Archive for 'Pennsylvania'

Philadelphia’s program of deflating listings of foreclosed homes has been cited by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) as an effective model for cutting down the number of foreclosed homes across the country.

ACORN, founded in 1970, is the country’s largest organization of both low-income and moderate-income families who are fighting for affordable credit and home ownership opportunities. Currently, it has over 400,000 families as members in 40 states and 110 cities.

ACORN said efforts by President Obama to help prevent houses from being added to foreclosure listings are laudable, but his programs are limited because the success of the programs relies on the cooperation of mortgage lenders.

The association said that state and local governments should be in the forefront of efforts to save their constituents from losing their houses to foreclosure listings.

ACORN said that other cities across the country can review Philadelphia’s foreclosure program and then adapt it. Under the program, ACORN claimed that more than 3 out of 4 distressed homeowners who have participated in the program have saved their houses from foreclosure listings.

According to ACORN, the most effective characteristics of Philadelphia’s program are: it is mandatory, it uses community outreach, it is easy for borrowers to join, and it takes advantage of the assistance of HUD- certified housing counselors.

The association said that cities need to implement foreclosure programs now, just like what Philadelphia is doing, because if the problem is left unchecked, about 9 million homes will be added to foreclosure listings in the next few years, as predicted by Credit Suisse.

ACORN said that 7 percent of all outstanding mortgage loans are in default and 40 percent of outstanding subprime loans are in default. It added that for every 13 seconds that pass, one American home is lost to foreclosure listings.

Philadelphia’s foreclosure prevention program is called Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Pilot Program and was launched on April 16, 2008. It required lenders to meet with distressed borrowers in conciliation meetings before the court decides on their foreclosure filings.

Borrowers are also required under the program to obtain foreclosure prevention counseling from agencies chosen for the program. Counselors are ordered to make certifications about their sessions with the borrowers.

Under the outreach scheme of the program, members of nonprofits and community organizations go around their assigned areas to check vacant properties and talk with distressed homeowners and then help them participate in the program to save their houses from foreclosure listings.

Search Pennsylvania Foreclosure Listings by City:

• Philadelphia Foreclosure Listings
• Pittsburgh Foreclosure Listings
• Erie Foreclosure Listings
• Allentown Foreclosure Listings

Distressed families in Pennsylvania have been benefitting from the various programs being carried out by their Governor Edward Rendell to help them prevent their houses from turning into foreclosed homes and to help them get new skills and new jobs.

Governor Rendell recently visited Philadelphia-based Northwest Counseling Service to evaluate the progress of Pennsylvania Home Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP), which was designed to help troubled borrowers save their houses from becoming foreclosed homes.

In March, Governor Rendell added $5 million more to the funds of HEMAP to enable it to help about 550 additional families.

The governor has been deeply concerned about families being evicted from foreclosed homes due to the national economic downturn. Governor Rendell said Pennsylvania lost more than 115,000 jobs in the last 13 months, including more than 40,000 jobs during the month of February alone. He said more families losing their jobs mean more families without health insurance and more houses becoming foreclosed homes.

In 2008, total Pennsylvania foreclosures increased by a staggering 127 percent to about 43,000, compared to 2007 foreclosures. In February, total state foreclosures reached 3,682, with Philadelphia having the highest number of 1,551 filings. Other communities with relatively high foreclosure filings were Allegheny County, Lackawanna County and Erie County.

Governor Rendell said he decided to use his executive power to launch a series of measures to immediately help families because state General Assembly processes to create and enact foreclosure prevention initiatives take time.

HEMAP received over 1,450 applications in March, the highest number of applications in a month, according to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. Since the start of the year, HEMAP has already helped save 2,200 families from the harrowing situation of being evicted from foreclosed homes.

Governor Rendell also said over 88,000 homeowners across Pennsylvania have underwater loans–loans whose amounts are much higher than the value of the homes they are linked to. One in every 15 borrowers in the state owes much more than the market value of the homes they are struggling to pay.

In addition to programs focused on mitigating foreclosed homes, Governor Rendell also launched initiatives that help solve factors that have been causing foreclosed homes, such as job losses. Rendell launched the websites HereToHelp.pa.gov and PaRxPriceFinder.com and expanded job training programs like the adultBasic and the Pennsylvania CareerLink centers.

Although the Philadelphia City Council passed a measure at the end of March instituting a moratorium on Philadelphia Foreclosed Homes proceedings for the month of April, the city will not heed the call of citizens to extend the moratorium into the month of May.

The purpose of the moratorium was to allow homeowners in default to have some extra time to catch up with their finances and make the necessary payments to avoid having their homes repossessed and sold as Philadelphia foreclosed homes. The council did announce that they would ramp up efforts to help homeowners in debt with a new system designed to assist owner-occupied properties, while homes unoccupied by their owners would proceed to foreclosure sale as usual.

The group is also instituting an early intervention program designed to aid borrowers at the beginning of their default troubles so that they don’t end up losing their homes to foreclosures proceedings without taking any action to stop it.
Philadelphia Foreclosed Homes have been quite high in past years, and accounted for roughly 1% of the city’s real estate at some points during 2007, and one of the highest regional rates among Pennsylvania foreclosure homes rates. The amount of Philadelphia foreclosure listings has been expected to climb in 2008, but the city is making solid efforts to battle the trend, which has especially wreaked havoc on the less affluent western and northern regions of the city.

While the rest of the country is experiencing a surge in the foreclosure market, Pennsylvania foreclosures have fallen dramatically since the end of 2006, bucking the national trend. New data suggests that the foreclosure situation in the state is beginning to right itself, as the number of new Pennsylvania foreclosure homes has fallen steadily since August.

The amount of new foreclosure property filings in October of 2007 was down nearly 20% since October of the previous year, an amazing statistic considering many other states saw their foreclosure property inventory double during the same time period. Pennsylvania appears to have insulated itself from the home foreclosure epidemic, and many attribute this to more conservative lending practices. While many mortgage buyers and lenders seemed to develop a love affair with the sub-prime and adjustable rate mortgage, lenders in Pennsylvania doled these types of loans out less frequently than in other areas, thus cutting down dramatically on the high incidence of bank foreclosures associated with these kinds of loans.

Philadelphia foreclosures and Pittsburgh foreclosures still remain at higher levels than most other areas of the state, especially in the outlying neighborhoods. Since it seems that Pennsylvania may be coming out of the peak of their foreclosure surge, it would be a great time for investors interested in purchasing house foreclosures for a discounted price to start getting involved in the market. A surplus of repo homes means a better chance for a lower price at auction, so searching for foreclosure listings now and buying them may be your best chance to get a good value.

Some interesting options include Erie foreclosures, Harrisburg foreclosures and York foreclosures. Areas such as these, and popular suburban locations such as Allentown and Scranton offer great chances for increased home value in the future, and therefore better profits on resale.

The most difficult part of buying a home is coming up with a down payment. Of course, if you choose to purchase Pennsylvania foreclosure homes instead of brand new housing units, you will actually save a considerable amount of money. Most of these foreclosures are sold at a fraction of their average market values and you will certainly be relieved that you will not have to come up with a huge down payment.

For first time home buyers, Pennsylvania foreclosure homes will certainly mean less worry. But if you still need to come up with a significant down payment in order to lessen the monthly payments and shorten the mortgage term, you can try to do the following:

• Ask Your Family and Friends for Financial Assistance – you could always ask for a loan with more favorable rates or sometimes, no interest at all! Just make sure you pay them back on the agreed time.
• Use Your Assets – you can choose to sell or borrow against your prized possessions including cars, stocks or heirlooms, in order to come up with the down payment for one of these foreclosure properties.
• Barter with the Seller: instead of cash, you can choose to offer your services or even one of your personal assets.

All these tips could definitely help you come up with enough money for down payment and you will be able to move in to one of these Pennsylvania foreclosure homes in no time at all.

In order to make things easier for you – financially-speaking, you should make sure you have a fixed budget in mind when shopping for a home. Using foreclosure listings by brokers like Foreclosure Deals will certainly help you find a foreclosed home that fits your needs and budget perfectly.

Start your search for Philadelphia foreclosure homes and Pittsburgh foreclosure homes now!

By the end of 2007, more than one million home owners will lose their homes to foreclosure, adding to the million foreclosure homes recorded last year. This presumption was actually based on the number of subprime loans taken out during the most recent housing boom and with the poor performance of the subprime loan industry; most states are scrambling to reduce the foreclosure numbers.

In fact, Pennsylvania is among the states that have decided to set up funds in order to help owners re-finance their subprime housing loans and take out low-risk mortgages. The other states are New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Maryland and Ohio. These states are hoping to come up with $500 million in order to fund the different loan assistance programs to stop foreclosure, most of which bear similarities to government-sponsored programs such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

When these programs are made available, the number of Pennsylvania foreclosure homes will likely go down. Fortunately, the state enjoys a lower than national average foreclosures rate and many investors have considered buying real estate foreclosures in this region because of the great opportunity they offer.

Foreclosure homes in Pennsylvania are probably among the hottest properties in the market right now. The state enjoys a robust economy, low unemployment rate and affordable cost of living. Buying these homes will be both practical and logical. For more convenience, buyers can always seek the professional assistance of foreclosure experts like Foreclosure Deals.

Last month, Pennsylvania foreclosures rate dipped an amazing 21.95 percent, making it the 31st state with the highest foreclosures rate. There were zero Notices of Defaults filed for June although the total number of foreclosure filings reached 2,325 according to Foreclosure Deals. With a positive market trend, investing in Pennsylvania foreclosure homes will surely prove to be worth it.