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 12/04/09 the Bill Murray RePage is ranked at 3,384 with 70 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 Brattleboro, VT

Latitude: 42.856099 -- Longitude: -72.564186

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

To see random photos for other cities Click Here.

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

Brattleboro is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 12,005 at the 2000 census. Brattleboro was chartered on December 26, 1753, and is located in the southeast corner of Vermont. The town is situated along the Connecticut River, at the mouth of the West River.[1] It is the headquarters of the Holstein Association. The town's most densely populated area is downtown at the very bottom of the valley. Because of the area's very hilly terrain, and relatively little flat land, residents have had to build houses practically on top of each other and on steep grades. This topography has helped to create the chic and urban atmosphere of the downtown area that its residents love and tourists admire. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Vermont 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Brattleboro	Vermont	United States
Population	8,289	608,827	281,421,906
Median age	39.2	37.7	35.3
Median age for Male	37.2	36.6	34
Median age for Female	40.9	38.7	36.5
Households	3,729	240,634	105,480,101
Household population	7,855	588,067	273,643,273
Average household size	2.11	2.44	2.59
Families	1,894	157,763	71,787,347
Average family size	2.83	2.96	3.14
Housing units	3,958	294,382	115,904,641
Occupied units	3,729	240,634	105,480,101
Vacant units	229	53,748	10,424,540

Visit US Census