Bank Foreclosures Information

William C. Thompson Jr., comptroller of New York City, said that the city’s Foreclosure Prevention Helpline was able to help about 5,000 troubled homeowners avoid foreclosed VA homes, HUD and bank foreclosures.

Thompson said that his office started the Foreclosure Prevention Helpline on April 26, 2007 with the intention to help thousands of individuals and families who are in danger of losing their properties to foreclosures. Since then, nearly 5,000 sought the helpline assistance.

Thompson said that during these trying times, families who are struggling to pay their monthly mortgages should be given help. He has been working to help residents of New York City obtain the financial skills crucial to avoiding the threat of foreclosures.

The Helpline has handled 4,815 calls from distressed homeowners. As a result, 2,614 cases were opened. In Queens, 865 cases were opened or 33.09 percent, 689 or 26.36 percent in Brooklyn, 476 or 18.21 percent in Bronx, 162 or 06.20 percent in Staten Island and 47 or 01.80 percent in Manhattan. The Helpline also handled 375 or 14.34 percent cases outside the city.

The Helpline concept involves linking callers with housing counselors certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Also, members of the Community Action Center of Thompson’s office received comprehensive training to allow them to handle repossession cases and expertly monitor each foreclosure case to make sure that it is provided with necessary help.

Meanwhile, Thompson published the Foreclosure Prevention Guide that provides pertinent information about mortgage loans, how to protect distressed properties from foreclosures and counseling services to avoid repossession.

New York City saw an increase in the number of foreclosure filings last month. In July, about 2,517 households were in some kind of foreclosure proceedings, representing a 15 percent rise compared with June figures and July the previous year.

Industry analysts said that the jump in foreclosure activity in the city follows a brief rate reduction as a result of the 90-day grace period given to troubled homeowners before the start of the foreclosure process. They said that the law did not stop the foreclosure process, only delayed what is inevitable.

Queens is the borough leader in terms of high foreclosure rate, with a total of 939 last month, representing an 11 percent rise from June and 1 percent from the previous year.

Industry analysts expect more foreclosure increases as default notices in the city hit 2,183 last month.

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The city of Syracuse in Central New York got along fairly well during this time of recession as indicated by the fair number of properties on bank owned foreclosure listings. According to Brookings Institute’s quarterly report MetroMonitor, the city is not doing as badly as the rest of the country.

However, not everything is rosy in Central New York. In Syracuse metro area, the economic activity dropped by 5.4 percent from its peak in 2007, according to economist Howard Wial. Counties included in the Syracuse metro area are Madison, Oswego and Onondaga.

Wial said that the decline in the gross metropolitan product placed the Syracuse metro area in the 11th ranking for worst among top 100 U.S. cities. Other economic indicators, except the number of properties on bank foreclosure listings, performed badly.

The average wage in the area dropped by 2.2 percent from the last quarter of 2008 to the first three months of 2009. The wage decline in Syracuse was the second worst recorded nationwide, according to the report. The city that topped the worst average wage was Rochester, with a 2.3 percent drop.

Meanwhile, the real estate market in Syracuse is the only sector showing some positive activity. The report noted that 0.58 out of 1,000 houses in the city were placed on bank foreclosure listings. According to Brookings Institute, the city’s foreclosure rate was the lowest in the country.

Brookings Institute’s MetroMonitor report studied the financial condition of 100 biggest metropolitan areas in the country to get a glimpse of national economic trends. The ranking of cities was based on changes in economic indicators, including foreclosures, economic productivity, unemployment rates and home prices.

Co-author Alan Berube said that all cities included in the study are suffering from the effects of economic crisis. However, he pointed out that the hardships and difficulties are not equally shared.

He said that some areas have experienced a slight economic downturn and are in the process of recovering from the recession. Meanwhile, those who live in metropolitan areas that showed a weak economic performance should brace themselves for a tedious and long recovery.

The report claimed that effects of recession have been distributed unequally across the country, with unemployment data in Provo, Utah surging by 5.1 percent, 17.5 percentage points in Modesto, California and prices of properties on bank foreclosure listings drastically dropping by 30.6 percent in California city, Stockton.

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New York foreclosures are starting to be an issue. An example is the housing situation in Broome County, where 173 foreclosures were already filed from July up to September. For every 514 properties in the area, one home was being repossessed.

For 2008, an estimate of more than 50,000 people who own a property in the state of New York filed for foreclosure, specifically in Mid-Hudson Valley and in the western part of the state.

According to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, the increase in New York foreclosures can be a threat to state governments as the revenue comes from the 44 percent of tax properties.

DiNapoli indeed made sense because a property tax may increase if foreclosures in the state go higher.

Mayor Matthew T. Ryan said that 39 percent from tax properties will be accountable for Binghamton City’s estimated income for 2009.

New York is 36th in terms of foreclosures, particularly in the Mid-Hudson Valley, some parts of Southern Tier and Finger Lakes a year ago. Binghamton City is planning to increase 14 percent in tax property by 2009, which is 90 percent more than what was allowed by the Constitution. Ryan is hoping that the government will do something about it.

In every 423 properties in Finger Lakes, one home is being filed as foreclosed in 2008. One out of 514 properties in Broome County, and one out of 319 houses in Dutchess County. Orange County ranked as the highest in foreclosures as one home was filed as foreclosed for every 205 properties.

For 2008, majority in foreclosure filings came from six counties in upstate New York because of the number of mortgages considered as sub prime. A decrease of 31 percent in property sales from January to June of last year in New York City was considered very significant. Mid-Hudson ranked second with 28 percent.

Reports said that the properties are reasonably priced in the upstate area and majority are standard homes in place of luxurious homes due to foreclosures.

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A report released on 07/31/08 talks about existent loopholes in lending laws of New York, that unscrupulous characters of the mortgage industry have used to their benefit.

The New York State Commission of Investigations has found that it is the minority communities that are predominantly besieged by this trend. They found that there was double the number of Hispanic and African-American borrowers in the sub-prime market as compared to white borrowers.

Mary Biunno, speaking on behalf of the commission said instances have come to the fore where estate agents are doubling up as mortgage brokers, especially in minority dominated neighborhoods, managing to attract a fair amount of hopeful people. Bills are presented to clients for services rendered in the form of commissions and fees for loans or sales being organized. Also, they have on their side the attorneys and appraisers who the borrowers think are working for their benefit.

The commission also stated that there should be an increase in regulatory safeguards to protect New York’s lenders from preying lenders. Loans in the sub-prime market have been linked to growing menace of New York bank foreclosures. Speaking of figures, last year foreclosures on sub-prime loans was 59% of the total New York bank foreclosures.

The chairman of the commission, Alfred Lerner, said in a press release that the prime objective of the report was investigating mortgage fraud in the sub-prime market; however it was not possible to ignore the statistics in lending patterns. Greedy brokers pushing people of minority communities who qualify for prime loans into taking sub-prime ones which are high risk is catching on. A fair amount of conspicuously bad cases showed voracious practices on part of lenders where it was quite clear that the borrower couldn’t possibly pay the loan off.

In order to prevent similar problems in the future the commission made some recommendations. These include, brokers being banned from donning the dual role hat because when one person acted as both the agent and the broker, there was an increased chance of criminal behavior and conflict of interest.

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