Welcome to the NEW

Real Estate Agents Are People 2

website

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2.5 million homeowners lost their homes to foreclosure in 2009, with an additional 2.8+ million having received foreclosure notices by the end of December, 2009. This website was created as a result of my family facing the devastating process of losing our home to foreclosure. We frantically searched for help, advice, some way to negotiate with our Mortgage Company and local banks. We could find no help – we were caught in the beginning of the foreclosure “rush” and no one seemed to have any idea just how bad the problem would become. The only thing the banks and mortgage companies seemed to understand was that suddenly people could not afford their mortgage payments – and they foreclosed. And so, my family lost our home. Now, I make this sound very simple – believe me, it was not. It was a year and a half of torture. I knew we were headed for financial trouble well before the real estate market basically crashed. I saw the slowdown in real estate calls, showings, and closings. I knew we were in trouble. After the foreclosure finally occurred and we moved into a family member’s home, I stood in the shower, crying because I had failed my family and blamed myself. I had always seen real estate as a fantastic investment – particularly in our area. As I cried in the shower, I also prayed for help to deal with the loss of my home and a way to help others find the information they needed to avoid going through the devastating events we had just gone through. And so, I did get an answer to my prayer – and my website was created. Now, I make it sound like the process was simple, but I can promise you this site has taken over a year to research and create. And we are a website in progress – with many goals:

1. Provide information for everyone facing Foreclosure, Bankruptcy and Short Sale – as well as any financial stresses caused by our current economy.
2. Provide a site to affordably advertise Distressed Sales, Storm Damaged Properties, Auctions, Property Trades, Long-Term Leases and Lease Purchases ($1.00 per listing with a link to the Seller’s website, for 90 days with 8 photos) where the Buyers/Investors can search for properties, FOR FREE!
3. Provide a Need Help Page where everyone can get the assistance information they need to survive our country’s recession, with some national assistance information, but concentrating on Mobile and Baldwin Counties, Alabama – with the goal to have a similar Need Help Page for every county in the U.S. Information is Power – And HOPE!
4. Provide a site where anyone can have the opportunity to express themselves, ask questions, find solace, faith, laugh, and find the beauty in our country – which may only be steps away.
5. Provide a Real Estate Agent Safety Alert to all subscribing Realtors/Real Estate Agents across the country. The Alert will function similar to the Amber Alerts – and connect possibly over 1.2 million Real Estate Agents across the U.S. As we were planning this section of the website, I decided that the addition of the Amber Alerts was a “no brainer”. By connecting so many Real Estate Agents – imagine the positives resulting from such a large number of people connected to fight predators across the U.S.! The fees will be very small for the Agent Alert, the Amber Alerts (with permission from the Justice Department) will be provided for free.

As a successful Realtor in Baldwin County, Alabama for over 14 years, I’ve watched the steady rise of real estate sales in our area since 1996. We are the “Alabama Riviera” – with wonderful white, sandy beaches, the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico, a family atmosphere, wonderful restaurants with fresh gulf seafood and fantastic condominiums and beach front homes with all the luxuries a resident or vacationer could possibly want. In 2004, I saw an amazing rise in real estate sales following Hurricane Ivan – which devastated the Gulf Coast. Our area suddenly saw a tremendous increase in Buyers/Investors descending on us, anxious to buy - and a huge boom in growth resulted. From 2004 until Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, it was an incredible time for Real Estate sales in our area. And then there was Katrina. Suddenly, real estate sales across the country slowed. Baldwin County was not as severely damaged by Katrina as we had been by Ivan, but Buyers were slowing down the rush to invest, not just in our area, but across most of the country. During the boom in real estate in 2004, my husband and I were able to purchase my “waterfront dream home”. I had loved this home for over 5 years and vowed that one day, I would own it. With the successful conclusion of a large commercial deal in early 2004, my husband and I bought and moved into my dream home. My husband also started his own land excavation company and stayed very busy for a solid year. Again I say, then Katrina hit. I’m only telling the viewers this to understand that I feel we have all been the victim of more than just the “bad loans” made by the banks and mortgage companies. At least in our area, Katrina was the beginning of our real estate slowdown. It was a stunningly devastating event to most of the central Gulf Coast – and seemed to make us all realize that we were vulnerable and did not have control over life and death. I watched our country come to a standstill – basically go into shock, as we had after the horrendous terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. We realized that were human. But we survived the terrorist attacks and we survived Katrina – and we have learned from these terrible events. Hopefully, we have all learned what is important – faith, family and community. I have complete faith in our people and our government, faith that we will come out of this financial crisis, with time and work.

The loss of a home is such a personally devastating event - it is too late for me to save my home, but hopefully, I can help others. So have faith, have hope and remember, Real Estate Agents Are People, too!

Deborah

 

The Habitat ReStore sells donations of new and used building materials,
appliances, furniture, lighting and household items to the public.  The store
is open to the public and is open Monday through Saturday, 9 - 5.
http://www.baldwinhabitat.org/