It seemed like the perfect storm, house prices were rising and when we were having our greatest housing boom in American history, we were suckered by unscrupulous mortgage lenders who offered us loans for houses we could not afford. The problem is now those loans are adjusting, no more teaser rates and most of us can not afford it, we could barely afford the teaser rate. The result is that monthly payments are going up, foreclosures are going up and we are in a bad position to do anything.
These exotic mortgages have hit us hard and fast, especially for the African American community. They have gotten into these loans and are now into jeopardy by having their home at great risk.
We realize that adjustable-rate mortgages are common practice in the loan industry, and most are on the up and up. The sad thing is that many lenders used these types of loans to push people into buying homes when under normal circumstances there would never been approved in the first place. The statistics show that one in five of these loans will be foreclosed on.
This does not only hit home town America, Wall Street saw recently that HSBC Holdings announced recently it has set aside $10 billion to cover the delinquencies. The Foreclosures hit 1.2 million in 2006, this was up 42% from the previous year according to RealtyTrac.
If you see yourself in a risky mortgage and are concerned about missing payments, or worse foreclosure, there are lots of community-based programs that can help you, with grant assistance. There are nonprofit organizations that can also help, NeighborWorks America, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that can offer counseling in your town.
Author Source: Bryan Burbank
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