Buy Leo DiCaprio's House in the ' BU

I am the new Queen of Baja!

Headline from the New York Times

Americans Stake Claims in a Baja Land Rush

TIM WEINER

Slowly but surely, acre by acre, Mexico's Baja Peninsula is becoming an American colony.

Published: October 26, 2003

NOPALÓ, Mexico— Slowly but surely, acre by acre, Mexico's Baja Peninsula is becoming an American colony.

''For Sale'' signs are sprouting all over the 800-mile-long peninsula, offering thousands of beachfront properties. Americans are snapping them up. They have already created communities where the dollar is the local currency, English the main language and Americans the new immigrants transforming an old culture.

''Everything's for sale, every lot you can imagine,'' said Alfonso Gavito, director of a cultural institute in La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur, a state with 400,000 citizens and some of the last undeveloped beaches in North America. ''It's like 20 years of changes have happened in three months.''

This new land rush, involving billions of dollars, tens of thousands of Americans, and hundreds of miles of coastline, is gaining speed despite the fact that Mexico's Constitution bars foreigners from directly owning land by the sea.

Mexico's government wants foreign capital as much as Americans want a house on the beach -- maybe more. So it worked around the Constitution. In 1997, it changed the law to allow foreign ownership through locally administered land trusts. A Mexican bank acts as trustee, the foreigner its beneficiary.

It took about four years before that new system worked smoothly. But now, most often, it does. One result has been a boom in migration, speculation and permanent vacation. ''It's human greed -- it's human nature,'' said David Halliburton, who owns a hotel outside Cabo San Lucas, on Baja's southern tip, where uncontrolled growth already strains the social fabric. ''The amount of money coming in here through overzealous developers and buyers is staggering.''

Baja is closer by land and air to the United States than it is to the rest of Mexico; state officials recorded more than 30 million trips by Americans who spent well over $1 billion last year. They say they have no idea how many Americans are living in Baja today, because a certain number are illegal immigrants who never register their presence. Anecdotal and statistical evidence suggests that the number is more than 100,000, probably far more, and growing fast since the Sept. 11 attacks and the souring of the economy in the United States two years ago.

''Since 2001, we have seen a boom in real estate sales, and the full-time population of Americans is growing rapidly,'' said Tony Colleraine, an American in San Felipe, about 160 miles southeast of San Diego. He said about one-quarter of the town's roughly 30,000 residents were Americans, many of whom want to ''get away from the regulations and rhetoric, and get out of the bull's-eye'' in the United States.

In Rosarito, an hour's drive south of the United States border, about one-quarter of the 55,000 residents are Americans. ''An increasing number of Americans are moving here to escape their government's policies and the costs of living,'' said Herb Kinsey, a Rosarito resident with roots in the United States, Canada and Germany. ''They find a higher standard of living and a greater degree of freedom.''

At least 600,000 Americans -- again, an acknowledged undercount based on government records -- are permanent residents of Mexico. That is by far the largest number of United States citizens living in any foreign country.

Americans living throughout Baja say their new neighbors include professionals in their 30's and 40's putting down roots, not just retirees in recreational vehicles. In Rosarito, the new home buyers include lawyers and members of the military who commute across the border to San Diego, where housing costs are about five times higher. A pleasant house by the Pacific in Rosarito can cost less than $150,000; property taxes are about $75 a year.

However, this situation has changed as of 2011, update coming soon...

Buzz Word of the Week: LOAN MODIFICATION

- U.S. mortgage plan sets standards for loan modifications – goal is to reduce  payments to no more than 38% of borrower’s income.  Log on to http://money.cnn.com/bn for the latest news.  

Online Auction Site for Foreclosures!

http://zetabid.com/Default.aspx

Zetabid is a national consumer brand that makes it easy and convenient for consumers to purchase bank and builder-owned properties at public auctions.

A venture of the Los Angeles Times Communications LLC, GoIndustry DoveBid and CataList Homes, Zetabid expands access to the inventory of residential properties sold at auction and opens up the market to U.S. and international buyers. Zetabid offers the widest reach and greatest awareness of auction inventory through its national network of print, broadcast and online partners.

You mean Cindy's House?

John McCain's home on the market!

One of the former homes of John and Cindy McCain in Phoenix, Arizona is for sale for a cool $12 million. The Presidential candidate is rumored to own seven homes across California, Arizona, and Virginia.  Their former pad sits on 2+ acres with over 14,000 square feet. The remodeled Southwest-style home includes a wine cellar, fitness center, theater, lap pool with his & her cabanas, separate pool house, and a patio with spa and built-in fireplace for those cold desert nights. But most impressive are the three Ramadas and playhouse in the backyard.

Check out John McCain's mansion here »

Subprime cartoon

http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn&skipauth=true&pli=1

Sign of the Times

Mortgage forgiven for woman, 90, who shot herself

October 05, 2008 10:31 AM EDT

AKRON, Ohio - Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae said it is forgiving the mortgage debt of a 90-year-old woman who shot herself in the chest as sheriff's deputies attempted to evict her.

Addie Polk's plight was cited by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, on Friday before the House voted to approve the $700 billion financial rescue package. Kucinich voted against the plan.

Fannie Mae announced later Friday that it would dismiss its foreclosure action, forgive Polk's mortgage and allow her to return to the Akron home where she's lived since 1970.

"Just given the circumstances, we think it's appropriate," Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith said, citing Kucinich's statement and news reports. "It certainly made our radar screen."

Polk remained in Akron General Medical Center and was expected to recover from chest wounds suffered last week.

She became the home's sole owner in 1995 when her husband died, then took out a mortgage loan in 1997 and refinanced several times, court and property records show.

Countrywide Home Loans filed for foreclosure last year, and Polk's home was sold to Fannie Mae at a sheriff's auction in June. Deputies were to escort Polk from her home Wednesday when gunshots were heard inside.

Polk's longtime neighbor, Robert Dillon, climbed through her window and found her lying in bed bleeding with a gun next to her. He visited Polk in the hospital on Friday.

"She said it was a crazy thing to do, now that she's had time to think about it," Dillon said.

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Information from: Akron Beacon Journal, http://www.ohio.com