Foreclosure Recap – Week #27

Vacant homes are a real blight on the skyline of the American neighborhood since the start of the current rash of foreclosures. It looks badly, attracts unsavory characters and actually brings down the price of real estate in the area because it can begin to quickly look like a ghetto when house after house is boarded over and lawns overgrown like a bad movie. The city of Columbus has taken a step towards putting an end to that or at the very least to make some folks more directly responsible for the way a place looks. The officials there are setting up a registry with the names and information of people that own the vacant land and empty homes and they are going to be holding them accountable for the condition of the property. They are setting strict guidelines as to what needs to be done at what intervals and there are fines associated with noncompliance of the rules.

The Los Angeles Times brings us an ominous headline. Another Wave of Foreclosures Is Poised to Strike. Even though the government in Washington DC is telling everyone that the market appears to be stabilizing and that the job situation is getting better the news is that we could see another round of foreclosures happen as early as late summer. This would be absolutely devastating to some communities where things have been bad for a really long time. There are areas of the country, and California is one of those places, where another round of bad news will not be at all welcomed.

Interested to know exactly what your credit score means and to see how the things going on can affect your credit? This article goes into depth about how walking away from a mortgage can make you a person that a company may decide not to hire by some employers and how certain things in your credit score can mean higher interest rates and can even mean a denial of credit all together even if you have been timely on payments. It is an article that is very sobering to read and might surprise a lot of people by shooting the straight information on some points that many people thought that they knew.

In case the last week has not brought you enough information about Michael Jackson, this story might interest you. It tells the story of the man that was behind the saving of Michaels Neverland ranch and how the financial advisor helped Michael through the difficult time when he was faced with losing his beloved get away. He tells what he did to help save it and to help Michael financially.

Here is this weeks most interesting and needed article. If you are only going to take time to read over one of the things in the recap this should be the one. It is right in your face and to the point. If the entire country stopped making mortgage payments all together, the banking system would entirely shut down. Think about that statement for a second. And since state governments not only have the wherewithal to declare short-term moratoriums on foreclosures such as California recently imposed, but have the ability to make them permanent, the public can legally render the $14.6 trillion in outstanding mortgage debt essentially valueless by putting sufficient political pressure on the 50 state legislatures. So this makes you wonder how far away from that happening we actually are. I mean I don’t think that the banks really care much whether you or someone else owns your house and they have no qualms about evicting you. How would they feel if you could do the same to them this way? Definitely worth the time it will take you to review it.

In USA Today we find a little good news, and isn’t that something that we can all use here. At the end of the year 2008 Akron Ohio was rated among the top 30 in the United States on the foreclosure ratings. By the fifth month of 2009 the city has moved to number 76 and home sales are up over three percentage points over the same month last year. Now while that might not be cause to break out a bottle of the finest bubbly in town it is cause for some rejoicing. In this market any time you can reverse a trend and the numbers even a small amount such as this it is a reason to take a deep sigh.

Another area that has had it with unsightly foreclosures that are littering the streets of the city is Chula Vista in California. There they have an officer who has the duty to visit foreclosed homes. Properties that are bank owned and look for violations such as overgrown lawns and such. Fines can range as high as one thousand dollars a day for significant violations and many of the lenders are finding it a hard pill to swallow since they are not aware of the rulings in many cases and don’t realize that they are in trouble until they are presented with the fine. The hope is that this will force the lending institution to clean up the property and beautify the landscape as it were.

Missouri has long been known as the “Show Me State” and this article bears taking a little time to look over because it definitely shows that the state of Missouri is ranked number one when it comes to the art of Mortgage fraud. The FBI claims that various forms of fraud have increased with relation to mortgages a full 36 percent.

MSNBC brings us a huge but largely overlooked problem with relation to the foreclosure rate. Swimming pools from these homes are literally becoming death traps. Let’s face it children are inquisitive and quite usually fearless and love to explore. A vacant house is an invitation for some fun to youngsters and a back yard pool that contains water, even rainwater, can be something that a child can’t resist and with no one around to supervise, the pool can be deadly. While you might not think it is that big of a problem, the article goes on to say that in the United States an estimated four million of us live next door to a foreclosed property.

If you are considering buying property in this uncertain times, this article can be a source of information that might help you get everything you are looking for and avoid the potential potholes and pit falls.