We have said before on this blog that most of the loans that were made in the past few years were designed to lead straight to defaults and foreclosure, but that the situation got out of control for both homeowners and banks. When interest rates rose and Adjustable Rate Mortgages reset, combined with the normal economic hardships that families face, the waves of foreclosure began. This, of course, led to a decrease in home values in areas hardest hit by the foreclosures, and caused even more homeowners to lose their homes because they owed far more than the property was worth and could not qualify for a foreclosure loan or sell their property.

Numerous lenders have gone out of business by now or have shut down their mortgage lending operations or significantly tightened up guidelines for extending credit. This makes it even more difficult for homeowners to stop foreclosure with a refinance, though, as their current financial crisis will damage their credit to the point of being unable to qualify for a new loan. Banks, in turn, have tried to prevent more foreclosures by restricting who gets loans; however, this has only caused additional foreclosures as homeowners are priced out of the market. The only plan of action that banks have taken has actually caused the problem to worsen, which has caused a drying up of credit in the entire economy.

But, since the loans were designed specifically to lead to foreclosures, why was the result not accurately predicted? In reality, as this enlightening article explains, the loans were designed to default around the seven-year mark -- not after one to three years, as it currently happening. A foreclosure around the seventh year actually results in a much greater profit to the mortgage company than if the loan was paid in full or the property refinanced or sold before the seventh year. Also, property values in general rise over a period of seven years (and any longer terms), although there may be fluctuations (such as the downturn now being experienced). The banks believed that homeowners would be able to hold out for at least twice as long as they have, at which point a foreclosure would maximize bank profits even though the loan itself would be worthless at that point.

Unfortunately, everything did not go according to plan, and now the big government bailout helicopters are arriving, with free handouts for homeowners. President Bush is calling for Congress to act to help foreclosure victims, although the exact details of the plan have yet to be released. However, there are roles proposed in the non-bailout for the FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and direct involvement in the economy. For some homeowners who are legitimately experiencing a temporary financial setback, these measures may help them work with their lenders to find a solution to avoid foreclosure. However, there are vast numbers of people who simply took out loans on overvalued properties with low teaser interest rates that they will never be able to afford; these homeowners will benefit mainly by a stabilizing of home values and the ability to sell on the open market for a fair price.

So, the bailouts will be arriving just after "in time to save anyone's home," most likely. Some homeowners will be able to take advantage of the measures, though, to get over a temporary financial crisis and get back on track with the banks' seven-year plan to take their home from them anyway. With hundreds of billions of dollars pumped into the world economy to shore up financial institutions, and bailouts being proposed for homeowners directly, is it any wonder why banks continue to make bad lending decisions and home buyers continue to make bad borrowing decisions? When the big government parents promise to take care of everyone whenever they make a bad decision, there is no reason for homeowners or banks not to act like "self-destructive losers."

With the slowdown in the housing market continuing and foreclosures up 80-95% in some areas of the country, it seems as if more and more fraud, ignorance, and bad decisions are coming out with each new foreclosure filing. With the homeowners we are working with, we have discovered that loans placed within the past few years were often made on homes that were grossly overvalued. This means that, when a neutral third party performs a valuation or appraisal of a property, it becomes apparent that homeowners owe much more than the value of their home. This situation makes it very difficult to stop foreclosure, because banks do not want to admit that they allowed such poor lending guidelines to come about. Homeowners in danger of losing their homes need to find out the most accurate status of their property.

There are two main items a foreclosure victim will need to find out about the property that is in danger. The first is a fair valuation of the property, while the second is a title and lien search. With such shenanigans in the housing market over the past few years, appraisals can no longer be trusted, and third parties may place liens on the property that the homeowners never know about. Seldom are homeowners told if the city has placed liens on the property, or they have been sued for an old medical bill or unpaid credit card, and appraisers often inflated the values of homes to increase the commissions of their real estate agent and mortgage broker friends. Homeowners should obtain the relevant information and use their own judgment and research to verify any numbers they are given.

Knowing the true value of a property can give homeowners a bit of bargaining room when speaking with their banks about a solution to foreclosure. If they are aware that the property was overvalued to begin with, and the bank will not be able to sell the property for anywhere near the loan amount, foreclosure victims may find that the lender is much more willing to work with them to save the current loan. Lenders would rather put together a forbearance agreement or mortgage modification, or even consider a reasonable short sale, than lose an even larger amount if the house is sold at sheriff sale and must be sold on the open market for a low price.

Obviously, homeowners will need to decide if they want to continue paying for a house that is worth far less than what they agreed to pay for it, but real estate values habitually rise over the long term. This means that, if the homeowners can avoid foreclosure now, by the time they have paid back the loan, the property will likely be worth far more than they paid for it originally -- regardless of temporary drops in the market. Nearly every asset tends to go up or down in the short run, while experiencing long term trends of rising prices. Real estate is no different but is a more tangible asset than stock ownership or mutual funds that homeowners can hold onto, improve, and use for their own utilitarian purposes, rather than for strictly investment purposes.

The importance of having a title or lien search done on a property also can not be understated. When homeowners begin falling behind on their mortgage, they may also miss a water bill, sewer bill, homeowners association payment, and have numerous other credit lines go into collections. Many of these bills can show up later on the title as a lien on the property, preventing the homeowners from being able to refinance out of foreclosure or decreasing their profits from a sale of the property. Especially if the missed payment was years ago, the foreclosure victims may have no recollection of the bill at all, nor of the city or county court allowing the lien to be placed.

Another, possibly more important, reason to have a title search is simply to verify ownership of the property. During foreclosure, many possible solutions will be presented to homeowners, some of them from unscrupulous foreclosure scams. These often attempt to trick homeowners into signing over the deed to their homes, in some misguided attempt to stop foreclosure. If the scammer was able to pull this off, the homeowners may not even own their home any longer, and the process of saving a home that they no longer own will be very costly and time-consuming. The scam company will have to be sued and the transfer rescinded in order for the foreclosure victims to reclaim ownership of the property. Hopefully this never happens to anyone, but frequently news stories are released with exactly this scenario being played out in real life.

Foreclosure victims are often thrown into the process with very little warning and absolutely no preparation, and are expected to put together a viable solution to prevent foreclosure. This is a quite unreasonable task, and it is remarkable that so many homeowners are able to save their homes. Once foreclosure starts, however, homeowners often need to gain foreclosure advice relating to how foreclosure works, what can be done to stop the process, and what is the true status of their home's value and ownership. Having done this research, plus gaining other foreclosure information from various sources, will give foreclosure victims a much better chance of saving their homes and avoiding potential scams.

Today's post is a follow-up to our entry a few days ago on "Helping Others Stop Foreclosure," which examined the possibility of former foreclosure victims using their experience to help other homeowners in similar situations. This post will focus more on the details of actually finding some initial help in getting started in the foreclosure industry, as well as picking a mentor or company to work with in the beginning.

The foreclosure industry operates as far under the radar as possible, in most cases. Even though the experts are seriously attempting to help homeowners in desperate situations make the most of what opportunities they have, there is a perception that people who work with foreclosed houses are just out to take advantage of the homeowners. This is why there are plenty of foreclosure scam stories in the news, but not a whole lot of success stories, which are much more common. Many more homeowners are able to stop foreclosure than lose their homes and are evicted by the county sheriff, but there is often little sensationalism in interviewing foreclosure victims who were able to save their homes. The possibility of being exposed as a foreclosure scam, though, keeps many companies in line and persuades them to act with their clients best interests in mind.

However, a new person entering the foreclosure help industry might have trouble finding an actual apprenticeship or internship with a knowledgeable, experienced foreclosure expert. There will be various affiliate programs they can join, in order to learn how to negotiate with banks and put together repayment plans, loan modifications, and find other solutions, but these often involve plugging into an already-designed system, rather than learning the business from the ground up. Of course, the success one experiences with these systems would depend on how much work is put into them. Many of them provide useful services to homeowners to stop foreclosure, while others focus on just one or two methods to save a home. Each one will be different and offer a new perspective on the foreclosure industry.

The best way to gain experience in the field is probably to find someone in the industry that is respected, experienced, and has been in the same position for a number of years and ask them for a mentorship, either on a complimentary basis, or splitting profits from work done, or any other mutually beneficial arrangement. It will be up to the former foreclosure victims to locate a local company in the area or find one online that specializes in work that provides homeowners with real services.

And the only -- really, the only -- way to learn about foreclosures in depth is to talk to the people in danger of losing their homes. Every situation is unique and things can change in a matter of a few minutes or stagnate for months, depending on the circumstances: banks stonewall progress, attorneys lose paperwork or refuse to forward it to the lender, and foreclosure help companies may bail out at the last minute. A few months of experience will give the new specialist the basics of the foreclosure process and how it affects homeowners, but there will still be new stories and issues that crop up years later.

It is also a bit of an art finding out what is actually going on in any foreclosure situation. Homeowners are often so much in the dark that they have no real idea what is happening to them, how much time they have, or even if they have already lost their homes to a sheriff sale. Once the foreclosure expert can quickly define the problem, then they are probably halfway to helping the foreclosure victims figure out a solution. At that point, it is a matter of recommending various programs, providing a referral to another company that can provide the necessary services, or beginning the actual work of helping the homeowners stop foreclosure through the most effective means.

When contemplating a new career in the foreclosure industry, it is probably better to begin with some unofficial help from a trusted source, rather than strictly joining an organization or affiliate program long-term. If the former foreclosure victims seem entrepreneurial enough to take on the business as soon as they can and gain enough real world experience, there is no real need to get stuck with one company or another, unless it is for the experience of learning how various methods work to save a home from foreclosure.

One way to save a home from foreclosure is obviously to sell the house. With the real estate market stagnating and property values declining, though, most homeowners simply do not have enough time to sell the house on the open market through a real estate agent. So they have to turn to alternate buyers if selling to stop foreclosure is one of the only options left. Most homeowners and everyone else are familiar with the most popular quick-sell companies out there. Their advertisements are all over television and billboards and can be seen in almost any major populated area in the country advertising for ugly homes to buy with cash right away. Are these companies legitimate, though, and what is it about them that homeowners should take into consideration when looking into an offer they present?

To begin with, there are a number of legitimate companies that can buy houses out of foreclosure. In general, they provide a valuable service and a very quick means of liquidating the house to pay off the mortgage and end the foreclosure process. The ones that may be seen advertising on billboards with statements such as "We Buy Ugly Homes," "Will Pay Cash For Your House Today," etc. are all legitimate companies. Granted, some of their representatives may not be the most ethical or knowledgeable, but the companies themselves are usually in good standing. They are simply bargain shoppers looking for the lowest possible price for a property that they can make an almost immediate profit on reselling.

However, few of these companies, if any, will offer foreclosure victims a fair price for their house to get them out of foreclosure. That is not their business model, and they do not act out of purely altruistic reasons to help homeowners stop foreclosure. If homeowners want a fair market price for their house, they will have to list the house on the open market and search for a buyer willing to pay the fair market value. Of course, the problem with this approach is that there is no easy way to magically come up with a buyer willing to pay full price. As many homeowners trying to sell their properties now are realizing, finding a willing buyer who qualifies for a purchase can take more than a year, if the property sells at all.

However, the companies with fast cash are offering homeowners a lower amount now -- without having to wait for open houses, Realtors to show the property, or random families to respond to a yard sign. Homeowners in foreclosure will have to decide between definitely less cash now or maybe more cash later. That is the trade-off for working with these companies. But for homeowners in foreclosure who are running out of time to come up with a solution before they lose their home, selling and making no profit may be a better option than going through with the foreclosure.

Furthermore, the quick-sale low-offer companies only offer homeowners a price that they know they will most likely be able to make a profit on in a few months to a year. So if the homeowners themselves have a few months to spare or can put together a temporary solution to stop foreclosure, then they might be able to sell for the price that the company is estimating they would be able to sell the property for. Of course, with foreclosure fees, attorney costs, and accelerated loan interest and late fees, the homeowners' profit margin on the house will shrink over time, unless they can work out a solution that puts the foreclosure on hold or stops the process altogether.

Most of these companies can offer a legitimate service to unload a house quickly. They are not designed to emulate the open market, though, so their offers will be quite low (possibly in the 60-70% range). It will be up to the individual foreclosure victims to look into their offers and determine if it is something that will help the situation or if there is a better alternative. Of course, in any foreclosure situation, homeowners should not rely on just this option to save their homes and should gain as much foreclosure advice as possible and put together numerous plans, in case this option or any other falls through. Even more important than having a solution to foreclosure is having a backup plan when the first solution fails.

A number of the homeowners that we talk to everyday are motivated by two main goals. The first, obviously, is to save their home from foreclosure, avoid potential scams, and get their financial lives back to normal. Teaching homeowners how to do each of these is the main purpose of our website, which encourages every foreclosure victim to gain the foreclosure information necessary to stop foreclosure on their own. However, many homeowners that we talk to also have a secondary, altruistic goal, which is to help families in similar situations avoid facing foreclosure and the loss of their homes. In fact, some even want to get into the foreclosure industry as a way to provide legitimate, empathetic support to other foreclosure victims and make a career out of helping others in need.

A good number of homeowners who have faced foreclosure know just as much about the foreclosure process as many of the major players in the real estate and mortgage industries. Realtors, mortgage brokers, and representatives from mortgage companies often know very little about how foreclosure actually works, as it is not often studied. Rather, the basics of how mortgages work and how real estate is transferred is focused on to the exclusion of the actual process that banks use to take a home back that is in default. This leaves the door wide open for former foreclosure victims to provide their own foreclosure advice to other homeowners in financial hardships.

A lot of foreclosure experts can do their work from home or in an office. The main consideration will be what services are being provided to the clients, though, to determine how easy it is for the new foreclosure expert to manage the process of helping homeowners save their homes from foreclosure. If a former foreclosure victims plans on helping to buy or sell the actual foreclosed properties, they will need a real estate license to act as anyone's agent. They will also need to be a real estate broker or work for a broker in order to ensure that there is proper oversight and all the laws are being followed in the state. Finding a local broker to work for is often easy for real estate agents, as there is always someone looking to buy a house or sell a house.

However, if the new foreclosure specialist is just interested in doing loss mitigation work, there are no licensing requirements in most states, although it is a good idea to check with the states that they plan on doing business in. Some states have new regulations for loss mitigation, including specific language that must be included in contracts or to be disclosed to clients, so it is important to do the necessary research to make the entire operation legal and successful. For the homeowner who wants to help other foreclosure victims, there are also a number of foreclosure help companies that one can become an affiliate of and work through. Many of these companies specialize in helping homeowners put together forbearance agreements or loan modifications, and provide valuable services to foreclosure victims. Of course, it is wise to keep an eye out for foreclosure scams, as well.

In terms of being scams or not, foreclosure experts have two options. First, they can work for a company that they have interviewed, researched, and come to trust and do the best that they possibly can within their structure for the homeowners trying to stop foreclosure. In reality, this might be a good place to start learning the "back end" of the foreclosure industry and how people are able to avoid going through foreclosure in various ways. Not every company will be proficient in every way to save a home, of course, but many foreclosure experts have been in the industry for a number of years, if not decades. The important thing to remember, again, is to do the research necessary to ensure that the company is legitimate and works with the best interests of their clients in mind.

The second option is for the foreclosure victim turned foreclosure specialist to start their own business and work for himself or herself. That way, if the entire operation turns out to be a scam, it is no one's fault except their own, but they can change it at a moment's notice, since they control the business that they own. If a former foreclosure victim wants to help homeowners in foreclosure, and they can not trust anyone else not to be a foreclosure scam, then all they have left is themselves. Depending on how much they trust themselves to be honest with people, they should consider doing it on their own.

Once a homeowner has faced foreclosure and come through it, they can provide an important perspective to other foreclosure victims in similar situations. Especially as foreclosure is often accompanied by a transition period, there may be an opportunity for homeowners to become the most powerful positive force in the foreclosure industry and provide the most relevant foreclosure advice available. Having shared a common experience is one of the best ways to gain trust, and foreclosure victims have a valid reasons to help others stop foreclosure and avoid the pain and humiliation that accompany every foreclosure situation.

To learn more about actually beginning a career in the foreclosure help industry, please see our follow-up entry, "Getting into the Foreclosure Help Business."

The book that is the subject of this review is Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, by University of Chicago professor Robert A. Pape and originally published in 2005 but updated in 2006. The subject matter is an overview of the over 400 suicide terrorist missions that have been carried out between 1980 and 2005, as well as a discussion of what motivates campaigns of suicide terrorism around the world. The information contained in the work is truly a paradigm-shifter in terms of how suicide terrorism should be viewed and how the 'War on Terror" can be won.

The book was recently recommended by Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul in a reading list to Rudy Giuliani on the topic of American foreign policy and the motivations for suicide terrorism. During a presidential candidates' debate in South Carolina on May 15, Giuliani stated he had never heard of Paul's explanation of the 9/11 attacks against America, and Paul decided a reading assignment was in order. As a ten-term Congressman and author of numerous books on monetary and foreign policy, and the most ardent defender of personal liberty and less-intrusive government, Paul's recommendations should carry great weight in the political arena. He often refers to history and analysis to back up his arguments, and has recommended Pape's Dying to Win several times during his campaign thus far.

Pape divides the book into three main sections, each of which examines a different logic of suicide terrorism. The book also contains extensive appendices, which present the data and analysis that Pape used in his studies.

In the first major part of the book, "The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism," the author examines broadly why campaigns on suicide bombing are waged, and dispels some of the more conventional wisdom ("They hate us for our freedom," and so on). According to Pape, al-Qaeda, Hamas, the Tamil Tigers, and all organizations turn to suicide terrorism against democratic countries for three main reasons: because they wish to gain control of a territory but are weak in conventional weaponry, they believe that the public will of democracies are more easily swayed, and they have learned that suicide terrorism yields results.

Pape examines various campaigns of suicide terrorism and shows that these reasons are the ones most often cited by the various groups for the actions. Hamas wishes Israel to leave the occupied territories of Palestine, and thus targets Israelis, while al-Qaeda wishes to end US foreign occupation of the Arabian peninsula and other Muslim regions, and thus targets America. Even though al-Qaeda has targeted other nations, as well, their strategic motivation is to place greater military and economic burdens on the US and remove the support of allies. However, Pape argures that suicide terrorism has been largely unsuccessful at its broader goals of ending perceived occupations, and has achieved only smaller, more inconsequential concessions from their targets.

The second part of the book examines "The Social Logic of Suicide Terrorism," which discusses the community support of campaigns of suicide terrorism. Papes argument is that nationalism is a stronger motivational factor than any other, although organizations have also inflamed religious differences. When countries are faced with a foreign occupation, they are more likely to rally around their own sovereignty and oppose the occupation. When the occupying country is also of another major religion (Hindu Tamil Tigers and Buddhist Sri Lanka, Muslim al-Qaeda and Christian United States), terrorist organizations use the difference to inflame the nationalistic tendencies even further, creating a perceived threat to the homeland's chosen religion if the occupying force altered the national religion.

To support his argument in this section, the author tests his theory on the major suicide terrorist campaigns that have been waged around the world since 1980. In each of the cases, there was a stronger tendency towards this type of terrorism when a foreign democracy was occupying a homeland and that foreign nation had a religious difference. In fact, when religious difference was not present, the campaign of suicide terrorism was less sustained or aggressive. Perhaps the most enlightening part of this section looks at non-Muslim suicide terrorism to show that there is not an inherent aspect of Islam that encourages suicide as a terrorism tactic. In the case of the Hindu Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, Islam is not the major religion of either party, yet this group is responsible for more suicide terrorist attacks than any other.

The last section of the book discusses what would motivate a person to volunteer to give up his or her life in an attempt to kill as many others as possible. Pape argues in "The Individual Logic of Suicide Terrorism" that suicide terrorists are motivated by altruistic reasons more than any other, including a desire to improve the lives of the community and put an end to the foreign occupation. Pape differentiates between egoistic suicide, altruistic suicide, and fatalistic suicide, showing that most terrorists who willingly strap bombs to themselves or drive truck bombs into buildings fit most accurately into altruistic suicide. This is an important point, as it shows that terrorists desire to improve the lives of their families and community by ending the foreign occupation, rather than simply killing others of a different religion because of fundamental beliefs. Again, religious differences are used to make suicide acceptable as a tactic, but foreign occupation is the main motivational factor.

Pape also examines the demographic characteristics of suicide terrorists, which dispels the myth of the depressed, young male suicide bomber who has no job and no education. To the contrary, suicide terrorists are often "educated, socially integrated, and highly capable people who could be expected to have a good future." Suicide terrorists are also spread across very broad demographic lines, with some organizations (PKK in Turkey ) using nearly 70% female bombers, while others (al-Qaeda) prohibit females from becoming warriors at all. Many more terrorists are also middle income earners than unemployed or low income, and often more motivated by secular beliefs than fundamental religious beliefs.

Throughout the book, Pape stresses that it is foreign occupation that is the main motivational factor that encourages suicide terrorism. This aspect is also viewed in the light of current US foreign policy, which is attempting to spread Democracy in the Middle East through force of arms in an attempt to neutralize the effect of Islamic fundamentalism. Unfortunately, this strategy is the very one that causes suicide terrorism, as it is built on a foundation of foreign occupation of Muslim nations by a Christian American army. This is the reason for the increase in suicide terrorism against American targets since 2002-2003, and explains the emergence of the tactic against Americans in Iraq. Until the invasion of Iraq, there was not a single suicide terrorist attack in the country, but the number of bombings has risen from 20 in 2003 to 125 in 2005.

As a work of analysis on the tactic of suicide terrorism, Dying to Win presents a logically coherent argument that is backed up by the facts of each major campaign of suicide terrorism. The author provides an exhaustive account of the individual bombings of each campaign and tests his theory in the light of the characteristics of them. His conclusions that foreign occupation is more important than any other factor should give American politicians some pause, as the cause of, and solution to, al-Qaeda's campaign against the US becomes immediately apparent, even if victory is not easily achieved. Hopefully more politicians will become aware of Pape's analysis and encourage a more subtle, understanding policy towards the Middle East, rather than rely on simplistic concepts of Us vs. Them or Good vs. Evil to explain the threat of suicide terrorism to America. Policy-makers in Washington have a constitutional duty to protect the nation from threats against our national defense, and this book provides the basis for a strategy of victory against terrorism, instead of the doomed-to-failure policy now being enacted.

We have noticed a lot of questions recently about homeowners allowing their homes to go into foreclosure because they can not afford them anymore, and what the consequences will be for such a decision. Before choosing to let a house go into foreclosure, though, every homeowner should look into a few other options to stop foreclosure first. While foreclosure refinancing is the option that most homeowners attempt first, credit and income considerations and tighter lending guidelines have precluded most homeowners from qualifying for a loan right now. This makes it necessary for homeowners to gain more broad foreclosure advice and look at other methods to save their home before willingly allowing it to go into foreclosure.

Regardless of the homeowners' financial situation and the current real estate market, the house should be listed on the market just on the off-chance than an interested buyer wants to purchase it before the foreclosure goes through. Selling to avoid foreclosure is always a better option than foreclosure. Foreclosure victims can also try to work with the lender for a short sale, where they would sell the property for less than what they owe on the loan, including all of the miscellaneous foreclosure costs and accelerated interest. With this option, at least the short sale will pay off the loan and save the homeowners' credit more than having a foreclosure show on their report.

If the short sale is not a viable way to stop foreclosure, homeowners should ask their lender about giving a deed in lieu of foreclosure. This option involves just giving the property back to the bank, and the can not go after anything other assets that are owned by the foreclosure victims. The mortgage company accepts the deed instead of foreclosing or having the loan paid in monthly installments, so there will be nothing else for them to go after. Of course, this option still results in homeowners losing their home and is only slightly better than a foreclosure, but anything the homeowners can do to preserve their credit will help at this point as the homeowners begin the process of financial recovery.

It will depend on how the bank pursues the foreclosure and what state the property is located in to determine whether or not they can sue the former homeowners for a deficiency judgment in order to go after any other assets. With just the foreclosure, though, they are not entitled to anything else. Homeowners, when applying for the mortgage, pledge the house as collateral for the loan -- not their car, 401(k), or prize racehorse. So all that the lender can take as payment for the loan is the house. Nothing else is used to secure the mortgage and the bank only has the right to the loan payments or the security without suing for more after it is determined the security is not worth the amount needed to pay the loan.

The best place for foreclosure victims to begin researching these issues is to look up their state foreclosure laws and consult the original loan documents to determine what kind of foreclosure the bank can proceed with (Judicial or Non-Judicial). This small amount of foreclosure information will tell them if the mortgage company can sue them afterwards and try to go after any other assets. Some states do not even allow this practice, making it the bank's responsibility to ensure that the real estate is of a sufficient value to pay off the loan in the event of a default. Other states, though, allow the bank to continue their collection activities even after the foreclosure by suing for a deficiency judgment.

In reality, banks rarely sue for deficiency judgments, though, since they know that foreclosure victims do not have a lot of extra cash or even the ability to borrow any money. Their credit is often so far damaged by the very recent foreclosure that they could not qualify for a credit card or personal loan if their lives depended on it. In addition, it costs the lender extra time to sue for a deficiency judgment and there is no guarantee they would be able to collect on the judgment at all, so most do not bother to waste their time chasing after money that simply does not exist.

Thus, while there may be a slight danger of being sued after foreclosure, homeowners in most cases will not have to worry about this consequence if they simply allow their home to go into foreclosure. This is often not the ideal way to stop foreclosure, though, and other methods should be examined before deciding to give up on the house. Refinancing out of foreclosure is only the most common option, although it is one of the least successful ways to avoid foreclosure. If homeowners conduct some basic research about foreclosure, they will be able to put together a more viable solution with numerous plans to save their homes, rather than passively allowing the situation to ruin their credit to fullest extent that it can.

Some homeowners, when facing the threat of a potential financial hardship, decide that their current house is just too expensive and will most likely become a target of foreclosure. The homeowners may not be behind yet, but they know there will be a loss of income or their mortgage payment will reset to a higher payment that they can not afford. So, there is often a tendency to purchase a new, smaller home before the crisis occurs and allow the old home to be taken away by foreclosure. In some cases, this is not such a bad idea. However, this is a decision that needs to be carefully considered and its outcome will depend on how quickly the homeowners can close on buying the new home. If they are already missing mortgage payments, then it will be difficult, if not impossible, to qualify for a new home loan. But if their credit still allows them to qualify for a mortgage, then they may want to attempt to get the new house as soon as possible and begin making a transition to a more affordable lifestyle.

Once homeowners start missing payments on the old house, the foreclosure process will start (especially if they planning on letting it go into foreclosure and are doing nothing to gain foreclosure advice or seek out options to save their home). The bank will sell the house at a sheriff sale, and the new owners will be able to evict the foreclosure victims and anything that is left in the old house. Purchasing a new house after this process has begun will be impossible due to the foreclosure status of the old house and the negative effect on one's credit after several mortgage payments go unpaid.

Foreclosure victims should also be concerned about the danger of the bank suing them after foreclosure and trying to take the new house or attach a lien to it. If the house does not sell at sheriff sale for an amount to pay off the defaulted loan plus the extra foreclosure costs and late fees, the bank may be able to sue for a deficiency judgment and come after any other assets owned by the former homeowners. The bank will have to proceed with a new lawsuit after the foreclosure process is over, though, which will cost them additional time and resources.

However, banks almost never sue their former homeowners, because they know that homeowners face foreclosure because they are unable to continue paying the mortgage, and the mortgage company will not be able to collect on the judgment anyway. It costs them more time and money to sue the foreclosure victims and obtain a judgment, and there is little chance they will get the money in the end. At this point, most banks would rather prepare the foreclosure property to be sold on the open market and make their money back that way, rather than chase after a few hundred or thousand dollars, at most, from the former homeowners.

Not every state allows deficiency judgments after foreclosure, so homeowners spend some time researching their state foreclosure laws. There may be no danger at all after the foreclosure of the old house, and homeowners can close on a deal to purchase a new home before the foreclosure is even an issue. This is a bit of an underhanded technique to obtain a second home while intending to let the old house go into foreclosure, but homeowners who know they will not be able to afford a higher payment or will lose a portion of their income soon have a responsibility to plan for their own future and the future of their families. This whole method does raise moral questions, of course, which homeowners must answer in the context of their own family's long-term financial health.

Purchasing a new home to bail out on a mortgage that will soon be too expensive can often provide homeowners with additional benefits in terms of their credit, as well. With two mortgages, the late payments and foreclosure of the first house will not drag down the homeowners' credit scores as much as if they owned only one home. This can offset some of the devastating effects of foreclosure and allow foreclosure victims to obtain new credit in a much shorter time than if their only home was foreclosed. If homeowners understand the moral and financial consequences of such an action, this method of avoiding becoming a former homeowner can give families a great head start on the road to financial recovery despite a very recent foreclosure.

The foreclosure problem is so large right now that even the mainstream media and Wall Street investors spend their time worrying about the impact in the greater economy. It is worth examining some of the reasons for these record foreclosure rates, though, in order to determine what went wrong and what homeowners can do to stop foreclosure now and avoid being in this kind of situation ever again. Hugely overvalued houses, coupled with teaser rate Adjustable Rate Mortgage loans have caused millions of homeowners to face the possibility of losing trillions of dollars in home values, while banks may lose billions of dollars of loan payments. Why is this happening in the largest economy on the planet?

It is happening because this is exactly the result that Adjustable Rate Mortgages were made for. Homeowners were encouraged to buy homes with low teaser rates and they thought that their income would increase dramatically over the next two years so that they would be able to afford the new payment when it reset. They were willing to bet their house on an uncertain future and hope for a great new job, big pay raise, or lottery win.

Banks, of course, knew otherwise. They knew that nearly every single one of these homeowners would not improve their incomes dramatically, if at all. Some may even lose jobs that the banks were responsible for financing to move overseas, and rising food and gas prices would eat away at the middle class homeowner's ability to pay their current bills, let alone an even higher mortgage payment in a few years. They knew that some of the homeowners wouldn't even be able to afford the low introductory interest rate for much longer than a few months.

But they lent them the money anyway, because banks thought that, even if the house goes into foreclosure, property values will keep rising and rising. Then the banks would just have the easy job of foreclosing on the house and reselling it, making an even greater profit. They overlooked the fact that, with such widespread bad lending decisions industry-wide, the market would go down very quickly if homeowners were unable to refinance or sell their homes, creating a self-sustaining race to the bottom, and they would be left holding a bunch of useless property that they could not sell.

This is why the hedge funds that bought these loans are failing now -- the banks are no longer receiving the income because homeowners are finding that they can not pay the mortgage, refinance, or sell to stop foreclosure, and with the new bankruptcy laws, homeowners can not even file bankruptcy to save their homes without meeting the new, more difficult requirements. The mortgage companies can not sell the foreclosed properties for a profit because property values have fallen so far. They knew they would end up with these houses, but thought they could sell them at higher prices and make even more profits for their hedge fund investors.

Now, though, they are finding that they can not even continue to function without massive injections of inflated money that the Federal Reserve creates out of thin air. Even Bear Stearns, not known as the most ethical mortgage company or servicing company, has seen two hedge funds fail, and the woes in the economy finally caused the Fed to decrease interest rates recently. But these are bailouts for Wall Street, not homeowners desperately trying to avoid foreclosure. A bailout for either, though, will only lead to more inflation and financial problems in the future, as the value of money will continue to decrease as more of it is arbitrarily created to shore up investment firms that made poor financial decisions to begin with. Most homeowners would be in a pretty good financial position if they could spend as much as they wanted, never save, and create money out of thin air when the going got tough.

Without this magical ability to print money that never existed before and bail out financial institutions, why give a loan applicant as much money as they want, without proving income, assets, or even the fact that they have a job? So many homeowners lied on their applications to get more money, as well, which greatly contributed to the problem. Lying about income does not mean that the income will suddenly materialize and the homeowners will be able to afford the higher payment. Inflating income to get that "dream home" now, instead of saving up for another few years, will produce the exact results we are seeing now: foreclosure, falling home values, and the destruction of the wealth of the only large asset that most homeowners ever own.

Once payments reset, or homeowners faced a financial hardship, the foreclosures started. And the quickly growing stream of foreclosures meant that the property values would drop further and further and it would be difficult to sell the properties or otherwise stop foreclosure, further decreasing values, making many homeowners upside-down in the homes and effectively trapped in a house of nightmares, forced to wait for the day that the sheriff shows up to evict them.

Which is exactly what happened.

And is continuing to happen.

Most homeowners will know if their lender has decided to sell their property at sheriff sale, because they will receive constant phone calls, letters, and even a notice on their home informing them of the date of the sale. However, there is often a good amount of confusion during the foreclosure process, and homeowners may miss the date and find themselves not knowing if the sheriff sale was postponed, conducted on the courthouse steps, or was canceled altogether. This can create a very uncertain situation, especially if the homeowners were working on a plan to stop foreclosure before the sale was scheduled. There are three sources of information regarding the sheriff sale, though, and homeowners should consult with each of them to find out if they have run out of time to save their home.

The first place to call is the lender's foreclosure or loss mitigation department to talk to someone there about the status of the home. They will be able to tell the foreclosure victims when the house was supposed to go to sheriff sale, and if it has, or if there was a postponement, etc. If it went to sale, the homeowners might have to call the REO department (Real Estate Owned), to find out the current status. Banks may be the most unreliable of sources, though, as homeowners may be forced to speak with a low level employee or a representative from another country who has little information about the true status of the property.

This is why calling the local attorneys that handled the foreclosure process and sheriff sale is another good resource for information regarding the property. The lender's attorneys will also be able to tell the homeowners if the house was auctioned off, because they are the local reps for the bank and file all of the foreclosure paperwork with the county courthouse. They know when the sale is or was, since they are the ones that do the publication and send the necessary information in the mail about the sale, if these actions are required by state foreclosure law. But they should also know what happened with the property after the sale, as they inform the bank of the final outcome of the foreclosure auction. Attorneys may be generally finished with the property at that point, though, depending on who purchases the property at the sheriff sale.

The last place to turn to is the county itself, usually the courthouse or the sheriff's office. The civil services division of the courthouse is probably the best place to start for most foreclosure victims, since the courts handle the foreclosure process, approving the default judgment, ordering the sale, etc. However, it is the sheriff's department that actually auctions the property, so calling them can also get the homeowners the information they are looking for. If the sheriff sale is stopped, the county will also be able to inform the foreclosure victims of the new date, or if one has not been scheduled yet.

Again, though, homeowners looking for information about the sheriff sale of their home might want to call at least couple of these sources, if not all three, as they will probably find themselves talking to a $300 a week secretary for the attorneys, some low level clerk at the courthouse, or brand new employee for the lender located in India, who will not really know what is going on and does not have any up-to-date information for regarding the sheriff sale. Plus, a call to the lender is usually a half-hour time commitment while the homeowners wait on hold and are transferred from one person to another. So, calling all of the sources will most likely result in the homeowners finding out if they have more time to stop foreclosure, or need to work on a plan to get out of the house and avoid eviction.

The book that is the subject of this review is Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery, edited by William Irwin and published 2007. It is part of a growing genre of books that examine such pop culture icons as The Matrix movies, the Lord of the Rings series, The Simpsons television show, and others through the lens of philosophy. The book is made up of a series of twenty short essays examining the band Metallica, the interpersonal relationships between the members, and the lyrics in the context of some of the main ideas of Western Philosophy.

The main purpose of the book, and the series as a whole, is to introduce the average reader to the "great ideas" of philosophy while providing a more entertaining venue. Philosophy is very often studied only in places of higher learning and only grudgingly by its students, who must force themselves to delve deeply into the reading material and gain what insight they can. Knowledge of this sort does not come easily, and attempting to answer the most profound questions of existence and being human requires difficult thinking. Thus, the editors of the series seek to show that studying philosophy can be more entertaining, though, and "thinking deeply about TV, movies, and music doesn't make you a 'complete idiot.' In fact it might make you a philosopher, someone who believes the unexamined life is not worth living and the unexamined cartoon is not worth watching." Metallica, as one of the most successful bands in history, gets the philosophical treatment in this installment in the series.

As a student who took numerous philosophy courses in college and who has read another installment in this series (The Simpsons and Philosophy ), these kinds of books have always been intriguing. The question begs to be asked: is the book written for philosophers interested in Metallica, or Metallica fans interested in philosophy, or is there a difference? It is unlikely that many Metallica fans will find themselves in the Philosophy section of their local Borders unless they are interested in philosophy. But it is equally difficult to imagine the stereotypical college professor picking up a book titled Metallica and Philosophy. However, the fact that over twenty authors contributed to this series of essays shows that there are a number of professors, authors, and students of philosophy who also share an appreciation for the biggest heavy metal band of all time. The themes that are found in the book also show that the authors knew the lyrics and history of Metallica well enough to offer valuable insights as to the philosophical context of Metallica's work.

With twenty essays contained in the book, it is impossible to review every theme presented. The essays serve as introductions to the great questions of philosophy, and use James Hetfield's lyrics as the greatest source material. Issues such as insanity and capital punishment are examined through various songs, as well as the band's relationship with religion and the answer to the meaning of life. Quite heavy topics, no doubt. However, each essay is written with the ultimate goal or readability in mind. While the themes often examine the abstract, the authors use frequent examples, such as quoting lyrics, or use anecdotal examples from the history of the band. This makes the ideas much easier to understand and the essays do not get caught up in long period of exposition on esoteric matters. Many of the essays could have been slightly longer for a fuller discussion of the issues, but the length of each was sufficient to raise a theme, examine it in the context of philosophical thought, and lay out some conclusions or areas for further research.

Besides analyzing lyrics, though, a number of the essays also examine the overall context and history of Metallica, and attempt to answer some of the more contentious points raised over the years. These include the issue of the band "selling out," their image of nonconformity with traditional rock roles, and Lars Ulrich's battle with internet file-sharing website Napster. Did Metallica sell out when they released an alternative hard rock album, LOAD? What role did nonconformity play in shaping Metallica and why can they not return to it ever again? Was Napster about money or something more, and was Lars' argument fundamentally correct? The answers are examined in detail in the book, and they may not be what the reader expects. As one of the authors writes, "Hey, philosophers are supposed to be objective -- I don't like it anymore than you do!" But these events and themes are the ones most often discussed when speaking of Metallica, who have been accused of selling out since their second album in 1984. The old arguments of either side are given new teeth when examined through the context of philosophy.

The book is a a welcome introduction or reintroduction for Metallica fans to philosophical ideas and thinking. For the serious philosopher who has spent time reading the original works cited in the essays, it may be just a casual summary of the themes in a heavy metal context. But for Metallica fans who desire to know more about the motivations of the band and get inside their heads, as well as understand the reasons that they find themselves drawn to Metallica and heavy metal in general, Metallica and Philosophy provides an ideal overview of these most important concepts.

There are a lot of bad ideas and disinformation floating around in regards to transferring title to a property to stop foreclosure. It seems like such a simple solution on its face: transfer the property to someone else's name and the bank will suddenly find itself foreclosing on a property that is no longer owned by the original homeowners paying the mortgage. Some sources even recommend this tactic to foreclosure victims for the purpose of saving the home or avoiding the damaging effects of foreclosure on one's credit. But this solution will not result in any beneficial situation for homeowners and can actually put them in a worse situation.

When a homeowner in foreclosure transfers ownership of the property, they lose control of the house. They give the legal rights to the property away, and can not sell the house, refinance it, or even give the lender a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Many of the options to avoid foreclosure are unavailable once the foreclosure victims no longer own the house, unless they get permission from the new owner for whatever plan they decide to work on. Retaining ownership of the property for as long as it is in foreclosure is a vital part of retaining control of what happens during the foreclosure process.

Even though a homeowner can transfer ownership of the property, though, there is no way to transfer responsibility for paying the mortgage. Homeowners who do this will find that they no longer control a property that they still have a loan on, and that the loan is still in default and that the lender is still suing them to take the property. Transferring ownership does not affect the responsibility to find a solution to foreclosure, as it does not affect the homeowners who promised to pay back the mortgage loan. Some mortgages will allow a third party to assume the loan, but this still requires approval by the mortgage company and will not stop foreclosure unless the new party becomes current on the loan by paying the defaulted amount.

Transferring ownership would also not affect the bank's ability to sue for a deficiency judgment. Mortgage companies will sue the debtor on the loan, rather than the owners of the property, so they will come after the parties signed on the mortgage in the unlikely event of a deficiency judgment. However, it is important to keep in mind that banks rarely sue for deficiency judgments, because they know that homeowners in foreclosure do not have a lot of extra cash to pay another judgment. In fact, suing former homeowners often costs the bank too much in terms of time and court fees, and they have already experienced a loss on the sheriff sale of the property (which creates the deficiency in the first place). It is simply not worth their time to attempt pursuing more money they will not be able to collect.

One final danger of transferring ownership of a property in foreclosure arises when foreclosure scam operators persuade unsuspecting homeowners to transfer the title. They convince homeowners that transferring ownership will stop the foreclosure, and the former foreclosure victims will be able to start making payments to the scammer, until they have repaired their credit and can refinance. Too often, though, these schemes result in homeowners paying "rent" to the scam operator while the bank is still pursuing the foreclosure, wasting thousands of dollars on a solution that they thought was legitimate. The foreclosure scam will collect the payments until the homeowners are evicted, never using the money for any purpose beyond their own personal uses, and move on to another family facing the loss of their homes.

It is almost never a good idea to transfer ownership of a property while facing foreclosure. Unless the property is being outright sold, either through a conventional sale or a short sale, homeowners need to retain the most control of the property that they possibly can. Signing over the deed to anyone precludes a number of solutions that may be used to stop foreclosure, and transferring ownership can make homeowners easy victims to predators. Gaining as much foreclosure advice as possible will help homeowners understand when, if ever, to consider transferring ownership of their property and if they are becoming the potential victim of a foreclosure scam. As a general rule, though, foreclosure victims need as much control as possible in order to come up with the best solution to save their homes.

With record foreclosure numbers comes the inevitable blame game -- every homeowner is looking for someone to blame for the fact that their mortgage payment doubled while their house value was cut in half, lenders are blaming everyone they can for their own poor lending practices, and investors are blaming the hedge funds that invested in these overpriced, impossible-to-pay mortgages for their poor returns and the destruction of their investment portfolios. Many homeowners have begun to pin the blame on the real estate agent who sold them the house to begin with, as they were promised no end to the appreciation in value and a secure ATM machine in the form of their equity for years to come. The reality, though, is a little different, and revolves around the actual responsibility that real estate agents have to the home buyers. Actually, the Realtor is supposed to act as the client's agent, meaning the Realtor is to do what the clients want. Buyers may not necessarily want what is best for them.

For example, Realtors will generally want their clients to have some sort of pre-approval letter from a lender to make an offer to purchase the house that they want. They take the lender's word for it that the clients completed their mortgage application without lying about their income, and are willing and able to make the payment. Logically, buyers should not make an offer on a property if they have any concerns that they will not be able to afford the payment that is listed on the pre-approval letter. This is an especially important issue if they are putting little money down or have poor credit, as they may be applying for an Adjustable Rate Mortgage with payments that will go up after the first couple of years.

Realtors also don't ask the clients what kind of mortgage they have applied for, because they are not acting as mortgage brokers offering financing for a property. They help in the sale and transfer of the property but not so much in the actual financing. So they won't necessarily be aware of the fact that the clients have gotten an Adjustable Rate or Interest Only Mortgage that will be way too expensive in a couple of years. It is mainly up to the mortgage broker to disclose this fact to the loan applicants and for the home buyers to read through the paperwork carefully to understand what they are getting into. If they do not understand the documents, they should have them reviewed by competent legal counsel. If they do not understand and can not afford legal counsel, it may be better to wait until they are in a better financial position, rather than purchasing a house before they are ready.

The real estate agent, in most cases, just knows that the clients have been approved for a loan to purchase the house, and that the clients have decided to make an offer to purchase the property, based on their expectations to be able to make those payments. The Realtor is then instructed by their client to make the offer, and the Realtor has to do it, or break the contract. When this happens, the real estate agent often offers advice and guidance, but it is ultimately up to the purchasers to make the offer and then it is the responsibility of the agent to convey the offer to the current owners -- without altering it in any way.

The real estate agent works for the buyer and the buyer tells the real estate agent what he is looking for. Both of them have a responsibility to keep each other informed of any material facts about the transaction. These might include any damage or disrepair to the property, a highly over-valued property that is not worth the high asking price, or the inability to afford the projected payments. If the buyers realize they will not be able to afford the mortgage long-term, then the transaction should stop and a lower offer made, smaller house searched for, or higher down payment offered. It is not a good idea to continue with a transaction that will inevitably end up in foreclosure, as these results hurt both homeowners and real estate agents in the long run.

Both parties have responsibilities to each other, and a number of the current foreclosures are a result of a lack of communication between the Realtor, their clients, and the mortgage companies. However, in the transaction regarding the property itself, the agent has a responsibility to inform the clients of potential repair needs and the current market conditions, such as a high over-valued property that is in danger of a decrease in worth if the market slows. In terms of the financing of the property, it is up to the mortgage broker to make the required disclosures to the home buyers; but only the loan applicants themselves can make sure that they understand what they are getting into. It is unfortunate that the current foreclosure crisis will end up being a lesson for many homeowners in making sure to read and understand what they sign, but hopefully the lessons learned now will result in a healthier market with more educated homeowners in the long term.

One concern that homeowners frequently have is the question of how many payments can they miss before the bank decides to initiate the foreclosure process. In reality, the bank's decision will depend mostly on how long the homeowners have been a client of the bank, the size of the bank (local or multi-national), and how much they are able to stay in contact with the lender once they know they will begin missing payments. Homeowners who are worried about a possible job loss, medical problem, or the payments going up due to an adjustable rate mortgage, should call the lender as soon as possible and ask if there are any programs that they offer to help prevent foreclosure.

Some homeowners will simply avoid the entire issue, though, and never inform the bank of the financial hardship they are facing. When homeowners do not talk to the lender and start missing payments, the collections department at the mortgage company will begin calling every day. If the homeowners refuse to answer all of their calls and their letters, or fail to respond to the attorneys that are hired to sue the homeowners, foreclosure can start soon after the third payment is missed. They will not be willing to work with clients who are not making any realistic attempts to fix the situation -- they will decide just to go after the house and pursue the foreclosure process.

That is one of the main reasons every homeowner should keep in contact with the mortgage company to stop them from filing foreclosure on the house. If they simply keep in contact with the bank, they may hold off on starting the process for 6 months or longer, giving the clients time to save up money for a repayment plan, foreclosure refinance, or to sell the property. They will give homeowners numerous extra chances if they are kept informed of what the homeowners are doing and are assured they are making good faith efforts to avoid losing the home.

For any homeowner actively worrying about foreclosure, there is a good chance that they are expecting a financial hardship or that their mortgage payment will reset very soon. The best thing to do in this situation is to start saving at least a few hundred dollars extra every month, or cutting expenses down to the minimum (who needs 750 TV channels, anyway? ), and to make sure that there is an emergency fund that can last the family through even a few weeks with no income, if not a few months. Having some extra funds hidden away can even help if the only problem will be a readjusted payment, as the homeowners may be able to use those extra funds in refinancing to a more manageable, fixed rate.

The main point to focus on is just try to take care of the problem before it becomes a problem, and homeowners should be able to avoid the possibility of facing foreclosure at all. It is also important to read up a little bit about foreclosure laws in whatever state in which the property is located and research various ways to stop foreclosure. Just performing these actions will go a long way towards informing homeowners of what they can do if hardship does occur and it will give them a head start if anything does happen to their own financial situation or even to someone close to them. With so many foreclosure going on in the nation right now, we all know someone who is in foreclosure or close to it, and can help them tremendously just by giving them the important foreclosure advice that will help them through a crisis.

This post is directed to those homeowners who know they are moving swiftly towards financial ruin and a possible foreclosure, but who still retain some borrowing ability. This may be in the form of an open line of credit on the home that is not behind, on-time credit cards, or any other credit line that will allow the homeowners to borrow money. Consumers facing financial hardships with an ability to borrow but knowing they will probably not be able to pay back the loan must make a unique choice: either to borrow the money and use it to prevent or stop foreclosure, or not take advantage of the bank's trust in them which they know will be betrayed.

The question here revolves around the loose credit that was made available to homeowners over the past five years, especially in the form of Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs), and mortgages made on properties without sufficient income verification or inflated appraisals. It can be argued, though, that if the banks did not want their customers to spend the money as fast as possible, they should not have given a credit line for these large amounts. They gave clients an open credit line, which means they knew it could be used it to purchase anything the consumers wanted at any time.

In the case of the homeowners in a financial hardship but the open line is currently paid as agreed, they can still do whatever they want with the credit line, as long as they own the house. It can be used it to get caught up on the mortgage or other bills, thus averting financial disaster, buy a new car, or buy thousands of dollars worth of food and distribute it to homeless shelters -- if the lender wanted it spent on one thing, they would have given a car loan, home loan, student loan, etc., to be used for one purpose only. An open credit line is open.

For homeowners who are already behind on the mortgage and just about to go into foreclosure, their credit is already shot and they will not be able to borrow more money; they will have to use the credit they have remaining in the best possible way, as it may be the last they have an opportunity to use for a long time. It will be too late to change that now, but they can begin using credit more wisely in the future. If having a new car paid off with dirty open credit line money will help in that regard, then it is vital for the homeowners to make plans for the best possible future and go with them. They were given a specific borrowing ability by a lender that did not check to make sure they could pay back the loan, in most cases.

Homeowners facing a financially devastating crisis have a responsibility to do what is best for their family and themselves, not to protect banks from giving them too much money and borrowing ability without performing an adequate verification of their long-term ability to pay that loan back. Banks gave a lot of loans to homeowners who were never going to be able to pay them back, so using the borrowing ability to its fullest extent just be doing exactly what the banks designed these loans for. Using the ability to consumer useless goods and services is what many families used them for, but they can be used wisely in a financial crisis to mitigate some of the damage and prevent foreclosure. This would be possibly the first and only intelligent use of loans of this nature -- to improve the lives of borrowers, rather than satisfy their consumer-driven desires.

A big question that many homeowners have is what affect a foreclosure will have on their credit. It should be obvious to some degree what will happen when one starts missing payments on their largest loan, but there are numerous other factors to consider. Some foreclosure victims may see a huge drop in their credit score after foreclosure and an inability to borrow any money for several years, while others will be able to escape with semi-decent credit and an ability to borrow more after only a few months to a year. These factors can often mean the difference between being able to purchase a new home very quickly or being forced to save up a considerable amount for a down payment and end up with a high interest rate.

Every person's credit score is based on their entire history of using credit (well, 7 years of it, anyway), and the entire picture will be considered in assigning a score. If a homeowner has a lot of other bills that they are current on, and loans that are paid off or on time, the foreclosure may not have a huge impact. It may only cause a slight drop in the overall score because one negative mark is covered up by numerous positives. Combined with numerous late payments on other loans, though, a foreclosure can really help bring down these foreclosure victims' scores. This is why it's so important for homeowners to do what they can to stay ahead on all of their bills while in foreclosure, in order to preserve their long-term credit history as much as they possibly can.

Same thing applies with how much credit the homeowners in foreclosure have overall. If the mortgage is their only bill right now and they begin to default on the payments, they can expect a big drop in their credit score. But if they have other student loans, car loans, credit cards, etc. that they are paying as well, a foreclosure is just one negative mark on an overall positive credit report. Still a negative mark, of course, but not as bad as it could be. Again, the overall picture is more important than just one part or another. But if the entire picture is just the mortgage payment and it is behind or in foreclosure, then that will carry much more weight.

The vast number of homeowners in foreclosure are concerned with maintaining their credit-worthiness and preserving a good score. They often want to be able to borrow money again in the future at a low interest rate, whether it be to purchase a new house, replace an old car, or simply consume more goods and services. For many of them, a foreclosure is simply an unavoidable consequence of a financial hardship, and being able to borrow more indicates an ability to survive the next hardship for a longer period of time. But for others, the experience causes them to reconsider their use of credit and begins a desire to become independent of borrowing money. For these foreclosure victims, having bad credit will prevent them from living outside of their means, and it will provide them with an escape from the credit trap that so many consumers fall into.

Foreclosure situations often end up in a depressing, out of control whirlwind of unpaid bills, collection calls, lawsuits, or worse. Many homeowners desperately attempt to get back in good graces with their creditors, while others realize the uncaring system for what it is: a finely laid trap that offers riches for nothing but, used unwisely (as it is designed to be used), makes slaves out of debtors for their entire lives. Thirty or forty year mortgages, credit cards with payment plans that last hundreds of years if only the minimum is paid, and the increasing use of lawsuits to pursue defaulted loans to the very end all result in consumers playing a very dangerous game. Homeowners in foreclosure should very carefully take into consideration the uses of credit in their lives and if the payoff is worth it to them.

The subject of this book review is Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, authored by New York Times reporter Tim Weiner and published in 2007. The book is based on more than 50,000 documents, many from the CIA's own archives, as well as interviews with former director of central intelligence and employees of the agency. It charts the course of the Central Intelligence Agency from its previous incarnation as the Office of Strategic Services in World War II through its inception in 1947 up until the present day.

Unlike most histories of the CIA or accounts dealing with the agency's activities, Legacy of Ashes presents the case that the CIA was never very effective, suffering one humiliating setback after another. This is a quite different look at the activities of the agency, as numerous other accounts examine more conspiratorial aspects of various operations. These books often grant the CIA abilities which Weiner argues it never had; namely, a clear understanding of the world, the ability to infiltrate communist movements in the Soviet Union and third-world countries, and reasonable planning as a result of good leadership.

In fact, in reading the book, it almost seems to appear that Weiner is presenting the "Homer Simpson" view of the CIA: blundering headlong into situations it never understood, putting untold numbers of people in harm's way that often led to their torture and death due to the agency's own incompetence, and further compounded with laziness and alcoholism. Throughout the CIA's history, there are numerous accounts of various operations where agents were dropped into communist countries with instructions to begin resistance movements and infiltrate the Soviet system, only to be promptly identified, captured, tortured for information, and exterminated. Failure after failure did not deter these types of operations, or cause more than a momentary frustration on the part of the CIA in not knowing how the Soviets knew so quickly and so clearly everything that the US was doing to undermine it.

With each unsuccessful covert operation, the main objective of the agency was to cover up the incompetence -- not learn from previous mistakes. The agency, especially under director Allen Dulles, utilized access to the media to prevent any leaks of these mistakes. As long as the people of America did not hear about the failures, and the documents could be destroyed or classified until long after the fact, they simply did not exist.

Weiner's book also examines the very precarious relationship that each president of the United States had with the Central Intelligence Agency. From President Truman, who wanted a daily newspaper on what was happening in the world, to Nixon, who blamed the CIA for his failure to win the presidential election in 1960 and used it for his own illegal purposes as president, to Clinton, who displayed less interest in foreign affairs than any president before him, the agency was pulled from one extreme to another throughout its existence. Presidents used the CIA for illegal acts against American citizens and to overthrow unfriendly governments, putting the agency in jeopardy of being caught and the bright light of public scrutiny shined upon it. Others dismissed or totally ignored the CIA, causing it to languish and its work to become less and less relevant. Weiner mentions George W. Bush's 2004 remark that the CIA was "just guessing" about the Iraq War as a "political death sentence."

An important distinction that Weiner raises in this book is the difference between the intelligence-gathering aspect of the CIA and the "cloak and dagger" operations. One seeks to understand the world; the other seeks to change the world. The agency, though, attempted to do both and was unable to perform either action effectively. A far greater share of the CIA's budget was devoted towards covert operations involving propaganda, assassinating heads of state, and overthrowing democratically-elected governments. Many of these operations failed, and the most successful of them resulted in the infamous "blowback:" unintended consequences like a hatred of the USA in Iran, hundreds of thousands of dead civilians in Guatemala under an oppressive regime, and the Islamic holy war that was directed at America as soon as the Soviets had left Afghanistan at the end of the Cold War.

These failed attempts to mold the world in the CIA's eyes, along with the lack of interest and resources available for intelligence gathering and analysis, have resulted in an agency that missed one important event after another, while predicting things that never existed. The CIA underestimated the Soviet's and India's ability to build a nuclear weapon, the testing of which came as complete surprises to the agency. They also predicted that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the US invasion in 2003, among other predictions and suggestions, nearly all of which turned out to be wrong.

The agency, under every one of its directors of central intelligence, had never achieved its role of providing the US with a clear understanding of the world. It seemed to be at its most effective during covert operations, overthrowing governments, creating its own image of itself in American media, trading weapons for hostages, or conducting extraordinary rendition programs in secret prisons around the world. None of these covert actions, though, ever resulted in one continuously positive consequence for the agency or the United States. Weiner argues that the same problems that faced the agency in its beginnings are the same ones facing it now: an inability to gather intelligence and effectively analyze it, a willingness to take on illegal covert operations without a thought to potential consequences, and a lack of qualified personnel to carry out any of its activities.

Obviously, the CIA is an easy target to take shots at when it is down, possibly at its lowest point in public opinion of its existence. However, Legacy of Ashes' central point is to argue that the agency was never really up to begin with, and its few shining success stories are overshadowed by a long history of failed missions and an unhealthy but potentially justifiable resentment against America. Weiner's book misses issues (such as the CIA's role in the international drug trade ), but his unique perspective on the history of the agency presents one of the most intriguing looks at the CIA ever published. For anyone who wants to understand the role of this agency in the world in general and its relationship to each of the holders of the office of the President of the United States, Legacy of Ashes answers the most important questions that can be asked, and refreshingly presents all of its answers on the record, with no use of confidential sources or classified documents. It is an unparalleled, timely, and significant history of the Central Intelligence Agency.

When a homeowner begins missing payments on their mortgage, the clock starts ticking against them and time begins to run out much more quickly than most realize. Even the most straight-forward option to stop foreclosure can take months to complete, and more complicated solutions can take even longer. Possible the most simple way to save a home from foreclosure, though, is to apply for a foreclosure refinance. However, there are a number of considerations before seeking a lender who can help in foreclosure.

The main obstacles for most foreclosure victims in obtaining a loan to prevent losing their homes are these two: the amount of equity in the house, and the homeowners' ability to make the mortgage payments. If the homeowners do not meet the requirements for either of these, they will be turned down and forced to look for other options that can help them keep the home out of foreclosure. But for the small number of homeowners who may meet the requirements for the loan, the next step is to determine what kind of financing to seek out and actually apply for.

There are a number of lenders that specialize in collateral-based loans, meaning they do not focus on the applicant's credit score. Instead, these companies look at the equity in the property and base their lending decision on the value of the property and the proposed loan amount. If a homeowner has significant equity, usually in the 65-70% LTV range, they may find it very easy to qualify for a loan to stop foreclosure. Private investors and institutional investment companies also exist to provide funding to borrowers in foreclosure, and these may be willing to lend up to even higher LTV ratios, as they are usually lending their own money. Regular banks typically practice very strict lending, which is why alternate institutions must be used when refinancing in foreclosure.

The final step for homeowners who wish to apply for a foreclosure loan is to locate specific companies that can do the work and process the new mortgage. Various nationwide lenders exist to provide these types of loans, and homeowners can search online for them or contact a respected mortgage broker. Another source of information may be local newspapers where hard money lenders or private investors advertise for clients. These parties may also be local to the foreclosure victims, and be more willing to meet with the homeowners and discuss several options that may help them stop foreclosure. One final source of potential foreclosure lenders is for homeowners to ask their current mortgage company for a list of banks that specialize in foreclosure situations. Not all banks will provide one, of course, but they may know what previous foreclosure victims did to save their homes and can pass that knowledge along to the homeowners currently in foreclosure.

To successfully qualify for a foreclosure loan, it is imperative that homeowners maintain contact with their lenders and begin the process of locating a new source of funding. Since foreclosure refinances are so very difficult to obtain, it is also wise for homeowners in foreclosure to contemplate other options, as well, such as working with the current lender to put together a workout program or selling the house. Also, having extra cash in the bank as an emergency fund is a factor that potential foreclosure lenders will consider, because it shows the homeowners have begun to use their money wisely and put together an insurance plan if they find themselves in another financial hardship later on. Refinancing in foreclosure can often be the quickest, most straight-forward, and comfortable way to stop foreclosure, but its strict requirements make it necessary for homeowners to keep several backup plans, as well.

Recently, there has been more offhand and semi-official talk of a foreclosure bailout by the federal government. Some homeowners facing foreclosure may see this as a lifesaver, but it is destined to be anything but a saving grace for foreclosure victims. No, this is going to be a bad idea and probably as badly administrated as FEMA trying to take care of Hurricane Katrina victims. In all likelihood, the federal government will end up giving out the proposed $1 billion bailout fund to homeowners who were never in foreclosure, or provide alternate living arrangements that no foreclosure victim will ever live enjoy the benefit of, and the entire exercise will be an enormous waste of money.

First of all, a word on where the government would get its proposed bailout fund. Governments do not have anything, they do not have any money or any ability to produce anything with any value. So, when the government proposes a new fund such as this, the money has to come from either taxing citizens or printing money out of thin air. In terms of taxing citizens, the money for the bailout fund would come partially from homeowners in foreclosure who could use their own money right now to pay their mortgage. More money will come from other homeowners and citizens who will be forced to fund the bailouts of millions of homeowners that they have no responsibility for. Higher taxes may help a few homeowners save their homes now, but will cause an even further financial crunch for others, causing even more foreclosures. This is how the government creates problems and solves them with more problems, and how it leverages political decisions on the future, postponing the true cost of these foreclosures.

They government should not take or print another $1 billion of money to provide a service that is better offered at a local and state level. Instead of raising taxes for the additional money, or creating inflation by printing $1 billion, let communities figure out solutions. It is in the community's interest to have real people own homes, rather than large parts of these cities owned by multinational banks that will never have anyone living there and will drag property values down. That decreases the wealth at local levels by having fewer people as homeowners, paying taxes and patronizing local businesses. The inflation caused by printing the money causes even more wealth to be taken from individuals and communities, as it is usually the same multinational banks that have first use of the new money -- not the foreclosure victims that need help.

The federal government has no place and no credentials in protecting homeowners from foreclosure. It was the Federal Reserve that lowered the interest rate to near zero percent and then raised it over fifteen times that caused the problem in the first place, among other factors. But the interest rate manipulation led directly to the ease with which homeowners could refinance at low rates until their adjustable rate mortgage reset to a dangerous payment. So trusting any activity of the government to solve a problem they created will only result in the same or similar problem that will need to be solved, only on a much larger scale.

The foreclosure bailout fund is an idiotic proposal pandering to potential voters who believe that the federal government should take care of us from cradle to grave. Its goal is to take wealth from those who own homes and those who do not own homes, from foreclosure victims and homeowners who have never missed a payment, and redistribute it to those homeowners the government decides are worthy enough to save their homes. It does not address any of the underlying causes of these foreclosures, such as jobs being shipped overseas, an onerous income tax system, or inflation caused by an unsustainable foreign policy or domestic entitlement programs. Unless these are dealt with, the government will continue to create money out of nothing and cause homeowners' real wealth to fall year after year to inflation.

It would also not be surprising at all if the $1 billion bailout fund went straight to the hedge funds and mortgage companies to prop up their corrupt lending practices, rather than to real homeowners. The government has a habit of giving free gifts to such industries as the financial institutions, military companies, drug companies, and insurance companies. Taking a billion dollars away from individuals and redistributing it to Wall Street in a propagandized attempt at "helping homeowners" is a quite conceivable outcome.

Not to mention the fact that the proposal is so vague as to be ridiculous -- how would homeowners apply for some of the aid, and how much would they qualify for? In case the federal government is not aware, a homeowner paying an extra few hundred dollars is not going to help if they are behind by even one dollar more than their extra payment. Lenders simply do not take partial payments, and a free fund to have the government pay a homeowner's mortgage will only encourage more homeowners to fall behind, knowing they can take money from other people to pay their mortgage. Safety nets such as these often encourage jumping, although the net may be less safe than anyone realizes until they have landed.

Such a useless measure will not help homeowners in foreclosure. Only they can help themselves or find a community solution, as we have stated numerous times on this blog and in various articles published online. More government programs will only result in more incompetence at the federal level and a reliance on government babysitting, both of which have done nothing but harm the individual for years now in various forms.

Foreclosure is very often a bewildering experience for homeowners, filled with rejection and the real possibility of being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous scammer. Truly legitimate foreclosure help resources are quite rare, but there are hundreds of horror stories online and in the new media of homeowners losing their homes in ever increasing numbers due to bad mortgages and a lack of financial education. In circumstances such as exist today, it is often difficult for homeowners to know who to turn to for assistance.

One of the first actions that foreclosure victims can take to stop foreclosure is to approach their mortgage company and request a workout program, which may be a forbearance agreement or mortgage modification. This is the advice that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recommends homeowners follow. Even if the first repayment plan is rejected by the lender, it is a good idea to try again with a different representative, a different offer, or a different workout plan. It may take three or four attempts before the bank agrees to an arrangement. Foreclosure victims also need to locate the correct person in the bank to speak with, as the telephone representative is often a low-level collections agent more interest in collecting money than in helping someone save their home from foreclosure.

Becoming familiar with the actual legal process of foreclosure and the state foreclosure laws will also help homeowners reach a minimum level of education. Often times, banks may cut corners or attorneys will make mistakes during the foreclosure process. If this is the case, the foreclosure may not be valid and the homeowners would be able to have the process postponed or a sheriff sale reversed. This may require the use of an attorney but it may provide one more valid option to stop foreclosure. Even banks have to follow the laws that are in place to protect homeowners.

As a last resort, foreclosure victims may want to consider filing bankruptcy to stop foreclosure, especially if the lender is not willing to set up a workout program or if the sheriff sale is approaching quickly. Obviously, most homeowners would rather avoid bankruptcy, but this method may provide the last chance available to save the home and avoid a full foreclosure. Again, an attorney would need to be consulted for this option, and an attorney that understands both foreclosure and bankruptcy law would be preferable.

Beyond these few ideas presented here, there are many other ways that a family can prevent foreclosure from taking their home from them. From a foreclosure loan to a deed in lieu of foreclosure, the possibilities range from starting over with a new lender all the way to starting over with a new apartment rental. Foreclosure is often a unique situation and no solution fits all cases, which is why so many methods to save a house have been created over the years. Few people or companies want to see homeowners lose their homes, and these options to stop foreclosure allow every family in foreclosure to put together the most customized plan possible, regardless of their decision either to keep the house or give it up.

When a homeowner realizes that they are heading very quickly towards foreclosure, they face a very important choice: either to try to save the home or give up on the property. The first step is obviously to evaluate the total financial picture and come up with a reasonable assessment of factors such as income, cash on hand, and monthly expenses. Foreclosure victims who determine that they can afford to keep the home will then have to begin putting together a plan to stop foreclosure. In the case of homeowners unable to avoid losing the home, the property should be prepared for a sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure. But homeowners that want to save their property have three main methods to consider.

The first important factor is the right to reinstate the mortgage. Every homeowner can get the mortgage back on track by simply paying the amount that they are behind -- this will stop foreclosure immediately and the payments will go back to normal. The reinstatement amount is usually higher than just the sum of the missed payments, though, due to the acceleration clause in most mortgages, plus late fees, extra interest, and any court costs for the foreclosure. All of these will be added to the payments missed in figuring a reinstatement amount. Homeowners can order a reinstatement quote from their lender directly or from the attorneys handling the foreclosure.

Many homeowners, even if they have lost the house to a sheriff sale, have a right to redeem the property after the sale. The amount of time of the redemption period is determined by state foreclosure law, so it is important to find out the applicable foreclosure information regarding the redemption. By paying back the amount that the property sold for at auction, the homeowners can retain ownership of the house, and the new purchaser will not be able to take over the property. Even if this is not a reasonable solution, the redemption period provides much-needed extra time for foreclosure victims to begin the process of repairing their credit.

One last method that homeowners can use to stop foreclosure or prevent the loss of their homes is by filing bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure. There are two kinds of bankruptcy that a private individual can file: a Chapter 7 eliminates most unsecured debt (such as credit cards and personal loans), while a Chapter 13 allows the debtors to establish a payment plan through the bankruptcy court. In a Chapter 7, the house is not involved and can be foreclosed by the lender at will, but a Chapter 13 will allow the homeowners to pay back the missed payments while under the protection of the law. Bankruptcy is especially useful if the homeowners need to get the sheriff sale postponed, as it will stop the foreclosure process immediately.

Of course, there are numerous other methods that can be used in a foreclosure situation, including loan modifications, private loans, and forbearance agreements. However, the right to reinstate, the presence of a redemption period, and filing bankruptcy to stop foreclosure are some of the more useful but less talked about resources a homeowner can utilize, depending on all of the circumstances. Every homeowner in foreclosure should search out as much foreclosure advice as possible, so that they are aware of the most common and uncommon ways that are used to end the foreclosure process.

When Dr. Terry Allen, author of Making 36%: Duffer's Guide to Breaking Par in the Market Every Year in Good Years and Bad, first approached our site about peer-reviewing his book on options investing, I immediately assumed it was going to be about real estate options. Imagine my surprise when I began browsing through the book and realized it dealt with making money through stock options investing, an entirely different game. Intrigued by the subject matter and its unique presentation, though, I proceeded to discover an entertaining, useful, and clear explanation of Dr. Allen's methods. Both the content of the book and its presentation, along with my own inexperience, combined to create a remarkable learning experience.

The presentation of the book may be the first place to begin this review. Skimming through the book and glancing at its cover, one can not help but to pick up a strong golf influence. On every other page of the book, a quote is provided with the majority being related to golf. This aspect immediately draws even a casual observer to question, "What does golf have to do with stock options investing?" Thus, the book's unique format and dressing require the reader to begin asking questions of the book and reading further to find the answers. In getting a reader to delve further into the subject matter, the book succeeds quite well.

The question, though, deserves an answer, and Dr. Allen provides it within the first few minutes of beginning the book. In a quite inspired idea taken from his wife, who was able to sell numerous copies of her gardening book through specialty stores instead of the local Borders, he focused the marketing of the book to golfers who desire to learn more about investing and making more money in the market. By implication, golfers already in the financial business may learn a more efficient way to manage their money and actually have more time to spend out of work, with their families, or even on the golf course itself. Marketing the book specifically to golfers may seem like a double-edged sword, by dissuading non-golfer investors from picking up the book, but the focused targeting of a specific group of investors (ones that golf) is likely to generate interest in a book that seems much more personal by its intimate relationship with the sport. The book would be much less powerful as a generic stock options investing book sitting on a shelf at Borders with several dozen other generic investing books.

The main part of the book is divided into two sections with nine chapters each, corresponding to eighteen holes of golf, plus a "19th Hole" at the very end. The book also contains several appendices at the end, which go even further into detail of certain aspects of the 36% Solution. Whether read in conjunction with the main sections or held for further reference, the material presented in them is often interesting and explain more technical aspects of stock options investing.

The first section of the book deals mostly with the theoretical concept behind Dr. Allen's 36% method and examines some of the myths and conventional wisdom about investing in general and stock options in particular. Topics discussed include the prediction of flat market results over the next few years, reasons to stay away from individual stocks and mutual funds, and the fact that information the average investor receives is outdated and has already been acted upon by larger, more informed institution investors. The role of brokers and analysts are also examined, as well as a short autobiography of the author and the first real introduction to stock options and their real risk.

With this conceptual introduction, the second half begins to explain the more technical aspects of options investing and Dr. Allen's methods. While this section displays much more difficult terms and deeper investigation into the subject matter, suffice it to say that the 36% Solution is much easier to understand than would commonly be assumed for these types of investments. Some of the language is necessarily difficult for the uninitiated, but there are numerous subject points broken down into smaller explanations and numbered lists of what to do in certain situations. These methods provide the reader with instructions for implementing the strategy in accordance with easily referenced guidelines.

The final chapter of the book is a much-needed guide on how to get started using Dr. Allen's methods. The book is designed to provide the reader with all of the tools necessary to start on his or her own, but further resources are offered through a website, www.TerrysTips.com. For the new stock options investor fresh off the golf course, these resources will probably be very much appreciated. The more experienced investor may have an adequate understanding of how the strategy is to be used, but the site's resources are available to all.

In conclusion, for a mainly hard assets (gold and silver) investor with no experience playing golf and even less investing in stock options, the book served as the clearest introduction to the world of stock options investing that could be desired. The most important part of the book is its recommendation and explanation of a specific strategy to use when investing in stock options. Having little experience in the matter, it is difficult to judge the effects of the strategy, but Dr. Allen provides numerous testimonials and a track record of his own investments ,which lend credibility to the book's claims, and there is no reason to doubt them. As possibly the quintessential antithetical reader of such material, I gained much information from the book and found its unique presentation to provide an entertaining and easy-to-understand explanation of Dr. Allen's 36% Solution. The book is highly recommended for readers willing to work a little harder with their investments for the possibility of substantially increasing their income, whether they are currently investors, stock options experts, or golfers.

One of the biggest mistakes foreclosure victims repeatedly make is to rely on only one or two plans that might help them save their homes. Because of the possibility of being taken advantage of or turned down at the last minute, this is an almost-guaranteed way to lose a home to foreclosure, as many homeowners have learned the hard way. It is in every foreclosure victims' best interests to search as much foreclosure advice as possible, and have numerous backup plans that they can call on in the event that their preferred method to avoid foreclosure falls through.

From many of the homeowners we have worked with, one of the most common objections to considering any other plan to stop foreclosure is that "We've already found someone to help us." This is a very different statement than "We've already saved our home." Finding someone who wants to help is an important step in saving a home, but just because a foreclosure help company is willing to work with a homeowners, this does not mean that they will be able to help or their methods will be successful. Foreclosure victims do not have the leisure to rely on one method at a time and see what happens and put all of their trust in one option to prevent foreclosure. Typically, at least 2-3 plans should be available because at least one will not work.

Another reason for homeowners not to put all their eggs in one basket is the preponderance of foreclosure scams that target homeowners in financial hardships. Because foreclosure victims may wait until the last minute to seek out a solution to foreclosure, they may be pressured to sign blank documents or documents that they do not understand. Typical results are the loss of several thousands of dollars for useless "foreclosure services," or homeowners signing over the deed to their homes and finding themselves out on the street. But when there is only a choice between continuing with the scam or losing the house to foreclosure, and both results will end up in homelessness, the homeowners may realize that they needed more than one option to save their home.

And regardless of the risk of foreclosure scams, the possibility of being turned down at the last minute is a very real threat to homeowners in foreclosure. Mortgage brokers are famous for this, as they do not want to let the homeowners know that they are rejected and will be losing their home. Some loss mitigation firms are also guilty of this practice, especially if they do not have a refund policy; they would rather recommend the homeowners file bankruptcy to stop foreclosure at the last second than tell them the loan modification they were hoping for had been turned down by the lender. When foreclosure victims have only one option to prevent foreclosure and this plan is rejected with no time before the sheriff sale, the chances of saving the home from foreclosure are as close to zero as they can get. Even having a possible second chance option in the works may be enough to persuade the lender to stop the sheriff sale and give the homeowners more time, but a homeowner with no options left will not be given more time.

Putting together a plan to avoid foreclosure takes a lot of work and no small amount of research and interviewing potential brokers or loss mitigators. No amount of work, though, can guarantee the plan's success and that a family will be able to keep their home. This is the main reason why foreclosure victims need to work with numerous sources and have at least a couple of backup plans to stop foreclosure, in case they find that they are working with a foreclosure scam or are turned down with just a few days before the sheriff sale. Losing a house to foreclosure is financially and emotionally devastating, but losing a house that could have been saved is even more disturbing and depressing.

In the midst of such large foreclosure rates and their effects in the economy, blame is being dished out to everyone in a last-ditch effort to grab as much wealth as possible before it disappears into the black hole of defaulted mortgages and fallen property values. Homeowners desperate for a plan to stop foreclosure, though, are once again left to take care of the problem on their own, as this new game is being played mainly on Wall Street, with foreclosure victims forced to watch from the sidelines as investors and companies battle it out over vanishing values, instead of acting to preserve wealth.

The recent collapse of Bear Stearns' two hedge funds, heavily invested in sub-prime mortgage-backed securities, has resulted in the first lawsuit against the firm. Lawsuits may very well be warranted in this instance, but this is not a case of homeowners suing the lenders for placing them in loans they could never hope to afford and were not qualified for in the first place. No, this lawsuit is being brought by one of Bear Stearns' investors, who claims that the company misled investors regarding the risk of these mortgages. Investors who want to make more money by investing in the misery of homeowners are now staking their claim to the last remaining wealth these homeowners may have been able to preserve.

So in the best case scenario, Bear Stearns (which owns EMC Mortgage Servicing, by the way), will be forced to take some of their ill-gotten profits taken from homeowners who were not informed what kind of mortgage they were getting, and pay a portion of these profits to -- not the foreclosure victims losing their homes -- the investors who are losing money. Homeowners will have to work out a solution to foreclosure on their own, or work with a company that can help them stop foreclosure. Hopefully they will be able to come up with a plan before their own mortgage company is sued, as well, making it necessary for lenders to try and grab as much money as possible.

This is one of the main reasons that we recommend homeowners use a local bank to obtain a mortgage and work within their communities to find some way to prevent losing their homes to foreclosure. Enormous investment firms with rich investors, once profits go down and life gets a little rough, will not hesitate to abandon the homeowners that they did their best to deceive into getting expensive mortgages with interest-rate raising traps. Even though local banks may require a higher down payment and a slightly higher interest rate with no "teaser" rate, they will be much easier to get ahold of and work with in the case of financial hardship.

The recent record foreclosure rates only serves as another example of the destruction with which institutional investors and large banks can visit upon the poor and middle classes. By offering mortgages to just about everyone, no one ended up getting a deal that actually benefited them for longer than a couple of years. Once the novelty of the low rate ARM wore off and reality set in, foreclosure victims realized that they were in a lose-lose situation, while the bank would either get their money somehow or would end up with the money already paid to them and the house itself. Homeowners now abandoned by the multinational lenders are forced to look for a community solution to stop foreclosure when they have allowed so much of their wealth and the wealth of their neighborhood to be transferred into the accounts of the largest financial firms.

In many cases, homeowners face foreclosure due to a very temporary financial setback. But, because of their lack of a savings account or emergency fund, they find themselves falling further and further behind after just a few months. In a lifetime of seventy to eighty years, a small financial crisis lasting a month or three or four months should not be devastating enough to prevent these homeowners from owning a house or being able to qualify for a loan for nearly a decade after the foreclosure. With some creative planning, homeowners can improve their finances in several areas while working out a plan to stop foreclosure.

As soon as any homeowner suffers a financial breakdown, either through the loss of a job, divorce, medical expenses, or any other cause, one of the first priorities should be relentlessly cutting out unnecessary costs. This may mean some sacrifices on the part of foreclosure victims, and seems antithetical in our current consumption society, but canceling the 475 TV channels and not going out to eat every week or lowering the heat or air conditioning will all go a long way to saving money every month for homeowners facing foreclosure. People have lived their whole lives without the benefits of comfortable heat and cable television, so it is not unreasonable to assume that the average foreclosure victim can make these same sacrifices to avoid losing the house to foreclosure. Even satellite TV and the air conditioner need a home to work in.

Foreclosure victims in the middle of a financial crisis may also want to consider obtaining a second job, even on a part-time basis. An extra $100 every week, along with saving $50 a week on non-essential services, may give these homeowners just enough of a head start in overcoming the present difficulties. Especially when the loss of a job is the main cause of the foreclosure, a part-time position can provide enough income to keep on top of the mortgage or start saving for a potential repayment plan, as well as give the homeowners much-needed time to seek out a more permanent, full-time job or go into business for themselves. Having a temporary position to bring in some income and cutting out the fat in the budget will solve many problems for homeowners in danger of losing their homes.

Another idea for homeowners to consider is the sale of various assets that they own, either through local newspapers, a garage or yard sale, or online venues such as eBay. Selling a second car may provide the funds necessary to stop foreclosure, but even smaller assets can be gotten rid of. Many consumers today are trained to purchase the newest gadget, phone, video game system, or DVD/CD, while forgetting about the old "stuff." Everyone has walked into that neighbor's or family member's house that is so completely filled with unnecessary items from top to bottom, none of which are being used, and all of us are guilty of such practices at some time. Selling old books, movies, or other collectibles may not provide foreclosure victims with a steady income, but it may help get them through one more month while they put together a longer-term solution to foreclosure.

Every little thing that homeowners can do to cut their expenses or increase their income will help in the long run when trying to save their homes from foreclosure. Granted, they may not work forever to prevent from falling further and further behind, but these ideas can be used by foreclosure victims to get through an extra month or two and still keep on top of the mortgage. But homeowners who implement some of these techniques now will have a much better chance of being able to stop foreclosure from taking their homes, and will establish very important habits that may very well keep them out of the consumption culture and keep up with a savings plan. Homeowners should use their experience in foreclosure to evaluate the causes that resulted in their falling behind and begin new ways of living to prevent the next financial crisis.

Feeling lost and in the dark are some of the most common reactions that foreclosure victims experience when faced with losing their homes. If legitimate foreclosure help companies called these homeowners with the same tenacity that the foreclosure bank calls to ask for money, homeowners would never have to worry about foreclosure. Sadly, this is not the case. Figuring out a solution that will stop foreclosure is almost entirely up to the homeowners, and advice will not seek them out; they will have to gain the important information necessary to understand how foreclosure works and what can be done to avoid it. Some initial first steps for homeowners to take are gathering as much general information as possible, researching state law, and consulting with foreclosure professionals.

One of the best places to start when researching the foreclosure process is simply to call the state or the county. Since foreclosure laws are dictated at the state level, homeowners can usually make a couple of phone calls and learn more about the foreclosure process in their state than they could find out by spending hours online. Usually a call to the county courthouse civil services division can put them in touch with a knowledgeable clerk or possibly even a public attorney who can answer some basic questions. These employees are paid from the property taxes that the homeowners are responsible for, so they work for the public good. Helping a family save their home from foreclosure keeps wealth in the community and builds up property values, as opposed to banks owning these foreclosed properties and bringing down values. So the employees of these county and state agencies have a personal interest in helping homeowners stop foreclosure.

Another good place to do foreclosure research is online. Any simple search can yield foreclosure state laws, such as our site has, as well as various other sources of foreclosure advice. Homeowners will end up knowing just as much about how the foreclosure process works as the average foreclosure expert or mortgage company employee. There are no special college courses that deal in foreclosure, and all of the information is a matter of public record, so foreclosure victims can easily gain a full understanding of what can be done to save their homes. Even attorneys may not be able to provide the homeowners with as much information as a few hours of reading online, and online research is much less expensive than hiring an attorney.

The last place to gain useful foreclosure information is to call various foreclosure help companies. Many of them offer as much advice as they can, in an effort to prove their credibility and give the homeowners a clear understanding of what they are facing with the foreclosure. In addition, these companies often have helped hundreds or thousands of previous foreclosure victims, and will have real life experience to contribute, as well as more creative methods to stop foreclosure. They can be viewed as useful stores of information, if nothing else, and offer professional advice in their areas of expertise, such as loss mitigation or short sales.

Before committing to any plan that is designed to prevent foreclosure, though, homeowners need to complete a sufficient amount of research and gain an awareness of how foreclosure works in their state and how much time they have to work out a solution. Jumping into one plan or another without knowing how long it may take and if there is a more reasonable, longer-term solution is an almost sure-fire way for homeowners to become the victim of a foreclosure scam or lose their homes due to their own ignorance of the situation. Both of these outcomes are preventable if homeowners only take the few hours necessary to find out what they can do and how much time they have to do it, and foreclosure victims will be able to stop foreclosure and end up in a more beneficial situation.

The book that is the subject of this review is Angels Don't Play This HAARP, published in 2004 by Dr. Nick Begich and Jeane Manning. The topic of the book is an overview of the High-Frequency Active Aural Research Project (HAARP), a program of the United States Air Force and Navy being conducted in Alaska. The book examines the historical context of this project as well as the main problems the authors see with HAARP.

HAARP is an array of antennae that has the power to focus large amounts of electromagnetic radiation into the ionosphere. It is essentially a ground-based Star Wars system that has capabilities ranging from destroying incoming missiles to affecting regional and global weather patterns by sending energy into earth's ionosphere. Further uses of the project include over the horizon radar and the disruption of global communication systems, including satellite communications.

Many of the concepts that made their way into HAARP can be found in patents originally filed by Bernard J. Eastlund. The authors trace the patents' ownership through several defense contractors, as the companies who owned them, and thus were responsible for HAARP, changed hands from the small firm of APTI to military contractor E-Systems, until E-Systems was bought out in 1995 by Raytheon, one of the largest defense contractors at the time.

The authors spend much of their time focusing on various capabilities of the HAARP antenna array and relating these potential uses to the disturbing negative effects they may produce, along with the secrecy and material omissions that have accompanies HAARP since its inception. Just a few of the main issues that are examined include the main difference between HAARP and other ionospheric heaters that makes HAARP much more powerful, the weather-modifying effects of heating the ionosphere, and its potential for altering the mental processes of human beings.

The first of these, the aspects of HAARP that make it more powerful than so-called "conventional" heaters, is examined mostly in relation to the patents themselves. Using Eastlund's concepts, the HAARP array is able to take large amounts of energy produced on the ground and focus it into a small area in the ionosphere. Heaters built previous to HAARP were only able to send energy that would diffuse in the upper atmosphere and would not have the energy-focusing capabilities of HAARP. The authors see this development as anything but a progression, as there is no realistic way to predict what this energy-focusing enhancement may produce. After previous failures of "great ideas" of man to manipulate the earth's electromagnetic balance (such as the 1958 Project Argus in which three nuclear weapons were detonated in the Van Allen radiation belt, and the early 1960's dumping of copper "telecommunications shield" needles into the ionosphere), there may be little reason to trust the government with another weapon of massive power and unknown effects.

The ability of the antenna array to modify weather is another capability that the authors examine in some detail. Especially due to the official environmental report's omissions, there may be significant effects on the environment, weather, and wildlife that are not being addressed or discussed. Also due to the project's lack of oversight, Begich and Manning hold little faith in the government's willingness to confront these potential issues. They point out a number of the most glaring risks to the environment and life which are not discussed in the official Environmental Impact Statement. This is another example of the main problem of HAARP, which is its lack of effective oversight.

Most disturbingly of all of HAARP's potential uses, however, is its ability to affect human brain functioning. Because the human brain works on specific frequencies which the HAARP project can also produce, it can theoretically affect thinking in nearly any area of the world at will. The small amount of energy required to manipulate the brain (much less than the power needed to run a light bulb) and the high energy capabilities of the array serve to present a clear danger to every human still possessing mental functioning. Another use of HAARP in relation to human feelings and thinking relates to the issue of resonance. Every chemical has a certain frequency, and by injecting small amounts of certain chemicals into humans and then using HAARP to simulate the chemical's frequency, the feelings generated by the chemical can be enhanced many times over. The possibilities of these uses become nearly endless and this is another area of research the authors recommend for more open discussion.

The book is designed to be an introduction to the authors' argument that the HAARP project suffers from a surprising lack of oversight and public discussion. The material is presented in a very readable manner and explains how the workings of the program and its potential uses and implications. In such a short book (around 200 pages), there are over 300 sources cited, which bring a level of credibility to the research, which is based on patent information, articles, and first-hand accounts and interviews by the authors. The book presents various other related tangents for the researcher to follow, as well as a much-needed call for more public discussion on issues such as electromagnetic weapons, human behavior modification, and weather manipulation. All of these issues are well worth open discussion, as the capabilities of HAARP may produce global results. An increase in the public education about these matters, and a greater measure of accountability and interdisciplinary study of the project are what the authors call for in the end, and these modest goals should be considered a minimum for any project with such awesome capabilities and potential uses.

Many homeowners find themselves in an uncommon situation when they are on the deed of a house that is going into foreclosure, but they are not listed on the loan. As can be expected, these foreclosure victims are some of the most unnerved by the prospect of losing the house and having their credit scarred because they happened to be listed as an owner of the property. However, depending on all of the circumstances, the mortgage company may not be able to affect this homeowners credit negatively, although every homeowner in this situation has an urgent need to seek out foreclosure advice and understand how the process works in more detail.

But most homeowners in this situation will receive a court notice in the mail informing them of the current foreclosure lawsuit. They may even be required to appear in court, even though they are not signed on the loan. The courts do this, though, in order to inform every party that has any ownership interest in the property of the pending foreclosure litigation. Other lienholders on the property will also receive similar notices, and any of them can attempt to work with the homeowners to pay off the defaulted amount or put together a similar plan to stop foreclosure.

The homeowner that is listed on the deed but not the loan may have some responsibility to pay the loan if it is part of a marriage. In the same way that a spouse's income can be claimed and he or she can be required to pay separate maintenance or alimony, the same theory may apply to the house. The marital property will count as belonging equally to each spouse, unless it was acquired before the marriage. If the property was purchased after the marriage, then the couple may be considered as each owning half of the property. Of course, this situation may require a consultation with an attorney, especially if a divorce was the cause of the foreclosure.

The mortgage company, though, may not be able to damage the homeowner's credit, unless they have sufficient information to report to the credit bureaus. They will be simply unable to report the foreclosure if they do not know enough about the individual, such as a birth date or social security number. Banks are not supposed to be able to report accounts that they are not able to verify, and just a name and address may not be enough information. Of course, they will already know the name of the homeowner, having taken it from the deed, as well as the address of the property. But if the lender is missing the SSN or birth date, they may not have enough information to report a negative account to the credit agencies. Homeowners facing this type of situation should pull their own credit, though, just to make sure that the late payments and foreclosure are not reflected on their credit.

Most foreclosure situations are complicated and require unique solutions in order to save the home. In cases where an owner of the property is not a co-signer on the loan, though, the foreclosure can become a bit more difficult to solve. The homeowner who has defaulted may not want to inform the other owner, so a court notice may be the first unpleasant news the owner receives. In any case where this is present, though, it is the best idea for all of the owners to work together to find a way to stop foreclosure and avoid the possibility of the mortgage company ruining the credit of every owner listed. As we have stated before, the possibility of solving a foreclosure increases when communities and families work together, rather than hide the problem from everyone else.