Foreclosures are no longer confined to the urban and metropolitan centres of USA but are spilling over to the rural countryside. Foreclosures are spelling more work for the villages.
The code enforcement officers in Oswego and Montgomery are busy trimming lawns in vacant houses. It is straining their working power this summer. Till 31st July there were 49 bank repossessions in Oswego (zip code 60543) and 104 in Montgomery (zip code 60538) including the sub division of Boulder Hill. Most of these houses are lying vacant and neglected dotting the rural countryside.
Oswego village administrator, Gary Adams says that the village has been utilizing its own staff or appointing private landscapers to trim the grass of about 15 houses in the village during the past three months. The number of yards that need trimming has increased over the past few years. He adds that the number is not about a hundred requiring attention per day, but there are quite a few units that are falling apart with the wild taking it over. The administration has tried its level best to locate the lenders but when that fails they have to take on the task themselves. After all it is their neighbourhood that is at stake. The village has placed liens on abandoned properties that need urgent maintenance works. Adams added that in the end the village will get paid back when the deal goes through because the village liens will also have to be cleared before any sale is effected.
The community development director of Montgomery, Jane Tompkins, told the board of the village on 22nd July that about 80 houses in the village are in foreclosures. She said “As these properties become vacant, some lawn aren’t getting mowed; houses just aren’t being maintained.” Randy Caho is the code enforcement officer of the village. He has been spending a lot of time trying to locate he lenders, usually the banks and mortgage companies, regarding this maintenance issue. He is not always successful. Meanwhile a landscaping company has been given the job to mow lawns where the grass is overgrown beyond permissible limits. It is taking up a lot of time, energy and funds. The neighbours are a worried lot concerned about the vacant properties inviting all kinds of trouble. Primarily the values of the adjacent houses are going down. Then there is the law and order problem apart from spread of disease from unkempt property.
Anderson County is right in the jaws of foreclosures. About two decades ago there were only 8 foreclosures in a month. Today the norm has become 80 to 100 foreclosures per month. The situation is undoubtedly critical commented Carolyn Lecque of South Carolina Foreclosure Task Force. It seems that apart from the formally listed ones there are hundreds of others waiting in the line that are just about to enter the dreaded foreclosure zone. As regards foreclosure increases South Carolina stood 35th. The Greenville metropolitan statistical area ranked 88 among the top 100 MSA’s chosen by RealtyTrac. Columbia and Charleston were placed 77th and 93rd respectively. Sale of houses had dropped by 28.5% In Anderson County from April 2007 to April 2008.
RealtyTrac reported that across USA the number of foreclosures have jumped by 121% during the second quarter of this year in comparison to the same period in 2007. The problem is infecting the Upstate region also. It seems that the increase in foreclosures is because of ‘creative financing’ that has been putting brakes on the economy.
The National Public Radio interviewed Elaine Worzala of Clemson University during the time lenders were aggressively peddling their loans At that time she had asked the people to opt for renting houses but hardly anyone listened against the backdrop of a near hysterical propaganda about owning houses to realize a great American dream. At that point the people just did not want to listen to anything else.
Experts say that apart from loose lending practices the high price of fuel and food is telling on the people’s pocket. Added to this are the usual crosses of unemployment, illness and death. All these factors have combined to force people to stumble on their mortgage payments and end up with foreclosure.
The story of housekeeper Joyce Lusk is one of many sad tales When business slowed down in Oconee Memorial Hospital she lost her job. Migraines haunted this 59 year old, preventing her from getting suitable occupation Soon she found herself five months behind on her mortgage loan. She made futile appeals to her lender to consider her position, reduce her monthly commitment and give her time until she got a regular job. Today foreclosure is knocking at her door. She bemoans, “I don’t understand why they don’t want to work with me. Why do they want to take the house when the house is going to sit there for God knows how long?”
The plummeting housing prices and soaring foreclosure create opportunities for first time house owners, according to a reputed auction house in Florida. In the yester years foreclosure properties were shunned as distressed properties that needed total over hauling before it became habitable and that was expensive. In recent times however foreclosure properties in the housing [...]
The US Senate had introduced a Bill to back borrower-initiated plan to save foreclosure from taking hold of the property and it was binding on the lenders as well. The Bill had been introduced in the House (H.R.3609) and the Senate (S. 26360) was prepared to provide workouts that would be initiated by the suffering [...]
DataQuick information shows that foreclosures and pre-foreclosures in the Coastside region spell trouble ahead. In Half Moon Bay four foreclosures were noted during the second quarter of this year. Previously in 2007 there was only one foreclosure during the same period.
RealtyTrac collects information of foreclosures daily. According to it there were 29 pre-foreclosures in Half [...]
Foreclosure surges leads to increasing traffic on new website. The pain of foreclosures is being directly related to increase in numbers to Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter. It is not only borrowers but lenders too in trouble are being counted. On 7th July the number was 265 – but that was just the beginning of increasing numbers. [...]
Condominium owners were fast losing out their units to foreclosure that was in a rampage throughout the country for the past two years. The condominium associations were now feeling the heat of the foreclosure crisis and the crunch in their pockets. Real estate investors and owners of houses always depended on these associations who were [...]
Foreclosure have lain seize on Orange County, especially where sub-prime lending had concentrated, and was intensifying. During the second quarter of the year, four Santa Anna ZIP Codes were the epicenter of foreclosure in the county. The overall ratio between foreclosure and the total number of condominiums and houses more than doubled over that in [...]
