The number of Valley homeowners losing their homes to foreclosure has shot up 566 percent so far this year, a result of the housing market’s slowdown and rising interest rates on a variety of risky mortgages……..

To read the rest of the article, click on this link:  AZCentral.com.  As homeowners, this is just one of hundreds of articles we see posted everyday.  It’s no secret.  Home values are falling. 

So what’s a homeowner to do?  Or a perspective buyer?  Well, I am going to weigh in on these questions.

As a homeowner myself, if I did not have to sell, I would sit tight and wait.  The housing market will settle and values will start to rise once again.  So if your home is working for you, stay put and let the market settle.

If you need to sell, make your house shine.  Make it stand out.  There are a lot of websites out there with tips to help your home sell.  Houses that are priced well and look good, are still selling.  So listen to your real estate professional.  He/she will offer tips and solutions for getting your home sold quickly.  It’s a business transaction.  It’s not personal.  But often times, as homeowners, we find it to be personal to us.  Having lived in the home and spending time there with our families, having memories of those times, can sometimes cloud our judgement.  That is why a realtor is so important.  They can take it from a personal level, to a business level….where it needs to be.  And remember, although you may have to sell for less than you would have a year ago, you will also be buying for less.  It all evens out in the wash.

As a homebuyer, all I can say is NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY.   So many of my clients are asking if they should wait until we hit bottom.  My only question is, how will you recognize “the bottom?”  It’s only recognized once prices start going back up.  And then it’s too late.  The deals are now.  If you can qualify, then get in on some great home prices.  Get into that first home.  You will be glad you did.

Feel free to contact me with an questions.

With mortgage defaults surging and politicians urging the industry to do more, six lenders agreed to widen their effort to help borrowers of all loans - NOT just subprime.The plan, called Project Lifeline, is to be announced Tuesday by the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The plan will allow seriously overdue homeowners to suspend foreclosures for 30 days while lenders try to work out more affordable loans.

On a pilot basis, the plan will involve six of the largest mortgage lenders, in hopes that more lenders will sign on. The participants are Bank of America Corp. (BAC, Fortune 500), Citigroup Inc. (C, Fortune 500), Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC, Fortune 500), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM, Fortune 500), Washington Mutual Inc. (WM, Fortune 500) and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC, Fortune 500)

All six are involved in Hope Now, a Bush administration organized effort to freeze rates on some high-cost subprime mortgages for five years to aid borrowers whose teaser rates are jumping sharply higher. Since then, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has urged lenders to expand that effort to cover struggling homeowners with conventional mortgages.

The new plan applies to seriously delinquent homeowners, those whose mortgages are 90 days or more past due.

The Hope Now alliance, which includes lenders, investors and nonprofit groups, said last week that it helped nearly 8% of subprime borrowers in the second half of 2007 - more than its original estimate.

The group said it helped 545,000 subprime borrowers with spotty credit in the second half of last year, compared with its January estimate of 370,000. That works out to 7.7% of 7.1 million subprime loans outstanding as of September 2007.

Among the subprime borrowers aided, 150,000 were helped through permanent-loan modifications, such as lower interest rates, while 395,000 negotiated repayment plans, which often involve a borrower getting back on track even after missing a few payments.

Consumer groups, however, point out that many borrowers still can’t keep up, even after loan workouts. They say many of the borrowers in the Hope Now effort have negotiated short-term loan modifications or repayment plans, which often involve a borrower getting back on track after missing a few payments. A full-fledged refinancing at a lower rate is preferable, they say. 

 Homeowners behind in payments will get 30 days to work out problems

cnnmoney.com