Posts Tagged ‘mortage forms’

Lloyd Segal, a mortgage broker, in a timely move has authored a book full of punch to motivate borrowers into action against foreclosures. For those caught in the net the situation is not only agonizing but also insulting and traumatizing apart from being a economic catastrophe.

With foreclosures marching on with the highest peak in ten years Wall Street has started to quake and shiver.

The ‘How-To’ book is about how to keep your roof intact, negotiate with the lender and refinance, how to interpret the law to your favour and take recourse to other means like bankruptcy to fend off the wolf from the door. However Segal warns that sometimes nothing delivers and owners have to face up to the harsh reality of being unable to keep the unit. It is at this point that the book is of invaluable help giving advice focusing not on the foreclosure so much as getting rid of the financial burden. The approach is to squeeze out the maximum financial benefit and prevent damage to credit ratings. Nothing affects credit history more than a foreclosure past.

The book is full of hope and tells you to keep your chin up even when the dreaded foreclosure notice arrives. The first thing is to stay calm and fearless. Be determined not to surrender without a fight. It takes few months for foreclosures to become effective and Segal shows how to make the best use of this bonus.

He begins by putting the question – is the property worth keeping? The answer will involve taking into account equity of the unit and credit ratings together with future budget planning of the victim.

Next he says that, more often than not the lender is not an ogre and is willing to negotiate. Foreclosure process is expensive for them and moreover lenders do not want to sit on idle bricks and mortar.

If the first step fails then the other options are refinancing or filing for bankruptcy. Military persons may avail of special protection clause if still in service.

The tone of the book is impressed with the firm belief of the author that it is possible and very much so for the ordinary house owner to take the bull by the horns and subdue it. As a second line of action he suggest consultation with legal and financial experts.

Search Images

According to a survey in 2006 Detroit recorded the highest high-cost mortgages in the previous year. A community activist organization, Acorn, has been studying in depth the fall out of mortgages. They have concluded that relatively more Afro-American and Hispanic borrowers have been victims of high-cost mortgage schemes in comparison to the whites. Thus more of the minorities are buckling under the pressure of increased mortgages and losing their houses. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has a website of its own and caters to the needs of low and medium income groups.

The study has been conducted on 172 American cities. Afro-Americans are 2.7 times and Hispanics 2.3 times more susceptible to avail of high cost loans than the whites. These minorities were also more prone to get high-cost refinancing loans – Afro-Americans 1.8 times and Latinos 1.4 times.

68 of the 178 cities had the same story to tell. On an average one out of three loans fell under the high-cost category with the interest being reset at a higher level. The high cost loans clustered around Detroit, Laredo, Texas, Mcallen, Jackson and others.

The president of Acorn, Maude Hurd is of the opinion that it was because the minorities had less chance than their white brothers to avail of prime loans that they had no alternative but to opt for the sub-prime category. The irony is that it is this deprived group that needs the maximum help to live under their own roof.

Foreclosure listings are increasing by the day with more areas falling under its grip. Owners are helpless sandwiched between rising interests and falling property prices, which in turn affects equity. Acorn is keeping regular tabs and releasing regularly its findings. Acorn scrutinized facts detailed in 2006 availing of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. According to the latter (HMDA) lenders have to state the race, gender and census tract of their borrowers. From this it can be estimated whether the loan fell under the sub-prime or high-cost category. Information was got about 363 lenders. It represented 68.5% of all mortgages (residential units) that started off in 2006 and 50.5% of the sub-prime category. These facts were the materials for study.

According to Acorn loans having a percentage rate of a minimum of 3% per annum above the rate on US securities fall under the high-cost category.

Search Images

Gang and drug parties have become the bane in Manteca. At one time people had thronged to light the fires of their hearths in the Central Valley in search of their dream homes. A curse seems to have brought down the pox of foreclosures – houses with neglected overgrowth and broken boarded windows are inviting the scum and grave diggers of society. The worst affected are the affluent new sections of southern and eastern Manteca. Here most of the 66 foreclosures are concentrated. Most of those who were buying houses for the first time preferred the valley to be more affordable than the Bay area. But they did not qualify for conventional loans.

Manteca and other cities are reeling under this socio-economic malaise which is a result of the foreclosure. There is a rise in gang operations, wild boisterous drug parties and activities of dangerous vagrant squatters. Politicians, law enforces and ordinary citizens are all at their wits end. The very quality of life is at stake.

Pressure is being put on mortgage holders to look after their units. Laws too need to be overhauled to give more teeth to civil authorities.

The sub-prime mortgage sector’s failure is the principal cause for this scenario. It was only when the numbers started rolling in that the concerned authorities woke up to the fact how extensively the net of sub-prime had spread its tentacles. Loans began to go delinquent. Prices of houses fell. There developed a job crunch.

In such a scenario who bothers to clean the backyard? Police complain of an increase in criminal activity. One family survived for few days the tragedy of death living without water or electricity. Units sitting on the limbo stage when it belongs to neither the bank nor the previous owner are the worst affected. It becomes a no-man’s land – a headache for the nearby neighbours. Pressure is being put on the banks and other lenders who now own the property to take proper steps to maintain the properties. Realtors opine that the situation will not improve but slowly slide down for the worse. Foreclosures are on the increase. San Joaquin and Stanislaus are one of the worst affected areas. Arsonists have become active. Lights and taps of abandoned homes are kept running. In desperation the neighbours are pitching in to maintain the the locality.

Search Images