Arturo de los Santos’ case is, of course, a special one. He coordinated a deal with Chase to lower his payments from $1,600 a month to $1,300 while things slowed down at work. After four months of steady payments, Chase refused to accept any further payments even if Santos was able to make his full payments back on time again.

The home was foreclosed and Santos was kicked out; saying his home was sold “from underneath him.”

I can see two things happen here. One, Santos gets re-evicted by Chase and everything goes back as usual. Two, Santos effectively gathers enough public and media sympathy that Chase will iron out a new deal for him to keep the house.

I can’t really pick sides here, as I don’t know who really messed up in this situation. But I’ll say this: somebody who can make the payments on a piece of property is a better long-term deal than trying to sell the house all over again – at least not in today’s weak real estate market.

And besides, do the banks really need to stick another foreclosed home in this gutted real estate market?

This should be a welcome respite for our battered real estate market; giving it a breather before 2012 comes rolling around the corner and foreclosures come down harder than they ever have.

This is by no means a permanent thing, though.

I am all for letting everyone relax a little bit this holiday season, no doubt about that. What I’m worried about is people getting lulled into a false sense of security because of the reprieve they’re getting this. If you’ve been late on your payments, have received a foreclosure notice and/or are facing imminent eviction, then this is the perfect time to start weighing your options and planning for the future.

The moratorium will last for less than two weeks; leaving enough time to either negotiate with the banks or start packing up for a big move. The last thing you want to do is get hung over by the Christmas cheer only to wake up and get shoved out of your home once New Year ends.

Brzeski starts off by noting how West LA locals tend to get off the highway at peak traffic hours and instead navigates around local streets to avoid the traffic rush. Brzeski then equates the local knowledge required to navigate the local streets to investing in local opportunities instead.

He goes on to cite the differences in yields between investing in a real estate investment trust (REIT), buying a property the REIT would buy and directly buying properties from banks.

REIT investment would have a capitalization rate of 5%, which is the ratio between the net income of an asset and the price paid to acquire the asset. Buying a property the REIT would buy would get a comparable capitalization rate of 6%. A capitalization rate of 8% is claimed by Brzeski to be possible by buying properties directly from banks, fixing them up and offering them up to renters at a competitive price.

Brzeski then advises investors to “get off the freeway” and start exploring “local roads” to maximize the income from local investments.

Brzeski’s original column can be found here.

Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) have co-authored a package of immigration measures with one particularly interesting clause: granting residence visas to foreigners willing to spend $500,000 or more in U.S. housing.

Favorable foreign exchange rates coupled with a tanking real estate market and weak local demand have allowed foreigners to begin snapping up properties across the United States. Canadians and Chinese in particular have been purchasing a large number of properties in Southern California, South Florida, Arizona and other weak real estate markets.

Sen. Schumer pushes the bill by claiming that “This is a way to create more demand without costing the federal government a nickel.”

And he may have a point. Buyers from outside America account for a significant $82 billion in real estate sales – a $16 billion increase over last year’s $66 billion. Vero Beach real estate agent Sally Daley acknowledges that foreign investors stave stagnation in the market; buying furniture, hiring contractors and slowly whittling down the burgeoning inventory of empty homes in the U.S.

Richard Smith of Realogy Corp. disagrees. “We have a lot of Americans who are willing to buy. We just have to fix the economy,” he says.

The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) have announced plans to phase out the network of lawyers they hire to handle foreclosures.

Consumers can expect to be given the responsibility of choosing their preferred law firms to process their defaults and foreclosures. This will allow these people to handle their own affairs and select lawyers they know and trust.

This comes as a major but expected embarrassment for the lawyers connected to the Retained Attorney Network used by both government agencies. These lawyers have been accused by various regulators, lawmakers and consumer groups of irresponsibly handling foreclosure papers; even resorting to false signatures to speed up the process.

The massive influx of “robo-signatures” has forced many mortgage servicers to suspend almost all foreclosure activity in 2010 – leading to an immediate drop in foreclosures.

Those foreclosures, however, will begin piling up once mortgage servicers resume their activities – something that will significantly hurt the real estate market for years to come.

Baby boomers, however, appear to continue gobbling up real estate despite the current difficulties. In fact, the same low interest rates and low property prices are the primary reasons why real estate appears so attractive at the moment.

Certified financial planner Barbara Pietrowski says “…when you have tenants, you have money coming in every month and, if you don’t have pensions, that’s important.”

This is a particularly attractive proposition for future retirees that are not comfortable with relying completely on Social Services for retirement expenses.

Real estate does have its downsides.

It requires a significant amount of capital despite low prices and low interest rates, while the illiquidity of the property will make it difficult to pull out cash during emergencies. Renters may not always be around for the property as well, which puts the responsibility of paying the mortgage squarely on the shoulders of the owner.

The financial performance of real estate in history and the passive income it generates, however, might just be the thing to help augment retirement income – especially when the economy starts picking up in a few years.

Linick is the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and released this report Tuesday.

Fannie Mae utilizes a large network of law firms to deal with the foreclosures it receives; allowing Fannie Mae to receive discounted rates with these firms.

A Fannie Mae shareholder had alerted the agency to possible abuses in legal filings of foreclosures around late 2003, while an outside law firm conducted an independent review in 2006 in response to the shareholder’s concerns.

Linick’s report also indicated that the FHFA was increasingly aware of foreclosure-related problems in 2010. This was after the FHFA conducted a field visit to Florida and found numerous instances of documentation problems from the law firms. The FHFA singled out Fannie Mae’s volume-based processing model coupled with the flat fee rates as the two primary reasons why these law firms could get away with these irregularities.

The FHFA did not request a response from Fannie Mae despite these concerns.

This report is the second in two weeks wherein the inspector general highlighted lapses in the FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Phoenix, Arizona is the set for “Betting the House” – which is produced by Sharp Entertainment and set to air on Discovery Channel sometime next year. Sharp Entertainment was behind Discovery Channel’s “Punkin Chunkin,” Travel Channel’s “Man vs. Food” and TLC’s “Extreme Couponing.”

The show will revolve around three veteran bidders in Phoenix’s foreclosure auctions: Lou Amoroso of Easy Investments, John Ray of Bid AZ Foreclosures and Doug Hopkins of Posted Properties.

“The foreclosure-auction market is more competitive than it’s ever been. It’s definitely entertaining to watch,” says Hopkins.

Amoroso is a bit more skeptical about the whole idea.

“The producers want drama, and they will get it at foreclosure auctions now. But I don’t want this to be one of those crappy shows everyone makes fun of and that draws too many more bidders to an already crazy market.”

While the drama may be indeed compelling to watch, a lot of Americans were forced to face the specter of foreclosure. They may not want their traumatic experiences to be made fun of by a reality show.

Still, the show will leave a lesson or two for foreclosure investors.

Some areas of America are gaining strength – whether it’s just a temporary shift in the market or a steady, long-term trend – which is why it is important for potential and existing property owners to know when the market is upbeat again.

Michelle Thomsett, real estate author and contributor on investment site Mint.com, explains in her column that all real estate is actually local.

“The national averages are revealing but they don’t really apply. All real estate markets are local, and economic conditions where you live determine how the market acts”

Thomsett then goes on to encourage homeowners to be aware of strong local employment trends, a rising number of building permits, a low number of houses for sale, relatively quick sales of houses and houses selling at 5% or less than their listing prices.

Thomsett wraps up her column by pointing out that not all “bargain” buys will cost less.

“Some properties, such as foreclosures, are sold “as is,” meaning any defects are your problem,” she says.

She then recommends that buyers seek the services of independent home inspectors to go through the properties and assess its true condition.

Zimmerman says yes, it is possible and that she knows several people around the country that make a decent living off foreclosure cleanups.

A major clean-out project can even fetch $1,500 depending on the state of the home.

Tony of Tidy Dwellings says that “We get all of our foreclosure clean-out jobs from Fannie Mae. But we have been in the business more than a decade.”

Zimmerman goes on cite the Fannie Mae guidelines for pricing the removal of debris in a home.

Samples of the guidelines include “cleaning out a refrigerator or stand-alone freezer $100, cleaning a toilet $75 and debris removal $40 per cubic yard.”

Even maintaining lawns can bring in a tidy sum, where 10,000 sq. ft. lawns that are less than 12 inches high can bring in $100 for the maintenance team. This value increases proportionally to the size and height of the lawn.

Zimmerman recommends that those who are interested in getting into the clean-out business first contact realtors that specialize in foreclosures. These realtors can help connect potential cleaners and will accept bids on foreclosure clean-ups.