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 Huntsville, AL

Latitude: 34.712341 -- Longitude: -86.596296

Other Area Cities: New Hope Madison Harvest Huntsville

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Located in the north of Alabama amidst mountains, lakes and the Tennessee River, Huntsville is a wonderful place to live. Military, telecommunications, the space industry, biotechnology and other emerging manufacturing companies provide a solid economic base for the area. Major concerts, Broadway and symphony performances, world class golf, U.S. Space and Rocket Center, botanical gardens as well as many art exhibits all add to the high quality of living. Median price homes are approx. $140,000. Outdoor activities can be enjoyed year round with a 30 year average high in July of 89 degrees and 29 degrees in January. Huntsville, and its cross-river neighbor Decatur, combine their separate metro areas to form the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area, which, in 2004, had a total population of 510,088.The two cities are sometimes referred to as, or considered, Twin Cities, or Sister Cities. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Alabama 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Huntsville	Alabama	United States
Population	158,216	4,447,100	281,421,906
Median age	36.7	35.8	35.3
Median age for Male	35.2	34.4	34
Median age for Female	38.1	37.2	36.5
Households	66,742	1,737,080	105,480,101
Household population	152,641	4,332,380	273,643,273
Average household size	2.29	2.49	2.59
Families	41,742	1,215,968	71,787,347
Average family size	2.91	3.01	3.14
Housing units	73,670	1,963,711	115,904,641
Occupied units	66,742	1,737,080	105,480,101
Vacant units	6,928	226,631	10,424,540

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