Archive for the 'Foreclosure Help' Category

DeKalb County, Georgia wants police officers to find foreclosed houses to buy. According to market data, about 7,000 properties in the county are in foreclosure, with many of them becoming eyesores in neighborhoods and haven to some criminals.

Industry experts said that many distressed homeowners lost their homes to foreclosure due to recession and unemployment. The county has decided to take matters into its hand by having police officers, fire rescuers and first responders to find foreclosed houses and buy them.

The county hopes to prevent crime in neighborhoods inundated by foreclosure homes by putting officers in said areas. The initiative will also prevent these foreclosure houses from becoming blights to neighborhoods by having people occupy them.

DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Burrell Ellis explained that the high number of middle-class houses that are abandoned and vacant in several neighborhoods has presented an opportunity for the county to promote homeownership among police officers. Burrell Ellis said that there are many high quality properties on the county’s foreclosure inventory.

The program to purchase foreclosure houses will be supported by a special fund. Eligible buyers will receive as much as $25,000 to be used for down payment, second mortgage or closing costs.

Eligible officers should meet certain program requirements, including staying at the house for not less than 5 years. The length of stay that buyers are required to fulfill will depend on the amount of money that they will receive.

Meanwhile, neighborhood watch groups and homeowners association are praising the initiative to have police officers buy foreclosure houses in severely affected areas. They said that it is a good opportunity for residents to see officers not just as law enforcers but as human beings who are doing their jobs.

Statewide, the number of foreclosure filings rose by 36.5 percent in August compared with the same month last year. Foreclosure filings may include notices of defaults and auctions and bank repossessions.

Georgia’s foreclosure rate also rose by 7.3 percent in July, earning the state the ninth spot in terms of high foreclosure rates across the country. For the past months, the state ranked seventh among those with high foreclosure rates.

The increase suggested that potential buyers can still find foreclosed houses clogging the real estate pipeline despite the careful regulation of the outflow of bank-owned properties on the market.

Prospective homebuyers can do their share in helping reduce the number of foreclosed home sale and revive the housing market. Through the help of Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), people can purchase and renovate a vacant or repossessed home and turn them into houses of their dream.

Foreclosure has been one of the major results of the economic downturn. And the problem is bound to get worst with the rising unemployment rate. Neighborhoods that in the previous years were immune from the spreading foreclosure are now showing signs of succumbing to the problem because many homeowners have lost their jobs and could not afford to sustain paying their monthly mortgage.

In July of last year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) decided to address the devastation brought about by the foreclosure problem on neighborhoods by launching the NSP.

Today, the NSP will sponsor the City Living house tour. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, potential homebuyers will be approved and evaluated for qualification by the city. After receiving approval from the city, homebuyers will find themselves foreclosed home sale that have been vacant for three months or more.

Then, the homebuyer will find a builder or developers who will assist them in designing a custom renovation plan to repair the house and get it in shape that will meet the needs of the buyers.

After some processing, the buyers will close on the renovated house, take ownership and moved in. Industry experts said that if the trend continues, it will not be long and the property values and prices will soar, followed by the recovery of the housing market.

Additionally, Fort Wayne will invest almost 150 percentage point of the as-completed value of the property. This means that the city will invest an amount more than the total market value of the house.

Industry experts said that the main goal of the program is to stave off problems resulting from the rapid rise of foreclosures in neighborhoods. They said that the HUD program has made an effort to address vacant and foreclosed houses by purchasing and rehabilitating the properties. The program also hopes to boost the sales of houses in poor and foreclosure-prone neighborhoods in the city.

So far, there are almost 16 foreclosed home sale being renovated under the program, with 26 prospective buyers enrolled in the buying process.

Ohio House lawmaker Matthew Dolan has proposed a bill that would bring relief to homeowners who are at risk of home foreclosures. With the bill on foreclosure moratorium pending on the Ohio Senate, Dolan is hoping that his bill would provide an alternative approach to foreclosure moratorium and would gain bipartisan support.

Dolan’s proposed bill would require lenders and borrowers to mediate before foreclosure action could be filed. According to industry experts, the bill which demands parties involved to meet at bargaining tables, is a different approach in helping abate the spread of foreclosure. Last May 20, the House Democrats filed a bill that would stop foreclosure filings in Ohio for six months.

Dolan hopes that his bill would gain support among Senate Republicans. The bill is expected to be introduced before the Senate by Senator Shannon Jones. Court mediation programs in Ohio are currently voluntary. And the burden of seeking for a mediation rests on homeowners. Troubled borrowers have the responsibility to request for court-ordered mediation.

Dolan said that many borrowers are scared to deal with the court system, thus the low number of mediation cases in the state.

Meanwhile, there is lack of interest among Senate Republicans on the proposed moratorium bill by Democrats. Finance Committee head Senator John Carey said that calling a moratorium on home foreclosures is not the correct approach to solving the problem.

He said that the moratorium is just making matters worse by putting more distressed homeowners in deeper holes. Industry analysts said that the foreclosure moratorium is just delaying what is inevitable. They said that the approach is just a stop gap and not a permanent solution to the foreclosure problem. They cited the increase in the number of foreclosure properties following the lifting of moratorium programs in some states.

Meanwhile, Representative Michael Foley, author of the moratorium bill said that his proposal would force banks and mortgage servicers to pay fees for foreclosure filings. The fees would be directed to community housing organizations which he claimed are effective in their foreclosure prevention efforts.

On his part, Dolan said that his measure would force someone in authority to sit and negotiate with troubled homeowners to find ways to help them avoid home foreclosures.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank is planning to introduce a bill that would provide rescue funds amounting to $2 billion to help the growing number of unemployed workers who are facing foreclosed property sale.

The increase or decrease in the number of Federal Housing Administration repossession houses across the country will be a huge factor in the ability of the FHA to weather its falling cash reserves.

Unless you are paying in cash, buying an FHA foreclosure home needs loan pre-qualification. This is an essential process to ensure that you are qualified for an FHA home loan before you spend precious time, effort and money looking for an FHA foreclosed home.

Purchasing foreclosed homes in San Joaquin Valley and rehabilitating them for lower-income families is the main goal of the consortium called California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley in asking for $193 million from the second funding round of the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

You can buy a foreclosed home for sale under the Fannie Mae lease purchase program while you are still building up your credit record and saving up for your payments.

Buying foreclosed properties to start your rental business is a valid proposition. This idea has been in the minds of many people who are seeing profit opportunities in the significantly reduced prices of residential properties, whether newly constructed, foreclosed or previously owned.

A large number of foreclosed homes for auction will be driven by the readjustment of option adjustable mortgage loans, according to a real estate research firm tracking subprime and other risky mortgages.