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 Atlanta, GA

Latitude: 33.759506 -- Longitude: -84.403176

Other Area Cities: Jonesboro Atlanta Decatur Riverdale Stone Mountain Tucker Belvedere Park Brookhaven Chamblee College Park Doraville Druid Hills East Point Gresham Park Roswell Sandy Springs Scottdale Mableton North Decatur Smyrna North Atlanta Lithonia Marietta Conyers

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Atlanta is the capital and most populous city of the state of Georgia, and the central city of ninth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. One of seven American cities classified as Gamma world cities, Atlanta ranks third in the in number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered in its metropolitan area. Its airport – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – is the world's busiest, both in terms of passenger traffic and landings and takeoffs. The city's northern section, Buckhead, is consistently ranked by the Robb Report as one of the most affluent communities in the United States, comparable to Los Angeles' Bel-Air and Manhattan's Upper East Side. Atlanta features the world's largest aquarium, the Georgia Aquarium. The aquarium features over 100,000 specimens in tanks holding approximately eight million gallons of water. One unique museum is the World of Coca-Cola featuring the history of the world famous soft drink brand and its well-known advertising. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Georgia 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Atlanta	Georgia	United States
Population	416,474	8,186,453	281,421,906
Median age	31.9	33.4	35.3
Median age for Male	31.2	32.1	34
Median age for Female	32.9	34.6	36.5
Households	168,147	3,006,369	105,480,101
Household population	387,527	7,952,631	273,643,273
Average household size	2.3	2.65	2.59
Families	83,182	2,111,647	71,787,347
Average family size	3.16	3.14	3.14
Housing units	186,925	3,281,737	115,904,641
Occupied units	168,147	3,006,369	105,480,101
Vacant units	18,778	275,368	10,424,540

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