More "Talk" About The State Of The Economy....

Here are some excerpts from an online article:

".....but Democrats said they believed the government should be doing much more to help millions of Americans cope with a threatened tidal wave of mortgage foreclosures.........the serious housing slump and a credit crisis triggered by rising defaults in subprime mortgages had greatly strained the economy.......To date, the largest economic effects of the financial turmoil appear to have been on the housing market, which, as you know, has deteriorated significantly over the past two years or so.......”

Tax rebate checks ranging from $300 to $1,200 were sent out without delay starting in May as part of a "stimulus" package to help encourage spending. However not everyone qualifies for this tax rebate check.

"Pressed to say what more the administration plans to do, especially in dealing with a threatened wave of mortgage foreclosures, Paulson said he continued to look for good ideas but at the moment did not see the need to do any more than such current efforts as encouraging the mortgage industry to freeze rates on some subprime mortgages for five years and offering a 30-day reprieve on foreclosures for homeowners seriously behind on their payments to give them time to try to work out a loan modification with their lenders........."

"said that in the final three months of last year, more than 470,000 homeowners got help from companies servicing their mortgages and almost 30 percent of those received a loan modification. He insisted the administration was working hard to help, and called the problems facing some struggling homeowners “heartrending......”

I posted excerpts of this article because for all of its "wording" it still shows that Washington is just "talking" and not doing anything about the crisis of home foreclosures. And that mention of the grant programs still does not address the issue of keeping the homes out of foreclosure in the first place.

Yet again - Washington dissappoints!

source
San Diego.com

Reverse Mortgage?

I was listening to one of my local radio community talk shows and they were talking about reverse mortgages.

The definition of a reverse mortgage is a loan giving a senior homeowner the ability to change home equity into cash. Usually no payments are due until the senior moves, passes away, or the home is sold. The loan is due when the senior dies, moves, or sells. The final payment is calculated to not exceed the home's selling price.

It sounds like a good idea for those seniors that are having trouble with making their mortgage payments BUT before you decide to take advantage of this kind of mortgage please check it out first!

It may help if you listened to the same program that I was listening to. It is a local community talk radio show called "The Empowerment Zone" and it is heard on Saturdays at 4pm to 5pm on WURD-900 am. Since this radio station has an online website you can listen to the radio program via the internet even if you are located outside the Philadelphia area!

Here is more information on this radio station:

900AM WURD
1341 N. Delaware Avenue
Suite 300
Philadelphia, PA 19125

Office Hours: 9am - 5pm EST
Phone: 215-425-7875
Fax: 215-634-6003

Unfortunately I Do Know Some Sad Stories Of People Who Have Lost Their Homes

For example in my local area there was a neighbor of mine who lived with her older father in a beautiful older home.

They lost their home because of not being able to pay their property taxes.

Now in my area there are two tax bills that owners get during the year. If these tax bills are not paid during the year then one has one additional year to pay them (including any additional fees and/or fines). If they are not paid then the property gets sold!

In this case their home was sold and they moved to somewhere where they are renting now.

I had known her (I won't print her name here) for awhile and never once did she mention that they were having problems with their tax bills. She did mention that there were problems but she didn't say what they were specifically.

The next thing I know I find out from another neighbor that they had moved because their house had been sold. There was a notice that was put on their door notifying everyone of the property's being sold.

A very sad story indeed!

President Bush Signs New "Foreclosure" Laws

I had a chance to read the article (and some of the comments that were included) and needless to say it all seems so complicated! It also seems to benefit the mortgagor and not the mortgagee. There are also a lot of conditions and limitations to these laws most notably that only adjustable rate mortgages (and not fixed 30 year mortgages) apply to these laws.

I do have another blog called Grant Basics 101 and another website called Grant Related Information - so hopefully you will be able to find some information on one of these sites that could help you in case your are in foreclosure "trouble". You might also want to check with your local social services agency to see if there are any financial programs that you can qualify for to help you save your home.

I wonder what happen to that proposed 90 day moratorium on foreclosures. I guess it never saw the light of day!

President Bush Signs Foreclosure Law

Mortgage Company Executive Commits Suicide

Here is a link to a news article about a mortgage company executive who recently committed suicide! Although authorities haven't come right out and said that the man's suicide had anything to do with his mortgage company going bankrupt the case is still new enough not to rule out that possibility.

The current state of the whole foreclosure market is terrible!

Although it's probably a boon time for those that are investing in foreclosed properties, it is certainly not a good time for those that are facing losing their homes to foreclosure.

There has been a lot of talk about there being a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures but so far that is only being talked about. It is not a part of the law yet!

Sources For Extra Money?

If you are looking for sources of extra money then take a look at my Unclaimed Money Blog.

I just recently posted about the state of unclaimed money in Louisianna. There is over $300 million dollars in unclaimed money in the state of Louisiana alone!

"I Am Facing Foreclosure" Blog

I happened upon a very interesting blog called "I Am Facing Foreclosure".

This is my first visit to this blog so I haven't had a chance to look at all of the information but from what I can see now it has a lot of information relating to foreclosures, people facing foreclosures and what one can do to help stop their homes being foreclosed on.

I have to admit that I'm a little jealous of all the information that is provided in this blog. It is what I aspire my blog to be too!