Foreclosure scams are nothing new, and back in 2007, many were prey by companies promising to lower monthly payments and help the owner keep his or her house. But while foreclosure rates are lower now than two years ago, homeowners unable to make monthly payments and stuck with an underwater mortgage are opting for short sale. Although this procedure still shows up as a blemish on a credit report, it is less negative than filing for foreclosure. Read our post from a year ago about filing for short sale for more information.

As of recent, the California Real Estate Commissioner addressed members of The California Desert Association of Realtors regarding local short sale scams. He asked agents in the Coachella area to turn in anyone suspect in a short sale scam.

While this type of ploy doesn’t promise to homeowners that they’ll receive their property back, it puts them in another difficult financial situation. As mentioned in The Desert Sun, scam artists have been posing as real estate agents – although they aren’t licensed. One of these agents will convince an owner already in the process of a short sale to sell his or her home for a lower price but then later puts the home back on the market at a higher price. While the “agent” ends up making a profit, the former homeowners are often responsible for paying this difference.

Although short sales aren’t nearly as common as foreclosures, both types of procedures are invitations to scams. As banks have made the news recently for allowing foreclosure papers to be filed too quickly, any homeowner considering such a procedure in the present needs to monitor the process carefully. Before working with an agent in a short sale or foreclosure, check his or her background first before beginning any procedure.

Office real estate, a subset of the commercial market, appears to be making a slight recovery, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. The office market took a sharp hit when the rest of the economy tanked in 2008, and companies gave up large amounts of square feet as they were laying off workers. But just as the job market is showing small signs of recovery, the office real estate market has stabilized, according to the Wall Street Journal story. The article does claim, however, that businesses are giving up more office space and trying to fit more workers into the limited amount of square feet they have.

But the WSJ article also mentions that commercial real estate is considered the “anchor” in the recovery for the economy. Lower rents will mean investors are more likely to purchase office space; increased space available may mean more jobs. In some markets, as the article mentions, this is already happenings, particularly in East Coast cities like Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. Those on the West Coast, like San Diego and Las Vegas, are still struggling.

In struggling cities, apparently, the lack of buying office space correlates to a poor housing market. In Las Vegas, for example, housing prices plummeted nearly 50 percent since the start of the real estate crash and, most likely, commercial real estate did the same. But stable rents and fewer underwater mortgages mean that investors are more likely to buy property, such as the recent purchase of the John Hancock Tower in Boston.

Nevertheless, according to the Wall Street Journal article, a large hurdle in getting the office market off the ground is reducing the vacancy rate, which is the highest it has been in nearly 20 years. Lower rents and a greater need for workers, however, may change this figure in the next few years.

Although the homeowners market has been somewhat stagnant over the past few months, the rate of foreclosures has actually decreased, according to an article in the U.S. Financial Post. Although the article claims that borrowers are still defaulting on mortgages, government programs and banks have instituted measures to prevent the rate of foreclosures from increasing:

• The Loan Modification Program, issued by the government, is one measure cited by the article for decreasing foreclosure rates. Essentially, families refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates. Nevertheless, those looking for a loan modification shouldn’t just pick any program. In general, the FDIC’s Loan Modification Program is the only legitimate program available, and those not associated with the FDIC may be scams or may not work with your bank in reducing your mortgage.
• Banks, according to the Financial Post article are putting caps on foreclosures, with Chase and GMAC Mortgage being two of the larger chains practicing this. In 2007, when the foreclosure crisis took hold and accelerated, many banks were too quick to go with the foreclosure process, according to the Financial Post article, and were charged with foreclosure fraud, as they seldom verified a homeowner’s information and often ignored requests from said homeowner.

Foreclosures, according to the Financial Post, article have experienced a two month drop. Although this amount, in the scheme of the foreclosure crisis thus far, is somewhat small and could rise a few months down the line, it’s a positive indication that the real estate crisis may be on the way out, at least in this aspect. Nevertheless, the real estate market has other issues to combat before actually being stable, mainly lowered home prices, underwater mortgages, and a lack of construction of new buildings and homes.

Earlier this year, we blogged about the use of the internet in real estate, which focused on agents using social media to attract clients. Although that post wasn’t too long ago, the use of social media, even over five months, has evolved and, according to an article in the Miami Herald, has become a necessity. Standard real estate practices are still used by all agents, but social media has developed into another market, one in which agents can connect with clients overseas, stay in touch with potential buyers, and even provide a preview of the property before a client steps through the door of a home. Essentially, the world of social media is an untapped market for increasing your clients and sales.

According to the piece by the Herald, agents are using a combination of all social media platforms available: Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, YouTube, and blogs. Well, maybe Myspace isn’t included. Nevertheless, the approach isn’t uniform. As the article mentions, platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare are used for updating clients (including describing whereabouts through a status update) and also for advertising properties. YouTube provides a source for creating videos and slideshows for more thorough property previews.

Social media, on the other hand, isn’t exclusive to agents. Although it allows agents another medium for connecting with clients and advertising properties, real estate companies are also getting on with the trends. Like many other businesses utilizing the internet, real estate companies are creating Facebook pages to advertise themselves and to gain customers.

Social media, it appears, is the next step in getting seen on the internet. Although websites are devoted to property listings and real estate companies have their own sites, both are only part of a strategy for finding new business. As social media allows companies and agents to connect directly with customers, not getting involved means you’re excluding any opportunities for potential sales.