Archive for March, 2008

Forsyth County is witnessing as many as 50 foreclosures per week. The regional manager of Legal Aid, North Carolina, Hazel Mack-Hilliard comments that she has seen this rise in number of foreclosures during the last five years. The people have been sandwiched between rising mortgage rates and cost of living. It has a chain reaction on children and unspeakable suffering and tension for the entire family when one has to be uprooted from home and hearth.

Besides the financial debacle there are other forms of negative effects. Every 1% of foreclosure equates to 2% to 3% increase in crime – violent crime within a specified radius (0.8 miles) of that foreclosure zone. This came from the mouth of none other that the Forsyth District Attorney, Tom Keith. Keith is all for the local attorneys attending a training session being organized by Legal Aid and the Academy of Trial Lawyers. They need to updated about the sub-prime lending markets, its possible abuses and methods of negotiation when foreclosure threatens. That is the main objective – how the loans can be modified so that the people can continue to stay in the houses that are their homes. It is an undeniable fact that foreclosures are attacking all and sundry everywhere irrespective of income brackets.

A few years ago Terri Martin could not resist a chance to move into a house of one’s own. Today a granddaughter has been added to the family. But meanwhile the interest rate has gone up by 14%. As soon as she started to live in the house the mortgage kept rising. Then the original lenders sold the loan to another company. That did not stop the loan from rising. Finally when pushed to her limits she sought the help of Legal Aid and managed to modify her loan to a fixed rate mortgage. When no other help was available Legal Aid stood beside her. Attorney Celeste Harris opines that each attorney can help the foreclosure victims in a small way that will go a long way to alleviate the stress on the individual and the nation.

The foreclosure crisis is affecting all sections of the society – the borrowers, lenders as well as the community and the administration starting from the local to the federal. If the nation has to survive mere appeals to the lenders will not work miracles – what is required is strong legal action.

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Foreclosures in Florida more than tripled in the fourth quarter of 2007 from what it was during the same period on 2006. More buyers are flocking to foreclosed house auctions as the real estate markets continue to nose dive.

America’s giant auctioneers Hudson & Marshall is scheduled to auction more than 500 foreclosed bank owned units from 7th to 13th April. In Miami alone 200 houses will wait for the anvil. In Orlando and Tampa the number is 100 and 80 respectively. The asking price ranges from $34,000 to $700,000 for houses whose insurances have been paid and title deeds clear.
A representative of Hudson & Marshall, Dave Webb comments that a frenzy of buildings and increased number of foreclosures have led to Florida leading other states in this crisis. But this is a great time for buyers who shied off during the boom housing price rise. A bargain can be picked from the auctions as banks are anxious to be relieved of the weight and agreeable to sell them at massive discounts.

A survey notes that in January 2008 the prices of single family houses continued to slide in the country. Las Vegas and Miami reported 19.3% decline – the steepest among all the metros.
Hudson & Marshall would auction foreclosed houses during April at Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Daytona and Port Charlotte, Port St. Lucie, Melbourne and Tampa as well as Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. The houses would be sold on an as-is basis. Prior to bidding the prospective buyers could inspect the units on 5th and 6th April during 2 hours in the afternoon. Further details are available on their website.

The winning bidders are expected to be prepared with cash or cheque deposit of $2,500 or 5% of the sale price – whichever being higher. By going online buyers can bid. Sellers generally call back within 24 hours. The auctions are reserved – the sellers have a right to accept or reject the offer. So far of all the auctions conducted by Hudson & Marshall none have been rejected.
Hudson & Marshall is a name in the auction business having been in operation for the last 40 years. It has set a standard for satisfactory service – a yardstick that it continuously endeavours to maintain and excel. Both buyers and sellers are satisfied with their handling of the matter. Their clients range from individuals to medium and corporate bodies.

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The number of foreclosed houses in Prince William County has gone up by double since 2007. It points to the worsening of the real estate crisis. According to land records office figures, 306 units were taken back by the bank in February. In the previous year the number was les by 140. In Manassas, Manassas Park and Prince William County the foreclosures rose by 89% during the first two months of 2008 as compared to the same period in 2007. The number of defaults are also rising and soaring. In 2007 there were 3,344 foreclosures, 282 in 2006 and 52 in 2005. Real estate agent Carolyn Capalbo says that there is no slowing down.

In North Virginia Prince William had the highest number of foreclosures with 5.5% of all the houses having entered the foreclosure danger zone. Loudon County came second with 2.8% of the total number of houses sliding into foreclosure. The report was published by George Mason University. Last year the rate for the Washington Metro area was 1.7% high from October to December.

One of the major causes for the high foreclosure rate in Prince William is that a large part of the population consists of Hispanic immigrants. They had dreams which have now turned to nightmares. There are many other causes like predatory lending, job losses especially in the construction sector, and the aggressive anti immigrant policies being pursued. As the mortgage rates continue to rise there are more foreclosures in the offing and the trend will continue in all probability. Spring and summer are usually the seasons when people buy houses but now it is for losing properties.

Local government kitties are in serious difficulty because the property taxes are not being paid. While a house is in foreclosure taxes are not paid – they are paid when the dispute is settled.
Corey A. Stewart of Prince William Board says he views the situation as a short term problem – something that comes in cyclical order. The bust has to follow a boom. The bust of course is the most severe in recent memory but the cycle is bound to pass. That is the silver lining. In fact it has given a rest and pause from the frenetic housing activity that had been going on during the past few years. The market will surely correct itself. The issue is affordable housing.

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During the last two years the situation has been sinking from bad to worse and foreclosures have enveloped Minneapolis. More and more people are losing the houses that have been their homes. The increase has been by 60% during the first two months of 2008 as compared to the same period in the previous year.

To stem the tide the Minnesota Home Ownership Center is hosting the workshops free of charge so that the people can learn about the ins and outs of foreclosures and how to battle it. Over one hundred families participated in the first workshop held in the basement of St. Paul’s church on Tuesday night.

Each one had a story to tells. Anthony Sofie had lost his construction job and consequently could not meet his mortgage commitments. What is worse – the rates are set to go up again. He wants to know what can be done to keep fires of his hearth burning in his home. Ed Nelson representing Minnesota Home Ownership Center said that Sofie had approached them at the right time – the slightest delay would have been fatal. The sooner they come the better the options. So far more than half of those who sought help have benefited. Nelson opines that the foreclosure situation is not without hope.

At the workshop it is explained in detail what missing a payment amounts to. After the first lapse the lender sends a notice. By the fourth month the lawyers come into the picture. The court or Sheriff’s auction takes place by the seventh month. Sofie came to know that the rate of interest would remain unchanged. This might enable him to continue to stay in the house that is his home. He is optimistic that within 5 years he will improve his position. But had he not sought help he would have lost his house and home.

The foreclosure is a legal process that lenders nowadays want to avoid because it takes up time, money and energy. With the phenomenal rise in foreclosures the lenders have eaten more than they can swallow. They want to get rid of these white elephants. As such they are eager for modifications, loan forgiveness or giving permission for short sale. Nobody benefits from foreclosures – lenders, borrowers, administration or communities. As such the climate is just right for viable solutions.

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It is a matter of opinion whether the times are good or bad. For the investor looking for quick returns the time couldn’t be better but for those being evicted from houses that have been their homes the days are dark and long. It is the same story cutting across the nation.

From reports released by The Federal Reserve and National Bankers Mortgage Association foreclosures have increased by over 60% in February 2008 as compared to what it was in the previous year. Locally the news was even worse. In February the number of foreclosures doubled in February this year – there were 82 foreclosure listings as compared to 41 in February 2007. Westerly headed the lot with 25 foreclosures – all coming from various localities like North End, Beach Street and Crestview Drive. All these places had double figure foreclosures. Mortgages sales were high in South and North Kingstown.

The sub-prime mortgages and also predatory lenders are primarily held responsible for this debacle. There is a distinction between the two. A little more than a year ago Rhode Island General Assembly had passed a law known as The Home Loan Protection Act. It placed regulations on lending and gave protection for the borrowers from predators. As a result it was reported that the number of sub-prime lenders had gone down. Thus the bulk of local foreclosures did not seem to come from sub-prime lenders. Laura Lisi from Eastern Bank Mortgage Center says that she has not come across a single foreclosure this year, as yet. Their company gave the right mortgage to the right persons. Peter Fister from Bench Mark Mortgage has the same story to tell. Since they opened in November last year there has not been a single instance of foreclosures. They do not dabble in sub-prime.

There are however a brood of investors trying to fish in troubled waters of foreclosures In Washington County 85 houses are being foreclosed. One can get all the details from the official website. It is this continued squeezing of the U.S real estate market that is leading to the continued and persistent foreclosure crisis that is refusing to go away or respond to any preventive measures. Side by side with the fall in the housing market is the drying up of the mortgage loans. This has aggravated matters. During the housing boom the lending standards were lax and this should not have been allowed.

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On Monday 24th March, at Philadelphia, New York Senator Hillary Clinton (Democrat) talked about a new four point plan to tackling the growing national problem of foreclosures She wanted more to be done for loans that are threatening foreclosures as well as the creation of a panel to study the problem from all angles.

She is involved in a tussle with Senator Barrack Obama for the presidential nomination by the Democrat party. She wants ‘aggressive action’ to be immediately taken against foreclosures. Clinton blamed foreclosures to be one of the main causes for the present economic crisis.
Clinton reiterated that her solution is sensible and reasonable for taking into its gambit, the lenders, investors and mortgage companies together with the borrowers. All should share the responsibility for what is happening today. The target is to keep the people in the houses that are their homes and thus stabilize the community as well as the national economy.

Her plans includes expanding the capacity of the federal government to allow for more broad-based mortgage modification for those who could not afford spiked rates This was to be done by private auction of large numbers of mortgages so as to free the credit market constraints by allowing it to be an incentive to the lenders to refinance the troubled loans. More categorically she wants Federal Housing Administration or any other government body to be prepared to buy and modify as well as re-sell the at-risk mortgages if the plan about the private auction does not work.

She wants President Bush to set up an expert panel led by any impartial group of leaders like former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan or former Federal Chairman Paul Volcker and or Bob Rubin the former Treasury Secretary, “each of whom supports one of the remaining candidates in the presidential race.” Within three weeks this group should report to the Congress as well as the Bush administration on the best way or ways to resolve the foreclosure crisis.

Clinton wants legislation to be passed that would clarify the legal issues.
She wants to enforce and go ahead with her initial plan for creating $30 billion Emergency Housing Fund to aid state as well as community programmes to help avoidance of foreclosures It would enable groups to buy foreclosed units and put them back to productive use as well as allow groups to work for modification of loans.

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For those interested in picking up a bargain from foreclosure auctions a visit to a website launched by Long & Foster will be informative. It gives details of all the foreclosed houses ready to be sold in central and northern Virginia. Generally information about foreclosure is difficult to get. To find out if the property is foreclosed or not one has to click on ‘additional home attributes’. The best ones are the REO’s or those reclaimed by the bank. They have clear titles and one can inspect them in and out before bidding.

Some of the units are in a sorry condition. Most carry vibrations of people who could not light their home fires in these houses because of financial trouble. Many houses had been bought by investors who gambled on rising real estate to make quick phenomenal profits.

In all there are 2,610 foreclosed properties comprising of single family houses, town houses as well as condos. Most of these are located in northern Virginia. The compilation of the data is being done by Central Virginia Regional Multiple Listing Service. It provides regional information for the metropolitan area of northern Virginia. Richmond bagged the top position with 53 foreclosures. Chesterfield came second with 33 and Hanover county ranked third with 24 foreclosures. In central Virginia there were 146 foreclosures covering 19 localities. Most of the houses were owned by the banks, commented a spokesperson of Long & Foster. He is also the president of the Richmond Association of Realtors.

Realtors hunting around for a smart bargain may sometimes be lucky. Banks are more than eager to dispose of these estates weighing them down and offer discounts and incentives.
Long & Foster has adopted the strategy of organizing bus tours to attract potential buyers in northern Virginia. One of the costliest units is a house priced at $699,900, standing on Ridgeway Road next to the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond. There will be multiple offers and the buyers will have to compete for the best.
It is the law Nature that what is meat for one may be poison for another. Foreclosures are causing loss of homes while for many others it is a good time to move into a new nest with hopes and dreams. The best thing about bank repossessed properties is that the tears and sighs no longer cling to the walls and are things of the past.

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In Charlotte County foreclosures are increasing every month and the people are desperate for help. In 2007 there were 196 foreclosures – a rise of 68% from 2006 and 238% from 2004. The crisis is being fuelled by job losses, dwindling wages and family problems like divorce and illness. Localities are being affected in a chain reaction. When one house forecloses the value of adjacent property goes down while crime rates increase. Thus it is to the interest of the individual as well as that of the entire community to seek help against foreclosures.

In Charlotte County help is being given by The Housing Corporation that is a non-profit body. At the moment it is assisting 200 clients. Christine Dunbar, the chief operations officer of the concern strongly suggests that the victims should contact them as soon as they begin to feel that they cannot carry on with the loan and not when they have actually started to fall behind. There is a world of difference between a potential defaulter and an actual defaulter. The first thing to do is to contact the lender directly. Sometime the banks have in-house programmes to help the people. Usually an appointment is given and a bunch of papers sent with information so that the borrower is in a position to know about the problem to be discussed and its various nuances, well ahead. The clients will have to provide details of income, tax refunds, tax bills, bank statements as well as mortgage papers.

The first thing is advice about budgeting – balancing income with expenditure. Extra funds located will have be directed towards mortgage payments. A review of income and assets will have to be made. This will bring to the surface the root cause of default – whether mismanagement of finances or more serious actual inconveniences. Having gauged the situation the counselors will then intervene on behalf of the clients and talk with the lenders. Different options will be given to the client. To say the least it will take about a month for things to get started. Identifying and contacting lenders is a big hurdle. It is for this reason that outside professional help is required.

Dunbar warned that one must be prepared with the reality that not all the foreclosures can be stopped. A small fee may be required for credit counseling but nothing is required for foreclosure matters.

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