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Memories and furniture often left behind at foreclosed houses

Submitted by WWAY on Mon, 02/09/2009 - 6:25pm.READ MORE: Memories and furniture often left behind at foreclosed houses
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A family can accumulate a lot of belongings in a home pretty quickly. If a foreclosure forces them out of their home, they have to make some tough decisions on what gets left behind. Last year, the number of home forecloses in southeastern North Carolina rose overall from the previous year. Foreclosures in Bladen and Columbus counties remained steady, while Pender and Brunswick counties saw big increases. In New Hanover County there were more than a thousand home foreclosures in 2008, 300 more than the previous year. With limited time and space to move out, many of the items left are behind to tell a story. Local real estate broker Bob McCorkle said, “I see lots of old pictures. I've seen birth certificates, baptismal records, lots of children's things, drawings, school work, boxes and boxes of memories that they probably just don't have room to take with them.” McCorkle has been through plenty of foreclosed homes; it is his job to pick up the pieces once the family has moved out. “A lot of times we'll have fans missing, almost always the stove, the dishwasher, everything kind of gets stripped out of the house.” That wasn't the case for a house on Windemere Road where the family left behind a large couch, some dressers, and plenty of memories. McCorkle said most of the items left behind by the families have more personal value than anything else. If they do find something worth saving, it is usually donated to a charity like the Salvation Army.

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The Senate wanted a

Submitted by Guest 1111 (not verified) on Mon, 02/09/2009 - 10:36pm.
The Senate wanted a provision in the stimulus bill to slash the interest rates on mortgages already in existence to 4% to try and save more homes from foreclosure. The Democrats voted it down. Why? The entire so-called stimulus bill makes no sense at all. I am a Democrat and for years I've been convinced that the Republicans didn't care about people but Queen Nancy and King Harry really make you wonder about the Demos.
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foreclosures

Submitted by Gmoney 22 (not verified) on Mon, 02/09/2009 - 7:32pm.
Makes you wonder where all those trillions are going if not to help people stay in their homes. Some of these people have interest payments over 14% Ask McCorkle how many houses worth over $300,000 he has seen go into foreclosure. Most of these people, had they been given 6% mortgages would still be there, the banks not in danger of collapsing, but when you tack on an extra $1,000 on a month in payments, needing an 800 credit score or better to refinance there is no hope. But yet restimulate the economy by robbing these poor people of their homes to auction the house off for a 30% loss that us taxpayers will pay for to some rich guy that will rent it out and bring down the home value all of us neighbors. Washington's doing nothing more than helping the rich hang onto their money at the expense of the poor and middle class. $5 says McCorkle tosses those family heirlooms in the trash never thinks about contacting the owner about them.
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Perhaps if they had PAID their mortgage....

Submitted by Commonsensenotc... on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 7:18pm.
...they'd still be there, too. The government will not get us out of the current economic situation any more than The New Deal got us out of the Great Depression. (World War II did that) John Maynard Keynes formulated a great theory that simply doesn't work. Most economists had long ago discarded his theory about the state using it's spending power to stabalize the private sector, for it has never successfully worked and in the past led to stagnant economies with above average inflation. Like a bad smell, however, it's back Only now, Keynesian economics may be the rocket sled that propels us into financial collapse. We have no money to spend, and you cannot have a government bound and determined to spend eighty, ninety, one-hundred percent of annual GDP to "stimulate" the economy when everyone IN the economy is waiting for the next shoe to drop - inflation. That will affect EVERYONE, and we're starting to see a very distubing trend: Increasing M2 while GDP is in decline. That's a 100% guarantee of coming inflation. When they put on that third shift at the BEP, all bets are off. You simply can't print money (or sell bonds) with no end in sight and fool yourself into thinking that you're rich. One other fact from economic history that may annoy you, but is verifiable and proven, time and time again - it is more important that the weath of the upper and upper middle classes be preserved than we make life better for the masses. You are going to need those people to invest their money to get us out of the hole we're in right now. In 1895 and again in 1907, it was J.P. Morgam who saved the United States from severe depression and possible financial collapse. We would never have emerged from the Great Depression or won World War II were it not for men like Henry Ford and Henry Kaiser. You cannot have a society of nothing but poor people with their hands out to the government. (Regardless of how much the Democrats want that) We had a perfect example of what happens when that's the case in the Soviet Union. The government does NOTHING better than the private sector, and we need to stop pretending that the government will be our savior.
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@

Submitted by someonewhohasntforgottenhowtobehuman (not verified) on Mon, 04/26/2010 - 12:19pm.

@ Commonsensenotcommontoday

Put yourself in someone else's shoes for a moment.

There are A LOT of people who, for one reason or another, (mostly people who were laid off and have had trouble finding employment again) whose homes are now going into foreclosure.

My husband had 150,000 a year job he lost 1.5 years ago. We had an EXCELLENT credit rating but due to health issues (in his case, cancer) all of that changed. We've NEVER been late on a payment and in fact even bought my mother a house which she has lived in for over ten years... so we were paying two mortgages for awhile there. Never late, never missed a payment. We were also in the highest income tax bracket so we paid our taxes without a break for the house for my mother.

So for you to pretend that these people are just asking for handouts from the government (while big Wall Street executives are being bailed out billions, using OUR tax $$$) , is simply wrong.

Maybe one day you or someone you know will be facing the same situtation and you will eat your words.

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pay me.

Submitted by TurnerD (not verified) on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 10:04am.
Bob is one of the most caring people in this town, and I couldn't think of anyone more willing to help folks in such a situation maintain their valuables. Go meet him for coffee, or go with him to one of the homes he is dealing with. Then pay me that $5.
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