About six months after the publication of my book Flipping Houses For Dummies, the housing bubble burst, the mortgage market melted down, and sales of the book tanked. Rotten timing.

So you can imagine my delight upon discovering a story this morning that appeared in the Wall Street Journal a couple days ago entitled “House Flipping Makes a Comeback,” by James R. Hagerty.

It makes sense. With so many foreclosures on the market and the government offering tax incentives to first-time buyers, flipping houses can be very lucrative… assuming, of course, you have the cash or can secure financing to fuel your flips and you know what you’re doing.

In Flipping Houses For Dummies, we provide the know-how along with suggestions on how to score some investment capital. In Foreclosure Investing For Dummies, we turn our focus to the foreclosure market – where you should be looking right now for the best bargains.

Order Flipping Houses For Dummies on Amazon

Order Foreclosure Investing For Dummies on Amazon

Order Financing Real Estate Investments For Dummies on Amazon.com

I just read an article in the recent edition of AARP Bulletin entitled “Home, Stolen Home” by Sid Kirchheimer. The article begins with the story of Teresa Bidwell, who discovered that someone had stolen her home “when the contractors she hired to make minor repairs found another crew already there.”

In Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud: Preserving the American Dream of Homeownership, a book I co-authored with Rachel Dollar and Ralph Roberts, we devote and entire chapter to this topic – Chapter 14, “Stealing Houses with Tax Deeds and Phony Deeds,” which begins with a section on how con artists use deeds to steal homes.

The trouble is that in some areas, it’s far too easy to steal a home. All you have to do is trick the owners into signing a quit claim deed that transfers ownership of the property to you and then file the document with the county register of deeds. If the homeowners won’t cooperate, con artists simply forge the signatures. If they can pass off the documents at the register of deeds office, they become the proud new owners of the property… at least until the legitimate owners can convince the courts otherwise.

I think it should be at least as difficult to transfer the ownership of property as it is to change your mailing address. When you submit change of address forms, the U.S. Postal service mails you notification of the change in address request, so you have an opportunity to cancel the change if you were not the one who initiated it. Why not use the same or a similar system to verify transfer of ownership? All it would require is a call or letter to the homeowner.

FOX News ran a story this morning entitled “Countrywide Ex-CEO Angelo Mozilo Charged With Fraud” by reporters Peter Barnes and Joanna Ossinger. My first thought was “Well, it’s about time!” My second reaction was to wonder “Where were the regulators?”

In the years leading up to the mortgage meltdown, foreclosure epidemic, and global economic crisis, rampant fraud was being perpetrated across the United States and probably around the world, too. We have regulators in place to monitor banking and investment activities, so where were they? Where were they when Countrywide and other mortgage lenders, driven by greed, were systematically transforming the American Dream into a nightmare? Were were they when Bernie Madoff was fleecing investors? How could a handful of individuals and companies hijack and wreck the largest economy in the world?

Aren’t regulators supposed to prevent these sorts of things from happening?

I recently completed a new book entitled Financing Real Estate Investments For Dummies with co-authors Ralph R. Roberts and Chip Cummings. Ralph is an experienced and highly successful Realtor®, real estate investor, and homeowner advocate with whom I’ve co-authored several books, including Flipping Houses For Dummies and Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman. Chip is a certified mortgage consultant (CMC), real estate investor, and accomplished author who has written several other books on real estate investing, including Mortgage Myths and Cashing in on Pre-Foreclosures and Short Sales.

Financing Real Estate Investments For Dummies is a practical guide to scoring cash for real estate investments. Right now, credit is tight, so the usual sources for investment capital may have dried up. Here, Ralph and Chip cover the usual sources of real estate investment capital along with less common sources, such as hard-money (private) lenders.

While now may be a good time to buy real estate, it’s certainly not the best time to try to secure financing. Following the advice of two investors who’ve bought and sold real estate in good times and bad, you can broaden you search for financing and find the investment capital you need to do the deal.

Financing Real Estate Investments For Dummies shows you how to…

• Understand standard terms and concepts
• Identify the various sources of investment capital
• Gather all essential facts and figures to successfully apply for a loan
• Weigh your options — decide which type of financing is best for your circumstances and incorporate it into your real estate investing plan
• Finance residential properties — evaluate residential loan programs, navigate the loan application and processing, and handle the closing
• Invest in commercial properties — know the different property types, choose the one that meets your investment goals, and discover unique sources for financing
• Tap into unconventional sources — discover the pros and cons of “hard money,” capitalize on seller financing, partner to share risk and equity, and invest on the cheap with no-money-down deals

The book also offers…

• Real-world advice on financing without tying up all your capital
• How to get prequalified or preapproved for a loan
• Questions to ask your lender upfront
• Ways to avoid common beginner blunders
• How to protect your personal assets from investment risks
• Bargain-hunting hints for low-cost loans
• Strategies for surviving a credit crunch
• Ten pre-closing steps to ensure a hassle-free closing

Where to Order

Amazon.com

Barnes and Noble

Borders

Dummies.com

Today’s edition of The New York Times carried a story by Joanne Kaufman entitled, “A Shift in Real Estate Books.” The story is about how publishers are scrambling to get books to market to help homeowners and real estate investors with the downturn in the housing market and increasing foreclosures.

The article begins by focusing on the fact that even rich celebrities are having trouble. Recently, Ed McMahon, famous for being Johnny Carson’s co-host and for making lots of people happy with his Publisher’s Clearing House giveaways, has run into some financial trouble and is facing foreclosure on his $4.8 million in home loans.

My co-author for several books, including Foreclosure Investing For Dummies and Foreclosure Self-Defense For Dummies, Ralph R. Roberts, heard about Mr. McMahon’s problems and called him to offer his expert assistance. Ralph has been through foreclosure himself and works with another guy to audit home loans. In many cases, they are able to reveal problems with loans that force the lender to renegotiate. McMahon turned down the offer. Personally, I think Ed McMahon made a big mistake in doing so. Ralph is what I would consider the top expert in foreclosures in the U.S.

Well, maybe Mr. McMahon has enough money to buy a copy of Foreclosure Self-Defense For Dummies. If he doesn’t, we’d be more than happy to send him a free copy.

As one of the co-authors of Foreclosure Self-Defense For Dummies and Foreclosure Investing For Dummies, I keep an eye out for web-based resources that can potentially aid homeowners in the fight to reestablish their credit and save their homes and help investors find promising opportunities. One such site recently came across my radar screen: Distressed Property Blog.

Duane LeGate, creator and manager of the blog, is in the process of populating it with articles on avoiding foreclosure and investing in distressed properties. Recent topics include the following:

• Graceful Exit Strategies to Get Out from Under a House You Can’t Afford
• Negotiating Payment Issues with Lenders
• Trimming Your Losses with a Short Sale
• Researching a Property before Making an Offer
• Evaluating Current Market Conditions