| Collections Specialist | |
| Location: | Atlanta - (Corporate) |
| Job Code: | 178 |
| # of openings: | 1 |
| Description | |
Position Summary:
The Collections Specialist is responsible for contacting customers with delinquent accounts, initiating appropriate action and maintaining records of action. Accountant is also responsible for managing and maintaining the 'bad level debt' of customers.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities:
Knowledge and Skills:
About Cypress Communications: Boasting a 20 year legacy and more than 6,500 customers coast-to-coast, Cypress is one of the nation's largest providers of end-to-end managed communication solutions for mid-sized businesses. Cypress provides advanced IP phones and VoIP services with cutting-edge multimedia desktop applications like Microsoft Outlook integration, unified messaging, video calling, and audio, video and Web conferencing. As a Deloitte Fast 50 and Fast 500 award recipient, Cypress is also recognized as one of the fastest growing telecommunication companies in North America. Cypress is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. The company's Web address is www.cypresscom.net. | |
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
update resume
Americans unload prized belongings to make ends meet - Yahoo! News - Sent Using Google Toolbar
Americans unload prized belongings to make ends meet
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Business Writer Tue Apr 29, 6:04 PM ET
NEW YORK - The for-sale listings on the online hub Craigslist come with plaintive notices, like the one from the teenager in Georgia who said her mother lost her job and pleaded, "Please buy anything you can to help out."
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Or the seller in Milwaukee who wrote in one post of needing to pay bills — and put a diamond engagement ring up for bids to do it.
Struggling with mounting debt and rising prices, faced with the toughest economic times since the early 1990s, Americans are selling prized possessions online and at flea markets at alarming rates.
To meet higher gas, food and prescription drug bills, they are selling off grandmother's dishes and their own belongings. Some of the household purging has been extremely painful — families forced to part with heirlooms.
"This is not about downsizing. It's about needing gas money," said Nancy Baughman, founder of eBizAuctions, an online auction service she runs out of her garage in Raleigh, N.C. One former affluent customer is now unemployed and had to unload Hermes leather jackets and Versace jeans and silk shirts.
At Craigslist, which has become a kind of online flea market for the world, the number of for-sale listings has soared 70 percent since last July. In March, the number of listings more than doubled to almost 15 million from the year-ago period.
Craigslist CEO Jeff Buckmaster acknowledged the increasing popularity of selling all sort of items on the Web, but said the rate of growth is "moving above the usual trend line." He said he was amazed at the desperate tone in some ads.
In Daleville, Ala., Ellona Bateman-Lee has turned to eBay and flea markets to empty her three-bedroom mobile home of DVDs, VCRs, stereos and televisions.
She said she needs the cash to help pay for soaring food and utility bills and mounting health care expenses since her husband, Bob, suffered an electric shock on the job as a dump truck driver in 2006 and is now disabled.
Among her most painful sales: her grandmother's teakettle. She sold it for $6 on eBay.
"My grandmother raised me, so it hurt," she said. "We've had bouts here and there, but we always got by. This time it's different."
Economists say it is difficult to compare the selling trend with other tough times because the Internet, only in wide use since the mid-1990s, has made it much easier to unload goods than, say, at pawn shops.
But clearly, cash-strapped people are selling their belongings at bargain prices, with a flood of listings for secondhand cars, clothing and furniture hitting the market in recent months, particularly since January.
Earlier this decade, people tapped their inflated home equity and credit cards to fuel a buying binge. Now, slumping home values and a credit crisis have sapped sources of cash.
Meanwhile, soaring gas and food prices haven't kept pace with meager wage growth. Gas prices have already hit $4 per gallon in some places, and that could become more widespread this summer. The weakening job market is another big worry.
Christine Hadley, a 53-year-old registered nurse from Reading, Pa., says she used to be "a clotheshorse," splurging on pricey Dooney & Bourke handbags. But her live-in boyfriend left last year, and she has had trouble finding a job.
Piles of unpaid bills forced her to sell more than 80 items, including the handbags, which went for more than $1,000 on a site called AuctionPal.com. Now, except for some artwork and threadbare furniture, her house is looking sparse.
"I need the money for essentials — to pay my bills and to eat," Hadley said.
At AuctionPal.com, which helps novices sell things online, for-sale listings rose 66 percent from February to March, much faster than the 25 percent to 30 percent average monthly pace since the company was formed in September, CEO Maureen Ellenberger said. She said she was surprised to see that most of her clients desperately needed to sell items to raise cash.
For LiveDeal.com, a classifieds and business directory site, for-sale listings for January through March rose 10 percent from the previous year.
"We can definitely detect economic stress on the part of the consumer," said John Raven, the site's chief operating officer.
On Craigslist, Buckmaster said, three of the four fastest-growing for-sale categories are tied to gas — recreational vehicles like campers and trailers, cars and trucks, and boats.
Raven noted more and more listings for furniture, particularly in areas around Miami and Las Vegas and other regions hardest hit by the housing crisis.
Baughman, who runs eBizAuctions, said that over the past four months she's been working with mostly desperate sellers instead of mainly casual ones. Most are middle-class customers who can't pay their bills and now want to be paid up front for the items instead of waiting until they are sold, she said.
The trend may be hurting secondhand stores too. Donations to the Salvation Army were down 20 percent in the January-to-March period. George Hood, the charity's national community relations and development secretary, said that was probably partly because people were selling their belongings instead.
And secondhand buyers want better deals now as well, driving prices down. Secondhand merchandise online is going for 25 to 35 percent below what it commanded a year ago, estimated Brian Riley, senior analyst at research firm The TowerGroup.
"It won't hit the saturation point until the (economy) hits the bottom and right now, we don't know when that is," he said.
In Alabama, Bateman-Lee said that she only received $30 for her TV and $45 for her DVD player at a local flea market. She doesn't have too much left to sell, but she's going back to "sort through more things."
Her $30 water bill is due this week.
- Economy grows by only 0.6 percent in first quarter AP
- GM posts loss of $3.3B on weak US auto market, charges AP
- Stocks rise ahead of Federal Reserve's rate decision AP
- Time Warner shedding cable business; 1Q earns fall 36 pct AP
- Energy futures drop on unexpected jump in crude supplies AP
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Just a little chat in Baton Rouge | ajc.com - Sent Using Google Toolbar
Just a little chat in Baton Rouge
Published on: 04/22/08
When payday lenders waged their unsuccessful battle to return to Georgia last year, they argued that their industry helps people. Apparently, by "people" they meant legislators.
Among the House members voting for the industry was Rep. Billy Mitchell (D-Stone Mountain). Three months later, Mitchell became vice president of government relations for Community Loans of America Inc., one of the largest car title and payday lending companies in the nation.
As part of that job, Mitchell is now paying house calls on the Louisiana Legislature on behalf of the payday industry.
As sponsor of a bill capping interest rates on payday loans, Louisiana Rep. Rickey Hardy (D-Lafayette) says Mitchell approached him last week and told him that his bill "would hurt the little man." Although Mitchell admits to chatting with Hardy, the Georgia legislator says he "did not try to influence him."
Really? Mitchell travels to Baton Rouge, finds Hardy and tells him the bill is bad. To most folks, that's lobbying.
And while it may be legal for Georgia elected officials to lobby other state legislatures on behalf of their employers, it's also unseemly and embarrassing. Mitchell's Stone Mountain constituents have cause to wonder whether he's the person they want voting on consumer issues on their behalf.
Georgia's ethics laws are full of loopholes, and the payday industry seems particularly adept at exploiting them. Three weeks before the pivotal payday vote last year, payday lobbyist Willie Green loaned $80,000 to former state Democratic Rep. Ron Sailor. Sailor — now facing 20 years for money laundering after being snagged in a federal sting — voted in the industry's favor. Only Green's failure to report the loan violated ethics laws; the loan itself did not.
— Maureen Downey, for the editorial board (mdowney@ajc.com)
Yahoo! Shopping - Compare Prices, Compare Products, Read Reviews and Merchant Ratings - Sent Using Google Toolbar
New Skin-Care Products with Natural Ingredients
Give your skin some health food with products containing mushrooms, grapefruit, and other garden ingredients
from RealSimple.com
Pomegranate
The hundreds of ruby-colored seeds inside pomegranates were once thought to symbolize fertility, and given the fruit's proven powers as a strong antioxidant, it has given birth to a huge number of products, including designer juice and high-end skin-care creams.
The pomegranate's power comes from ellagic acid, a type of polyphenol, which is an antioxidant found in red wine and green tea. Antioxidants seek out and neutralize cell-damaging free radicals that come from the environment (pollution, UV rays) and from the body's natural aging process. Ellagic acid has been shown in some studies to neutralize free radicals more effectively than the other polyphenols found in green tea and red wine. It's also more stable in skin-care products than some other antioxidants, like vitamin C, which can lose potency when exposed to light and air.
More from RealSimple.com |
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Murad Energizing Pomegranate Lip Therapy SPF 15, $16, murad.com
Archipelago Pomegranate Creme for the Hands, $26, 800-399-4994 for stores
Grapefruit
Until the 19th century, grapefruit was grown purely as an ornamental fruit. Rarely eaten, it was known only for its looks - an interesting harbinger of its modern-day promise to improve ours.
A 2005 study by the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, in Chicago, showed that the scent of grapefruit on women made them seem an average of six years younger to men. Grapefruit's main use in skin care, however, is as a citric acid. Like any alpha hydroxy acid, citric acid loosens the bonds between skin cells, allowing dead ones to fall away, revealing smoother, more radiant skin.
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Fresh Pink Grapefruit Petite Soap, $12, fresh.com
Boots No 7 Radiance Revealed Exfoliator, $10, Target
Mushroom
No wonder the Super Mario Brothers got a jolt of evil-fighting power whenever they ate a mushroom. Mushrooms have long been used in Asian cultures as remedies for everything from low energy to cancer.
The extract of several Japanese mushrooms has been shown to reduce inflammation, which can affect collagen in the skin and contribute to changes associated with aging, such as the appearance of fine lines. Reducing that inflammation keeps skin cells vital and functioning and also suppresses irritation so that other active ingredients, like antioxidants, can do their jobs.
Shiitake mushrooms have multifaceted benefits for the skin. They contain antioxidants that block proteins known to cause cell breakdown; they provide chemical exfoliation; and they also contain kojic acid, which has a lightening effect on age spots and discoloration, making skin appear brighter over time.
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Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins Plantidote Mega-Mushroom Face Serum, $65, origins.com
Aveeno Positively Ageless Daily Moisturizer SPF 30, $20 at drugstores
Pumpkin
Despite its prevalence in favorite sweets, such as pies and muffins, pumpkin is quite acidic. And the enzymes in pumpkin act like salicylic acids, chemical exfoliants that encourage skin cells to turn over more rapidly.
Pumpkin is also a carotenoid, a derivative of vitamin A, which is indicated by its orange color, and that makes it an antioxidant in addition to having exfoliating properties.
Pumpkin seeds are a good source of zinc and have been used as a natural remedy for acne. Studies show that zinc has an effect similar to that of the common antibiotic tetracycline.
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Jaqua Pumpkin Papaya Purée Enzyme Face Masque, $16, jaquabeauty.com
Joico Skin Luxe White Pumpkin Renewing Body Cleanser, $12, 800-805-6426
Bamboo
Bamboo is one hardy plant. Not only is it one of the fastest-growing plants on earth (some species grow more than three feet a day) but its strength and sustainability have also made it a favorite of architects looking for environmentally friendly building materials.
Although the Chinese have used bamboo for centuries (the hardened secretion from the stalks has been taken internally to treat asthma), its popularity is only now growing in the United States. Bamboo pulp is being woven into fabric that retains antibacterial qualities even after it is washed. And in skin care, finely milled bamboo powder is used as an exfoliant in cleansers and scrubs. The smooth bamboo particles are less harsh than the scraggly, uneven grains made from salt and nuts, making it safer and less irritating to sensitive skin.
Find It In:
Clarins Smoothing Body Scrub for New Skin, $33, clarins.com
Red Flower Japan Ohana Gingergrass Bamboo Scrub, $62, redflower.com
Marriage is No Joke...Some Things to Think about Before you take the Plunge - BALLER ALERT - Sent Using Google Toolbar
Relationship
You go to each other for advice, and you almost always come away feeling better about things.
You are supportive of each other's decisions, even when they suck -- er, we mean, when you just don't agree with them.
You tell your honey when he or she has hurt you instead of holding a grudge.
You are generally able to resolve fights to your mutual satisfaction.
You both know that relationships take work, and you are willing to go the distance.
You respect, admire, listen to, and just plain like each other, gosh darn it!
You share enough of the same interests and friends that you don't feel like you are always on your own.
Money
You have similar spending/saving habits, or you've discussed how you'll each compromise to keep the peace.
You have the same attitude about paying bills or debt management.
You are aware of each other's total present debt, if any.
You have discussed how you will merge your finances once you get married, and you are comfortable with the plan.
You have told your honey about all your assets and have no hidden nest eggs, "just in case."
You have similar definitions of a "comfortable" income, and similar or symbiotic income goals.
Sex
Your sexual needs are compatible, and you are both satisfied with your lives between the sheets (or on the kitchen table, in the shower, or wherever).
You are comfortable giving and taking sexual suggestions and requests.
Birth control is something you consider a joint responsibility, and you have openly discussed your options and preferences.
You use sex as a healthy and FUN expression of your LOVE, not as a way to gloss over problematic issues in your relationship, a weapon, or an easy way to solve disputes (without addressing the root of the argument).
You've 'fessed up about your sexual past (at least most of it!) and had frank discussions about STDs and previous partners (or lack thereof).
Family
You generally get along with each other's families (we're not talking about a sappy love fest, just general friendliness and goodwill), and if not, you've at least discussed to what extent they will play a role in your future family life.
You are willing and prepared to regard each other as your most important familial relationship after you get married.
You have similar religious beliefs or you have discussed how to incorporate religion into your future family.
You've talked about children -- how many you want, or if you want them at all.
If you have children from a previous marriage, he or she treats them with respect and kindness.
You've considered not only the future responsibility of caring for your honey, but also the possibility of caring for their parents or other family members.
If a majority of these statements are true about your relationship, you're in great shape -- we say go for it! But if the majority are "don't know" or "no way," your relationship needs more work before you're ready to tie the knot. Don't despair -- knowing what you need to tackle is half the battle.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Midtown - Sent Using Google Toolbar
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Welcome to Midtown Atlanta Wellness Center, your partners on your wellness path. Combining holistic, alternative and traditional health therapies we create action steps to help you achieve a lifetime of optimum health. Our staff of holistic practitioners who are trained to meet your needs focusing on the "whole person". We also have a medical doctor on staff to help answer or treat any current medical issues.
Welcome to our home
The safest ways to buy foreclosures- MSN Money - Sent Using Google Toolbar
The Basics
The safest ways to buy foreclosures
Low interest rates and fast appreciation lure bargain hunters to homes facing foreclosure. You may pay less than market value, but not much less -- and the research can be daunting.
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With interest rates at record lows and the stock market looking too perilous for small investors, many people are putting money in an asset they understand -- real estate.
One of the best places to invest is in foreclosures and bargain residential real estate.
The current market conditions make it a perfect time for a small investor to purchase one or more foreclosure properties for their private residence, rental or resale. During economic downturns, more upscale homes go into foreclosure, so the notion that foreclosure homes are only available in crime-ridden areas is inaccurate. Beachfront and homes in affluent areas are part of the mix of foreclosed properties available.
But anyone considering buying a foreclosed home should forget about paying pennies on the dollar.
"You can buy foreclosures for as cheap as 30% or 40% below market, but most foreclosures sell for 5% below market," said John T. Reed, editor of Real Estate Investor's Monthly, a newsletter based in Alamo, Calif.
Yet the savings may be twofold if the property is purchased from the lender who holds the mortgage that's in default. That lender may be willing to waive some closing costs, maybe even offer a break on the interest rate or the down payment.
Investment of time
A novice must learn to navigate the foreclosure process. But Todd Beitler, owner of the Real Estate Library in Boca Raton, Fla., says the time and effort can translate to savings. "If somebody spends 10 hours a week for five weeks to do research, it's worth it."For most consumers, however, the foreclosure process can prove daunting, Reed says. Good buys are available, but they require research, preparation, patience and persistence.
The foreclosure process starts when a property owner falls behind on mortgage payments. Many owners of homes that go into foreclosure have been struggling financially for almost a year before they give up, which usually means that the house has not received needed repairs or general maintenance for a while.
This may include everything from missing light bulbs to roof leaks. Tree limbs in front yards, broken appliances and windows, and dirty carpets, floors and walls are found in even very-affluent area foreclosures.
This can be a boon -- or boondoggle -- for a buyer. Houses in poor condition might fetch bargain prices, but repairs can boost the cost again. The first rule of real estate, "location, location, location," applies in these situations. If there is trash in every room of the house, but the foreclosure is in a good area with high property resale values, hold your nose, walk through the entire house and consider making a low offer.
Reading assignments
When a lender decides to foreclose on a property, a notice of default or a lis pendens (Latin for "lawsuit pending") is filed, depending on the state. This document is a public record, and for buyers, it's the first step in locating a property in foreclosure. A buyer looking for foreclosures also can buy magazines and newsletters that list properties in default.Once a home has been located, search public records. Look for liens on the property, since they can drive up the purchase price. Liens typically are placed on a house for unpaid property taxes. Also check assessed values and sale prices of neighboring properties.
Research local state foreclosure laws, since they differ. Some states -- such as Florida, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania -- require the lender to sue the borrower and get a court order for the sale of the property, a process known as judicial foreclosure. Other states -- including California and Texas -- follow the non-judicial foreclosure process, which doesn't require a lawsuit.
For novice investors, buying from the lender is the safest way to buy. Most foreclosures are taken back by the bank during auction, Beitler says. While well-located homes in good shape generally don't sell for deep discounts, rundown properties can be sold more cheaply.
Often, the banks hire a real estate agent and sell foreclosed homes in the traditional manner, Reed says. But sometimes buyers can succeed by pestering bank loan officers with low offers.
Buyers might try low-balling the lender's REO (for "real estate owned") officer shortly before the nonperforming assets have to be reported to supervisors, Beitler says.
The safest deals
Bank-owned properties offer the safest deal for inexperienced foreclosure buyers, Beitler says: "There's no risk. There are no taxes, no liens, no tenants to evict."A lender that's eager to sell might be willing to offer attractive terms, says George Tribble, broker of record at Jetstream Mortgage in Oakland, Calif., and past president of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers.
The lender might offer to finance the property at a below-market rate or with a lower-than-usual down payment. Because the bank already has done an appraisal, the buyer might not have to pay an appraisal fee, Tribble says. And lender deals typically include title insurance, which removes much of the risk that accompanies buying homes earlier in the foreclosure process.
Money101 Lesson 8: Buying a Home - Sent Using Google Toolbar
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| 30 yr fixed mtg | 5.87% |
| 15 yr fixed mtg | 5.48% |
| 30 yr fixed jumbo mtg | 7.21% |
| 5/1 ARM | 5.57% |
| 5/1 jumbo ARM | 6.31% |
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| $30K HELOC | 5.11% |
| $50K HELOC | 4.29% |
| $30K Home Eq | 7.40% |
| $50K Home Eq | 7.23% |
| $75K Home Eq | 7.48% |
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Money 101 Lessons |
1. Don't buy if you can't stay put.
If you can't commit to remaining in one place for at least a few years, then owning is probably not for you, at least not yet. With the transaction costs of buying and selling a home, you may end up losing money if you sell any sooner.
2. Start by shoring up your credit.
Since you most likely will need to get a mortgage to buy a house, you must make sure your credit history is as clean as possible. A few months before you start house hunting, get copies of your credit report. Make sure the facts are correct, and fix any problems you discover.
3. Aim for a home you can really afford.
The rule of thumb is that you can buy housing that runs about two-and-one-half times your annual salary. But you'll do better to use one of many calculators available online to get a better handle on how your income, debts, and expenses affect what you can afford.
4. Don't worry if you can't put down the usual 20 percent.
There are a variety of public and private lenders who, if you qualify, offer low-interest mortgages that require a down payment as small as 3 percent of the purchase price.
5. Buy in a district with good schools.
In most areas, this advice applies even if you don't have school-age children. Reason: When it comes time to sell, you'll learn that strong school districts are a top priority for many home buyers, thus helping to boost property values.
6. Get professional help.
Even though the Internet gives buyers unprecedented access to home listings, most new buyers (and many more experienced ones) are better off using a professional agent. Look for an exclusive buyer agent, if possible, who will have your interests at heart and can help you with strategies during the bidding process.
7. Choose carefully between points and rate.
When picking a mortgage, you usually have the option of paying additional points -- a portion of the interest that you pay at closing -- in exchange for a lower interest rate. If you stay in the house for a long time -- say five to seven years or more -- it's usually a better deal to take the points. The lower interest rate will save you more in the long run.
8. Before house hunting, get pre-approved.
Getting pre-approved will you save yourself the grief of looking at houses you can't afford and put you in a better position to make a serious offer when you do find the right house. Not to be confused with pre-qualification, which is based on a cursory review of your finances, pre-approval from a lender is based on your actual income, debt and credit history.
9. Do your homework before bidding.
Your opening bid should be based on the sales trend of similar homes in the neighborhood. So before making it, consider sales of similar homes in the last three months. If homes have recently sold at 5 percent less than the asking price, you should make a bid that's about eight to 10 percent lower than what the seller is asking.
10. Hire a home inspector.
Sure, your lender will require a home appraisal anyway. But that's just the bank's way of determining whether the house is worth the price you've agreed to pay. Separately, you should hire your own home inspector, preferably an engineer with experience in doing home surveys in the area where you are buying. His or her job will be to point out potential problems that could require costly repairs down the road.
MONEY Magazine: Foreclosures: Bargain hunters beware! - Feb. 16, 2006 - Sent Using Google Toolbar
NEW YORK (MONEY Magazine) - Buying foreclosures once appealed mainly to the small group of hard-core real estate investors who were willing to dig into untouchable rehab projects and wrestle with deadbeat tenants.
But in recent years, scores of self-help books, Web sites, gurus and classes have sprung up, touting the notion that buying property from distressed homeowners is not only the surest path to real estate wealth but also within easy reach of anyone with spare time and gumption.
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Now, with rising interest rates and softening prices threatening to derail homeowners who stretched to buy with risky loans, the message from this movement goes, this is the year for foreclosure bargains. Or is it?
Foreclosure investing has always been fraught with risks -- decrepit money pits, troubled tenants who refuse to clear out. But rather than creating more buys, the torrid market of the past five years has added a whole new level of risk by leaving fewer genuine deals available for thousands of eager new investors.
"It's a tough market today. The low-hanging fruit has already been picked," says Gary Eldred, author of "The Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing." "There are some nuggets of gold lying around, but you have to dig through a whole lot of dirt and rock to get to the good stuff."
Armed with the time and the temperament, you can make money buying and selling foreclosures. But now more than ever, it's important to steer clear of the common misconceptions and learn from seasoned investors who've done it right.
If you've been waiting for the McMansions in your town to start going on the auction block, your wait isn't over just yet. Many homeowners who took short-term adjustable-rate loans or home-equity lines of credit a few years ago are already grappling with higher monthly payments, and more will be doing so next year.
Despite that, the foreclosure rate -- currently less than 1 percent of all loans -- isn't expected to change much in 2006, says Alexis McGee, president of listings Web site Foreclosures.com.
That's because in most of the country, anyone who has owned a home for even a year or two is likely sitting on enough equity to sell or refinance if the loan payments become unaffordable.
Another brake on foreclosures is that banks are no longer playing hardball with strapped homeowners.
"Compared with the late '80s and early '90s, lenders use velvet gloves," says Eldred. "They've realized that giving people a six-month moratorium on payments, stretching out the term on the loan, reducing the rate -- it's still more profitable for them than going through a foreclosure."
Finally, the foreclosure process can be lengthy, ranging from a month to more than a year, depending on state law.
What would push more homeowners over the brink? Hard economic times have always been a catalyst, says Doug Duncan, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. For example, in states that have recently lost industrial jobs, such as Ohio and Michigan, foreclosures rose significantly in 2005. So if the national economy sours this year, expect a big jump in foreclosures in 2007.
Another catalyst is overbuilding. Regions that have enjoyed a boom in new condominium development -- South Florida, for example -- could soon suffer a spike in foreclosures if investors are unable to rent or unload their condos for a profit.
In a study of foreclosure sale prices in more than 600 counties nationwide in 2005, Christopher Cagan of data provider First American Real Estate Solutions found that, on average, foreclosed properties sold for about 15 percent less than comparable homes in the area that were not distressed. But in states where real estate prices have risen the most, including Arizona, California and Virginia, foreclosed properties sold for within 5 percent of full market value.
"In general, you're not going to get a great discount in a great location, right where your job is, a place that you really want to buy," says Cagan.
Bear in mind that his study looked only at homes that went into foreclosure, not those in danger of being seized, where you can often find better deals. But Cagan's numbers also don't take into account the inevitable costs of repairing the property, which are often far higher than expected.
"At first blush a deal can look really good," says Dartmouth business school professor John H. Vogel, "but by the time you figure out why it's selling at such a discount, you often realize the price was very rational."
If you've read one of the many books touting the benefits of foreclosure investing, or attended one of the increasingly popular seminars, you've likely come away thinking that it's a snap.
Wrong. There are three ways to buy foreclosures: directly from a homeowner in trouble (pre-foreclosure), from a bank that has repossessed the home (real estate owned, or REO) or at public auction.
Each involves a different set of rules and regulations -- and challenges. Whichever method you choose, the chance you take right now is that you will overpay for the property. Few foreclosures are on the market, while the number of interested buyers has grown faster than Brangelina's brood.
"Five years ago, there were the same five or seven people at every auction," says veteran foreclosure investor Roy Cloughen of Long Island, N.Y. "Now there are 75 to 80."
Most experts say there's little point in looking at REOs today; lenders aren't repossessing many properties, and the few REOs that come up for sale usually command full market price.
Auctions are by far the riskiest way to invest, says Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing at foreclosure listing site RealtyTrac.com. "You are buying the property sight unseen, and you will be responsible for any taxes, liens or second mortgages still on the property."
If someone is still living in the home, you must handle the eviction. Moreover, auctions tend to be frequented by the most experienced investors, who know plenty of tricks to confuse the novice bidder.
"I'll do a big jump in price and then a little jump, just to increase their confusion," says Cloughen, who has watched plenty of inexperienced auction buyers end up paying more for a home than it was actually worth.
If you want to try your hand at an auction, it's essential that you research state laws beforehand and come armed knowing what similar properties in the neighborhood are selling for. And don't forget the money. Most auctions require you to make a 10 or 20 percent cash deposit on the spot, with the balance sometimes due within a day. Finally, decide what price you're willing to pay and stick to it.
"You just can't get emotional and caught up in the bidding," says Jon Kaplan, who owns a contracting business in Cleveland and dabbles in foreclosure investing. "Overpay, you'll get killed."
If you're willing to knock on doors and ask embarrassing questions, you may find deals among pre-foreclosures. For a $15- to-$50 monthly subscription, you can get listings from Web sites that search court filings and other public documents for homeowners behind on their mortgage payments. You can then contact the homeowner and try to negotiate a deal.
Trouble is, the listings on many of the Web sites are out of date -- and a lot of people are reading the same lists. That's why Pamela Smith, a part-time flight attendant and real estate investor, taps a network of realtor contacts she's developed and checks listings of borrowers in default in her county paper for leads. Notes Smith, "You have to be aggressive."
Auctions are by far the riskiest way to invest in foreclosures. The public sales tend to be frequented by the most experienced investors, who know plenty of tricks to confuse the novice bidder.
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