Foreclosures Has Left Thousands Homeless

August 6th, 2008

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.