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.

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Local Information for Grants Pass, OR

Latitude: 42.438969 -- Longitude: -123.328249

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Grants Pass is a city in, and the county seat of Josephine County, Oregon, United States . The city is located on Interstate 5, northwest of Medford. Attractions include the Rogue River, famous for its rafting, and the nearby Oregon Caves. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 23,003. As of 2006, the population is 30,930, making it one of the fastest growing cities in Oregon. Early Hudson's Bay Company hunters and trappers, following the Siskiyou Trail, passed through the site beginning in the 1820s. In the late 1840s, settlers (mostly American) following the Applegate Trail began traveling through the area on their way to the Willamette Valley. The name was selected to honor General U.S. Grant's success at Vicksburg and a post office was established on March 22, 1865. The city of Grants Pass was incorporated in 1887, a year after it had become the county seat. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Oregon 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Grants Pass	Oregon	United States
Population	23,003	3,421,399	281,421,906
Median age	37.9	36.3	35.3
Median age for Male	35	35.1	34
Median age for Female	40.2	37.5	36.5
Households	9,376	1,333,723	105,480,101
Household population	22,168	3,343,908	273,643,273
Average household size	2.36	2.51	2.59
Families	5,924	877,671	71,787,347
Average family size	2.94	3.02	3.14
Housing units	9,885	1,452,709	115,904,641
Occupied units	9,376	1,333,723	105,480,101
Vacant units	509	118,986	10,424,540

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