For Charlotte NC Real Estate, the most important day of Barack Obama's young presidency may be Wednesday, when Obama announces his administration's Foreclosure rescue plan. It's an issue especially important to us, not only because the nation's credit catastrophe is at the heart of today's banking crisis costing this city one bank and thousands of jobs - but because Charlotte NC Real Estate is struggling more than most with home defaults in a damage they inflict.
What will Obama propose? Advisors and officials are suggesting that the plan likely will come with a lot of gadgets, including giving judges the ability to adjust some mortgage terms and bankruptcy proceedings, plus the government possibly purchasing troubled loans held by lenders and investors.
The idea to watch is on that Obama economic honcho Larry Summers hinted at late last week directly lowering payments on troubled and potentially problematic mortgages, perhaps by matching payments with lenders to cover some of the costs. It's an approach that could especially benefit former boomtowns like Charlotte NC Real Estate, where Foreclosures struck not because of a burst housing bubble or job losses, but because home buyers were offered and accepted mortgage terms they could not afford. The result: a swath of troubled starter home neighborhoods threatens to squeeze the city from its perimeter. Already, we've seen the damage from Foreclosures extend beyond the streets riddled with defaulted homes. Adjoining neighborhoods have suffered hits to property values. Area businesses were weakened even before the downturn’s grip tightened. Now, those struggles are exacerbated with the recession, eroding consumer confidence and threatening all of the city. Even stable neighborhoods have seen the market wither as homeowners wishing to move in - and move up - are unable to sell their homes in increasingly troubling areas. They had been one of the last cities to fall into the downturn as our mayor likes to say, but we won't be one of the first to emerge from it without a Foreclosure fix. For Obama's plan to work, experts say, it will need to do what other programs thus far haven’t - offer a more standardized approach that’s accessible to consumers and streamlined for mortgage servicers, who want an easier, quicker method to identify troubled loans and to set new terms. Those details will come Wednesday. Are you optimistic they'll help? Or do you think they will lead to more wasted money? It will need to do what other programs thus far had offered, a more standardized approach that’s accessible to consumers and streamlined for mortgage survivors, this one is easier, quicker method to identify troubled loans and set new terms. We should first pull the original contract and application. If the loan was funded by adequate credit, at least a 10% down payment and the income was sufficient and we should look at changes since that time. If it started out as a train wreck just waiting to happen with no income equity or passes through paying bills on time and we should take the losses now. It is sad that people are losing their homes. But it’s even sadder to put people out of their homes mainly because of all the devaluation of Foreclosures in their neighborhood because those who could not afford them in the first place. The timing of Foreclosing during a time of protection for those next-door neighbors is best and we need to do it today. Those are people who need help the most. Most people would agree we supplied to an artificially created demand. You can blame as many people as you want but it all comes back to the person who bought the house in the first place. Until we make them a responsible party we would hear that our government is the answer to all our problems while they continue to be the source of the problems.