About Oscar Morante
Meet Oscar Morante, Real Estate Entrepreneur Specializing in Fixing Problems for Over Mortgaged Property Owners.
Oscar is among many real estate professionals who are closely tracking the looming indebtedness of American property owners. Oscar, however, sees things a little differently that most. After studying the process of how people go into debt and end up losing their homes through foreclosure (only to be left with mountains of debt), Oscar started a crusade to help distressed property owners save their credit and dignity. He does this by negotiating reduced settlement payoffs with the lenders. "It happens a lot," says Oscar. "Good, hard-working people just run into trouble for a lot of reasons".
Relaxed banking regulations, ambitious lending practices, uninsured property damage, personal life changes or a myriad of other causes can contribute to a property owner becoming over-mortgaged. In other words, property owners end up owing more than their property is worth and can’t keep up with payments.
After seeing a sharp decline in architectural work in the Portland, Oregon area after 2001, Oscar was compelled to make a drastic career change. With little money of his own, Oscar began relentlessly researching every aspect of the local real estate market attending seminars, reading books and talking to everyone he knew that had anything to do with real estate. He found that his most lucrative opportunities lay in the complex situations that arose when over-mortgaged properties were headed into foreclosure. Oscar has been actively involved in real estate acquisition through short sale negotiations with lenders since 2003.
Oscar is well aware of the vulnerability of people in financial trouble and detests those who make a business out of deceptive tactics to obtain distressed properties. Some say it is a fine line, but the pile of thank you notes and referral letters from property owners he has helped clearly indicate that his "win-win" philosophy works. He is now teaching others through his information-packed Short Sales A-Z seminars where he shows others how to skillfully coax lenders into settling for less to avoid costly foreclosure.
Oscar Morante holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Virginia Tech. Oscar recalls his early passion for buildings and ships and knew he really wanted to be an architect after a brief attempt at pursuing Economics at the impressionable age of sixteen. His early beginnings provided him with unique opportunities to visit and live abroad. His father, a Peruvian Navy Captain, moved his family from the United States to Tokyo, Japan when Oscar was eight years old. While living there, he noticed the architecture, perhaps he made mental notes which would later influence his architectural sensibilities.
When he was age ten, his family moved to Lima, Peru where Oscar would spend the next 10 years discovering himself. In Lima, he pursued his love for the outdoors and adventure. He climbed Macchu Piccu, and immersed himself in Peruvian culture. Today, 20 years later, he still speaks with a Peruvian accent. Oscar says of himself, "I am always trying to get better. I am never tired of making changes. Of course, I want to minimize the things that I do that cause me to have regrets. I don’t want to have regrets for not having done something, for not taking a chance, for not making a change."
Oscar is familiar with making changes, whether it is life changes, or career changes; Oscar always seeks to discover something new about himself in the process of adapting to the changes he has made. After graduating from Virginia Tech, Oscar moved to Seattle, Washington. One of his brothers lived there and he decided that, yes, a change of scenery would be good. He quickly found a position as an entry-level architect in a local firm and set out to do what he loved to do. He discovered, despite the long and arduous hours that he worked for the firm, that the county, or the city, presented obstacles for him that sometimes could not be overcome. He contemplated seriously whether or not his ideal of architecture and design would ever fit into the reality of work.
After months of frustration, Oscar decided to make a change. He decided to become a River Guide. He moved to Costa Rica and became certified to lead both Class 3 and Class 4 rivers. He guided tours on average 300 river days, covering the Cacuare and Reventavon River in Costa Rica and the Arkansas River and Royal Gorge, the Cheat River and Wenatchee River in the United States. Oscar loved the thrill and adventure that river guiding provided.
Oscar always philosophizing, likened the river to life. With its bends and currents, one still needed to plan ahead. A year away from the office and far from the field of Architecture, Oscar realized, he needed to plan for the future. River guiding was a wonderful experience; he had no regrets, yet he was busy making other plans.
In the late 1990’s Oscar moved to Portland and established a stable of clients as a freelance architect and practiced his trade in Oregon and Washington. He later got married and decided to explore real estate. This was not, he explained, a far departure from Architecture. In the midst of his research into the world of real estate investing, he joined several real estate associations and began networking. He met someone who would become his mentor. He learned a great deal about creative financing, how to talk to clients, how to look for real estate deals, and before long, Oscar began combining his knowledge and zest for yet another adventure.
Oscar started focusing his real estate investing interests into the pre-foreclosures market. After doing a number of successful "short-sales" deals, he attended a seminar taught by real estate guru Greg Pinneo. Oscar traveled to the Cayman Islands to a Pinneo seminar and realized that he could share his secrets with others and have a lot of fun doing it. Oscar is a patient instructor and loves to help people.
Hard work and determination and not being afraid to make changes have propelled Oscar into his new career. His mission is to "Teach investors how to obtain property at a good price, while helping others - but not to inherit their problems."