Are There Free Homes?

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

Are There Free Homes?
posted with permission from http://sane-ramblings.blogspot.com/2010/10/are-there-free-homes.html

The deepening U.S. mortgage mess in which giant lenders were seizing thousands of homes without following the laws has led to all 50 state attorneys general to put a temporary freeze on foreclosures.

Doe this mean the owners now have free homes? Many people who couldn't make their mortgage payments also couldn't pay their property taxes, fire insurance or home maintenance. They've lived in their homes for free. As local communities couldn't collect those property taxes, they've had to layoff teachers, police and firefighters and cut back on other essential services.

But before you criticize those who have defaulted on their mortgages, property taxes, etc., in many cases these are people who have lost their jobs and are desperately looking for work. Others are suffering from horrific illnesses and no longer have health insurance.

Still others qualified under government relief programs for lower mortgage rates and partial mortgage forgiveness from lenders but often those lenders did not follow-up with them and instead put them in foreclosure.

As a real estate owner, last year I had a long time tenant with two children, who lost her job and was unable to find work. She never told us. Desperate, she packed her things and moved without first notifying us. But she left a note apologizing and explaining her dire circumstances as she moved in with family.

In response, we forgave the money she owed and sent her a note wishing her well, thanking her for having been such a good tenant.

This solution could work for these giant lenders as well, all of whom received massive bailouts and continue to get ultra-cheap money through the government squeezing interest rates to savers to nearly zero. They could hire and train enough people to process all these loans in good faith.

Many troubled homeowners are also far behind in car and credit card payments and will leave. They just want to be treated with respect. For those who could afford their homes if adjustments were made to their mortgages, make those adjustments! It's cheaper and easier than seizing the homes, renovating them and selling them at huge discounts to investors.

There are no free homes. But there are millions of people who need a helping hand and it is good business to give it to them.

[Edweird]

1. That's not even gonna fly here - too many are far too self centered - much less with the RW'ers.

[WingDinger]

2. The only penalty those fraudfucks will see is the one we issue, as the new poor.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

3. Yesterday the Bank of America announced that...

...despite all 50 state attorneys general freezing foreclosures, they will proceed with the 102,000 foreclosures they have underway. Separately, GMAC has decided to do the same. Citicorp never stopped.

All three will initiate tens of thousands more foreclosures. This is "in your face" to those attorneys general.

[Hosnon]

4. I don't imagine any attorney general has the authority to freeze foreclosures.

Perhaps they requested a court to do so, but I'd be shocked if any one of them has that authority.

[Lance_Boyle]

5. 'could afford their homes if adjustments were made to their mortgages'

What adjustments? I have no problem with extending the term of the loan, maybe even to 50 years in some cases. Where such adjustments could reduce the monthly payment to something manageable for people - enabling them to stay in the house and the lender to get paid as contracted (eventually) - it should be do-able. But when you start advocating for cramdowns, that's a problem. Either EVERYONE with a mortgage gets a cramdown to reduce the principal owed, or NOBODY does. There is simply no other way to make that fair to everyone with a mortgage. Why should I get my mortgage contract nullified and a portion of my house given to me for free while my neighbor must continue paying as promised on his?

[chaska]

6. Actually, there are free homes....

Apparently, there are quite a few in my mother's home town. There may be back taxes owed or something, I don't know. But there are plenty of dying towns in this country. Look for mill towns - cotton mills, steel mills, etc. - where the town's, usually, only industry has moved overseas. These aren't necessarily places you'd want to live, but like anything else, you get what you pay for. There will be a catch somewhere along the line.