Foreclosure Listings Articles

Foreclosures have transformed Lake Las Vegas resort from a symbol of prosperity into an emblem of recession. Beyond the suburban spread there lay an artificial lake in the desert flanked by a village with an Italian touch – representing everything that taste and money could buy. But the overflowing milk of prosperity has suddenly curdled.

In 2008 Transcontinental Corporation that was developing the property lost it to foreclosure after failing to repay loans amounting to $540 millions. The new owners filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the summer of 2008. One of its main hotels – Ritz Carlton LLC too filed bankruptcy to ward off foreclosure and since then has been sold. One of the prime golf courses has been left abandoned.
There are practically now new constructions of residential houses although the project is far from being completed. Like an epidemic, foreclosures have spread causing value of houses to tumble. The glittering aquamarine lake that was thought of as the jewel in this region suddenly developed an ominous leak causing engineers to hastily repair it to prevent sudden draining of it.
The residents are all trying to sell their units one after another. In May this year about 10% of the houses in the region were in the foreclosure category – either bank repossessed or in short sales. It meant that the values of the houses were so low that the loan amount was far greater according to the findings of Applied Analysis that deals in real estate research. About 80% of the houses that were listed lay vacant and unoccupied.

Ed Santacruz – formerly a mortgage broker and fortune hunter said, “I thought it was a no-lose situation. It ruined me.” His hotel-condo lapsed into foreclosure. He had plans of renting out the unit to tourists but there were not enough candidates so as to meet the mortgage expenses. He added, “That’s where I messed up, I believed enough in the product and in Las Vegas.”
It is not difficult to find the reasons for the problems of Lake Las Vegas. The community was planned to be a resort as well as a residential centre. It leaned heavily on buyers of second home and tourists for its success. But when the economy began to falter it too began to choke and stumble. Brian Gordon of Applied Analysis said, “There was a point and time when the higher end of the market had been less impacted. But as the recession has run longer and deeper than initially expected …”

The impact of the present crisis is being felt by religious institutions and subsequently it will tell on the faith and practices of the next generation. However everything is not negative – suffering has brought people together.

Nearly 3,800 private schools are part of The Association for Christian Schools International. It notes that enrollment has decreased by about 5%. Nearly 200 Christian schools have been shut down or have been merged during the previous academic year. In the previous year it was 150

The Association of Theological Schools represents the North American graduate schools. 80 of its members have said that endowments have fallen by 20% or sometimes even more.

The damage done to The National Catholic Education Association is yet to be measured but there is little hope that the results will be anything but good in the areas where foreclosures has been worst. Karen Ristau of the association said, “Some schools that were on the brink — this whole recession has just intensified that.”

On the other hand clergy from different communities are reporting that attendance for worship has increased because people are desperately seeking comfort during these troubled times. But nobody is saying that there is going to be a religious revival across the nation.

In America the trend during the last few decades has been a shift away from belonging to a notified group towards spirituality that is more general. It may or may not be about regular trips to the church. It was observed by The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey that more and more Americans were saying that they were “non-denominational Christians.” An increasing number are claiming that they do not have any religion.

Prior to the crash of the stock market in last autumn, a mere 19% of the congregations in America said that their finances were in shipshape condition. It was 31% in 2000 according to a poll conducted by 2008 Faith Communities Today.

The Protestant group has been the worst affected with their numbers fast declining since many years. They are divided over Biblical interpretations on many subjects like Gay relationships. The national churches have been dependent on endowments and generosity of ageing members but the crisis has stopped the flow drastically.

Mainline denominations like the Episcopal Church, United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church etc were compelled to ease out employees and drastically cut budgets. The Methodists were worst affected. Roman Catholic groups have been in troubled waters for quite some time and are now compelled to freeze salaries and cut jobs.

There is slim chance that the tide will turn in the coming years.

The strong message that the foreclosure crisis has called for a revolutionary change in prosperity has been highlighted in a report released by two Nobel Prize winning economists Joseph E. Stiglitz and Amartya Sen. By using the GDP as an yardstick the policies undertaken by governments have been erroneous causing the worst crisis since the [...]

Continue reading: The Foreclosure Crisis Calls for a Revolutionary Change in Measuring Prosperity

Michigan is struggling caught between the double pincers of unemployment and foreclosures. It has the highest unemployment rate from 2006. The predictions are that in June it will spike to 15.2% and keep on going up before finally taking an about turn. The state has never quite recovered after the 2001 recession.
The collapse of the [...]

Continue reading: Michigan Caught Between the Double Pincers of Unemployment and Foreclosures

When it’s time for you to get to the dirty task of cleaning the windows, choose a nice overcast day. It will help eliminate the streaking that is caused by the sunlight drying the solution on the window before you can wipe it off.
While it makes perfect sense, it also bears [...]

Continue reading: 18 Useful House Cleaning Tips

Two noted Gold Coast development sites under Mark Hunt of Chicago are being sued for unpaid loans amounting to $50 million. Foreclosure is imminent. One of the sites is the shut down Esquire Theatre. Two suits have been filed.
Anglo Irish Bank Corporation is targeting collection of $33.2 million for the Esquire area that covers half [...]

Continue reading: Two Gold Coast Development Sites are Facing Foreclosure

The US is going through one of its most challenging phases. Unemployment is at its peak and people are faltering on mortgage payments. Subsequently banks are taking over the properties and foreclosures have become common. According to Equity Depot report, foreclosures in Atlanta will increase. About 116,905 will come up for foreclosure by 2009, which [...]

Continue reading: Foreclosures in Atlanta Will Increase

Even in today’s market where foreclosure property can be great buys there are still some rules that you need to abide by and some things that you need to know. We’ll call them home buying tips. This article goes over the six biggest mistakes that homebuyers make from getting pre approved [...]

Continue reading: Foreclosure Recap – Week #39