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 Portsmouth, VA

Latitude: 36.831298 -- Longitude: -76.345641

Other Area Cities: Virginia Beach Portsmouth Chesapeake Norfolk

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Portsmouth (pronounced "Port-smuth") is an independent city located in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 100,565, but a July 1, 2002 Census estimate showed the city's population dropping to 99,790. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard, is a historic and active U.S. Navy facility which is actually located in Portsmouth, despite its name. The shipyard builds, remodels, and repairs the Navy's ships of all types. Portsmouth has miles of waterfront land on the Elizabeth River as part of the harbor of Hampton Roads. A bright spot in Portsmouth's economic outlook is a new marine terminal for container ships scheduled to open in 2007 in the West Norfolk section. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Virginia 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Portsmouth	Virginia	United States
Population	100,565	7,078,515	281,421,906
Median age	34.5	35.7	35.3
Median age for Male	32	34.5	34
Median age for Female	36.8	36.8	36.5
Households	38,170	2,699,173	105,480,101
Household population	95,751	6,847,117	273,643,273
Average household size	2.51	2.54	2.59
Families	25,482	1,847,796	71,787,347
Average family size	3.05	3.04	3.14
Housing units	41,605	2,904,192	115,904,641
Occupied units	38,170	2,699,173	105,480,101
Vacant units	3,435	205,019	10,424,540

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