County Treasurers Respond To Increase In Foreclosures

Foreclosure is no longer a threat for homeowners in Washtenaw County. Local treasurer office in Washtenaw has so far protected 25 homeowners from losing their house to foreclosures.

This move to help homeowners by the local treasurer is an important step taken against the cascading affect of foreclosures. In July, there were 627 foreclosure suits against homeowners in Washtenaw. Whereas, in Livingston 564 foreclosure incidents occurred in the same month. Experts believed that if the figures continue to rise at the current pace, then the count would definitely exceed 2006 record levels. In July, foreclosure filings went up by 94 percent across the country. Michigan, Nevada and Georgia faced the highest foreclosures as per the records of RealtyTrac, real estate tracking company

A family in Superior Township, due to ill health was finding it very difficult to pay back their defaulted mortgage payments. The monthly payment shot up by $451. It was a similar case with a family in Ypsilanti Township. The family did not have enough money in hand to pay the readjusted monthly installments after he lost his job. Fortunately, local treasurer came to their rescue.

The Washtenaw County Foreclosure Prevention Taskforce, in union with Fifth Third Bank and the treasurer’s office, take up classes for homeowners on every Sunday and Monday. They call it a “mobile classroom”. On Sundays, the Homeowner Connection bus provides lectures at First united Methodist church and on Mondays, at Washtenaw community college. They offer free, private counseling on mortgage and housing credits and give seminars on home buying in the presence of mortgage experts and counselors.

These classes have two approaches, proactive and protective. The proactive approach warns people beforehand about the issues and complication involved in housing deals, and suggest various smart moves when entering into one. A protective approach tries to help owners who are already in the trap and are about to lose their homes to foreclosure.

The “Housing bureau for seniors” also runs a foreclosure prevention task force with the help of the University Of Michigan Health System. Besides educating people on mortgage foreclosure, they have started educating them on tax foreclosures too.

Catherine Mcclary, the county’s treasurer suggests that owners contact their lenders before approaching them. As the number of defaults on loan payments increase, it becomes more difficult to maneuver the lender to change the agreement. If approached in time, some lenders will modify the loan deal, or go for short sales or grant forbearance.

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