Archive for 'Kentucky'

The city of Bowling Green has been presented with over $2 million in federal funds by Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear. The money was presented to Bowling Green’s Housing Authority to help families who want to buy foreclosure houses.

Last year, the U.S. Congress approved the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) which aims to help low income individuals and families purchase properties that have been repossessed and abandoned as a result of the economic crisis and homeowners’ failure to pay their mortgages.

The city’s Housing Authority plans to use the money to help well-deserving families. Special projects director Carrie Barnette explained that what the agency hopes to do is to take families out of rental houses and offer them the opportunity to purchase and own houses.

In a statement, Beshear praised the city officials for demonstrating how effectively they could use the funds to rehabilitate neighborhoods. Under the NSP, the Housing Authority is allowed to rehabilitate forclosures homes and sell them to low income individuals and families.

Beshear said that turning low-income individuals and families into homeowners will help the whole neighborhood by preserving market values of properties and giving a healthy and quality life to residents and the whole neighborhood.

Some officials at the Housing Authority said that the city of Bowling Green has been spared from the effects of recession. However, they noted that major economic changes still occurred in the area.

On her part, Barnette believed that the federal funds Beshear has granted would come a long way in helping low income individuals and families and subsequently, the city of Bowling Green.

Homeowners who want to qualify for the NSP grant should sign up in the Housing Authority Home
Ownership Education Program.

The NSP program funding is appropriated under the Recovery Act. The program was created for the purpose of rehabilitation and stabilizing neighborhoods that have been greatly affected by the foreclosure crisis. The program meets its goal of rehabilitation and stabilization by buying and redeveloping abandoned and vacant foreclosure houses.

Recipients of NSP grants are required to use about 25 percent of the money allocated for the acquisition, redevelopment and rehabilitation of Kentucky foreclosure houses that will then be sold to individuals and families whose earnings are not more than 50 percent of the median income in their area.

In the wake of soaring foreclosures rate in the state of Kentucky, mortgage lenders are asking for legislators to reform lending laws pertaining to the problems that include predatory or aggressive lending practices, mortgage fraud, loan officers practicing without license and even the rising number of out-of state companies doing business in the state without any physical office. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association of Kentucky, lenders are doing this in order to protect their business as well as the consumers.

Buyers of foreclosure properties will also benefit from the possible reforms to the lending guidelines. Right now, the high national foreclosures rate has already affected home prices in many states and even Kentucky was not spared although the state’s foreclosure rate is below national average. If changes in lending laws are passed, buyer confidence will certainly increase.

Still, the growing number of Kentucky foreclosure homes is giving homeowners and local lenders something to worry about. Of course, you can expect buyers and investors to take advantage of the thousands of available Kentucky real estate foreclosures for sale. Properties, in any stage of foreclosure, offer much return potential compared to newly-constructed homes. Their asking prices are normally based on the mortgage debt owed by the original owner along with the costs incurred by the lender during foreclosure.

Finding a foreclosure property that fits your needs and more importantly, budget is the challenging part. Some buyers opt to use Kentucky foreclosure listings in order to make their search easier and less time-consuming. These listings are usually offered by brokers like Foreclosure Deals and can be accessed by subscribing to them for a reasonable fee. Compared to other listings services, you are guaranteed of accurate, complete and updated information on the hottest Kentucky foreclosure homes.