association, almost like a homeowners association, because what it does, it lends credibility and protects you as a time-share owner. by the way, don't get hustled by a slick salesperson -- i mean no disrespect -- because when you're buying this, make sure they explain to you exactly what you're buying and explain to you all the costs. make sure there's no hidden agenda. and, finally, make sure you understand what cancellation terms are of the contract. most states have a cooling-off period because when we buy a time-share, we're excited. usually, there's a cooling-off period. if you're a creature of habit, well, time-shares will probably work for you. they're meant for people who like to travel, take vacations, and plan out. so, if you take a vacation every year, i think it makes sense for you. you should look into it. that's it for today, but we have much more on our website... foxnews.com/propertyman. and be sure to send me your questions or property stories at propertyman@foxnews.com. i'm bob massi. i'll see you next week. [ woman vocalizing ] >> i'm bob massi. for 34 years, i've been practicing law and living in las vegas, the center of the recent real-estate crisis. lives were destroyed from coast to coast as the economy tanked. now, well, it's a different story. the american dream is back, and nowhere is that more clear than the sunshine state of florida. so we headed from the strip to the beach to showyou how to live the american dream. i'm gonna meet real people who are facing serious problems, take you behind the gates of properties you have to see to believe, and give you the tips that everyone needs to navigate the new landscape, because information is power, and the property man has got you covered. [ woman vocalizing ] thanks for joining us. i'm bob massi. i want to introduce you to a couple who went through something that lots of americans have experienced unnecessarily. ♪ i'm gonna go meet kin and colette. kin is a surgeon. several years ago, he was trying to fix a light. he was on a ladder in the back of his home. and he fell off the ladder and had what's called a closed-head injury resulting also in a stroke, ultimately being forced into filing bankruptcy. colette, doctor, nice to meet both of you. thank you for having me. right at the height of the market crash a few years ago, kin fell off a ladder. >> i was changing the light on the back of my house. when i regained consciousness, the sun was in a different position, and i knew i was, you know, i had at minimum a concussion. and then about a few months later, i woke up unable to move my left side. >> as he recovered, he couldn't work, and he fell behind on the mortgage payments. >> i had to live mostly off my credit cards. as physicians, especially solo physicians, we don't have any sort of unemployment or disability, so when we are disabled, we don't -- you don't eat unless you make -- unless you bring in your own money. >> after a year in rehab, ken was recovered enough to work again, and he wrote a check to the mortgage company. he contacted them. he said, "how much money do i owe you?" >> i called them and asked them if i can try to become current with my loan. and i even paid the late fees for being late on, like, 11 of them. >> so, when you called them, they actually gave you an amount to pay to bring you current on the loan. >> yes. >> and you sent the check in? >> it cost almost all my savings and my checking account at the time, but yes. >> he sent them all of the money, plus fees and interest. guess what. >> two months later, i received a letter in the mail saying that i'm being foreclosed on. i then called the lender, and they told me that instead of accepting my check, they were going to foreclose on me. >> as foreclosure loomed, they had a few options. first, they could do nothing -- stay in the house until it gets foreclosed on. two, they could try to get a loan modification. surely he had hardship. the man fell off a ladder and had a closed-head injury and a stroke. and three, they could get legal counsel to see what their rights are. they hired a law firm to help them, but the case just seemed to fall between the cracks. >> we went to go see that attorney, and it was on the third visit, and with the third visit, it was the third attorney because this place just kept rolling over attorneys. actually, the person that we've seen the most was the finance department to make sure we could continue to pay the $4,000 every year. we got absolutely nowhere. and that's when i told kin, "do you really want to fight... do you want to be here? do you want to fight for this house?" and he said yes. i said, "then let me take over." >> so here's a very educated man, who's caught in the middle of this crossfire with a lender, and across the board, you didn't even know what was really the best way to go, which is a poor commentary for everybody. >> yes. it's unfortunate. but i've had over a dozen years of postgraduate training. i'm a highly skilled technician. but none of my courses involved anything about finances, business, or even how to keep a house. >> he knew what he wanted, but how do you get there? if this was a medical problem, it'd have been fixed. >> they found a new attorney, and they decided to attack rather than defend. there was no time to waste, so the lawyer advised them to file what's called a chapter 13 bankruptcy, and when they did that, it automatically stopped the foreclosure. >> our house was going on auction that tuesday. that monday, we got a stop or a stay on the actual auction of the house. >> you, like many americans who were in default, there are really several options. the first option is do nothing. many people did. they did nothing. they lived in the home until they finally said, "take it" because they'd had enough of the lenders. just what you went through. >> yes. >> sure. >> you know, basically being, feel like you're a criminal, being assaulted, having your money rejected. the second thing you would try to do is, on your own, a loan a modification, which you may have tried and still be unsuccessful because you never, ever talked to the same person, and they were always losing the documents and sending new information. >> mm-hmm. >> and then, of course, the ultimate thing was how do you save your home? here you are saying, "i want to save my home. i paid," and you got good advice ultimately, saying, "there's this thing called a bankruptcy." so many consumers over the years have filed bankruptcies and not really understood the impact. now, let's look at the chapter 13. we actually call that a wage earner's plan. this is what it means. let's say you make $10 a month, and out of that $10 a month, $8 is your expenses, and $2 are disposable income. you may qualify for a chapter 13 and that disposable income is used for purposes of paying off some debts. you have to give the court a list of your income and expenses. the plan of repayment is submitted to the court for review. and if it meets the standard, the court gives its blessing, and you begin making your payments over a three- or five-year period. >> you do have to pay your trustee every month. you can't just pay the bank. you send your check to the trustee. the trustee then sends, you know, to their bills and makes sure everything's taken care of, and we do that for five years. >> and when that's completed, the debts are gone. again, it's a new way to start your life. >> i was offered but did not declare any of my credit cards or other items that i could have put into the bankruptcy. >> they were also able to get a federal court-ordered mediation and a loan modification. so, what does that all mean? it means that you go with a group of people -- a representative from the lender; a representative on your behalf, in this case, the bankruptcy lawyer -- and you try to figure out if you qualify for a loan modification. the lender looks at all of your financials, and then they decide if there's enough of a hardship. i believe we know in this case surely there was. what is your message to those people that are still going through this in america? and they still are. what is your message? >> you don't accept what's being told to you. you keep fighting. >> if things change and you can't make the payment, you immediately go to that lawyer and say, "something's coming up in the next six months. i'm not gonna be making the money i'm gonna make. so, we may have to adjust this plan now." too many people wait to the last minute, and then the trustee moves to dismiss that bankruptcy, and then they're really screwed. so, make sure you keep on top of it. up next, america is changing, and that includes where people live and how they get around. a look at how transit-oriented development could be reshaping your life, and sooner than you might think. [ woman vocalizing ] there's brushing...and there's oral-b power brushing. oral-b just cleans better. even my hygienist said going electric could lead to way cleaner teeth. and unlike sonicare, oral-b is the first electric toothbrush brand accepted by the ada. oral-b. brush like a pro. ♪ >> welcome back. i'm bob massi, the property man. you know, one great thing about doing this show is that i get to see the way people live and how it's changing. successful communities are able to figure out what kind of lifestyle folks want, and they give it to them. [ big-band music plays ] in the early '50s, william levitt built levittown, and the modern american suburb was born. people began flocking to the suburbs, raising families there, and finding a way to commute into the city for work. it was a great time in america. [ up-tempo music plays ] >> well, they're running out of land, and people are tired of sitting in their cars. >> now things are shifting again, and a big part of that is what we call transit-oriented development. >> transit-oriented development is flipping development on its head. >> transit first, and then build around transit, whether it's retail, commercial development, or residential. so, it serves as a central gathering place, and then you build around. what it is not is having a development already established and then putting some form of transit, retrofitting it in. >> so, rather than a transit stop just being a drop-off point, it's now becoming a nexus of economic development to ensure that within 1/4 to 1/2 mile of a transit stop, you're going to find mixed-use development that vertically integrates things like retail, apartments, offices, commercial development. that way, people will walk instead of taking other forms of transportation once they get off mass transit. >> and orlando, florida, was the perfect place that turned this concept into reality. >> orlando has always touted itself as a place to live, work, and play. the problem historically is that we've had sprawl. so, the "live, work, and play" was separate. you worked one place, you lived another place, and typically, you played in a different place. >> the idea was we had to grow smarter, and we really needed to focus on transit and then transit nodes. we were one of the few communities 10 years ago that didn't have any form of commuter rail or light rail system. [ horn blows ] >> then came sunrail. the state of florida bought a 61-mile section of an existing freight rail line to create a commuter service. >> it was public money that built the sunrail system, and then it's private money, largely, that is building and investing in the areas that are close to the stations. >> and this will allow people to be able to live much closer to a transit that will get them to their workplace, get them home at night, without having to jump on the highway in their cars. >> residents can shop around the station. they can get to work using the station. and they do it in a sense of walkability. >> sunrail has had a huge impact on downtown orlando. >> we have probably a couple of billion dollars' worth in downtown that's associatedth the fact that we have sunrail. >> it creates sort of a circle of how we want development to happen. within 1/4 mile of a transit stop, we call that the transit core. that's where you find medium- to high-density and intensity development. and as you go out, it starts to decrease. the logic behind it is that people really won't walk more than 10 minutes, so we have to cluster that development as closely as possible to transit as we can. >> well, sunrail has been in existence now since may of 2014. and the impact has yet to be fully felt. but as you can see behind me, it's already being felt with the development of the 172-acre florida hospital health village. they see this as a way for people to be very close to the health care that they want. it's going to take 15 years to build this all out in the end. there will be residential, 550 units. there will be commercial, real estate, hundreds of thousands of square feet. >> studies within the last couple of years have shown that about 60
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