Chapter 1 – It Is About You: Page 17
· Everyone is Unique
· Separating From The Crowd
· How You Can Use This Book To Find What You Need
Chapter 2 – Lending Money: Page 29
· A Scenario For Your Consideration
· Appearances Can Be Deceptive
· Mortgage Financing In the Real World
Chapter 3 – History’s Greatest Source Of Wealth: The Lure Of Land: Page 37
· Europe and the Enlightenment
· America
· The Lure of the Land
· The Feudal Land System Ends In America
Chapter 4 – Homeownership In The 20th Century: Page 47
· From Roosevelt to Roosevelt
· Seeds of Change
· The Housing Boom - - WWII to the 1960s
· The Era of HUD
· Federal Tax Policy
· Federal Aid through Surrogates
Chapter 5 – The Impact Of The GSEs And The Secondary Market: Page 61
· The Value of the Secondary Market
· Do GSEs Have an Unfair Advantage?
· Being a GSE Has Its Privilege
· Size Counts
· Mortgage Underwriting Meets the Computer Age
· And The Rest As They Say. . .
· Was There Really No Warning?
Chapter 6 – “More Perfect” Housing Opportunities:
Page 7
· Redlining
· The Bigotry Problem
· Laws of Unintended Consequences
Chapter 7 – Subprime Lending: Page 83
· The Conception, Birth and Growth of Subprime
· A New Secondary Market
· Subprime Growing Pains
· You Can’t Keep a Strong GSE Out
· GSE Subprime
· Grading Subprime
· “Pick Your Poison” Mortgages
· Credit and Subprime
· Subprime and Credit Repair
· Abuse of a Good Idea
Chapter 8 – Boom, Bust, And Mind Games: Page 101
· Market Highs and Lows
· Psychology
· Boom and Bust In “The Land of Flowers”
· Word of the Year
· The Value of Expectations
· Calculating Consumer Confidence
· Psychology of Borrowing
· Psychology of Lending
· Political Psychology
· Personal Psychology
· A Personal Renaissance
Chapter 9 – Dealing With The Meltdown: Page 119
· David and Goliath
· Someone Will Pay
· Declaring Independence
· Dealing With Being Upside-Down
· The Vanishing
· Back At the Ranch (Somewhere. . . In America)
· No Magic in the Disappearing Act
· The Upside-Down Dilemma
· I Can Afford the Payments, But. . .
· The Answer Is Not Preordained
Chapter 10 – Dealing With Troubled Borrowers And Lenders: Page 133
· Won’t The Government Save Me?
· Why It Benefits Lenders to Avoid Foreclosure
· Primary Lender Concerns
· Will The Borrower Follow Through?
· A Bit of Empathy for the Lender
· Respect
· Silence Speaks Loud and Clear
· Head-In-The-Sand Syndrome
· Preparation is Powerful (And Essential)
· Knowing the Questions Before They Are Asked
· Being Prepared With Answers
· Coming To Terms With The Mortgage Terms
· Making Contact: The Sooner the Better
· The Securitization Complication
· The Part of “No” You Need to Know
· A Recorded Record
· Caution: Use in Case of Extreme Confidence Only
· A Written Record
· Is a Lawyer Needed?
· Loan Modification Companies
· HOPE Now . . . Or Not?
· Overview: Foreclosure Avoiding Process
· Attitude
· And . . . One More Not So Minor Detail
· Loss Mitigation And Home Retention Department Phone Numbers
Chapter 11 – Foreclosure: Avoiding, Surviving, And Moving Beyond: Page 163
· What About The Government Rescue?
· The Typical Foreclosure Process
oThe Basic Foreclosure Process
· Avoiding Foreclosure - - Just Sell It
· Avoiding Foreclosure – - Banking on the Lender
· Mortgage Restoration
o A Full Reinstatement
o A Partial Reinstatement
· Mortgage Relief
o A Repayment Plan
o A Short-term Forbearance
o A Long-term Forbearance
· Refashioning The Mortgage
o Making Mortgage Modifications
o The Partial Claim Option
· FHA Refinancing
· Selling It, With A Bit Of Help from My Lender
o Deficiency Judgments
o Second Mortgages
· A Hardship Assumption
· Deed In Lieu of Foreclosure
· A Short Sale Agreement
· A Make-Whole Pre-Foreclosure Sale
· Surviving Foreclosure
· When Foreclosure Is Best For The Lender
· When Foreclosure Is Best For The Borrower
· Afterlife: Moving Beyond Foreclosure
· The Challenges Of Moving Beyond Foreclosure
· Loss Of The Security Regarding The Basic Need Of Foreclosure
· Loss Of Our Largest Resource Of Wealth
· Dealing With A Damaged Credit Report
· Aligning Our Thoughts And Actions
Chapter 12 – Thriving In A Melted Market: Page 195
· What to Think?
· Opportunity of a Problematic Market
· It’s a Real Estate Sale!
· Why Sell in a Down Market?
· Hot or Cold: All Real Estate Values Are Local
(And Personal)
· When Lenders Say No, Sellers Say Yes
· We Finance
· Recorded Note and Mortgage
· Wrapping Around
· Contract For Deed
· Purchasing With a Lease Option
· Building a Bridge
· Is Eight Enough?
Chapter 13 – Minding Money: Page 217
· An American Story
· Capital Punishment
· Paths to Success
· A Signal to Reassess
· Financial Self-Examination
· Advice is Everywhere
· Conventional Financial Wisdom
· A Workable Financial Plan
· Accumulating Cash Reserves
· Possible Pools Of Liquid Reserves
· Giving Ourselves Proper Credit
· Financial Astuteness
In The End – It Is Still About You: Page 235
· The Unfairness Of Fairness
· The Mindsets that Got Us Here
· What You Can Do About It
Resources: Page 240
Index: Page 241
Contributors Contact Information: Page 243