Short-Sale Related LINKS
Better Business Bureaus
http://us.bbb.org/WWWRoot/SitePage.aspx?site=113&id=a527d7a7-75f0-454d-a861-386e69c9b98d
Report problems with businesses.
California Department of Consumer Affairs
http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/index.shtmlMore About the Department of Consumer Affairs
DCA At A Glance The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) is here to protect and serve California consumers while ensuring a competent and fair marketplace. DCA helps consumers learn how to protect themselves from unscrupulous and unqualified individuals. The Department also protects professionals from unfair competition by unlicensed practitioners.
DCA Today To protect and serve consumers, the Department issues licenses in more than 100 business and 200 professional categories, including doctors, dentists, contractors, cosmetologists and automotive repair facilities. The Department of Consumer Affairs includes 40 regulatory entities (nine bureaus, one program, twenty-five boards, three committees, one commission, and one office). These entities establish minimum qualifications and levels of competency for licensure. They also license, register, or certify practitioners, investigate complaints and discipline violators. The committees, commission and boards are semiautonomous bodies whose members are appointed by the Governor and the Legislature. DCA provides them administrative support. DCA's operations are funded exclusively by license fees.
California Department of Corporations
http://www.corp.ca.gov/
Welcome to the World Wide Web site of the Department of Corporations, California’s Investment and Financing Authority. The Department licenses and regulates a variety of businesses that affect your life, including securities brokers and dealers, investment advisers and financial planners, and certain fiduciaries and lenders. We also regulate the offer and sale of securities, franchises and off-exchange commodities. We hope you will find our site to be informative, interesting and helpful. Since we frequently add information to our web site, please come back regularly to see "What’s New".
California Department of Real Estate
http://www.dre.ca.gov/
The primary objective of the Department of Real Estate (DRE) is the protection of the public interest in regard to the offering of subdivided lands, and the handling of real estate transactions by licensees. To accomplish this, a standard of knowledge, measured by written examination, is established for licensing real estate agents and a minimum criterion of affirmative disclosure is set for qualifying subdivided lands offerings.
At the same time the Department is protecting the public interest and increasing consumer awareness, it collaterally assists the real estate industry in expanding its standards and level of professional ethics and responsibility.
Department of Veteran Affairs - Veterans Home Loan Guaranty Benefits & Services
http://www.vba.va.gov/ro/phoenixlgy/index.htmWhat is the VA Home Loan Guaranty Program?
The VA Home Loan Guaranty Program is a benefit for eligible veterans, active duty personnel, Reserve members and National Guard personnel to assist them with purchasing and retaining a home.
How do we serve our veterans?
We are divided into three distinct program areas:
- Loan Production deals with eligibility, origination, processing, underwriting, closing, guaranty and post guaranty issues as well as providing Native American Veterans living on trust lands with VA direct home loans.
- Construction & Valuation is responsible for overseeing the appraisal and compliance inspection of property to be pledged as security for guaranteed or direct loans, as well as processing Specially Adapted Housing grants for eligible Veterans.
- Loan Administration is responsible for all issues involving existing VA home loans and can act as a liaison between a borrower and a mortgage company when a borrower experiences financial difficulties.
HUD
http://www.hud.gov/
HUD's mission is to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination. To fulfill this mission, HUD will embrace high standards of ethics, management and accountability and forge new partnerships--particularly with faith-based and community organizations--that leverage resources and improve HUD's ability to be effective on the community level.
HUD Approved Housing Counseling Agencies
http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hcc/hcs.cfm?webListAction=search&searchstate=CA
HUD sponsors housing counseling agencies throughout the country that can provide advice on buying a home, renting, defaults, foreclosures, credit issues, and reverse mortgages. The page on this link allows you to select a list of agencies for each state.
IRS
The IRS Mission
Provide America's taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and by applying the tax law with integrity and fairness to all.
This mission statement describes our role and the public’s expectation about how we should perform that role.
- In the United States, the Congress passes tax laws and requires taxpayers to comply.
- The taxpayer’s role is to understand and meet his or her tax obligations.
- The IRS role is to help the large majority of compliant taxpayers with the tax law, while ensuring that the minority who are unwilling to comply pay their fair share.
Public Law Center of Orange County
http://www.publiclawcenter.org/
The Public Law Center, Orange County's pro bono law firm, is committed to providing access to justice for low income residents. Through volunteers and staff, the Public Law Center provides free civil legal services, including counseling, individual representation, community education, and strategic litigation and advocacy to challenge societal injustices. Now in its 26th year of service, PLC has more than 700 lawyers from throughout the county volunteering their time and expertise.
In the year 2006 alone, PLC staff and volunteers provided 43,000 hours of free legal services in handling more than 2,500 cases, serving a total of 12,500 low income children, adults and seniors in Orange County. We estimate that the value of free legal services provided by PLC staff and volunteers in 2006 is worth more than $6.9 million. Our volunteers include partners at major Orange County law firms, sole practitioners, young lawyers, law students, college students and an array of others concerned about ensuring access to justice to the low income community.
PLC’s 20-person staff works to make certain that volunteers have the tools necessary to properly represent their clients. Staff members carefully screen new cases to ensure that the matters are appropriate for placement with a volunteer attorney. They monitor all cases from the client’s first contact with PLC until the case closes. PLC provides training in a variety of critical areas of importance for our volunteers, as well as substantive backup from the expert advocates on our staff. Staff members assists with interpretation for non-English speaking clients who do not have their own interpreters and for volunteers who do not have diverse language capabilities in their office.
Most importantly, PLC provides Orange County attorneys with the opportunity to help make sure that access to civil justice is available to all. PLC offers a variety of different types of pro bono work for potential volunteers, whether they are in large firms or small firms, sole practitioners, litigators or transactional lawyers, or law students. PLC opens access to justice for those who are most vulnerable to injustice. Our collaborative relationships with other organizations help make Orange County a better place to live for everyone.
The State Bar of California - Pro Bono and other services
http://www.calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_home.jsp
Created by the state legislature in 1927, the State Bar is a public corporation within the judicial branch of government, serving as an arm of the California Supreme Court. All State Bar members are officers of the court. Membership in the State Bar of California affords attorneys the right and privilege of practicing law in this state. The bar's integrated network of functions and services — many of them mandated by law — protects the public and assists attorneys in meeting their professional obligations.