Northern Michigan Real Estate: Workshop for House owners is focusing on Foreclosure Prevention

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association the number of house owners facing risk from foreclosure touched a new high for the 9th running quarter. In the Mendocino County Fairgrounds nearly 50 persons were either struggling to hold on to their houses or planning to purchase their first nest, recently got together at a workshop aimed at stalling foreclosures.

Cathy Fantulin a house owner residing in Fort Bragg complained, “Our loans just keep getting sold over and over.” Her predicament typifies a national tendency.

According to the Associated Press unemployment is currently the prime reason for defaults and delinquencies in home loans.

The sub-prime loans contracted during the housing boom are no longer the culprits. The figures given by Mortgage Bankers Association and reported by AP showed that of the new foreclosures during the previous quarter showed that 33% of the borrowers came from those with fixed rate mortgages. In the previous year the proportion was 21%. The sub-prime mortgages were the prime culprits for the fiasco. Fantulin said, “We were upper-middle class before all this.”

Till recently Fantulin together with her husband could manage the mortgage on their house with their joint income. Trouble started when they contracted a second mortgage to meet certain medical expenses of their child. Subsequently she suddenly became jobless after falling ill. Currently she is surviving on the benefits of Social Security and part time work that hardly suffices to meet her house commitments.

Representatives from various regional banks, lawyers and financial counselors were present at the workshop attending 3 panel talks. Individual house owners were counseled. There were many reasons behind the troubles of the house owners – some had lost jobs while others were battling with the high rates of sub-prime mortgages. They had all gathered to deal with the harsh reality of the collapsed real estate market – it being one of the main causes for their debts and inability to pay it.

Marty Lombardi of Savings Bank said, “Fannie Mae has come down to our banks and all the institutions and mandated that we work with borrowers that we forge programs and alternatives for you that only represent 30 percent of your income, where the mortgage that wasn’t affordable is now affordable. The banks are finding their way. They’re being pushed by the legislators, but they’re finding their way right now. So what you were told a month ago … is not today’s reality.”

Original Post: Workshop for House owners is focusing on Foreclosure Prevention