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Lenders report that it costs up to $50,000, or almost half the loan balance, each time they write off a foreclosure.
What to do if you get into trouble?
If your home is at risk of foreclosure, don’t wait, said Teri Duffy, executive director of the Housing Community Resource Center in Vancouver.
“Notify the bank as soon as you know your payment will be late,” said Duffy, who oversees the only local nonprofit that provides foreclosure counseling.
For immediate guidance, contact the Housing Community Resource Center at 360-690-4496.
By CAMI JONER and COURTNEY SHERWOOD, Columbian staff writers
Jennifer and Mathew Murphy are about to lose their Vancouver home. Lamont Shaindlin lost his in April. In an east Vancouver subdivision, one out of every nine houses has entered foreclosure since the start of the year.
The Clark County foreclosure rate has been rapidly climbing since mid-2007, largely overlooked because most reports examine the larger Portland-Vancouver area, which has not gone up as much.
In Clark County, 4.44 out of every 1,000 homes were in foreclosure in the first quarter of the year. In the Portland-Vancouver metro area it was three out of every 1,000, and 5.09 nationwide, according to RealtyTrac, a national real estate-tracking service.
Across the county, 1,049 houses were in foreclosure through April, up fourfold from 2007. The spike has been fueled in part by a tightening credit market and a weaker housing economy, but house-flipping speculators also played a big role.
Speculators own as many as one in five homes in some newer neighborhoods in the county, and now many are losing those properties.
Behind the numbers are tears and tough choices for hundreds of local homeowners who can no longer afford their loans, and big financial losses for those whose real estate investments helped fuel the situation.
Rising payments got the Murphys, Hazel Dell residents who say they did not understand the details of their adjustable rate mortgage, in trouble.

columbian.com

LOS ANGELES – Hollywood celebs Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion, Angelina Jolie, and Mariah Carey have one thing in common. They all turn to the same person to enhance their natural beauty and give them stunning good looks — top celebrity make-up artist Filipino American Mally Roncal.
Mally has quickly moved to the top of the industry. She is currently one of Hollywood’s most in-demand make-up artists and the top stylist for popular beauty magazines like Glamour, In Style, Rolling Stone, Elle and Cosmo. She has already appeared on top rating TV shows like Oprah, the Today Show, Isaac, and the View and was featured in nationally-circulated magazines like Allure, Marie Claire, Self, Harper’s Bazaar, People, US Weekly and Entertainment Weekly.
More importantly, the success of her retail business, Mally Beauty on QVC, America’s No. 1 Home Shopping Network, has been publicized in several business magazines like the New York Times.
Mally is the daughter of Filipino immigrants Rogelio Roncal, a psychiatrist from Bataan and Pilar Roncal, a gynecologist. She originally thought of following her parents’ footsteps and become a doctor, specializing in dermatology. But after her pre-med education, Mally decided to pursue her ultimate dream in the world of fashion and make-up.
“Ever since I was a young girl, I’ve had this passion for art, makeup and fashion,” said Mally.
“My mother, who was an incredible beauty, was my model as I began to experiment with color and makeup on her,” she added. “My mom was beautiful and very glamorous. We went shopping together, did make-up, had lots of fun. She was my inspiration and I became a makeup artist because I would sit in her dressing room and watch her making up her face. I was fascinated.”
Her mother died at 49 when Mally was 17.
Copyright c Asian Journal Publications, Inc.

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New York - Superstar singer/actress Jennifer Lopez gave birth to twins early Friday morning, a boy and a girl who are destined to be more powerful, successful and just plain better than your kids will ever be.
"Jennifer and Marc (Anthony, J-Lo's husband) are thrilled beyond belief to be the parents of two beautiful children who are at this moment more perfect and important than the children of any of their fans will ever hope to be in their entire lives," a publicist for the couple stated. "Jen and Marc hope the birth of their children will inspire the people of the world to raise their children to be strong and proud so that some day they may be able to work for their amazing offspring."
Lopez's boy and girl have already secured a lucrative "first photo" deal with People magazine to the tune of six million dollars, which let's face it, makes that picture hanging on the refrigerator that your kid made the other day look like a gigantic pile of shit.
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