Howard Stern is Hot in Real Estate

Howard Stern has over 20 property related files in Queens, 27 in Brooklyn and 1 in Manhattan. The files include mortgages, releases or satisfaction pieces, liens and powers of attorney.

One 11 page mortgage was recorded on 9-23-04 for a two family dwelling, located at 243 51st Street, Brooklyn in the amount of $300,000. Another property transaction for 845 Dean Street, Brooklyn was recorded on 5-25-04 in the amount of $150,000 at an unbelievable 14% interest rate considering rates were at a fourty year low. The senior mortgagee (holder) is Howard Stern and the junior holder is New Way Realty Corp. Better known, in my opinion, as loan shark one and two. If you think that's scary, you should read the actual 10 page document.

This information and other similar types are available to you for free. You just have to know how to get it by a name, address, parcel number, even street intersections. It is easily accessable.

You can find out about divorces, liens, marriages, wills, transfers, judgements, deeds, releases and many fascinating things such as hundreds of years old documents in beautiful handwriting and language together with a wax seal. This is one way people or mortgage companies buy loans from each other, usually not even alerting the borrower until after the fact.

Suzie is a certified residential appraiser and licensed real estate broker and expert authur educated in real estate and architecture. Other professionals in the industry have contributed as well. http://www.freewebs.com/realestatenews

Also: David W. Higgins, David Bohnett and more.

Reality TV star and singer Heidi Montag has been hiding out by the beach this summer at a Malibu place she rented for $25,000 a month, according to the Multiple Listing Service. But she moved on in late August, and the gated contemporary is back on the market at $5.5 million.

A Long Beach couple struggling with mortgage payments find out their home's been auctioned off by Wells Fargo when the new owner's representative shows up on their doorstep.

Mike and Ellen Kahara knew times were tough. They'd run up about $30,000 in debt on their credit cards and had fallen about $8,000 behind on their mortgage payments.

The 1960s Buff & Hensman-designed Wong House has a pool, a walled garden and downtown and ocean views.

It seems as though actress Scarlett Johansson had no sooner sold her old place in the Hollywood Hills than she and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, closed on a house in Los Feliz for $2.9 million.

Completed a few years ago, a Normandy-style estate was built to look a century old.

Glen and Linda Keane felt guilty about tearing down the O'Melveny family home. After all, John O'Melveny was part of a group of Los Angeles businessmen who formed Lake Arrowhead Co. in the 1920s and oversaw the lake's development into a popular resort destination.

The mortgage giant quietly launches the HomePath program, which offers subprime-era terms for buyers: minimal down payments, no appraisals, no mortgage insurance and lower minimum credit scores.

If you're a buyer with little cash or a small-scale investor looking for a deal on a foreclosed house, a little-publicized national lending program could be just what you need this fall.

How some of our previously featured properties have fared in the sales market.

Buff & Hensman-designed beach house

Lenders lose an estimated $310 million annually in undervalued short-sale transactions, according to a study released in August.

Question: I am fed up with my homeowners association and successive boards for sabotaging owner requests for records and refusing to fix maintenance problems in common areas that directly affect individual units. I believe I have no other choice than to sue the association and the boards. What are the steps I have to take?

Keeping tenant out over concerns of illegal activities may be viewed as a 'constructive eviction.' Such moves as changing the locks to prevent access can bring significant penalties.

Question: I own a couple of houses that I rent out for extra income. Unfortunately, they are not in the best part of our town. I have a tenant living in one of them who may be dealing drugs or doing something else illegal because the police have arrested him several times. Every time he is arrested he makes bail and returns to the house in a day or so. Even though he pays the rent on time, I realize that I can't continue to allow him to live in my house. My plan is to change the locks the next time he is arrested, so he can't come back into the house. I know that I need to protect his property inside the house if I do this, but my plan is to move his belongings into a storage locker. I can't afford a lawyer to file an eviction case, so this is my only alternative. Will I be OK if I do this?

July's increase from June in the National Assn. of Realtors' gauge for previously owned residences follows two straight months of declines and a report that sales of such homes dived 27.2%.

An index of home purchase contracts for previously owned dwellings unexpectedly increased 5.2% in July over June, the National Assn. of Realtors said Thursday, a modest note of good news for the U.S. housing market.