Foreclosure Information Overview
The goal is to provide tools to review area based foreclosure data;
to understand the impact on
the individual homeowner and
the communities we share
which can lead to real solutions.
Other custom data can also be provided for target populations, area demographics and business data.
With information in hand we can make conclusions as to
whether government is taking necessary action and
if lenders are being held accountable and
whether they are helping or hindering OUR local economies.
Following are some general questions that can be asked to further understanding or to approach officials or lenders.
Are officials ignoring the housing crisis except for band aids such as credit counseling?
Are non-profits working on behalf of homeowners AND residents or functioning as a support arm for lenders and their shareholders?
Is local government and the justice system working from THE LAW and Constitution they made their oath to? Rather than from lobbyist influence?
Are the banks spending tons of money on commercials/marketing/housing fairs while making it impossible to get a loan or cutting credit lines in your area?
Do the local government approach and local lender behavior, as reflected by questions above, match up to degree of foreclosure problem in local area?
Verify if local totals correspond to area and national trends.
Is there a local crisis that requires more attention or is neighborhood relatively stable so that lender should be allowing for more investment and lending.
If we ask the questions then we can all demand that Washington and Wall St get their act together and quit playing politics with the government and our national interest – the American people.
Using data and reports, questions can be made specific to a homeowner's or community's experience bypassing the bureaucracy, the lawyers and time lost.
Following are some questions that can be raised regarding the number of foreclosures and the impact on communities.
Points to consider:
3 million foreclosures are used as the main reason for poor economy and lenders staying “on the sidelines” due to uncertainty; i.e. not lending and cutting credit.
Is 3 million value total of actual foreclosures (lost home – vacant) or in PROCESS of foreclosure?
Is lender behavior justified? Should there have been a nearly universal credit freeze?
Not all areas affected the same. Location, Location, Location!
Are vacancies a better measure of foreclosure negative impact? Potentially a FRACTION of 3 million?
What is the local share?
What is the role of investors?
Should lenders take possible lender/investor abuse into account BEFORE cutting people's credit or making home loans more difficult in an area?
Should local government be actively monitoring?
What is the human impact?
The Wall St bottom line should not be the ONLY consideration.
Should there be a priority for families and seniors/children/disabled in a home?
Would it make sense to push through foreclosures of properties of residents that aren't permanently or severely displaced? (eg already vacant, high turnover)
May be extreme but more humane than current bulldozing only IF necessary.
Have populations been targeted? Not just vague “toxic loans”. What are the demographics.
Minorities, seniors and particular neighborhoods may have paid more comparatively speaking.
Old fashioned mixed in with new predatory lending.
* If real and practical solutions are pursued, instead of narrowly applying what Wall St requires, would foreclosure problem be reduced 10% or possibly more than 50% ?
Majority of “toxic loans” have possible foreclosure “process” problems. Worse, there is EVIDENCE of significant legal problems and patterns of .abuse
Not BUSINESS AS USUAL!
Although not ideal from Wall St perspective all cases should be “completely reviewed”.
Dysfunction of current system.
Homeowner and community rights cannot be ignored.
IF cost of losing in court is too overwhelming then Wall St needs to own up with a settlement for the NATIONAL INTEREST!
Recently, California saw greater revenues and the state “deficit” debate improved dramatically possibly due to slight up tick in non-foreclosure sales and consumer spending.
Keeping people in homes as much as possible would stop the runaway foreclosure train and get the whole economy and Main St back on solid ground!
Again, not just Wall St's interest!
We need to demand answers of our local officials and question what the lenders and big business are doing in OUR communities.
This requires a local approach and Local Information.
Americans are in fear of losing their job or making a bad investment.
The economic wheels are stuck as Wall St hoards it's profits and Congress is held hostage by those who will stop government in the name of the supposedly abused rich and large corporations.
It's time to stop being fearful and demand results!
Deliver the message to local politicians and lenders and start a “wave” to Washington and Wall St!
OUR REPRESENTATIVES Need To -
Focus on jobs, invest in infrastructure and OUR economy
Have a Fair and Accountable approach to foreclosure/finance/deficit issues
Put NATIONAL INTEREST ahead of Wall St interest, Republican or Democrat!
The past few months we've heard about TRILLIONS of dollars being tossed around like it's no big deal since it's just a Wall St or big government thing.
Now we are hearing more and more how $50 million or $100 million here and there needs to be cut FROM US to “save us” from Big Government. Not only homeowners but our youth, seniors and all of our public servants who deserve better are being sacrificed!
Does this make ANY SENSE?
It seems the only solution for Wall St and Congress is to cut good jobs and reduce services such as education, fire and police since taxing the rich would “hurt the economy”.
Even though the deficit grew due to tax cuts for the rich, corporate loopholes and spending on lender bailouts and other Wall St/corporate funding and needless wars that abused our troops the past decade.
Yet, even with all the Wall St spending (feel good commercials etc) and profiting, the economy is barely afloat and the trillions of dollars have barely made a trickle of jobs or loans for small or new businesses and homes.
As if we are caught in a giant ponzi scheme!
As discussed in other sections we need to review what happened the past 10 years and make sure we start asking the right questions of our government officials while taking a stand against unlawful foreclosures and unnecessary and possibly irresponsible government cuts.
With watered down regulations that have left homeowners trapped, lenders are still making hundreds of millions in PROFITS while the rich get richer and pay less in taxes even though they were supposed to SHARE THE PAIN!
Foreclosures and the housing crisis are viewed as the main drag on the economy which is dependent on a strong homeowner base and consumer spending even as corporations continue their massive cuts while hiding their wealth and our tax dollars overseas!
Lenders recently outsourced OFFSHORE $5 BILLION in IT and back office work even though we saved THEM with the bailouts and our country's good credit.
Yet again they are breaking records in profits and attacking government for the sake of their million dollar bonuses.
We need to get answers as to how such obscene amounts of money can simply evaporate and yet there is nearly NOTHING to show for it even if it “could have been worse”.
How does Wall St do so well so quickly while we are constantly told that things NEED TO GET WORSE FOR US!
If you have problems with information provided ask questions; better yet do your research and ask the person who represents YOU in Congress or runs your local too big to fail branch.
Review data and reports here that you can use to try and make sense of it all. Or roll the dice and let THIS government (Congress AND President) or Wall St's lobbyists do it for you. Again! …. It's YOUR COUNTRY!