I worked for an afternoon at the Foreclosure Center for a few hours last week. It’s amazing the resources they have to help people who are in trouble with their mortgages. There are so many places to try now.

One of the things that I thought was a little ironic, is that someone called my phone from my blog here and needed to talk about being in foreclosure. He had a group of Realtors he said, that said they would help him for $1900. downpayment and $700 a month for each month he received help. They told him even though he would pay the $1900 up front, that they would hold his check in escrow until they performed the services they said they would provide.

Listen up, People! In the state of California it is illegal for anyone that is licensed by the Calif. Dept of Real Estate, or anyone working under someone who is licensed by the Calif. Dept. of Real Estate to take any money from you up front what so ever to help with loan modifications, etc. The Dept. even revoked the permissions of the companies who had at one time received approval from them. It is uniform now.  I can’t say for attorneys, as I am not one, but for anyone else, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, anyone else licensed in California, it is not legal any longer.

I thought it ironic also that at a time when people need our help more than ever to work with their lenders, to get approved for short-sales, etc., the DRE revoked a record number of licenses belonging to real estate sales people last year. There were 800, which really isn’t that many considering how many real estate professionals there are, but I’m hoping they are adding to the number all the time. It means they have caught more unscrupulous people who give all of us that are truly trying to help, a bad name.

If you get approached by anyone trying to charge you an up front fee for their services instead of writing a contract to get paid after the services have been performed, you should report them to the Calif. Department of Real Estate right away. You may have been lucky enough to escape a scam, but there are a lot of people in trouble that wouldn’t be so lucky. It’s everyone’s job to help stop these people.

If you have any questions regarding California Real estate or foreclosure, please feel free to contact me either through email or call. If you have anything to share about this kind of thing happening to you, please do so in the comments section so everyone can benefit from your experience.