Foreclosures Telling On Society And Economy

In Cumberland the number of foreclosures is vying with divorce rates and is nearly catching up with the other. A civil clerk at the court alleges that half her work is about foreclosures. Over the last five years the number has been steadily and of late abruptly rising. Attorneys from other cities are now engaging couriers to deliver the papers rather than risk sending by mail. These foreclosures are drawing more attention than divorces because insertions have to be made in newspapers firstly to list the foreclosure and secondly to notify the sale.

Pratt Dimaio who has been a real estate agent for 14 years comments that compared to other regions like Maryland, Cumberland is far better off. Here there has been only a slight increase. The local lenders should be thanked for this because of their traditional modes of lending and strict methods of appraisal. In other places, Internet lenders used inflated valuation from appraisers coming from outside and absurd loan clauses to trap the borrowers.

A report says that mortgages began to rise from the second quarter of 2005 when the housing balloon began to deflate in Maryland as across the country. High foreclosure numbers resulted from rise in mortgage interest and fall in sale of property. Sub-prime mortgages have not helped the low and middle-income groups – but rather made things worse.

Mortgage Bankers Association conducted a survey. It found that number of delinquencies in the state hit a record high during the second quarter of 2007. The increase was by 19.8% from the first quarter and a 30.8% increase from 2006.

Some of the worst foreclosure pockets are located in Baltimore City together with Prince George’s Montgomery, Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties. Garrett County ranks 23^rd with a rise of only 2 during the second quarter. It is higher to Somerset County that has no increases. Allegany County has 23 foreclosures for the second quarter making it the 17^th highest in the sate. It is a 188% rise from the second quarter of the previous year. In Washington County the picture is grimmer. It ranks third in the foreclosure race. In the second quarter the number was 125 marking huge percentage jumps. Fredrick is comparatively better with 123 foreclosures during the second quarter. It ranks 10^th. Maryland’s position is 8^th but ranks 40^th in percentage count of those houses facing delinquency.