KEN BUYS HOUSES IN 3 DAYS

Ubiquitous - that's the word. That's what Ken's signs are. You can see 'em all over this part of Northern California - mostly tacked high up on telephone poles (how do they do that?) with a bright red-orange background and big bold type.

Ken's signs are much more subtle than the ones seen in Southern California earlier this year affixed to three-foot stakes and planted in the ground near stoplights like you'd see leading up to an election - AVOID FORECLOSURE.

Who knows how much things have changed since we fled the Southland more than six months ago - without a doubt, real estate prices are much lower and, who knows, maybe Ken buys houses all over California these days.

This story in USAToday is not directly related to Ken and his California home-buying business, but there might be people like the Reyes family in Illinois, pictured below, who could tell stories about Ken.

At the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, the phone calls come nearly every day from yet another financially desperate homeowner who's become the victim of a "foreclosure rescue" scam.

"This has become the No. 1 problem in terms of calls we're getting and cases we're filing," says Daniel Lindsey, supervising attorney for the foundation's Home Ownership Preservation Project.

And it's clearly a nationwide problem that's likely to get worse.

Regulators and law enforcement in many states are targeting the two most common forms of foreclosure rescue scams: "equity skimming" and bogus or fruitless consulting services.

The first scam works like this: A company offers to take legal ownership of the home temporarily. The homeowners pay "rent" to the company, which promises to return legal ownership to them once they regain their financial footing.

But all too often, con artists borrow as much as they can against the equity in the house — and collect the rent from the original homeowners but never make any mortgage payments. In the end, the property still goes into foreclosure, and any equity the homeowner had built up is gone. Their financial ruin is complete.

The second-most-common foreclosure-rescue pitch goes like this: A company offers to renegotiate the homeowners' mortgage with the lender or help refinance the property. In exchange, they charge an up-front fee, typically $800 to $1,200.

Frequently, though, the company never contacts the lender, or knows the borrower can't qualify for another loan. What little extra cash the homeowner could have used to pay the mortgage or move to an apartment has been wiped out by worthless "services."

It is sad to think that many of the very same people who thought they were going to be rich beyond their wildest dreams just a few years ago are going to end up much poorer after the bursting of the housing bubble runs its course.