ARNOLD: McCaskill to sponsor foreclosure clinic

With the number of foreclosures in Jefferson County running at record breaking levels, Senator Claire McCaskill will sponsor a Foreclosure Seminar at the Fox C-6 School District Service Center on Saturday, June 14, 2008 from 9 am until 1 pm.

Trish Wallace of the Jefferson County Journal Reports that "With nearly 20,000 Missourians expected to lose their homes by the end of 2009, U.S. Sen. McCaskill, D-Mo., wants to provide easily accessible resources for those facing foreclosure."

According to the article, Jefferson County will be a priority for McCaskill because of the number of Foreclosures in the County. Take a look at this very interesting article and attend the meeting if you can.

[Vinny63010]

It is nice to see someone taking notice that there is a problem. However, the problem has been there for a while and growing. I wonder why they are just noticing now, right before the big election?

[Doris Borgelt]

Dave,
This situation seems to be worsening. I used to have to go to 5-10 of these a month, but it has been 5+ per week for the last 4 or 5 months. Not all are first mortgages, a lot of them are second mortgages, equity was taken out and with the decline in home values and the caps on the interest rates for the adjustable rate mortgages going up, people can no longer afford the payments. They are upside down, so to speak, because they end up owing more than the house is currently worth. Some go to refinance, but the prepayment penalty really kills them. I always tell my clients and customers "Make sure there is NO prepayment penalty." People get so excited that they are going to own a house, they don't pay attention to the details. People want their dream house and they don't want to go through all of the steps of getting it! Unless you win the lottery or are independently wealthy, you need to get your first house and work your way up to your dream house. Its serious business.

[Vinny63010]

Doris,

Would you suggest that people attend the meeting and do you have specifics that first time home buyers should look at in this market?

[Shirlav]

I would think this would be good for people who are now struggling to make ends meet and people who are unsure about their employment.
While no one wants to go through a foreclosure it would be good if someone could help people who may face this in the future. I think its usually to late to do much once the process of foreclosure has started.
I also agree with Doris regarding people buying first homes that are their dream homes instead of buying a smaller one to start and working their way up.

[Vinny63010]

I understand about buying a smaller home and working your way up. I bought the two bedroom house and ended up there for 13 years buiding credit and saving up money to buy this one. Sometimes getting started is hard, but I realize if we would have bought our dream house way back then, I am sure the bank would have lent us the money, but we would have been out of it within a couple of years.

Times are hard. I hope people who need to know about this meeting get the information they need.

[Doris Borgelt]

I would suggest anyone thinking of buying a home in the very near future, anyone in danger of losing their home to forclosure or anyone who has already experienced it to go to this meeting. I would also suggest than anyone thinking of buying a forclosed property attend. I evaluate property before forclosure for banks and sometimes there are solutions that are not as detrimental to the homeowner. I prefer to try to find a win-win solution to the problem, but a lot of times people are in denial and think they are going to somehow be able to come up with three housepayments later on when they couldn't come up with enough money for one. The hole just gets deeper. Sometimes the bank will agree to a short sale and allow the homeowner to go on with no penalty. That is something that has to be worked out though. Most the time, the biggest problem is they wait too long to ask for help. ASK FOR HELP it could make it a little easier for you. Also, learn all you can when buying a house, don't let anyone rush you into something you are not sure of. Find a realtor that will explain things to you instead of telling you what you want to hear. Find a lender that will explain the details of the loan. Go to the inspection with your inspector. See what he sees ASK QUESTIONS! Don't let ANYONE rush you. Buying a house is probably the largest monetary decision anyone will make in their life.

[Vinny63010]

Doris,

A lot of the tipic, but since you mentioned inspectors, do you know any. I will be hitting the one year point on my home. I am considering having an inspector come and give my house a good once over prior to the end of the one year date to get any issues taken care of under the warranty. I figure the an inspector might catch things I am overlooking. If you know anyone that has an eye for detail, that does home inspections, feel free to drop my a pm.

[ArnoldCC]

I remember those days. Dave, I would suggest that for nail pops that he builder has to have fixed to take post-it notes and put them over the nail pops as you see them. That way you won't miss to many and the drywaller will know which ones have been hit and which ones have been missed. It makes it go much faster.

As for the foreclosure stuff, I think the banks got themselves into a real pickle by loaning money to people that they knew couldn't afford it. I think that the banks are partly to blame as are the consumers who took the loans not figuring out if they could really afford the payment.

[Vinny63010]

I am not too worried about nail pops. I learned how to spot and fix those a long time ago. I am more conscerned about structural things that I might not notice, but an inspector would. THings that are bigger, more costly and I would not have the know how to correct. These are what I want the builder to fix before the Year is up.

Dave