Help for Homeowners Facing Foreclosure

November 20, 2008

Everyone seems to agree that flooding the market with empty, foreclosed homes does not help neighborhoods maintain stability – either as a way of living, or regarding the value of homes. Empty homes do nothing for a neighborhood.

Recently some organizations are taking tentative steps to allow homeowners who are defaulting on their mortgage to remain in their homes –at least for the time being.

Fannie and Freddie Mac have announced that they are freezing foreclosure sales until after the new year while they review strategies and the future of their organizations. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. recently announced foreclosure-prevention programs that aim to reduce interest rates, extend repayment schedules and, in the case of Citigroup, reduce loan amounts, to help borrowers keep their homes. But the programs have focused primarily on loans wholly owned by those companies because they feel they have more authority to rework those mortgages.

HSBC is also making more options available to more people. For example, it is contacting customers before their adjustable-rate loans reset to higher rates and freezing the current rate or allowing the borrower to pay a rate below what the new rate would be. The bank also is lowering fixed rates for selected borrowers. All this in an effort to stave of foreclosures.

One way of stabilizing markets where supply exceeds demand is to regulate supply. That way the people who can buy homes can buy from sellers who can’t afford to stay in their current home. But, amazingly enough, new home construction is still going on – even in saturated markets. Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg suggests, only half-jokingly, that the Treasury should impose a moratorium on home building. "It sounds like lunacy, but we have to destroy the housing capital stock to help put a floor under the market," he said.

As of 11/29/09 the Thomas A Boos RePage is ranked at 4,381 with 55 points.
The monthly top RePage owner will receive a cash prize. Help this agent by bookmarking this site and posting it to blogs and other Web pages and encourage others to visit.

Local Information for Grosse Pointe, MI

Latitude: 42.390787 -- Longitude: -82.911294

Other Area Cities: Grosse Pointe Grosse Pointe Farms Grosse Pointe Park Grosse Pointe Woods Eastpointe Saint Clair Shores

Enter our Photo Sweepstakes and Win $200 for your Grosse Pointe photos!

To see random photos for other cities Click Here.

Submit your photos of Grosse Pointe and become eligible to win $200. Click Here for details.

Grosse Pointe is a wealthy suburban city bordering Detroit in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is just over one square mile, and had a population of 5,670 at the 2000 census. It is bordered on the west by Grosse Pointe Park, on the north by Detroit, on the east by Grosse Pointe Farms, and on the south by Lake St Clair. Downtown Detroit is about 8 miles (13 km) west of Grosse Pointe, accessed by Jefferson Avenue, or several other cross-streets. Grosse Pointe is one of five similarly named municipalities in northeastern Wayne County, and is often called "the City," or Grosse Pointe City. Together with the Park and the Farms, the City is part of the older, southern Pointes, which have a greater overall population density than the northern Pointes (Grosse Pointe Woods and Grosse Pointe Shores). -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Michigan 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Grosse Pointe	Michigan	United States
Population	5,670	9,938,444	281,421,906
Median age	41.7	35.5	35.3
Median age for Male	40	34.3	34
Median age for Female	43.3	36.6	36.5
Households	2,388	3,785,661	105,480,101
Household population	5,670	9,688,555	273,643,273
Average household size	2.37	2.56	2.59
Families	1,560	2,575,699	71,787,347
Average family size	3.02	3.1	3.14
Housing units	2,504	4,234,279	115,904,641
Occupied units	2,388	3,785,661	105,480,101
Vacant units	116	448,618	10,424,540

Visit US Census