A casual look around will show that foreclosures are one of the prime reasons for increasing homelessness in USA today. The other reasons are loss of jobs, mental ailment, addiction to drugs or alcohol, divorce, violence at home, medical emergencies and natural calamities.

According to New York Times, 10% of all new entrants to homeless shelters across the country have come hounded out by foreclosures. In the Midwest the number is worse – 15%. Each person has a sad tale to tell that will fill up the pages of a novel.

Sheri West of Cleveland had once been the owner of a shelter but now she is running from shelter to shelter herself when her husband deserted her with a pile of credit card debts. The state then stopped financing her stay in the shelter. Without a roof she started roughing it out in her car. The irony is that the once proud West full of self-respect has to ask for help to keep surviving. It is the American style of independence that is now edging her on. It can give the push but it can also drag one down. Obsessed with the icon that is America, the poor are being blamed for everything negative that is happening. It is West and many like her who have made a mess of their lives.

But somewhere there is a silver lining in the sky. There are an increasing number of people like West requiring social services. The general tendency has been to think of them as being indolent and lazy. But now that attitude is changing to empathy. It is our individual choices that land us up on the bed we are in. It is the same with larger societal issues. Like the ants in the famed fable of Aesop, America has been storing up for harsh winter and not being lazy like the grasshopper. But there are other ways of dying apart from starving.

A staggering number of former house owners are now homeless thanks to foreclosure. It means more people are beginning to know the agony of hitting the rock bottom. With so many prostrate the others too are learning a lesson about why this has happened and what can be done to prevent it. The nation as a whole will have to learn to stand up again instead of placing a handkerchief on the nose at the many down there and blaming them at what has overtaken the whole country with rippling effects across the globe.

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• The Pattern of Foreclosures, Unemployment Despair, Suicide and Murder
• Housing Crisis Continues to be Plagued with Foreclosures
• Congress is Finally Suggesting Concrete Steps to Rein in Lenders Proceeding with Foreclosures
• Rockwall Lady Continuing to Save Foreclosed Homes
• Fraudulent Companies Assure Assistance in Averting Foreclosures

Since the time of the crash the industry watchers and experts have been giving out warnings about a second flood of foreclosures. But now they are reviewing their predictions.

Jim Summers of Re/MAX Golden Empire said, “Like everyone else, I’ve been waiting, but we’re not seeing the big influx that was expected. At this point, I wouldn’t bank on anything.” His views are echoed by many other pundits who are now saying that it is unclear when the second wave will hit the shores.

It is to nobody’s interest to see thousands of foreclosures entering the real estate market and further push down prices. Both the public and private entities have joined hands firmly to avoid this. This was the view of the director of Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast of Lusk Center for Real Estate (University of Southern California). Conway said, “As long as interest rates stay low, I think banking and government interests will be able to maintain some degree of market stability.”

The federal government definitely does not want another downward pressure on the economy. The banks do not care to see their assets go for a tumble again. The cities are dead against another round of blight – line after line of derelict foreclosed houses left to crumble and decay while inviting criminals and vagabonds.

Looking at the status of the market it is clear that foreclosures never took a rest. But a massive attack seems not to have materialized. It happened in Kern County when foreclosures doubled from last January to August. Foreclosure postings during the first 9 months of this year have decreased by 14% from what it was in 2008. The numbers fell from 6,827 to 5,858 as per the findings of Kern County Assessor. In Kern County the staggering unemployment rate is 14.3%.

This optimism holds despite the knowledge that landmines buried deep below the real estate coverings could explode any moment. The option ARM, the most exotic of the mortgages are about to reset to higher rates. These were freely distributed during the time of the housing boom.

Option ARM initially allowed borrowers low payments but with the passage of time these increase dramatically by two or three times of the original loan. California has been one of the largest recipients of these loans. 2007 was the last year when many of these loans were contracted. As per schedule these should start resetting from 2010 and continue well into 2012.

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• Housing Crisis Continues to be Plagued with Foreclosures
• Congress is Finally Suggesting Concrete Steps to Rein in Lenders Proceeding with Foreclosures
• Rockwall Lady Continuing to Save Foreclosed Homes
• Fraudulent Companies Assure Assistance in Averting Foreclosures

It has become a repetitive pattern of foreclosures, unemployment, despair, suicide and murder. There seems to be a depression in the soul of society as very survival is at stake for ordinary Americans.

The killing of a student of Fenger High School in Chicago made the President send Eric Holder, the Attorney General and Arne Duncan the Education Secretary to the scene of crime. Their aim, said Robert Gibbs, the press secretary of White House was to “talk about issues of school violence and youth violence.”

The killing drew international attention at a time when President Obama in Chicago was trying to ensure the hosting of the Olympics in Chicago. This embarrassment caused the President to react strongly.

Undoubtedly the killing of young Derrion Albert was horrendous but it needs to be borne in mind that it is not an isolated incident. In 2008, 400 youth were shot and of these 40 were murdered. Each year more numbers are being innocently butchered due to an increasing cult of violence. In Chicago and some other urban pockets it is a matter of routine. This has resulted in a fear psychosis among children when they start going to school. The first priority of any society is to see that the children are given safe passage to educational institutions.

Troops had to be deployed by the federal government for the fist time to desegregate students in Little Rock, Arkansas. But that was nothing in comparison to what is happening in the streets of America today. Concerted action is required to curb violence guaranteeing safety to the children and their parents to and fro schools.

The present Attorney General, Holder is dedicated to building again the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. But also is required civil rights involvement. In Chicago, Attorney General Lisa Madigan has demonstrated that minorities have been the victims of predatory lending. It is they who were forced to swallow sub-prime loans with absurd terms in the agreement. Mostly the young workers were fleeced and stripped of their American dreams.

The Blacks and Hispanics, cutting across income divides were made to pay much more for mortgages and business and personal loans in comparison to the Whites. They are suffering more from the foreclosure crisis than others – losing homes faster. It is their neighbourhoods that are worst hit – as statistics will testify.

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• Housing Crisis Continues to be Plagued with Foreclosures
• Congress is Finally Suggesting Concrete Steps to Rein in Lenders Proceeding with Foreclosures
• Rockwall Lady Continuing to Save Foreclosed Homes
• Fraudulent Companies Assure Assistance in Averting Foreclosures

The housing crisis continues to be plagued with foreclosures – each 13 seconds a house is being foreclosed upon. This cycle of the crisis is threatening any hope of recovery as property values continue to take a beating worth billions of dollars.

Each day over 6,600 foreclosures are posted as per the findings of Center for Responsible Lending. The latter is a non-partisan body keeping a hawk’s eye on developments. It is based in North Carolina. Already the number of foreclosed houses has touched 2 million this year without showing any signs of slowing down in pace.

It is USA’s worst housing collapse since records have started to be kept in the late 19th century. It seems that things are getting worse with foreclosure now reaching out beyond the sub-prime mortgages to other types. To add to the chaos unemployment has been increasing at a staggering rate.

Michael Barr of the Treasury testifying before the Congress in September said that over 6 million families would be scarred with foreclosure during the forthcoming three years. He said, “The recent crisis in the housing sector has devastated families and communities across the country and is at the center of our financial crisis and economic downturn.”

In September a foreclosure task force set up by the Supreme Court of Florida noted that there was a change in the main cause of foreclosures. It read, “People are no longer defaulting simply because of a change in the payment structure of their loan. They are defaulting because of lost jobs or reduced hours or pay.”

Florida has been and continues to be one of the worst foreclosure hit states. It has the highest foreclosure rate in the nation during the second quarter. 23% of the houses are in some stage of foreclosure. The report noted that “the latest news for Florida is horrifying.”

Some have read an improvement in the situation because of sales picking up and property value increasing in some areas. Perhaps the crisis has reached its nadir but there is no denying that this is the worst fall in prices since 1890. Half of the recent deals have been short sales where the houses have been sold at absurdly low prices. It is ironical that even though the country is getting back on rails from a long depression the housing crisis continues apace.

According to The Center for Responsible Lending the foreclosures are going to erase $502 billion worth of property value in this current year.

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• Experts are now Reviewing their Apprehensions about a Flood of Foreclosures
• The Pattern of Foreclosures, Unemployment Despair, Suicide and Murder
• Congress is Finally Suggesting Concrete Steps to Rein in Lenders Proceeding with Foreclosures
• Rockwall Lady Continuing to Save Foreclosed Homes
• Fraudulent Companies Assure Assistance in Averting Foreclosures

In the Senate a proposal has been introduced to put more pressure on the lenders to sit with the borrowers and modify loans so as to rein in increasing number of foreclosures. It was introduced on 30th September by Senator Jack Reed (Rhode Island). He represents one of the worst ten foreclosure-hit states of the country.

The bill proposes the setting up of a new help mortgage help plan to assist the homeowners facing foreclosure. The legislation has been sponsored by three other senators. It is known as Preserving Homes and Communities Act of 2009. It is focusing on the crisis in the housing sector and laying stress on modification of mortgages taking into account the current value of the properties.

Carrots in the form of incentives would be given to the state governments and local administrations to set up these mediation events so as to enable across the table meetings between the borrowers and the representative of the banks. A fund of $6.3 billion would be set up for offering grants to the house owners and subsidizing loans. $80 million would be given as federal matching grants to the state governments and local administrations that have been badly mauled by the foreclosure catastrophe.

It is apprehended by Housing Predictor at over 10 million foreclosures will harangue the country till the end of 2012. The increasing pace of unemployment is making it impossible for the people to keep up with their mortgages. This is resulting in increasing number of foreclosures. Pundits dealing with real estate say that until the housing sector finds a level, sustained economic recovery will not be possible. And the stability in the real estate market cannot come until foreclosures are contained.

Congress has tried to bring about this stabilization by offering the first time nest builders a tax incentive of $8,000. Simultaneously for the last one year the Federal Reserve and the Treasury have worked to deal with the lending group since the financial crisis made a bang nearly one year ago. However these attempts have all met with hurdles and not performed as per expectations. The solutions have been perfunctory and piecemeal. Till date no clear cut measure has been formulated to compel the lenders to be proactive with the borrowers and find out a realistic affordable solution.

Reed said, “Despite federal efforts, the number of foreclosures continues to rise at an alarming rate on pace to surpass last year’s foreclosures by a third. The Preserving Homes and Communities Act will ensure that we are taking similarly aggressive actions to address the housing crisis, which has devastated families, crippled local communities, and dragged down the broader economy.”

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• Experts are now Reviewing their Apprehensions about a Flood of Foreclosures
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• Housing Crisis Continues to be Plagued with Foreclosures
• Rockwall Lady Continuing to Save Foreclosed Homes
• Fraudulent Companies Assure Assistance in Averting Foreclosures

The good act started about one year previously. Today it has become a national movement to help the needy battle foreclosures. In November Marilyn Mock, a resident of Rockwall together with her son attended a foreclosure auction and was touched by a scene. One Tracy Orr was crying piteously because of the impending sale of her home.

Mock operates a rock yard. She borrowed money against her truck for dumping to purchase the house. The sight of Orr moved her very much and she gave the house to Orr following all procedures. It was arranged on a do-able terms that amounted to the house being $50,000 less that the loan Orr owed to her lenders.

The media soon trace Mock and she appeared on a television programme being the special guest of Oprah Winfrey.

Mock opines that she does not want to stop here but is eager to go ahead. She set up Foreclosure Angel Foundation to help the struggling home owners’ right across the nation. The media exposure has brought in dollars running into thousands in the form of donations. Many others like Orr have benefited from it

For Mock at the age of 51 it is something to crow about. She was brought up in an Indiana farm and is engaged in adopting animals. Surrounding her are a possum, a pair of dogs and a pig. Waving her arms she shows her office at Classic Rock situated on Highway 66. She said, “This is me – me and my pig and a possum in the drawer over there.”

Mock has been handling more than 5,000 applications. She has been lucky to save nearly 40 homes across USA. She explained, “We try to find the people that are really in need, not the ones that have just overspent; the ones that really have nowhere to turn. And there are so many of them.”

One such person is Terry Stammer, resident of Goldboro who spends her nights on a recliner and lets out bedrooms on rent to make the dollar run. A car accident left her incapable of work. She got into a fix when one of the tenants cheated her causing her to lag behind on her mortgage payments. She was planning to sell off her electric cart to make up the house payments when Mock located her and rushed in to her rescue. Stammer said, “She made me realize there are people out there who are willing to help. We stay in touch. She lets me know that I’m not alone.”

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• Foreclosures are One of the Prime Reasons for Increasing Homelessness
• Experts are now Reviewing their Apprehensions about a Flood of Foreclosures
• The Pattern of Foreclosures, Unemployment Despair, Suicide and Murder
• Housing Crisis Continues to be Plagued with Foreclosures
• Congress is Finally Suggesting Concrete Steps to Rein in Lenders Proceeding with Foreclosures
• Fraudulent Companies Assure Assistance in Averting Foreclosures

The times are indeed tough. As more and more people lose jobs, they falter on mortgage payments. Banks take over these properties. As a result, foreclosures have become very common. Now the situation has spawned fraudulent companies that promise relief to the harassed homeowners. They assure assistance in averting foreclosures. Or if a person is unable to pay medical bill, these companies immediately come for help. They assure lower mortgage payments as well.

Kristen and Joseph Noyes was one such couple who got enthused by the claims of a fraud company. They had hoped that they would not lose their ranch-style home in Coventry. However, their home was foreclosed upon.

It may be noted that in Connecticut foreclosures are at an all-time high. People are really desperate and these companies are quick to step in to take advantage of the situation. They charge a hefty fee for the assistance but disappear soon after.

State officials have warned people time and gain but to no avail. They now expect the problem to worsen as more and more people default on the adjustable mortgage. It may be noted that ARM allows a person to pay less in the initial period but after five years, the amount balloons and gets added to the loan amount. This leaves more homeowners at risk.

The Federal and state governments had come up with various home rescue programs to help harassed homeowners but the lenders are somehow sitting on the proposals. As banks are delaying the process of loan modification, fly-by-night operators take advantage of the situation. For the panic-stricken homeowners, they seem a blessing. It is only much later that the homeowners realize they have been taken for a ride.

Now Connecticut authorities will come up with a law that will ban companies from demanding payments upfront for help in mortgage issues. This law seems to have come in a little late for the Noyes. The couple had already made a payment of $1,500 to a company based in New Jersey. The couple had failed to make mortgage payments after Joseph lost work. The family income had really plunged to half even though Kristen still worked in a day care centre.

The duo increasingly became frustrated with the lender. They had repeatedly got in touch with the lenders but there was no response from them. That’s when she came to know about Davis Foreclosure Assistance and got duped in the process.

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• The Pattern of Foreclosures, Unemployment Despair, Suicide and Murder
• Housing Crisis Continues to be Plagued with Foreclosures
• Congress is Finally Suggesting Concrete Steps to Rein in Lenders Proceeding with Foreclosures
• Rockwall Lady Continuing to Save Foreclosed Homes

Foreclosures have impacted in big way on religions life – positive and negative. In some areas congregations and schools have shut down following the exodus of huge swaths of citizens in search of livelihood.

But in other places there has been a renewal of hope with neighbours and friends giving support to the sufferers during these troubled days. The houses of worship like the churches have become the support centres for those without jobs. Some have increased their donations. At one place (Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa, California) the members were so generous in their response that in that fiscal years instead of an apprehended deficit the budget ended up with a surplus.

Bryan Wilkins the business director of the church said, “We’re all a little dumbfounded. We were hearing lots of stories about people being laid off, struggling financially and losing homes. It’s truly amazing.”

The Jewish community has been badly impacted with the shutting down of many Jewish schools. These institutions are pivotal to the continuation of their faith and practices with the baton being handed over from one generation to another Jonathan Sarna of Brandeis University is a historian and has authored the book “American Judaism”. He observed that enrolment to these schools have tumbled in many urban centres leaving little opportunity for young Jews living in these regions to be acquainted with the religion of their forefathers.

The financial situation prevents many families today to send their children to religious day schools. There is also the fear that even with the improvement of finances the parents will not enroll them again – not wanting to disrupt their studies in the new schools.

In one group of Jewish day schools enrollment has gone down by 7% in the current academic year said Marc Kramer of RAVSAK. Some schools lost nearly 30% of their pupils. There are many other Jewish day schools numbering hundreds affiliated with Reform, Conservative and Orthodox movements that are in the grips of the financial famine.

Kramer thinks 2009-20010 can be marked as a “make or break” year for Jewish educational institutions because of extra harm done by the donors who have suffered from the fraud of Bernard Madoff. Broadly speaking the Jewish groups have lost a quarter of their total wealth. Kramer did not mince words when he said, “It’s going to be painful. There will be some losses.”

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• Foreclosures are One of the Prime Reasons for Increasing Homelessness
• Experts are now Reviewing their Apprehensions about a Flood of Foreclosures
• The Pattern of Foreclosures, Unemployment Despair, Suicide and Murder
• Housing Crisis Continues to be Plagued with Foreclosures
• Congress is Finally Suggesting Concrete Steps to Rein in Lenders Proceeding with Foreclosures
• Rockwall Lady Continuing to Save Foreclosed Homes

The real estate crisis in the US has worsened. As unemployment peaks, people are faltering on mortgage payments. Subsequently foreclosures have become common. The foreclosed properties are now the happy hunting ground of the vandals and drug peddlers. Some of them are even carrying on their illegal practices in these houses that have been lying vacant for a long time. With walls crumbling and rooms ripped apart, these homes are indeed in a very sorry state. The gardens are overgrown with weeds as well.

Now a recent incident has come to light that has drawn the attention of many. A senior official of the lending agency, Wells Fargo, has been throwing lavish parties in one of the foreclosed properties. The senior vice president of the company is responsible for the bank’s foreclosed homes.

This person had thrown a lavish bash at a Malibu beach house in California. Priced at $12 million, the owners of the house had to give up the property to satisfy the ballooning debt amount. Wells Fargo had declined to showcase the house to buyers. This had perplexed the real estate developers.

It may be pointed out that the previous owners had been victims of a scheme. Neighbours of the sprawling modern house bordering the Pacific, said the Wells Fargo employee Cheronda Guyton, was quite extravagant in his entertainment. Some of the guests arrived at the party by yacht. Guyton was not available for comment and the bank said a proper investigation would be conducted into the allegation.

Wells Fargo has been the subject of a controversy. There are allegations that the lender has not been able to modify loans of borrowers. It may be noted here that the Federal government has come up with Making Homes Affordable program. As a part of this program, homeowners are being giving assistance in down payment and their loans are being modified as well. However, the program has started off on a slow pitch and lenders like Wells Fargo has not been able to alter loans of consumers on the fast track.

Normally, borrowers are placed on a three-month trial during which if they are able to successfully pay the revised mortgage amount then that is fixed for the lender. The Treasury has observed that Wells Fargo has started handling the cases of only 11 per cent of the eligible homeowners who are two months behind their scheduled mortgage payment. That is surely much below the national figures.

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• Foreclosures are One of the Prime Reasons for Increasing Homelessness
• Experts are now Reviewing their Apprehensions about a Flood of Foreclosures
• The Pattern of Foreclosures, Unemployment Despair, Suicide and Murder
• Housing Crisis Continues to be Plagued with Foreclosures
• Congress is Finally Suggesting Concrete Steps to Rein in Lenders Proceeding with Foreclosures
• Rockwall Lady Continuing to Save Foreclosed Homes

Realtors are now coming forward to help prevent foreclosures. Two of them are Taylor Grant and Jimmy Stewart who walk through the neighbourhood of Waterglen knocking on doors. They are certified specialists in troubled properties. At least once per week they comb through the worst hit localities and spread the news about the impact of foreclosures on individuals and the community.

The residents are informed that a foreclosure has the power to bring down the value of those properties that are not in trouble. They also say that although they are helpless in cases where the homes are already lost, they can help those who are on the brink of trouble. The word is then passed around from mouth to mouth on their request.

Stewart explained, “Seven out of 10 people who are in trouble don’t reach out to anyone, either through fear, embarrassment or lack of knowledge.”

There are many other real estate firms who are being proactive to assist troubled homeowners through campaigns and educative classes.

Sean Dougherty representing Re/Max Alliance says that some who has a certificate to handle distressed property has a much wider role to play than just selling the unit. He is expected to find out the options before the borrower who is at risk. He is organizing a class for those homeowners facing financial trouble.

The success rates can be high as 50%. Referring to three of his clients he said that among them one returned to the bank the keys on the understanding known as ‘deed-in-lieu-of’, one sold the property in a short-sale and the third one shrugged and surrendered to foreclosure.

These certified experts are not ordinary brokers. To get the certificate they have undergone training to known about the system explained Clint Skutchan of Fort Collins Board of Realtors. He explained, “The relevance of that designation, especially now with the National Association of Realtors focus on it and the national focus on it, does mean a lot, and (clients) will get better service out of those folks.”

Stewart and Taylor comment that this public awareness plan is a tactical move in business together with letting the distress homeowners become aware of the fact that help is ready at hand if they know where to look for the keys to unlock the blocked door.

Nearly one out of ten residential house owners having mortgages are lagging behind in payments. Stewart and Taylor visit those areas that are heavily marked by the curse.

Related Posts

• Foreclosures are One of the Prime Reasons for Increasing Homelessness
• Experts are now Reviewing their Apprehensions about a Flood of Foreclosures
• The Pattern of Foreclosures, Unemployment Despair, Suicide and Murder
• Housing Crisis Continues to be Plagued with Foreclosures
• Congress is Finally Suggesting Concrete Steps to Rein in Lenders Proceeding with Foreclosures
• Rockwall Lady Continuing to Save Foreclosed Homes