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 Colorado Springs, CO

Latitude: 38.863443 -- Longitude: -104.791914

Other Area Cities: Colorado Springs Security Widefield Woodland Park

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Colorado Springs is a large city located just east of the geographic center of the U.S. state of Colorado.In July 2006, Money magazine ranked Colorado Springs the best place to live in the big city category, which includes cities with 300,000 or more people. The city itself is situated near the base of one of the most famous American peaks, Pikes Peak, on the east side of the Rocky Mountains. The city is the county seat of El Paso County. Today, Colorado Springs has many features of a modern urban area, such as parks, bike trails, urban open-area spaces, business and commerce, theatres and other entertainment. It was first established as a posh resort community and the tourist industry has remained strong and offers many activities and attractions. A large number of religious organizations and churches make their headquarters here, particularly Evangelical Christians. Many high-tech businesses reside in the city, including a large number of computer chip manufacturers. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Colorado 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Colorado Springs	Colorado	United States
Population	360,890	4,301,261	281,421,906
Median age	33.6	34.3	35.3
Median age for Male	32.3	33.2	34
Median age for Female	34.9	35.4	36.5
Households	141,516	1,658,238	105,480,101
Household population	353,737	4,198,306	273,643,273
Average household size	2.5	2.53	2.59
Families	93,049	1,084,461	71,787,347
Average family size	3.06	3.09	3.14
Housing units	148,690	1,808,037	115,904,641
Occupied units	141,516	1,658,238	105,480,101
Vacant units	7,174	149,799	10,424,540

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