by Alex Chaparro
By day, I’m a real estate broker in Chicago where I specialize in REO listings. Like those of you who are also working in this space, part of what comes with the job is often the unpleasant task of advising delinquent homeowners that it’s time to leave their homes. The offer: financial incentives for relocation or more commonly known as “cash for keys.”
This week during one of those visits I encountered a Latino homeowner, who emphatically claimed that he had hired a “professional” firm to negotiate a loan modification for him after the foreclosure sale. I knew from the paperwork I had in hand that it was too late for any modification to help this client save his home. The trouble was that he had paid a firm $1,500 cash to help him. They promised him they would save his family’s home.







no Diaz, NAHREP Chair