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 Eugene, OR

Latitude: 44.057663 -- Longitude: -123.110345

Other Area Cities: Eugene Creswell Santa Clara Springfield Junction City Cottage Grove

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The city of Eugene is the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about 60 miles (100 km) east of the Oregon Coast. Eugene is the third largest city [1] (estimated population 146,160 as of 2005) and has the third largest metropolitan population [2] in the state of Oregon. (Eugene has long been the state's second largest city after Portland, but was overtaken by Salem in terms of population around 2004.) Eugene is home to the University of Oregon. The city is also noted for its natural beauty, activist political leanings, alternative lifestyles, recreation opportunities (especially bicycling, rafting, and kayaking), and arts focus. Eugene's motto is "The World's Greatest City for the Arts and Outdoors." -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Oregon 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Eugene	Oregon	United States
Population	137,893	3,421,399	281,421,906
Median age	33	36.3	35.3
Median age for Male	31.2	35.1	34
Median age for Female	34.9	37.5	36.5
Households	58,110	1,333,723	105,480,101
Household population	131,807	3,343,908	273,643,273
Average household size	2.27	2.51	2.59
Families	31,297	877,671	71,787,347
Average family size	2.87	3.02	3.14
Housing units	61,444	1,452,709	115,904,641
Occupied units	58,110	1,333,723	105,480,101
Vacant units	3,334	118,986	10,424,540

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