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Articles about Foreclosure Crisis

Foreclosures are nothing new to the mortgage world of lending and borrowing. The country has been in the past familiar with foreclosure crisis also but what is new about the foreclosure crisis raging across America today is its astronomical tsunami proportions. In previous years during the last century the real estate market did not tumble and people were able to save themselves by selling off the houses and starting life anew. Then also in yester years the economy was there to sustain the losses allowing individuals and the nation to see another dawn. But the foreclosure crisis of today has broken all past records in its intensity and its negative effects have spilled over to engulf many countries of the world.

The foreclosure crisis being experienced today is just the symptom of a deeper malaise. Experts generally blame the sub-prime mortgage crisis for the present foreclosure crisis. Regulations were lowered and sub-prime mortgages were peddled to all and sundry who could not qualify for prime mortgages. In sub-prime lending there were no conditions – no income levels or proof of earning. Even credit history was not checked and sometimes down payments were waived. The initial interest was very low exclusive of principal and the gullible borrowers were made to believe that the floating rates would never go up. Money began to flow into the market and there was frenetic housing activity.

The mortgages were parceled, sliced and sold to outside investors using new types of financial tools. With property prices going up the general belief was that this trend would continue. But when interest rates increased thousands – nay millions – fell into delinquency triggering off a foreclosure crisis of unprecedented proportions.

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Foreclosure Rising Hand-in-Hand With Unemployment

Friday, May 15th, 2009

The two reports that published last week smother a sobering image for the land and local economies as associated to redundancy and property foreclosures.

According to RealtyTrac, The figure of foreclosures on the Alabama possessions in the month of March was high 217 percent from the month earlier, which pointed out that there were 2,260 foreclosures previous month.

RealtyTrac hearsay that there are 574 foreclosed possessions in Houston County in various steps of sale. But foreclosure charge, hangs about a humble 2 percent in the Houston County according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Houston County joblessness jumped faintly to 7.5 percent in the month of March, presenting 3,373 jobless people. The national and state rates in March were 8.5 and 9 percent, respectively. In several states, Americans never saw redundancy this tall in over 25 years; this is according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On standard, states having maximum joblessness rates lean to have elevated mortgage derelictions. California redundancy was 11.2 percent in the month of March while the felony rate by the county varied from 1.5 to 10.5 percent. In Florida, March redundancy was at 9.7 percent whereas the mortgage evasion rate varied from 1.9 to 12.6 percent.

In Alabama, the grimmest mortgage felony rate by the county was zero in the Perry County, contrasted to lofty 4.6 percent in the Marion County.

President of Compass Bank, Steve McCarroll, said that because dismisses in Wiregrass have been beneath nationwide averages, there are less foreclosures for the reason that of job losses.

“We do see more foreclosures than we are accustomed to and some of that certainly comes from people having lost jobs,” he added. “I see no predictable formula for when an unemployed person will begin to pay late or have foreclosure proceedings begin. Each borrower is different. Some have rainy weather cushions built up just for this kind of scare, while most I would say don’t.”

McCarroll concedes the Wiregrass is throbbing, however the region is “fairing better than most from a home foreclosure standpoint.”

The Federal Reserve hearsay the mortgage wrongdoing rates for the local counties are: Dale County, 1.75 percent; Geneva and Henry counties, 2.3 percent; Coffee County, 1.5 percent; Bay County, Fla., 3.6 percent; Early County, Ga., 2.4percent and Walton County, Fla., 7.38 percent.

Joblessness pace in the local counties is: Dale County, 7.9 percent; Coffee County, 7.1 percent; Henry County, 9.4 percent, Geneva County, 9.2 percent; Barbour County, 10.5 percent.

Project manager with Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce, Steve Turkoski, was in conference Monday with the state labor force expansion representatives in an endeavor to assist those looking for work.

“The hope is the money will start flowing and there will be funds available to provide training to individuals who are displaced,” Turkoski quoted.

“Money will be put in the normal applications, like adult workers, youth, displaced, and incumbent workers (those who need to upgrade skills within their current jobs), but they are starting new funding for people who don’t fit into those categories.”

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President Obama Plans to Help Distressed Homeowners

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

President Obama Plans to Help Distressed Homeowners
After the sweeping victory of Barack Obama in the US presidential election, people are expecting a positive change in the real estate. The problem of US home foreclosure has left a devastating mark in the real estate market. The homeowners are at a real stake. President Obama has several plans to get done with this problem of foreclosures that have put the housing industry into a major crisis situation. People who are facing the brunt of foreclosure are just looking up to him and his plans. Obama has a number of economic plans up his sleeves that would help the distressed homeowners. He together with Biden aims at providing necessary information to the borrowers. Also, they aim at providing tax relief to the mortgage holders.

Obama has got four important elements in his foreclosure fighting plan. He aims at letting the bankruptcy court judges to bring an adjustment in the payments of mortgage for those who are compelled to declare their personal bankruptcy. This will provide some space to the distressed homeowners to work out on their current debt. Obama believes that this plan of his will aid the courts in protecting the borrowers from the lenders who practice deceptive lending. Obama also have plans to introduce a program called HOME. Home stands for Homeowner Obligation Made Explicit. This will help in creating a “real” APR that will be based on fees and also the total costs associated with borrowing of home loan.

Obama even aims at an increase in the regulation of the sub prime mortgage industry. He has proposed for a Stop Fraud Act. Stern actions will be taken by the federal government against the lenders if they practice deceptive lending. They have to undergo very strict penalties if they are found fraud.

Apart from the above plan of fighting with foreclosure, Obama also is looking towards a tax benefit for the mortgage holders. As of now, a large number of homeowners qualify for a tax aid. However, they fail to benefit as they have not listed their deductions. Seeing this, Obama has planned to offer a very simplified tax credit to them that will let the distressed families get a tax relief of thousands of dollars. This will be especially beneficial for those who won’t hire an accountant for helping out with tax returns. Even it will benefit those who have been unable to get tax benefits due to a complex tax code.

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Foreclosure on 15 Homes of Lake Oswego Builder

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Roger Pollock, the owner of the Buena Vista Custom Homes, Inc. based in Lake Oswego has reported that the Sterling Savings Bank has issued foreclosure notice on 15 of his properties. Pollock happens to be one of the well-known and largest builders of Poland. He owns the credit of constructing a large number of homes in the region and today is facing the problem of foreclosure on his properties. In an attempt to get rid of the bank debt, he started auctioning 240 homes last year giving a big surprise to the Portland real estate community and became successful in staging two auctions.

In the meantime, Pollock put some of the remaining homes on rent with some of them on lease-to-buy contracts. Today, he has about 70 homes and all of them are up for sale. He has said that he has been the owner of a portfolio of rentals always. As the rentals are unable to yield enough money needed to cope up with the debt payments, he has started looking for lower interest rates like other builders. Besides the lower interest rates, he has also been looking for other concessions from lenders and interest-only payments in order to overcome the foreclosure distress.

According to Pollock, the debt amounts to $5 million in loans that he has taken from the Sterling Savings Bank on his 15 homes. He has expressed his deep surprise about the foreclosure filing on his homes by the Sterling Savings Bank. He has said, “We’re negotiating with all our banks and every house is a case-by-case basis. This is just the direction that Sterling chose to go. It caught us by surprise.” According to Pollock the 15 properties that are in question are owned by Del Playa Investments LLC, which is an independent investment entity.

Pollock has even said that Buena Vista Custom Homes, Inc. is not getting bankrupted but it is true that they are not going to construct any further homes or real estate properties. The Sterling Savings Bank is a Spokane-based savings bank that has played a significant role during the April bankruptcy that took place with the homebuilder Tony Marnella of Clackamas County including three of his firms and also the July bankruptcy of flooring dealer Trinity Carpet and Milwaukie Carpet. It has a history of active lending. Some of the renters of Pollock in the Happy Valley have already got mails on the foreclosure of their properties.

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Renters facing the Brunt of Foreclosure

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

Renters facing the Brunt of Foreclosure

A large number of renters who pay their rent timely are also becoming the victim of foreclosure. This is happening mainly due to the fact that their landlords who bought houses during their heydays and then rented them are now unable to cope up with the mortgages. The renters are facing a big blow when suddenly they are getting to know that it is not their home from the next day. A number of localities and members of the Congress have taken efforts to provide some time to the renters before they get evicted by the banks. Some measures have been taken to inform the tenants of their rights.

It was a surprise to James Austin, a home-security firm consultant, when a real estate agent showed him photographs of the home he was renting. It was facing foreclosure. He immediately made his move to rent another home in Bowie only to discover later that the home also went into foreclosure. It is not really known to the Mortgage Bankers Association that how many tenants were forced to leave this way. But according to them, a large number of homes that were foreclosed last year comprised of probably rented homes. With the foreclosures going high, the number of foreclosures for rented homes has also probably gone up.

The problem of foreclosure that was earlier disrupting the homeowners has now shifted to the renters too. Generally when a house is foreclosed, the dissolution of lease agreements takes place. This implies that the renters may be asked to leave their home without a prior notice. As such some of the tenant laws have been introduced for the safety of the tenants. This is good news for the real estate.

The laws in Maryland and Virginia are not very renter-friendly leaving them at the mercy of the new homeowners. According to lawyer Kristi Cahoon of Legal Services of Northern Virginia, the tenants can save their money for security deposit during the months of long paperwork between the lenders and the courts. The renters can go for a consideration of “cash for keys” if the lender continuously pressurizes him for leaving the home whereby the bank will be paying to help the renters to move.

Last year, a measure has been introduced by the US House whereby the renters are to be given a 90 days notice by the new owner of a foreclosed home before eviction. If there are more days mentioned in the lease, then the renter will be able to stay up to 6 months.

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Foreclosed Homes Causing Trouble to Valley Residents

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

Valley Foreclosed Homes

The Valley area real estate has reported a large number of foreclosures. One can find a many vacant homes in and around the region. Shirly Cody who is a resident of 16 Roeser Place, which is located at the junction of 16th Street and Roeser, has said that the surrounding becomes a mess when the homeowners leave their home due to a foreclosure notice on it. They live their things all scattered while moving out. Cody’s house is encircled by three foreclosed homes. Besides, another one that is a bit down Cody’s block is about to enter the process of foreclosure very soon.

Cody has said that the distressed homeowners facing foreclosures dump the garbage all around making the case worst for the people who are still residing there. Every time she will find either a broken furniture piece on the lawn, or trash things on the trees, or some other worthless matter around. She and her neighbor Travis Aitken has taken up effort to clean up the clutters themselves.

As it has been put by the City of Phoenix’s Neighborhood Services Department that leaving an overgrown brush, or furniture, or some other trash things while moving out, is a violation of code. However, they can only take action against it when someone complains them about the matter. If anyone complains on it, then the Neighborhood Services Department will dispatch their inspectors who will immediately send a notice to the owner of the house. After receiving the notice, the homeowner has to immediately make his move to get done with the complaint. If he fails to do so, then he might have to pay a fine of about $200-$2,000. This amount depends upon the severity of the matter. However, if the bank owns that particular home, then the lender will be responsible for addressing any violations.

Cody has said that she is looking out for a help from her Home Owner’s Association (HOA). She has also said that an amount of $42 is paid every month by her to the HOA. None from Colby Management contacted the HOA for assisting her in her problem. It was only the ABC15 that got in touch with the HOA for dealing with 16 Roeser Place.

Cody is mainly concerned about the future generation and wants that they should grow up seeing that they had a nice neighborhood of which they could proudly boast of. This problem of real estate has to be dealt with soon.

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Foreclosures on Rise

Thursday, August 21st, 2008
Foreclosures on Rise

Foreclosures on Rise

The towns of Milford and Metrowest area have not been able to keep themselves away from the mortgage crisis. Milford has reported a foreclosure count of 90 since January this year. There were about 42 foreclosures in 2007 which was only 15 in 2006. This year the situation is all the more worse. Amy Hennessy Neves, Milford Town Clerk has reported with a 2,448 vacancy listings in Milford Town this year. This has hit hard the real estate of this town. A large number of vacant homes can be seen in and around the town.

The increasing rate of foreclosures has led to another big problem.

The homeowners who are leaving their homes with floors in bad condition or with some other kind of damage are standing as a great threat to the neighbors. The city has to continuously keep track of the homes with such a problem and mark them with a large X as a sign of danger. About 9 homes in Milford town have reported with a foreclosure filing in June which was 17 in May and 10 in April.

There have been a total of about 77 to 90 foreclosures in Marlborough since January. It was 34 in 2006. Doreen Cedrone, Northbridge Town Clerk has reported about 500 vacant homes in her community with a total of 4,562 residential buildings.

The number of vacancies in Northbridge this year is much more when compared to the figure last year. The city officials are on their move to find out all the illegal apartments in the real estate. The city can also hold on the matter of selling a foreclosed home till the repair works are done. In case the new homeowners fail to do the repairs, then they will be subjected to fines that can amount to several hundred dollars.

The exception is the Millis Town with about 8,167 residents. The homes there are still being sold. The Stoney Brook Village Apartments are nearly full. There are only eight vacancies out of the total 200 units. About 174 homes in Millis have been reported to be vacant out of the total 3,200 homes. Franklin Town has been reported with 9 foreclosed homes from January to June, 2008.

However, according to Pellegri, town clerk of Franklin, the number of vacancies in Franklin is 778. The Hopedale Town has shown about 252 vacancies with total residences of 2,500.

It is very difficult to say that when the problem of foreclosure will come to a controllable situation.

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Foreclosures Has Left Thousands Homeless

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Foreclosures Has Left Thousands Homeless

Marvin Davis and his wife who now lives in a mobile house in Anderson, was a resident of a home on 55th Street, just a few blocks from their present house. This 64 year old man lost his old house due to foreclosures about 5 years ago. Today, he has to depend heavily on his children for financial help. Although several years have passed by, but even today when he and his wife go by their old house, the overgrown weeds simply make them sad and nostalgic. He bought this home 20 years ago. He was then working at Delco Remy and enjoyed a very sound financial status. But his sudden heart attack in 1999 changed everything. Just when he retired after a year, his salary became almost half that had a negative effect on his home payment. The heavy medical expenses were an added blow. All this forced him to leave his old home. He is one of those victims of real estate foreclosures that have today made thousands homeless across the nation.

Marvin Davis said that he failed to restore his home as General Motors continued to cut benefits for employees that increased his co-payments on medications. He has put the blame of his home loss on the job outsourcing and avaricious corporation. He has even blamed the government for hikes in the property tax that has led to the increase in tax bill tremendously.

As per the executive officer of the Anderson Madison County Association of Realtors, Patty Kuhn, it is the various practices of the bank that are to be blamed. He said, “There were many programs out there that allowed people to buy homes with no money with seller assistance and that’s come back to haunt us.” According to her, there are a large number of reasons behind real estate foreclosures, one being unemployment. Another thing that leads to loss of home is divorce where people fail to afford their homes. Kuhn said that the homeowners are required to show reserve money so that they can continue home payments in case something affects their income.

The Madison County has reported about 1,000 homes in foreclosure situation. A foreclosure tracking company named Realtytrac has put forward that there has been about 53 percent rise in real estate foreclosures this June from June 2007. The reasons that have been ascribed for this situation are poor economy, predatory lending practices, and adjustable rate mortgages.

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Foreclosure Problems? Mother Commits Suicide In Massachusetts

Friday, August 1st, 2008

Carlene Balderrama, a mother in the state of Massachusetts, was completely in despair over the impendent foreclosure on her home. Her family’s terrible finances were of no help to her and she found that the only way in which she could save herself would be to commit suicide.

The Boston Herald stated that the 53-old mother could not pay the mortgage in 42 months on the 3-bedroom home, which she occupied with her husband. John Balderrama, her husband said he had no clue whatsoever about the real situation. He informed The Associated Press that his wife had been carrying out the real estate dealing with PHH Mortgage Corp, a mortgage company, without his knowledge. She had been picking letters from company and tearing them to pieces.

According to the police, investigation reveals that that her shooting and all the evidence indicate that she took her life and it was not a case of murder. Taunton Police Chief Raymond O’Berg informed the Boston Herald, “We’re still investigating, but it definitely appears to be a suicide.” The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office too agrees to this statement. Gregg Miliote said, “We might look at finances if we thought there was foul play, but all signs point to it being a suicide,” and further added “We’ll see where the investigation takes us.”

The mortgage company received a faxed letter from Balderrama at roughly 2:30 PM on Tuesday, putting a warning that she will no longer be alive when they foreclosed on her home that day. She was true to her words. It seemed that Balderrama shot herself with her husband’s powerful rifle. Her dead body was discovered at 3:30 PM after PHH Mortgage informed the police. The home in Taunton is about 35 miles to the south of Boston and costs $232,000, a large figure in the real estate market. It was supposed to be auctioned away at 5PM on the day the mother committed suicide failing to overcome a foreclosure crisis.

This mother has a 24-year-old son and she also left a suicide note for her family that was found beside her body. In that she wrote, “Take the insurance money and pay for the house.” The Herald says that it is not very clear if John Balderrama, who makes a living by plumbing, will be successful in collecting money on his late wife’s life insurance policy. Mr. Balderrama told the Herald, “She put in her suicide note that it got overwhelming for her.”

In the real estate world, foreclosures are on the rise and pose a threat to many lives as plenty of people fail to pay their mortgages in time.

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Foreclosure Crisis: Is Your City Getting Away? - II

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

The foreclosure situation, or broadly, the overall real estate market situation has been a topic of much discussion of late. Some of the important points to track your city, whether it is on a rebound soon or not, have also been discussed. However, here are more points to track for predicting the local housing market conditions.

Notice, whether the rate of home prices falling is about to slow or not, you can opt to visit the official site of National Association of Realtors, where you will get the required data for almost 150 metro areas. To narrow down your search, ask a real estate agent or association for their help. If the process of slowing down lasts for at least 3 months, you could expect a recovery. Being a buyer, resume your search for at least that tenure. However, a seller should wait longer for a good deal.

Go for a simple calculation called P/R ratio or price to rent ratio. Consider the cost of a house in a particular locality. Then ask a broker about the annual rent of a similar house in that area. Now, divide the cost of the house by the annual rent. If it is less than or equal to 15, expect a stabilization in the real estate market. In the country, the current average ratio is 12.5. Review P/R ratio of key markets. Ask agents and rental agencies for the rates during the year 2000. For an example, in Miami (Florida), it was 12 in 2000 but rose to 30 in six years, though now it is 22.

Another important factor to help predict a bounce back is the housing opportunity index. For simplification, how many households can actually afford a home? After analyzing, the National Association of Home Builders has fixed the index. A home is affordable only when not more than 28% of the total family income is needed to pay for it.

The national average is 53.8% - that means only half of the total houses purchased recently were deemed buyable. However, consider it locally, and not on a national scale. Check whether the index is climbing or not. Most of all, see the rate of foreclosures in the local housing market.

Nowadays, many borrowers are facing foreclosure, as they have no equity to refinance. For refinance, they have to wait until prices start rising again.

It’s really good that probably the worst is over. The real estate market does seem to have bottomed out, at a time when foreclosures peak, and then start declining. Now it’s time for a turn-around. For buyers, however, the best deals are probably over.

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Foreclosure Crisis: Is Your City Getting Away? - I

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

The Real estate condition in the country is really alarming, especially when it is judged from the angle of “hangover of unsold homes”. The situation is expected to worsen if the economy gives way further. The mortgage meltdown and rise in the number of foreclosures will be the immediate results. This is the current overall situation of the country as a whole. However, the local real estate market is expected to be different and more localized. It would not be same across the country. Even in this market, the rate of single-family homes in most of the metro areas has increased than last year.

At the time of the housing boom, different cities took off at different times. Las Vegas (Nevada) and San Diego (California) were the beginners. Similarly, during this down-stream, cities may act the same way as they did earlier. Considering and following some key factors could help you predict the situation of your city, whether it is near recovery or not.

Tracking the job market condition you can get an idea of the local economic situation. If there are more job vacancies, then you could expect a turnaround in the real estate market and vice versa.

Due to the high rate of foreclosures, there are too many homes in the market. However the number of buyers is getting fewer. If the situation becomes reverse, then a turnaround is expected in the near future. For common people, it is not possible to track housing records. Only people attached to the housing market can do it. To get an idea, ask them some questions like:

  1. monthly inventory of houses in your locality
  2. total number of houses subject to foreclosure and thus for sale
  3. average tenure of a home staying on the market

If monthly inventory is more or less six months, and average tenure is slightly more than 90 days, then a recovery is expected soon.

However, since the local real estate market is unpredictable, you may want to judge it on monthly basis. To get an idea, consider a year to year record of development in sales. Track the number of houses sold this month vs. the same month last year.

Another important criterion is housing stocks levels. Check whether it is returning to the same level as it was during the real estate boom or not. Don’t forget to track the foreclosure figures too.

Discussing and considering the above may help you predict a housing rebound in your city. However, there are lot more factors to keep in mind.

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