Homeowners from California are taking a sad plight as they witness more and more of their longtime friends and neighbors leave or abandon their homes due to foreclosures. Neighborhoods find more houses empty while a few more remaining residents cower in fright, dreading receipt of that inevitable eviction letter.
The rate of California foreclosures continue to climb. Monterey County alone finds 19.1 out of a thousand houses going to foreclosure last October. That is a sharp increase from the August level of 11.8. With 2008 still heading conclusion, the first nine months already claimed 2,500 homes. This is way over 900 for the whole of 1997. The crisis is so severe that some neighborhoods register as high as 10% of all homes in their vicinity.
Both counselors from state housing programs and real estate agents agree that the earlier families act on the risk of foreclosures, the more is their chances of avoiding it. That is where the problem begins with some families who are in danger or have already lost their homes. They tend to ignore the warning signs and imminent danger of losing their homes, and they will only act when it is already too late and they receive their letters of foreclosures.
State counseling services in California are offering 24/7 assistance to beleaguered families in the pre-foreclosure stage. Counselors can help these families communicate with their lenders and formulate a plan to steer their homes away from being included in the list of repossessed houses. Within this grace period provided by lenders, families can still work out payments of their arrears and avoid losing their homes.
Even if families are aware of their financial situation and start to act on it, some may not be able to afford the increases in their monthly payments, as the value of their homes dropped to almost half.
With the current economic crisis, it would be difficult for them to get higher income flows and help them avoid foreclosures. A grim future looms ahead unless something is done about it.
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