Foreclosure Recap – Week #19
NBC News reported that one bright spot in the housing crisis actually favors first time homebuyers. Houses that were out of reach for a lot of people or people looking to buy in better neighborhoods for a long time found it unobtainable. The recent trouble in the real estate market has made it easier for this segment of the country to actually get into the homes that they are after because the prices are now where they can afford to get them. One person in Phoenix could not afford owning a home a year ago. Just recently he ended up purchasing a home that was valued at $220,000 last year and the price he paid this year was only $82,000. In fact the purchases made so far this year show that over 53 per cent of the purchases were to first time home purchasers.
In Washington, the Federal Housing Authority is scheduled to ask Congress for nearly $800 million dollars to help prop up the housing market with mortgage programs specifically for senior citizens. It seems that the FHA is concerned about reverse mortgages since the cost of housing is falling. A house that a senior may have had insured for $200,000 may well end up selling for less after they die than the reverse mortgage actually owes on it and that could be a real concern in the market as it stands today.
Out of Florida more people are being forced out of their homes in Pinellas Park than ever before. According to the St. Petersburg Times the local police begin making the rounds and trying to set up shelter for the homeless as early as 5 AM each day. At seven o’clock they know how many beds are going to be available at the local shelters and they begin trying to make sure as many are accommodated as they can. This is as much to get the people off the street for safety as it is for humanitarian reasons.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that three people were indicted in a tax scheme, which involved high value homes. The scheme involved tax evasion and kickbacks for the builder and several other things that the FBI is documenting and re-creating through the reconstruction of shredded documents. The overall valuation of the fraud is in the multi-million dollar level and may well climb higher as the FBI and IRS dig farther into the case. One home alone was 28,500 square feet, nine bedrooms and nine baths. So we are not talking small humble cottages.
The Fox News Network in the twin cities of Minneapolis St. Paul in Minnesota report on a program whereby Dakota County is offering a foreclosure workshop to help people who are worried about being foreclosed upon by giving them free advice that tells them of plans and available options and answers questions that they might have about impending foreclosures.
This is a positive story. It tells you how to deal with it. The fact that there are three steps to dealing with foreclosure and they are not to blame your self, look over all the options and try not to worry. The article explains how you can do this and finally that you need to get as much information as you can. Knowledge is the one thing that can make it all easier to deal with. The whole country is in this mess and being stressed will only make it worse.
The Pittsburgh Gazette brought us a piece about HGTV and the show that might literally save people’s homes. This particular article focuses on a California home where the prize money for winning is $250,000. The issue here is that the particular home in the competition for the TV show can be saved from the foreclosure if they win. If they are not the winners, then the house that they are living in may fall into foreclosure and the woman that lives there and her two teenage children might end up on the streets. The market is putting an interesting spin on this particular challenge without actually trying.
This one proves that no one is beyond the touch of the current market problems. Victoria Gotti, daughter of the famous mafia boss John Gotti is losing her 4.2 million dollar Long Island mansion to the foreclosure system. It seems that she is $650,000 in arrears and has not made a mortgage payment since September of 2006. The Daily News reports that JP Morgan Chase is foreclosing on the mansion, which was featured heavily in the reality TV show, “Growing Up Gotti”.
Fox ten brings us the story in Alabama where the state bar and the legal services department there have joined forces to try and help people in that state be able to stay in the home that they own and to help stay off the foreclosures of them. This is a plan that is of no cost and should help people stay in the homes they own and hopefully will lower the burden on the legal and foreclosure system in the state of Alabama.
NBC Channel 4 brings us a story out of Central Ohio where lawmakers are trying to pass a six-month moratorium on home foreclosures and would give the courts the next three years to modify the mortgage agreements. It also will allow the homeowners to stay in the home after it is foreclosed and would set up a trust fund to help them financially. If it passes both the house and the senate of the state of Ohio it will bring much needed relief to the people of that state.
The Miami Herald says that foreclosures there continue to soar and between March and April they increased as much as 124 per cent in Broward County. The steep increase in percentages is largely due, according to the articles sources, to the speed with which the lenders are foreclosing on the properties there. It appears that the banks have begun making quick decisions about whom they are and who they are not going to help.
Finally this week, from the Associated Press – the Obama administration has announced that they are going to expand the mortgage aid program to help the American people out during this crisis. The new things include new ways to help the homeowners by letting them sell the home for less than it is worth, which is known as a short sale or give it back without repercussion which is a deed in lieu of foreclosure. The official announcement is forth coming but it all looks promising.
