Why should the foreclosure madness continue?
Would you believe that recently, a record number of homeowners and lending institutions have partnered in the largest and most heralded effort in the history of this great country to save homes from foreclosure sales? I didn’t think you would. I wouldn’t believe it either.
Few, if any, who face the issues of mortgage default would find such a statement to hold water. In fact, most people who have entered this arena bear witness to a process that finds them
discussing their woes with bank representatives in foreign countries, or with loss mitigation center counselors who have no e mail addresses, no last names and no phone numbers that reach them at their desks.
Clearly, the loan modification process and accountability measures now in place are less credible than the rancher who says he can herd cats into a barn. In search of a solution, we read that our Federal government has enabled its Treasury Department for the past 9 months to develop enormous crates of rules and regulations known as the HAMP program. National lending institutions and mortgage servicers have signed up to comply with these concepts.
So, why are we still suffering this madness? Where are the solutions HAMP promises and why are they not being followed? Few people are equipped to take the temperature of these topics and provide us with real-time answers. Richard Thaler has given his readers this past Sunday in his Economic View column in the NY Times a very distinctive point of view. He similarly concludes that "Lenders have been reluctant to renegotiate mortgages, and government programs to stimulate renegotiation have not gained much traction."
Thaler suggests a vastly different approach which hardly requires reams of regulations to implement. "The bank would be required to reduce the mortgage by the average price reductions of homes in the neighborhood. In return, it would get 50 percent of the average gain in neighborhood prices-if there is one-when the house is eventually sold".
Sounds simple, but is it too simple to work?? This supports all economic theories that foreclosures are just bad business for our neighborhoods and create instability and chaos in every facet of our lives. Of course, we will hear the cries that the hunted have outfoxed the hunter; that the borrowers and homeowners who have defaulted in their loan obligations are being given a free pass for their failures.
We will just have to cope with such criticism and shoulder these moral dilemmas for our neighbors and friends. Moreover, we must continue to hold forth hope and solutions to the millions of Americans who are now facing such problems, as well as to our national lending institutions who are our partners in recovery. We must allow our local courts to enable the present legislation to hammer out foreclosure settlements and we must educate our friends and clients that there are real and definite paths to follow after receipt of the foreclosure summons and visit from the process servers.
We must be aggressive in our outreach to those in need of creating new ideas and developing new approaches to handle a foreclosure, and we must begin to imagine that homeownership can be restored. Credit scores will once again become a vital and sought after statistic and people will willingly and with great hope, visit such sites as CreditKarma.com or Quizzle.com and other credit sites as a source of pride.
The thought of saving homes and neighborhoods is a reality for many who visit our offices. Why do some choose to enter our doors and opt out of the herd of madness? Rather than spend any time on that question, let us hope that many more will choose to do so and restore confidence so that banks can do what they do best. Let us hope we can once again and in good faith and conscience ask our lenders to restore our neighborhoods with loans, jobs and homes.
his work and efforts in 2009. Bonuses, it seems, are being taken for granted. It is merely a question of how much.
True, I do not plan for million dollar bonus proposals and the lobster dinners this year were few and far between, but this is a time for resolutions and challenges to the silent majority of homeowners facing chaos and losing a little more sleep each night. These are not illusions and the nervous worries are reality striking hard.
Some light reading to pass along this month comes from the Treasury Department 1. The Executive Summary of the report clarifies what some may assume to be common knowledge, but for the rest of us, let me quote: “Overall, mortgage performance continued to decline as a result of continuing adverse economic conditions including rising unemployment and loss in home values……Seriously delinquent mortgages – rose………….Foreclosures in process increased……….delinquencies continued to climb. The percentage of prime mortgages…was….up more than double the percentage of a year ago.”.
down, Mr. Barr. Your services are no longer required. And you can leave today, as far as I’m concerned. No need to wait until your replacement is found, because having no one in your position, as compared with having (you) in the seat……….there’s no chance you’ll be missed, and leave it at that”. 

(Just try to imagine all that went on before this testimony happened; what went on during the testimony and what will go on in the future.) Without placing this thought into one of our pending time management departments, we’ll try to keep our summary of the Senior Deputy as simple as possible.
over the past year. Local Newsday articles, going as far back as February of this year, quoted housing experts, presidents of real estate associations, community leaders, and even Pres. Obama, all expressing confidence in these policies, announcing opportunities galore to save our homes from foreclosure. The U.S.Treasury “doubling its $200 billion capital commitment to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac” directed to keep our homeowners in their homes. Fast forward, 10 months later to the 
