Can you trust the Internet? Will your rental home be foreclosed?

Editor's note: Our third-quarter visiting editors share their thoughts on a topic of their choice.

Al Brizard

In today's world, there are four basic forms of media: Print, radio, TV and, just recently, the Internet.

The first two have been with us for a long time and are well-established in our minds insofar as what, how and whom we are seeing or hearing.

TV has not been around long enough for us to understand its relevance (or irrelevance, as the case may be), but the consumer is rapidly learning the mechanics of this media.

The 24-hour news cycle is there, like it or not, if you wish to watch TV. There seems to be little, if any, in-depth or follow-up of any news item.

Now we have the Internet and other forms of instant communication. Blogging, tweeting/twittering and texting are certainly the rage, but just how accurate, reliable and dependable this new media is, is questionable, at least in my peer group (65-plus).

I have seen very few YouTube or Twitter posts that have any degree of factual information, much less source documentation.

I am sure that my sons and grandsons, plus anyone else who would care to, can take issue with me on all of the comments I have made here, and that is good.

However, I will not entertain anything that does not identify who is speaking. Reports or references attributed to "he," "she" or the ubiquitous "they" that are without documentation, probably are inaccurate, unreliable and undependable.

The print media is still the most reliable and dependable source of information that we have.

Brizard is a retired farmer now living in Groveland.

Peggy Gardiner

While everyone is talking about the foreclosure crisis and how it affects homeowners, no one seems to be addressing the crisis facing renters.

Many tenants have been paying rent faithfully. In return, between 20 percent and 30 percent have been faced with eviction when they are notified the house has gone to auction, been taken back by the mortgage holder or sold to a new owner. It is hard to come up with a accurate percentage because so many of these foreclosures are listed on the county records as owner-occupied.

We have been tenants for almost two years and were surprised when our door was posted with a notice that the house would be sold at auction. Such information is not posted until 20 to 25 days before the property is to be sold on the courthouse steps. Up until that time the lender is dealing only with the owner of record.

Unfortunately we had a landlord who did not notify us that the property might be foreclosed on.

Under federal law, a tenant has 90 days in which to vacate the property after it has been auctioned off or taken back by the lender if there is no offer made.

If you are looking for a rental, you would be wise to go to the county recorder's office to see when the deed of trust was recorded and what is owed on the mortgage. Do the math. If you are going to pay $1,500 monthly in rent and you estimate the mortgage payment is $3,000, it's possible the house will be foreclosed upon. Also, if the current owner is upside down (owes more than the house is worth today), you may be faced with the same problem we were.

The following sites can be helpful: www.tenantsforeclosure.blogspot.com and www.tenantstogether.org.

Gardiner is a community activist from Modesto.