We have been working real hard on changing things around for the better here at Sheriff Sales Online and we would like to announce the launch of our new website. After careful consideration, we have taken user feedback and worked with designers to bring you a simple and easy to use website that provides all the foreclosure information you need.

Lis Pendens Information Update

About five months ago we introduced a new and improved Daily Lis Pendens Service for those of you that don’t know. This now makes us the best value in the state of New Jersey hands down! In fact, we broke it down for you here. See the Competitive Comparison.

What a way to bring in the new year. Passaic county has listed one hundred and twenty two (122) properties for sale next week. This is the biggest list they have put out in four years! You can expect the next few weeks of Passaic sales to be big as well with all the adjournments that will follow from this list alone.

This is just the first indicator of how packed the sales will become for all the counties in the next few months. There has been a backlog of properties building up over the holidays (as always), topped off with the market the way it is… we are headed for quite a ride.

We are sorry to say that after months of trying to work things out with employees in the NYC metro area we have decided to put our New York service on hold. We are very sorry to do this and the fall in service had to do with some issues that had to be waited out with time.

We are not sure if we will be bringing New York back at this time but there are other things on the horizon here. Our New Jersey service has been going strong as always and we are looking into some other in depth services to expand our offering. Maybe more on a local level to assist investors and buyers with independent research and legwork.

We will be sending out a short survey to see what services our members will be the most interested in and we encourage your feedback. So stay tuned for that email. I will also try and post the questions here on the blog so you can also comment in a discussion environment with the other members.

Together we can come up with the most desired member services.

We are open for ideas, what would you like to see?

So the news on the street today is that the “Hope Now” alliance, headed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson , is playing with the idea of freezing interest rates on some of the sub-prime loans in the market. In a sense this would preserve the teaser rates for a longer period of time allowing owners to avoid the jump in payments when the big reset arrives.

The congress actually has a plan as well. They are thinking of letting judges of chaper 13 bankruptcies modify the loan agreements. As if the bankruptcy process is not tricky enough. This would further delay foreclosures and allow the government to modify existing contracts! It almost seems unconstitutional…

As if we all didn’t see this coming. Discount brokers are hitting hard times in the market and Foxtons out of New Jersey has stated that it might be headed for bankruptcy. Foxton’s announced that they will be laying off approximately ALL of their staff. I wonder if I can buy one of those cool minicoopers at a good price?

Discount brokers can only thrive in a market that is hot and where the liquidity of real estate is fast paced. The problem is that real estate is NOT a liquid asset, except in a boom such as the one we just had.

The reason owners pay a 6% Realtor commission is because in traditional markets, you need a professional to help sell your house. They have an in, they know of people looking to move in to the area, this is what you are paying for.

Although I know we all have mixed feelings on Realtors, I can assure you that the value of a good Realtor is becoming more important than ever.

As if we didn’t know already, Henry Paulison stated today that the mortgage problem is not a reflection on the real economy but a problem caused by bad lending practices. I guess he is trying to shift the heat of this foreclosure news onto the lenders and as far away from him as possible.

What is wrong with this country? Now the government has decided to enable Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to bail out homeowners.  Uncle Sam is not responsible for buyers who over extended themselves. The market needs to let this play out and unfortunately people need to get hurt for this correction to work. The proposed government bailouts are nothing more than temporary solutions, while at the same time telling the public its ok to screw up and not read what you sign.

Come on people.. if you are old enough to sign a legal document, then you need to be responsible enough to read what you sign! Ever here of the saying “Buyer beware”?