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 Butler, PA

Latitude: 40.860679 -- Longitude: -79.894796

Other Area Cities: Butler New Castle

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The city was named for Maj. Gen. Richard Butler, who fell at the Battle of the Wabash, also known as St. Clair's Defeat, in western Ohio in 1791. The first settlers were of Irish or Scottish descent and were driving westward from Connecticut. In 1802 the German immigrants began arriving, with Detmar Basse settling in Jackson Township in 1802 and founding Zelienople the following year. After George Rapp arrived in 1805 and founded Harmony, the trickle of settlers grew tremendous numbers. John A. Roebling settled Saxonburg in 1832, by which time all counties were filled with German settlers. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Pennsylvania 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Butler	Pennsylvania	United States
Population	15,121	12,281,054	281,421,906
Median age	35.8	38	35.3
Median age for Male	33.6	36.5	34
Median age for Female	38.1	39.4	36.5
Households	6,740	4,777,003	105,480,101
Household population	14,664	11,847,753	273,643,273
Average household size	2.18	2.48	2.59
Families	3,624	3,208,388	71,787,347
Average family size	2.96	3.04	3.14
Housing units	7,402	5,249,750	115,904,641
Occupied units	6,740	4,777,003	105,480,101
Vacant units	662	472,747	10,424,540

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