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Foreclosures still on the rise

Submitted by Nadine Maeser on Tue, 12/22/2009 - 6:08pm.READ MORE: Foreclosures still on the rise
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Housing foreclosure is a national concern, and here in southeastern North Carolina, where unemployment rates are higher than the national average, it's a growing problem. Housing foreclosures are up 14 percent since 2008, but local organizations are reaching out to those at risk Annette Heyward is one of many in the country facing home foreclosure. "We could lose our home and have nowhere to go, so we're afraid," she said. Some can turn to mortgage counselors for help. "That's kinda where we come in to play a part as a connecting piece between us as the housing counselor, the borrower and the lender servicer to try and come up with a feasible solution in order to keep the person in their house,” said Toronya Ezell, the AMEZ program coordinator. But for people like Heyward, who has a private mortgage, options are limited. "Lenders and servicers and seeing its really a benefit to them to go ahead and try to work with the client but you got a lot of private investors who have yet to come on board." And Ezell says the worst is yet to come in the housing crisis. "It hasn't reached its peak, it has not." AMEZ has filed more than 350 packages for people in New Hanover, Pender, Columbus and Brunswick counties. The state's managed to prevent 2,500 foreclosures. For Heyward, there's only one option. "If I don't go in there with $4,200 dollars, its over with." AMEZ advises people to stay ahead of the game. If you foresee a financial issue or are in a bind for money currently, and you have a mortgage, contact your lender immediately. Because so many houses are being foreclosed, some lenders are being more flexible and willing to work with borrowers.

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downward spiral

Submitted by radar (not verified) on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 12:34pm.
Well said common sense. I could have not stated our dire situation as a nation any better!
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...and they're going to keep rising...

Submitted by Commonsensenotc... on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 7:55am.
....albeit at a slower pace. There is nothing to indicate that the employment picture will be improving any time soon. Sure...the stock market is rising....the dollar is temporarily getting stronger....the yield curve on bonds points to growth....but that's not yet translating into job growth, which is a lagging indicator anyway. With the plans of the current White House and Congress it may not translate into job growth for a long time. No one is going to start hiring until they know how badly their budget will be decimated by healthcare reform, cap-n-trade, card-check, and the rest of the Socialist agenda coming down the pipeline. Plus all the good indicators may be pointing to a temporary recovery (a double V recession) because they all ignore the six-hundred pound gorilla sitting in the room, the insane debt that has been incurred by the federal government. When government competes against private industry for capital, printing more money is NOT the solution. That's called first-order inflation and trust me, it's coming because our monetary policy is forcing it upon us. The chickens are coming home to roost. This country is going to return to the oppressive pre-Reagan tax rates, stifling all growth, or we will repudiate our debt and immediately join the list of great powers that fell from grace. Oh, you can also expect to see your state taxes skyrocket. Did you see how many billions have been dumped into the states' laps because of the Medicaid expansions in the current health bills? (Not Nebraska, of course!) Good luck with that mortgage when over half your take-home pay is going out in taxes. Playing Santa Claus may be fun but trying to make a government work as Santa Claus, as we've done for the past fifty years and continue to do to this day, will be fatal.
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