Every cloud has a silver lining and the foreclosure crisis is no different. The down side of the foreclosure crisis is the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their homes. The upside is the ability for the country’s leading real estate housing charity, Habitat for Humanity, to purchase properties below market value. Many Habitat for Humanity chapters across the US are snapping up dozens of empty lots and unoccupied homes — some for as little as half price.

“The down real estate market is a wonderful opportunity for all Habitats,” said Gage Yager, executive director of Trinity Habitat for Humanity in Fort Worth. “As prices drop, we have the opportunity to acquire at prices that just weren’t available a few years ago.”

Habitat offers affordable housing to low income families. The charity uses volunteers to rehab these newly acquired foreclosed properties or in extreme cases, tears them down and rebuilds.

Some criticize that Habitat is taking advantage of someone else’s misfortune, but renovating an already vacant property is far better than leaving it abandoned, resulting in higher crime rates and lower property values.
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Thanks to increasingly tightening credit standards and rising interest rates, there has been a lot of buzz about the startling increase in foreclosure rates across America and the Dallas Fort Worth area.

Many Dallas Fort Worth home owners think it cannot or will not happen to them, but what would you do if you were actually faced with the prospect of foreclosure? It is important to know the “lingo” of lenders and understand what the options are so that you can make an informed decision on the best way to move forward in a stressful situation such as foreclosure.

This article from FreddieMac.com is a good resource that defines the terms associated with foreclosure and walks through the steps to take if you think you may soon be unable to pay your mortgage. Among the topics covered in this helpful article:

• What to do if you can not pay your mortgage
• What if you can no longer afford to keep your home
• Beware of scam artists

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