Archive for the 'Connecticut' Category

A total of 80 families in Connecticut were able to save their houses from getting sold at foreclosed homes auction through the help of the statewide Mortgage Crisis Job Training Program which was launched in June 2008.

The statewide program has been helping distressed borrowers gain job skills that they use to get employed or earn money and be able to make their monthly loan payments.

The program was designed to help homeowners across Connecticut who are in default on their primary home loans by at least two months and who are earning less than $120,000 a year. Under the program, they will be helped without payment of fees. Credit counselors and nonprofit personnel work with borrowers to improve their credit records and their financial situation so that lenders would approve their loan modification requests.

The Mortgage Crisis Job Training Program was enacted in 2008 through the sponsorship of the legislation by state Senator Bob Duff and state Representative Ryan Barry. The program, which began working with homeowners in September, has just completed its first 12 months of operation.

According to Senator Duff, what is good with the program is its emphasis on helping borrowers rise up on their feet and not on making dole-outs.

Joseph Carbone, CEO and president of The WorkPlace Inc. which runs the program, said the program provides better options for troubled homeowners because it addresses both current and future situations.

According to Carbone, a total of 722 residents were provided with customized employment services and career coaching that led to job placement and job training scholarships. Out of the 513 people who got scholarships, 231 have already completed their training. Several trainees have found new jobs and received higher wages. Other participants are still undergoing training and are still negotiating affordable repayment plans with their lenders.

All in all, 80 participants have avoided foreclosure since the launching of the training program through loan modifications, new repayment plans, short sales and participation in the EMAP program of the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority.

The program also provides counseling and training to make families more financially stable. Since 2008, the program has helped 541 residents with credit counseling and financial literacy services.

Considered by state officials as the only program of its kind in the country, the Mortgage Crisis Job Training Program is run by The WorkPlace Inc. with support from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, Capital Workforce Partners and the state workforce system of Connecticut.

In April, New London County in Eastern Connecticut registered its first increase in home sales in almost two years due largely to the rise in foreclosed houses for sale, according to Boston-based real estate research firm Warren Group.

Aside from low mortgage rates and the tax incentive for first-time buyers, the increase in sales compared to the previous month was also due to large numbers of homes priced from $100,000 to $200,000, according to John Bolduc, head of the Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors.

Across Connecticut, prices of single-family houses have been dropping, according to Warren Group researchers. Statewide, the median price has fallen to $227,500 in April from the median home price of $263,000 in April 2008.

In New London, single-family home sales increased by 17.8 percent in April from the previous month. The single-family house median price fell by 11.9 percent from $244,000 to $215,000.

Compared to April 2008, sales dropped by 18.6 percent and prices fell by 14.3 percent.

Although median prices of condos also declined by 28.3 percent to $145,500 from the previous month’s median price of $203,000, sales still fell by 48.7 percent.

According to Warren Group, the last time New London had a month-to-month increase in home sales was two years ago.

Carol Christiansen, head of the New London Realtor Association, said lower-priced foreclosed houses for sale and non-foreclosures priced below $230,000 usually sell quickly, with many of the units receiving a lot of offers. She added that houses priced from $300,000 to $450,000 were not receiving many offers because there were only a few move-up buyers.

Christiansen mentioned that Pfizer Inc.’s layoff of about 500 scientists affected sales of higher-priced houses. She also related the increase in short sales in the area, stating that more than 50 percent of sales of homes priced below $200,000 were short sales.

Timothy Warren, CEO of Warren Group, explained that pay cuts, job losses and consumer debt increased the number of foreclosed houses for sale, pushed down prices and limited the increase in home sales.

Warren also said that bank owned foreclosed houses for sale statewide also accounted for most of the rise in home sales in the first quarter. These houses sold an average of only $80,000, dragging down the median home price.

Additionally, Warren Group said that while home sales increased in New London, total sales of non-foreclosure homes and foreclosed houses for sale statewide declined by over 20 percent, compared to April last year.

A bill that would prevent foreclosed for sale properties from causing blight in Connecticut neighborhoods was passed by the state Senate on Tuesday afternoon.

The Senate bill, called An Act Concerning Neighborhood Protection, was passed unanimously. It was also previously passed unanimously in the Senate Banks Committee.

The bill would create a registration system that would track the owners of vacant foreclosed for sale properties and monitor the maintenance and conditions of abandoned properties.

The Senate bill would also empower municipalities to implement provisions of general statutes or municipal ordinances concerning the maintenance or repair of abandoned properties. Municipalities are also instructed to provide proper notices to owners of foreclosed for sale properties and give them time to rehabilitate the properties or solve any problem related to their maintenance.

According to Democratic Senator Bob Duff, co-chairperson of the Banks Committee, the bill would protect neighborhoods from deteriorating into places that hosts crime and violence. He reiterated that blight is not only a beautification issue; it is a public safety issue. Foreclosed for sale houses that are uninhabited and untended for a long time becomes magnets for thieves, vandals and other types of criminals.

Duff added that the tracking system to be established by the bill would identify owners of abandoned foreclosed for sale properties and would make them accountable for their repair and maintenance. It gives towns and cities the power to prevent blight from devastating their communities.

Owners of foreclosed for sale properties would be ordered to register either through the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems or with the town clerk. Owners would pay a $100 registration fee and provide their contact information, including contact information for the property maintenance company that would secure and maintain the vacant foreclosed for sale properties.

According to a report released in May by California-based foreclosure monitoring service RealtyTrac, Connecticut is 19th in a ranking of states according to foreclosure rates in April. It had 1,695 lis pendens, 119 notices of foreclosure sales, 360 real estate owned properties, a total of 2,174 foreclosure filings and a foreclosure rate of one in every 662 housing units.

In the first quarter, with one in every 245 housing units getting a foreclosure filing, Connecticut was 15th in rate ranking, with 4,256 lis pendens, 16 notices of trustee sale, 461 notices of foreclosure sale, 1,143 REO units and 5,876 total filings.

The bill, expected by many to eliminate the blight effects of foreclosed for sale, moves to the House for consideration and voting.