The North Fulton Blog

With all of the foreclosures and short sales on the market, I thought a primer on the subject might be in order to educate those facing foreclosure that there are alternatives to foreclosure.  Did you know that 70% of those currently in default (in foreclosure or more than 30 days late on their mortgage) DO NOTHING to help themselves!  They become paralyzed into taking no action to help themselves.  There are 11 alternatives to foreclosure, but 70% of homeowners who were foreclosed on DID NOTHING?  You probably ask why and simply, these homeowners didn't know what to do or who to talk to about it.  Many just wished the situation would go away.  Some hoped the government would bail them out and many were just too embarrassed to let anyone  know that they were in trouble. 

To give you some perspective on the nature of this crisis, currently 1 our of every 7 homeowners are not making their mortgage payment.  The Mortgage Bankers Association estimated at the end of 2009, that 15.02% of the 44,600,000 mortgages in the US were either in foreclosure or default.  That equates to more than 6,700,000 homeowners that are currently in trouble.  That is a truly awesome number.  These are the homeowners that need to do a short sale or take some other action to avoid foreclosure.  These are the homeowners that need to become educated as to their options to avoid foreclosure.  These are the homeowners that need to be talking with a knowledgeable person to learn how they can avoid foreclosure. 

Estimates are that this foreclosure crisis will worsen before it gets any better.  There are more than 5 million ARM mortgages that are scheduled for reset in the next 12 months.  Many experts believe that the banks have foreclosed on a tremendous number of homes already that have never made it to the market.  Speculation is that the banks are holding on to them to get better sale prices.  Regardless of the reason, most forecasters believe that we will have 7-9 YEARS more of foreclosure concerns before we are out of the woods.  That also depends in large amount to the state of our economy and the unemployment picture as all of these issues are interrelated.  All in all, not a pretty picture. 

Over the next 10-12 weeks I intend to explain the alternatives to foreclosure, the short sale process step by step and other related topics, so please check back frequently to see the latest.  I will post 2-3 times per week.  Also, if you are or know someone who falls into the "unable to pay mortgage and don't know what to do" category, please pick up the phone and call me at 770-354-0616.  Only by acting together are we going to solve this foreclosure crisis, one home at a time.