HANDS was certified by the US government Department of Housing and Urban Development, to handle foreclosures. It will give counsel on mortgage properties just when the problem of foreclosure was sneaking into Warren County.
Mayor Elaine Walker confirmed that seven local banks were working with HANDS, to set up offices throughout the region, in 27 counties, Owensboro and Elizabethtown to help borrowers understand better their mortgage deals. They offered to counsel potential purchasers of houses even at the pre-mortgage stage. The local leaders in their effort to navigate borrowers, struggling under foreclosure or immersed in the midst of bigger problems, had come forward several months ago to counsel them and show them ways and means of wading out of it. The government officials, bankers, Realtors, AARP and Kentucky Housing Corporation had organized a program wherein much of the problems of the borrowers at risk of running into a foreclosure could be bailed out. Their policies were updated regularly.
The foreclosure crisis had touched Warren County but was not as bad as it was in the states of Florida, California or Michigan, nevertheless people were feeling the pinch. The whole year of 2007 saw 230 houses being foreclosed in Warren County but this year in July alone there had been 183 foreclosure filings and 25 more were slated for August, 2008. Deborah Williams, Executive Director of non-profit Housing Assistance and Development Services, anticipated that the total foreclosure figure at the end of the year was quite likely to exceed 300 households.
According to Williams many factors contributed to the present crisis in the housing finance industry. Since the late 1970’s the US had not witnessed a slump of this stature and was caught unawares. Suffering was rampant, people with low income, middle-class families with good incomes were suffocated under pressure of inflation, and higher fuel costs fanned prices so that even people with very good savings account and an organized budget were affected, and topping the problem was the foreclosure and sub-prime lending debacle.
Williams said that some funds had been procured to help out borrowers in several ways. First, it could reach out to areas to spread awareness among borrowers the status of their mortgage loans, counselors could negotiate a lower rate of interest especially if it was through a partner bank, it could offer financial help to borrowers who suddenly is retrenched or suffers a major illness. The borrowers were only to dial HANDS for help free of charge.
In the housing recession California led the nation since the days of the Great Depression. But with reports now coming in from the real estate market, the state may be first to have reached the foreclosure peak.
In Stockton, one of the worst hit pocket of California, sale of houses are picking up. During the second quarter the sale numbers doubled after prices fell by 37%. Across California the sale figures increased for three running months starting from April. This has come after 30 running months of decline said the California Association of Realtors. Of the sale, 40% came from the foreclosure category.
Mark Zandi of Moody’s Economy commented that California had gone through a traumatic time as regards fall in wealth but this shock is laying the foundations of a recovery. He said, “This signals the beginning of the end.” California lost about $1.3 trillion in house equity since the price of houses reached its pinnacle in December 2005. Today discounts up to 50% are being given and will in all probability continue till 2010. Only a fast pace of sales can clear the glut and bring back stability to the market.
For the 18th running month California led the country in foreclosures. In June seven of its metros were including among the top 10 highest foreclosed metro regions. This pushed down prices and ‘distressed sales’ became the norm. Two thirds of the sale dealt with houses priced below $500,000. It would take 7.7 months to clear the accumulated stock. Previously a year ago it would have been cleared within 10.2 months. The average price fell by 38% last month, dropping to $368,250. Professor Karl Case of Wellesley College, Wellesley, is optimistic that “things are beginning to happen.” He opines that unless the stock piled up is cleared nothing will move.
California led the housing boom when prices doubled during 2000 to 2005. All time low interest rates made this possible. With prices rising, sub-prime mortgages made its debut with its ARM’s. Loans were given to anybody with a pulse without checking on their income and capability. But when the floating interests increased to higher niches the housing boom burst and foreclosures swooped down on the nation. Some loans did not need even down payments. About half of the 25 sub-prime lenders of USA are based in California. All these reasons combined to make California the reigning monarch of foreclosures.
Foreclosures are inhuman to the four footed friends of man. The situation smacks of a savage era – or perhaps that is how history will remember this foreclosure age
Ruby, the seven-year-old corgi-mix is one of the many dogs that have lost their homes because of the foreclosure crisis. Today she is under the care of [...]
The long tentacles of foreclosures in USA are now reaching out to affect the global economy. It is spreading with no signs of retreat according to the International Monetary Fund. Reporting on the global financial situation as in April IMF states that that the international financial markets continued to be brittle with indications of risks [...]
Numbers, statistics and analysis! But foreclosure numbers cannot measure the human pain and agony of being evicted from houses that have been their homes.
Marvin Davis and his wife drive past their old house and sigh to see weeds overtaking their once well maintained lawn. This was the house where they had raised their children. [...]
One man’s poison has turned out to be another’s meat. Foreclosures have turned into a boon for clean up firms who are on their toes busy with work. The evicted victims leave behind a lot of junk that need to be sorted and sifted by companies engaged by the banks to do the dirty work.
Trash [...]
Portland foreclosure rescue scams are on the rise. Detective Liz Cruthers of Portland Police Bureau introduced fraud specialist Richard Hagar to the participants of a meeting held in East Portland.
In localities as well as across the nation mortgage fraud is making its presence felt, according to Hagar who is a renowned expert in the [...]
As foreclosure numbers increase so do instances of abandonment of pets. The four-legged friends of Man are the latest casualties in this foreclosure crisis.
Nobody knows this better than Shih Tzus of Associated Humane Societies branch in Newark. He said that in the last six months he has had to give shelter to dozens of dogs [...]
