With conviction and force Rep Marcy Kaptur (Democrat/Ohio) is telling foreclosure victims to stay on in their houses as squatters. She said, “So I say to the American People, you be squatters in your own home. Don’t you leave”. In a clever way she is exploiting a legal technical point imbedded in the sub-prime mortgage [...]

Suzanne Hall is one of the many facing a collapsing economy. She wanted to refinance her house located in Cockeysville. Wanting to opt out of her ARM loan she took a traditional fixed loan that would run for 30 years. Her banker was PNC Bank. The interest rate would fall to 5 1/8th% from 6.5%. [...]

For the past two decades the New Harvest Church in Socastee had a surfeit of funds. This non-denominational church expanded its missionary activities across the world – sinking wells, setting up orphanages and schools; it even rescued 100 minors from the clutches of slavery. Rev. A. J. Baisch of New Harvest said, “We were bringing [...]

It is not just house owners that are suffering from foreclosure blues. The problems linked with the housing market are endless. It is increasing along with the foreclosure numbers. Together with this come violations related to dumping and public nuisance. In Mercer County the problem is acute with houses in neglected condition dotting the landscape. [...]

The negotiators in both the House and Senate are continuing to iron out the differences on bank reform. The House suggests the use of $3 billion to help unemployed homeowners avoid foreclosure. This may prove a thorny point – not easily resolvable. There are many other bumps ahead especially the point of enforcing banks to [...]

By tracking the progress of HAMP, the government modification programme to contain foreclosures one gets the impression that the programme is a total failure. In May there were five times more dropouts than entrants. In May both trial and permanent modification numbers fell. One of the reasons for the failure of HAMP is that the [...]

The desert was rolled back to make way for residential housing developments in Victor Valley. The price of land was as cheap as dirt. Nearly 300,000 people came to call this place their home. It sizzled in summer and froze in winter and was blasted by winds that came down from the mountains. Yet this [...]

Without being asked about how they are doing, the Obama government has given the reply voluntarily by saying that they were doing great. A new ‘Housing Scoreboard’ is now going to be released by the Treasury and HUD – it being an endeavour to convince all that some efforts are progressing to address the housing [...]