“Suffering in Silence” - Foreclosure outreach

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I attended the Frederick Foreclosure Forum last night. The turn out was not as expected. There were only a small handful of consumers looking for answers and guidance. The other 85% were local professionals, city and county personal looking for more resource to help those in need. I kind of expected a low turn out for the consumer side. As part of Thomas Perez’s, the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulations Secretary, opening speech…This is a humiliating and an embarrassing problem…homeowners are suffering in silence. This problem occurred out of the absence of sufficient regulations in the real estate industry (lending portion.) He could not of said it more bluntly. I couldn’t imagine folks that really need this help, showing up amongst a crowd. I applaud the few that did.

There was a question about the appraisers being held accountable for not predicting this back in 2006. A gentleman from the Emerald Farm area, not in trouble now, but sees the potential when it is time for him to sale in the near future. He feels the appraiser falsely gave value to his home. He believes his home and others on his street are $100,000 less than back in 2006. I know that the Appraisal process is under scrutiny and will have new laws in effect come January 2009. Not sure about $100,000 but we have been experiencing about 1-1.5% depreciation in some neighborhoods. Emerald Farms price drops have been a result of the increase in short sales ranging in price $300-349,000. The home that sold for $349,000 was originally purchased for $360,000 in 2004. One home currently on the market for $300,000 sold back in 2006 for $450,000. A non Arms length transactions should not impact future appraisals but the do impact sellers pricing strategy.

Fernando Herboso, a local real estate agent, wanted to know what the state was doing to help the Hispanic community who are also falling victim to bad loans. He said down in the trenches they are afraid to speak out for fear of being deported and separated from their children. He also went on to explain these are hardworking families that are helping build a community and doing jobs that others will not. They have no place to turn. He spoke of a tragic situation about a woman beaten by her husband with black eyes that was also afraid to speak out. This problem is not only housing related but domestic too. He said they fear of speaking to the police in their community. Perez was appalled by the beaten and said people should not be afraid to speak out against crimes. He then went on speaking about the programs in general that the state offers.

A couple items I took away from this; The Emergency Foreclosure Bill and also the state has a team that investigates the mortgage fraud and mortgage scams. (yes, I did ask the question about the carpetbaggers) Thomas Perez just loves ripping out the signs of these scam-artist that scrape equity off of homes. They also dupe homeowners out of their homes by having them sign a quitclaim deed and “renting” the home back to them until they can get back on their feet. This never happens.

Numbers you need if you or someone you know is facing foreclosure.

1-877-462-7555 or www.mdhope.org

If you think you have been a victim of mortgage fraud or a mortgage foreclosure rescue scam…

1-888-784-0136

Locally Frederick County residents can get free counseling by contacting the Frederick Community Action Agency. You can talk to Joe Baldi or Brad Peterson. They will help you talk to your mortgage company and possibly negotiate a better situation for you. Frederick doesn’t want empty houses in the community either.

One last take away from this meeting was about the rights of tenants. Mary Beth Johnson of the county housing rental assistance, has been seeing a rise in landlords going into foreclosure and the tenants are left on the curb without notice. Scott Borison of Legg Law,LLC, states the tenants have rights and the lease supercedes the foreclosure. But this is only true if they stay in the property. Once they vacate, they have lost their right of possession. (Side note, Scott was instrumental in the drafting of the Emergency Foreclosure Bill for the state)

I am sorry to see the low consumer turn out, but glad I went. The resources that I took away from this forum will help me guide troubled homeowner in the right direction.

Back to my Foreclosure mantra….You have choices, but you have to do something…you can’t ignore it.

Please spread the word…homeowners need to act fast in order to help alleviate some of the problems.

May 6, 2008 · Filed Under Frederick Events, Frederick Foreclosure, Frederick MD Real Estate, Frederick Misc

Comments

6 Responses to ““Suffering in Silence” - Foreclosure outreach”

  1. Boomer Jack Boardman on May 7th, 2008 8:19 am

    Great information there G-Bob! Keep fighting the good fight!

    This situation won’t be going away anytime soon.

    Boomer Jack Boardmans last blog post..Old Men & Coffee Shops—the Return of Collie McIntyre

  2. gotbob on May 7th, 2008 8:53 am

    Thanks Boomer…it is only going to get worse around here. The state has over 11,500 foreclosures on the books for the first Qtr and predicting 50,000 by the end of the year.

  3. Jennifer Rathbun on May 8th, 2008 1:53 am

    I have considered having classes in my community about Short sales and foreclosures, but I figured that no on e would show up because they don’t want others to know their troubles. So I just continue to advertise my blog and some of the articles that are on it (i.e. short sale and foreclosure info as well as community tidbits) and hope I can get the word out that there is hope if you are willing to do the work.

  4. gotbob on May 8th, 2008 8:02 am

    Jennifer, I believe the one on ones and community outreach is going to be the only way to educate these homeowners.

    Thanks for stopping by…

  5. Eric- New Orleans Condos and Lofts on May 8th, 2008 9:31 am

    I do not live in a boom area so we did not enjoy the run up in prices. However we suffer as you guys do with the new loan regulations and the atmosphere created by the media. This is a problem as many just swept the issue of inapproiate loans under the table for more money.

    We have the same thing developing with energy prices as we cannot see further than next week.

  6. Karen Rice on May 9th, 2008 6:58 am

    I’ve seen some billboards in the area about foreclosure counseling or something like that. Fortunately, where we are, we do not have a lot of foreclosures and I have to wonder why. The foreclosures we do have are mostly complete dumps.

    I did however have experience with a listing that was sort of a victim of a bad appraisal - this very nice professional couple had an appraisal that said their property was worth $475,000. So they used their “extra” equity to buy a bigger home closer to their jobs. They were carrying two mortgages. Problem is - their home was not worth that amount of money in the sale end of it. It took well over a year for them to come to grips with that and to finally understand the “market value” of their home - it ended up selling for less than $250K. They must have had considerable savings or a heck of a salary to be able to carry both of those mortgages for so long until the other house sold.

    And I wonder if they lost money (it sold eventually thru another agency)…they were one of the fortunate ones…the didn’t get foreclosed upon but they certainly could have.

    Karen Rices last blog post..Wild Card Wednesday - FREE HOME!!

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