is concerned that agencies and governments may act rashly to spend the money before the September deadline.

“Our concern is that, yet again, they will be ill-prepared to handle that tranche of money in an efficient way,” Putnam said. “And, perhaps even worse, in an attempt to make sure it doesn’t get redistributed to another state, they will lower standards and misspend it.”

Copyright © 2010 The Orlando Sentinel, Fla., Mary Shanklin. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Buy Smart, Get A Home Inspection Before You Make An Offer!

Most people I come into contact with these days who are looking to take advantage of the very  low prices for homes are still very unsophisticated.  Many really don't understand the difference between the selling side commission and the listing side commission for MLS listed houses.  Most don't know the Florida rule that makes most real estate agents act as "Transaction Brokers'  with no fiduciary responsibility to either the Buyer or the Seller!  They just 'facilitate' the transaction.  So I have a lot of explaining to do when I promote myself as a  " Buyers Broker" who gets paid the seller-side commission by the listing agent or when I say I am a "Single Agent" with responsibility only to my Buyer.  But those who get it, really benefit from using a single agent, buyers broker.

For example, one of the techniques I use to work just for the buyer against the interest of the seller is to get a home inspection before I recommend an inital offer for the home.  This gives us an itemized list of everything wrong with the house and estimated repair costs to use in negotiating.  A powerful negotiating tool.

If you are looking to purchase property in Florida, Talk To Ted!  I can advise you on any area of Florida and hook you up with a good, reliable agent in the town to help you find what you want.  The referral fee that agent will offer me will not cost you.  And, of course, if you are interested in checking out Palm Coast, drop me a note at tedleshersr@gmail.com.

I Promise, I'll Get A Vasectomy!

 

Modern technology gives most women just about complete control to prevent an unwanted pregnancy; including 'morning after' pills.  If she needs to have sex without conception, she can find a way to protect herself.  To trust any male who claims he has had a vasectomy is risky, unless she has removed them herself.

Here's a story from a loved relative who's "partner" just kept promising to get one.  I don't know her particular birth control limitations.

 I have other relatives that have birthed and/or finessed a fucking mistake, but this one is particularly touching...

"Once he drove me to Planned Parenthood to get an abortion he insisted I get after he refused to get his promised vasectomy. I screamed at him the whole way there. He sat in stony silence, willing it to be over if he just ignored it. And me.

When we got there I took the keys and left him in the parking lot. I came back an hour later to pick him up and he yelled at me that I was a terrible mother because I wouldn't get an abortion. I cried and sobbed and told him that, while I believe firmly in choice and I also believed another child would be very hard, I couldn't do it after losing (name of child withheld). That they were connected for me and I didn't know how but they were and please stop please please please stop.

He sneered at me. "You are selfish. This just proves how selfish you are. If you cared at all about your children you would do this."

Supporting me was only possible if I agreed with him.

I cried myself to sleep for weeks until the blessed event: the miscarriage. It was a late one - 11 weeks, I think. He had been exceptionally angry the night before. He wouldn't talk to me, but would only growl insults at me. He grabbed me roughly and reminded me how selfish I was and he spat his disgust at me by stripping away any confidence I had as a parent - he knew the most deadly weapon available to him and he knew how to find my emotional jugular. When I went in for another ultrasound the next day there was no more heartbeat and I remember feeling relieved as I was prepped for the surgical removal of all this conflict wrapped up in a dead embryo.

I'll never forget how he was so nice to me on the way to the OR. He held my hand, he hugged me, he was 'so so sorry this had happened, Babe' but I was 'going to be strong and be just fine' and he gave my hand a tender squeeze. I was speechless. But there was a whole audience now, so I just accepted it and was wheeled off to the OR and soon completely unconscious and unable to try and make sense out of that one.

When I stopped bleeding, we went to Hawaii, with hopes of amnesia I suppose."

If  anyone reads this I will let them wallow in their own judgments about right and wrong and the definition of life.  But have compassion for kids who "get caught".  Make the effort!   Point out the consequences! Unprotected fun can be unrelenting hell.  No religious dogma intended.

God Bless and Namaste'

Ted's Not Dead! About the Gout

I haven't posted to this blog lately.  I'm not dead.  But not well.  Got the gout.  Took the cure.  It damn near killed me.

I have had occasional bouts with my left toe over the last couple years.  Sometimes because I've put my foot in my mouth...embarassing but not painful.  But my toe Gout is caused by sharp little needles formed from crystals of sodium urate in the toe joint.  Piss in my toe! 

Gout pain is on the same scale with back pain.  Not Nice.  First time it happened was on a weekend, two days after I was released from Flagler Hospital for something else.  I was too embarassed to wake my wife and tell her my toe hurt, so I left a note and snuck off to the Emergency Room. 

They understood it was gout and admitted me.  A shot and I can't remember what else and after a few hours, I was released.  Local Doc prescribed colcachine and indomethacin.  I puked and pooped for several days, but no gout pain.

So this time, again in the middle of the night, I thought I figgured it out.  It was the big pill, that indomethacin thing.  I thought I remembered getting sick from that before.  So I didn't take it.  I just took the little tiny colchicine pills.  Every 15 minutes for about an hour. 

That was Wed. Night.  Thursday I didn't feel too well.  Didn't eat much.  Went to dinner with four friends at HighJackers. Had three peel-and-eat shrimp and a YingaLing beer.  One crap during the meal.  When the check came I went running out the door.  Puked way over to the side by the airplanes.  Everyone was leaving as I finished up my internal backflush and I snuck over to our car.

The purpose of this blog:  Gout is heredetary.  Find out all you need to know at wikipedia.com  at http://bit.ly/Ad5bU  but know this from Ted...don't take COLCHICINE.  Its bad and lasts forever.  Here's what Wikipedia says about its toxicity:
"Colchicine poisoning has been compared to arsenic poisoning: symptoms start 2 to 5 hours after the toxic dose has been ingested and include burning in the mouth and throat, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and kidney failure. These symptoms may set in as many as 24 hours after the exposure. Onset of multiple-system organ failure may occur within 24 to 72 hours. This includes hypovolemic shock due to extreme vascular damage and fluid loss through the GI tract, which may result in death. Additionally, sufferers may experience kidney damage resulting in low urine output and bloody urine; low white blood cell counts (persisting for several days); anemia; muscular weakness; and respiratory failure. Recovery may begin within 6 to 8 days. There is no specific antidote for colchicine, although various treatments do exist.[6]"
http://bit.ly/bE3OPp
    I think my dear doctor prescribed this demon drug because I am a charity case using unfunded Medicare Insurance and its Part D drug plan.  The D is for "donut hole".  Fall in and you pay 100% of all costs.  I fall in annually.  So I get all 'generic' drugs.  By law these are allow to contain up to 20% different ingredients than their "identical" brand name products.
  I still feel like shit,  look like shit, can't stop shitting and can only eat mini portions of bland food and drink sips of gater ade.  Left the Good Doctor a voicemail message about my problem.  He will get to it eventually.  God will fix it or take me home, or I go back to the emergency room soon!
TED SAYS:  ALWAYS USE WIKIPEDIA BEFORE YOU SELF MEDICATE.

God Bless You and Namaste'

To Run, Walk or Stay Put…Foreclosure Strategies

Here is an article about Debbie who decided to walk away from her home rather than wait for the bank to take it. A good strategy? Read my comments at the end of the article about staying put and decide for yourself.

What you should know about home foreclosure

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Feb. 24, 2010 – After more than six months of wrangling with her bank to get a reduced mortgage payment through a federal loan modification program, Debra Jacobs has had enough.

The West Palm Beach resident is walking away from her home of 14 years.

“I’m just going to wait here until they put a padlock on the door,” said Jacobs, 58. “I’m so over it, I have to let it go. It’s too painful.”

As homeowners grow increasingly frustrated by the nation’s struggling foreclosure prevention programs, more may consider walking away as a viable alternative.

But there’s more to it than just stopping your mortgage payments and handing over the keys.

Boca Raton real estate attorney Marlyn Wiener says there’s no “right way” to walk away from a home.

Knowing the consequences, however, will at least help the borrower make an informed decision, she said.

“There is an analysis that each homeowner should do to find the best way for them to proceed,” Wiener said. “There isn’t a speed lane.”

The biggest gamble in walking away is whether a lender will try to seize a borrower’s assets to pay for its losses, Wiener said. Lenders have up to 20 years in Florida to collect a deficiency judgment.

But banks are more likely to go after borrowers who strategically default – a term meaning the homeowner can afford the mortgage but decides to stop paying because the home is no longer a good investment.

Moral dilemmas aside, Wiener said it can make financial sense in some situations to “pull the plug and regroup” if the mortgage is underwater.

Scott Haft, who oversees the mortgage modification and foreclosure defense division at the law firm LaBovick & LaBovick, said some lenders are willing to forgive a mortgage debt if a borrower voluntarily turns over the home without going through a lengthy court foreclosure.

“We say, ‘We’ll give you the keys on Monday, but you have to waive your right to pursue my client in the future for deficiencies,’ “ said Haft, whose company has offices in West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach and Palm Beach Gardens. “Many times, the lender is only interested in regaining the property.”

Another concern is whether the homeowner will have to claim forgiveness of debt on tax returns for the amount of money owed the lender.

The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 temporarily exempts people who lose their primary residence from having to claim the canceled debt, but the act is scheduled to sunset Dec. 31, 2012, and can’t be applied to investment properties.

“Everybody’s relationship with their properties and their loans is different,” Wiener said. “People need to take a look at where they are in life before they decide to walk away.”

One thing Wiener asks clients is whether they will need good credit in the near future to secure a car or student loan. A foreclosure can knock up to 300 points off a credit score – damage that can take years to repair and will stay on your report for seven years.

Lenders have recently stepped up efforts to ease the foreclosure process and avoid the complications when a homeowner walks away.

Citigroup launched a program this month that allows some borrowers to stay in their homes for six months without paying. In return, the homeowner turns in the keys at the end of the time period and keeps the home in good shape.

The federal Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program, announced in November, gives lenders incentives for offering deed-in-lieu of foreclosure and for approving short sales.

But for Jacobs, the alternatives are “too little too late.”

“Not only do I not know the options, I don’t care anymore,” she said. “It’s really sad it’s come to this.”

Copyright © 2010 The Palm Beach Post, Fla., Kimberly Miller. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

TALKTOTED SAYS:  This article does not discuss strategic delay…stay in your home until it’s sold on the courthouse steps.


The government is probably going to own Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac due to insolvency. The Administration is pressuring the banks not to foreclose. Florida now requires arbitration before a foreclosure action is undertaken. The courts are clogged. The banks don’t want to flood the market with all the properties they own. Rental prices will probably be low.


I am not a lawyer, but I concluded that a “wait and see attitude” is worth considering if you are underwater, want to continue to live in the home as your permanent residence, and have a hardship condition that makes you unable to pay your full mortgage payment.   “Send them partial goodwill payments and wait and see” may be a good default strategy!


And count your blessings that things in your life aren’t as bad as in Haiti or Chile. Namaste’

Desperate Homeowners flock to Mortgage Mitigation “Save-a-Thon”...Few winners. Many promises. Political Theater

Hundreds of desperate homeowners line up for mortgage help

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – March 1, 2010 – The extent of the nation’s housing crisis was tangible Thursday morning. It stretched the length of one side of Palm Beach County’s Convention Center as hundreds of homeowners, wrapped in blankets and travel-weary after flying from as far away as California, waited for the salvation of a mortgage modification.

Welcome to the “Save-a-Thon” – five days of around-the-clock loan woe turnarounds sponsored by the Boston-based Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, or NACA.

The non-profit group is offering free help with lowering monthly payments through federal programs and agreements it has with many of the nation’s major lenders.

It brought an army of bank representatives – at least 100 from Bank of America alone – and NACA counselors who meet face-to-face with troubled borrowers.

And while the event seemed at times like a church revival as homeowners with success stories were brought to a microphone to testify, there were sincere solutions occurring on the convention center floor.

Teresa Holston, a registered nurse who traveled from Los Angeles for the event, started crying when she spoke of her new 2 percent interest rate, a reduction from 9 percent.

“It’s like a new lease on life,” said Holton, who got in trouble when she refinanced her home and broke up with a boyfriend who was paying part of the mortgage. “I am just so grateful.”

For many homeowners, NACA’s event was the last attempt in a months-long struggle to work with their banks through the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable Program.

The program offers incentives to banks to lower monthly payments by reducing – sometimes temporarily – interest rates and principal amounts, or offering a principal forbearance, which cuts the principal balance on the front end, but tacks it onto the end of the life of the loan.

NACA founder and CEO Bruce Marks pushes for even better terms. He asks lenders to permanently reduce interest rates. If there is a principal forbearance, he asks that a mandatory repayment be made only if there is a profit made on the sale of the home.

He doesn’t always get his way. Many of the loans modified Thursday had reduced interest rates that will adjust at the end of five years. Still, the reduction helps the borrower now with making monthly payments.

“Frankly, it makes business sense for them to be working with us now,” Marks said about lenders. “These servicers have very good machinery to foreclose on people, but not to modify a loan.”

Marks has been criticized for his guerilla-style tactics, which include rallying outside bank executives’ homes. His operation is paid for partly with federal grants, having received $25 million last year, Marks said. Detractors complain he is not forthcoming with his success rates and should be more transparent since he is getting taxpayer dollars. He says about 30 percent of clients receive a same-day modification. Up to 80 percent eventually get their payments reduced, Marks said.

Bully or not, Marks has persuaded many major lenders to send representatives to his unconventional “Save the Dream” workshops.

Thursday’s event began with pep rally-style cheers from NACA counselors.

“We are NACA,” a man screamed into a microphone.
“We are NACA,” more than 200 counselors echoed.
“Mighty, mighty NACA.”
“Mighty, mighty NACA.”

But not everyone walked away satisfied. An L-shaped table in the corner of the room had signs posted that read “No Solution.”

That’s where Martine and Daillant Edouard, from Brooklyn, N.Y., found themselves. A private investor owns their loan serviced by Bank of America, and they needed more information about the terms the investor allows for modifications.

“What are you going to do?” Martine Edouard said, her eyes starting to tear. “You have to try and keep your composure.”

NACA will remain open 24-hours-a-day until midnight Monday.

It’s the first time the group will pull all-nighters.

“We’re going to do 100 hours straight,” Marks said. “Why? Because it’s the right thing to do.”

LINK:  http://bit.ly/9BvIbw

"Talk To Ted" is a cynic.  I think Marks will, one way or another, make a ton on this.  Smells like a scam.

Bike Week...Thinking About Getting Pierced?

Here is a article I copied from my 'Karen L. Hudson - About.com Tattoos Guide".  I am interested in "body art".  I want to be able to tell what gang a person belongs to, where he/she went to jail, and what the other intended meanings are; just artwork or a message?.  So I have been following Karen.  Here's something interesting about the related art of piercing.  (Dull because it's about ears.  She has more interesting discussions about the piercing of other body parts.)

"Piercings done at Metamorphosis - Broad Ripple (Indianapolis), Indiana
Collector: Jon T.

Definition: The lobe piercing is obviously the grandfather of all piercings. It can be traced back to ancient civilizations and has a vast history. The lobe is the easiest place on the body to pierce and has the highest success rate. It heals well, and can be adorned with many different styles of jewelry. A lobe piercing can also be stretched, which is something practiced in modern as well as ancient times.

No piercing, including the earlobe, should be done with a gun or squeeze trigger piercing apparatus. Please avoid department store and mall kiosk piercing stations - the people there are not trained on proper sterilization methods and everything about gun piercings is the exact opposite of how a piercing should be executed and treated. For more information, read Piercing Gun vs. the Needle.

Recommended Starter Jewelry: You've got plenty of jewelry options for a lobe piercing - CBRs and circular barbells come in a wide range of styles, colors, and sizes. I don't recommend anything smaller than 16 gauge for a lobe piercing, and even if you want to stretch to a larger size eventually, your first piercing shouldn't be any larger than 12 gauge.

The earlobe heals pretty well, but exposure to bacteria is high risk so proper cleansing is essential. Earphones, telephones, pillows, makeup, and hairspray are just a few sources of bacteria and irritants that can make healing any ear piercing more difficult. Initial healing, allowing for jewelry change, takes about 6-8 weeks. That doesn't mean it's completely healed inside and out, though, so you can't stretch your lobe that quickly.

If you're interested in more information on stretching a lobe piercing, please read How to Safely Stretch a Piercing.

A lobe orbital is two lobe piercings connected with one CBR loop, so the jewelry looks as if it "orbits" the ear, like Saturn's rings.

LINKS:
Website:   http://tattoo.about.com/
                http://www.facebook.com/KarenLHudson?nl=1