From the Inman Blog . . .
FADE IN: the dairy isle at a grocery store in Detroit. A mother who's having trouble making her mortgage payments picks up a half-gallon of milk. On the carton is a toll free number, 888-895-HOPE, offering free counseling on avoiding foreclosure.
CUT TO: a laundry mat in St. Louis. A recently laid-off construction worker sees a flyer with tear-aways offering the same number. He takes one.
FADE TO BLACK: as a radio announcer gives out the number. The call letters of 150 stations around the nation flash across the screen.
CREDITS ROLL: "Based on a true story."
The Homeownership Preservation Foundation, Minneapolis-based non-profit has launched a grass-roots marketing effort to help prevent foreclosures in the Detroit area. The Foundation is placing 250,000 “branded” milk containers in Detroit-area grocery and convenience stores. The gallon containers feature the Foundation’s toll-free 888-995-HOPE number, which homeowners can call for free foreclosure prevention counseling. Detroit currently has the sixth highest rate of foreclosures in the United States
In another story posted to the WinTOTAL Users Group we hear from appraiser Lance Barnett of Austin, TX (click below to read more)
I guess a lot of our perceptions of foreclosure causes depend on the particular clients we have, but the biggest hiccup that I'm seeing in the foreclosure/new home market is property taxes. A lot of the short sale/foreclosure / REO work that I get is a result of mortgage companies qualifying people with property tax estimates for the escrow account based on vacant lots or half built homes. Read "Foreclosures biting more homeowners" from the Huston Chronicle.
Naive first time buyers get a $1200 per month payment with a fixed rate loan and think that's what they are locked into. What they don't realize is there property taxes for the first year were estimated at something like $300 instead of the $3000 it should have been. After they've been there a year, their escrow payment goes up $475 per month to account for the current year's taxes of $3k plus the $2700 shortage from last year. A lot of people can't take that monthly hit, and when they see they are under water on the value of the home anyway, they see no reason to try and stay afloat. That's when they let it go into foreclosure or try to negotiate a short sale.
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