The Virginian-Pilot
©
VIRGINIA BEACH
Homeowners who are struggling to pay the mortgage or are facing possible foreclosure can get help Saturday.
A task force commissioned by Gov. Tim Kaine has scheduled a free mortgage clinic for financially troubled homeowners at Larkspur Middle School, 4696 Princess Anne Road, Virginia Beach.
Homeowners can meet with certified housing counselors for 30 minutes between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but must preregister at www.virginiaforeclosureprevention.com .
The Virginia Mortgage Clinic is one of five offered statewide to help consumers prevent foreclosure or get through one.
Virginia’s foreclosure rate is less severe than that of some other states and the nation’s, said Susan Dewey , executive director of the Virginia Housing Development Authority. It was 1.01 percent compared with a national rate of 2.04 percent in December, authority data showed.
Hampton Roads’ rate of foreclosure stood below both the state and national rates at 0.84 percent in December, the data showed.
But from 2004 to 2006, 22 percent of all loans originated in Hampton Roads were subprime and other high-cost loan products, Dewey said. Homeowners relying on those loans may be vulnerable to foreclosure.
Counselors hope to impart several messages Saturday. First among them is this: Don’t ignore mortgage troubles.
If a homeowner is delinquent with his mortgage payments, has lost his job or knows that the interest rate on his loan will reset beyond what he can afford, he should talk with his lender, Dewey advised. It may lessen any credit damage.
Homeowners attending the clinic also should bring information about their mortgage obligations, Dewey said.
“The more they bring in, the better counselors will be able to help them,’’ she said.
Jeanne Mooney, (757) 446-2043, jeanne.mooney@pilotonline.com
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Yahoo
But people are walking away on purpose!
People took out loans that had teaser rates that expire, figuring that they could quickly sell at a huge profit. It didn't work out. Now that homes are underwater, meaning the "home owner" owes more than the house is worth, they WANT to walk away. The only incentive for owning was that they would magically make tons of money, perhaps more than can be made actually working at a productive job. In other news you don't see in the Pilot foreclosures in the US are up 7% in May from April, and up 48% from a year earlier. 40%+ off peak bubble prices is what we will see, sorry if you bought a home in the mania but the correction is coming.
Tax dollars at work...
I can see what is happening, too bad the governor is too clueless about economics to see it too. Over the past ten years or so, the market has been flooded with get rich in real estate books, seminars and infomercials. The main premise of these is to leverage the equity into new properties and sell or refinance them after the equity builds up again. Some of these people made bad decisions and could not cover the mortgages with the rents coming in and the whole thing collapsed. If we exclude the investors that lost their investment homes, then I bet the amount of foreclosures would be no more than in the past. Makes me wonder, will the governor set up an investing clinic for me if I make a bad stock purchase decision?