As mentioned above, this might be an option: Foreclosure may be avoided by giving up property deed JIM FLYNN Columnist Last week, I told you about short sales a sale of property by a distressed borrower where the lender agrees to release its lien for less than what it is owed. Lenders will occasionally agree to this on the theory that this is as good as itÂs going to get. ThatÂs because foreclosing against the property will add cost and delay, and wonÂt increase the amount of money the lender will ultimately receive from its collateral. Sometimes, lenders will not only agree to a short sale, theyÂll also agree to forgive the remaining balance on the loan. But sellers canÂt count on that. Another strategy that often comes into play when a borrower gets in trouble on a loan is called a "deed in lieu of foreclosure." Here, the borrower agrees to turn ownership of the property over to the lender by signing a deed. This again saves the lender the cost and delay associated with a foreclosure and will usually include a promise on the part of the borrower to leave the property in good condition  something that doesnÂt always occur when the lender takes the property back in foreclosure and evicts the borrower. In a deed in lieu of foreclosure transaction, a borrower has good odds of negotiating an arrangement whereby the lender will agree to consider the loan paid in full in exchange for immediate ownership of the property. Borrower to lender: "Hello lender? Borrower here. Listen, IÂll give you a deed to my property if you agree to cancel the promissory note I signed. What do you say?" Lender to borrower: "Why should I do that?" Borrower to lender: "Because otherwise itÂs going to take you six months to get the property back and cost you $5,000 in legal fees, and I may not leave the property in the best condition when I pack up and go. Plus, after you evict me, IÂll file bankruptcy." Lender to borrower: "Oh." If a deed in lieu of foreclosure is to occur, the parties need to enter into a written agreement that explains whatÂs going on  specifically, that the borrowerÂs debt is being satisfied by a voluntary transfer of the property. This agreement will also contain language that the lenderÂs title insurance company will insist on stating that the borrower really knows what heÂs doing and has agreed to give up legal rights built into the foreclosure process  notably, the right to cure the default and stop the foreclosure during a several month period while the foreclosure is moving from initial filing to sale. Keep in mind that a deed in lieu of foreclosure transaction wonÂt work if there are other liens on the property. ThatÂs because if the senior lender gets a deed to the property from its borrower, the title will be subject to those other liens and the lender is going to have to foreclosure in any event to get rid of them. Thus, a deed from the borrower wonÂt accomplish the goal of saving cost and delay associated with a foreclosure. Like short sales, deed in lieu of foreclosure transactions come with considerable legal baggage and borrowers are best advised to see a lawyer before moving in this direction. Jim Flynn is a local attorney. Contact him c/o The Gazette, P.O. Box 1779, Colorado Springs 80901; fax 578-8836 or e-mail jtflynn325@hotmail.com. Not all questions can be answered.

Hi Rebecca Glad you had a better experience with your returns from J&P with their error. I totally sympathize with you about too much hassle to arrange a return with the other company, and I'm rather of that opinion about the two roses that arrived dead. You're entirely right that you can get better responses when you can talk to a real human being on the phone, but most of my rose purchasing and other rose activity tends to happen in the evenings like this when companies aren't available to talk. I remember playing tag calling one company over a period of a few weeks to get them my new credit card information - totally my goofy daytime work schedule of course, they were lovely to work with. As for the 300 roses, if you figure 20% losses immediately over a winter, plus another 10% inexplicable established rose fading or dying in addition, it turns out to be more or less replacement rose numbers when you're upwards of 900 roses as I seem to be. Depending on rose survival, I might top 1000 for the first time ever this year but not if I get average deaths. Frankly, planting band or gallon roses (most of my purchases) aren't any harder to plant than any other perennial in terms of effort. The main challenge is figuring out exactly where I want to put them, then mixing in the alfalfa and soil conditioner to the regular soil to plant them (I have pretty good soil to start with, so I can dig a rose hole even 2' deep in a few shovelfuls). At around 15 minutes a rose, I can plant 30 roses on an average weekend day without too much strain, though bareroots take more work and deeper planting. I can start on those more gradually in April though, and I have more energy then. I really do consider myself a lazy gardener, since I don't spray or fuss over them much, and in our zones the roses don't get all that big in general so I can get away with crowding them a bit and indulging myself. The folks who have to use a pickax to dig a rose hole are the ones to really admire. Two or three of those, and I think I'd be done for the season. Cynthia

Brecks was great for me as well. I got 3 of the grab bag offers in the end. I got 5 roses for $19.95 and did that 2x then the price dropped again and I got 5 more for $9.99. All 15 roses arrived in good condition, particularly considering they were end of season sales and were in storage for longer than usual. I did have 2 that did not break dormancy (those were ones I ordered separately. Julia Child and Sheila's Perfume) and they gave me a credit for this year. Out of all the ones I got from them 5 didn't make it through the summer (non uncommon in my neck of the woods). I didn't bother asking for a credit as I got them so ridiculously cheap. This year, if they have that sale again, I will be ordering more :) It was great fun waiting to see what you got in the grab bag and all the roses they sent were of good quality. Also, customer service was great. I ordered from Michigan Bulb this year as well. I had no idea they had a bad reputation. I ordered two butterfly bushes and got a coupon for free shipping and a free bag of bulbs (picotee begonias). They did take a while to arrive, but it was clearly written on their site that they would not ship until the end of February for my zone. Everything arrived in good condition and I paid half of what they cost on other sites (kaleidoscope butterfly bush and Black Knight, each was $8 or so) and much less expensive than my local nursery who had Black Knight for $20. Overall my experience was good. Maybe I just got lucky. :)

So all of mine did survive. I can't comment on lady in red since I put her in cold storage for the winter as she was still in a pot. Cinco de Mayo had some Kane death but not a lot. Violets Pride had more and I would not recommend her for zone 5. Chec ching and All My Loving were killed all the way back but they are growing now. Oh, probably not the best roses for zone 5 . I did not lose any but those last two were the most tender by far oh, but they were also the two I would never have bought if not for the sale and I did appreciate their Sherry intensity when they bloomed. A bit disappointed in violets Pride because I had expected her to be somewhat Hardy. Still I think she's a bigger is grower and we'll rebound and that the all look good in the end. I ordered another Cinco de Mayo so hopefully that one will be as vigorous as the one last year which group quite large in one season. I sure wish they'd have another sale or one of the other Rose places.