Foreclosures Now Taking Over
January 9th, 2009 by 
Joseph Smith
Foreclosures rise every month. In fact, December had the highest foreclosure rate.
Society for the Preservation of Continued Homeownership (SPOCH) Executive Director David Petrovich said that areas with so many foreclosures are where subprime mortgages abound.
SPOCH is a nonprofit organization based in New Jersey and was created by Petrovich in 1998 to help prevent foreclosures.
He and his group helps struggling homeowners to possibly stop foreclosure and since lenders and banks do not give him support, he takes time giving options applicable to homeowners.
In addition, he said that property owners were not given choices when they asked lender-support groups for assistance. An example is HOPE NOW.
HOPE NOW was criticized by some groups because of its unwillingness to fully assist homeowners at risk in foreclosure. They issued new set of rules in early December to make their services more useful.
Petrovich said that homeowners who are at risk should contact HOPE NOW for help. However, they have to know the condition of waiving their rights to sue the lender, which is an important right for homeowners.
It is necessary to act right away and to talk with banks or lenders for arrangements.
According to Petrovich, unsold properties are everywhere. In some cases, homeowners are having difficulty looking for a buyer, thus another house will be an addition to the huge number of foreclosures.
For the past few years, property agents consider “short sale”, but lenders these days are very hard to convince when it comes to this option due to their big financial loss. They would rather recover lost funds rather than avoid foreclosures.
However, Petrovich stated that some lenders are now becoming more positive about the situation and are now looking for ways to help homeowners with the loans.
He also said that owners must be knowledgeable in foreclosures, as well as their rights. Getting a lawyer for assistance can also be a big help.
