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 Mandeville, LA

Latitude: 30.369282 -- Longitude: -90.078006

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The area had long been agricultural land when the town of Mandeville was laid out in 1834 by developer Bernard Xavier de Marigny de Mandeville. In 1840 Mandeville was incorporated as a town. It became a popular summer destination for well-to-do New Orleanians wishing to escape the city's heat. In the mid 19th century regular daily steam-boat traffic between New Orleans and Mandeville began, and by the end of the 19th century it became a popular weekend destination of the New Orleans middle-class as well. Bands would play music on the ships going across the lake and at pavilions and dance-halls in Mandeville; Mandeville became one of the first places where the new jazz music was heard outside of New Orleans. Bunk Johnson, Buddy Petit, Papa Celestin, George Lewis, Kid Ory, Edmond Hall, Chester Zardis, and many other early jazz artists played in Mandeville regularly. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Louisiana 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Mandeville	Louisiana	United States
Population	10,489	4,468,976	281,421,906
Median age	37.7	34	35.3
Median age for Male	36.2	32.6	34
Median age for Female	38.9	35.3	36.5
Households	4,204	1,656,053	105,480,101
Household population	10,344	4,333,011	273,643,273
Average household size	2.46	2.62	2.59
Families	2,723	1,156,438	71,787,347
Average family size	3.11	3.16	3.14
Housing units	4,669	1,847,181	115,904,641
Occupied units	4,204	1,656,053	105,480,101
Vacant units	465	191,128	10,424,540

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