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The non-profit organization, American Homeowners Preservation Inc. or AHP Ohio will accept the last batch of applications for its foreclosure relief program in Akron, Ohio on November 24, 2008.

The said organization, which started accepting applications for its foreclosure relief program in September, will hold its one-day final session at Akron’s Hampton Inn, from 10 in the morning to 8 in the evening.

AHP has collected nearly 300 applications from homeowners residing in Summit County who are facing the threat of losing their properties.

The nonprofit organization’s foreclosure relief program targets homeowners in Summit County who are currently behind on their mortgage payment and who owe lenders more than the value of their homes. Under the program, qualified homeowners sell their properties and then lease them back at reasonable monthly payments.

Furthermore, the program provides homeowners who are facing the threat of foreclosure an opportunity to buy back their properties in 3 to 10 years at discounted prices.

Rob Fredericks, executive director of AHP Ohio, said that the overwhelming response to the program by homeowners in Summit County has influenced the nonprofit organization to extend the submission of applications for another day. He added that the AHP program helps homeowners stay in their properties and avoid foreclosure proceedings and prevents disrupting children’s education by allowing them to remain in schools they are familiar with.

Research firm RealtyTrac Inc. said that Akron’s foreclosure rate is the 12th highest in the United States, with one in every 43 households. The overwhelming number of homeowners in Ohio who are defaulting on their mortgage payments has created a crisis in the housing market.

After the November 24 deadline, the nonprofit organization will be offering the foreclosure relief program again in the Summit County region in spring 2009. AHP does not require fees for applying and participating on its program.

Foreclosures are a serious problem that the government must prioritize. On a national scale, over 4 million homeowners are a month delayed in their mortgage payments, with an unprecedented half a million homeowners in the pre-foreclosure stage. This is according to last June’s figures as reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The Associated Press says that an average of 2,700 Americans have lost their homes from July to September. The statistics show a marked increase of 1,200 homeowners if compared to the same period last year.

In North Carolina, just one of the many states affected by repossession woes, the number of distressed homes has increased 30 percent in October from just last month’s statistics. RealtyTrac, Inc. reports that this translates to one out of 1254 threatened homes.

Many have just been victims of the downward shift in the economy, but there are also those who just took on more debt than they could handle. Lenders and borrowers have been relying on real estate negotiations to find their way around the problem. However, it is high time that strong measures be taken by the government to respond to the foreclosure crisis.

There have been several proposals floated around in Washington, including a government guarantee for renegotiated mortgages by lenders and borrowers. However, the administration’s plan to help troubled homeowners is limited to lowering the monthly payments of a few hundred thousand homeowners. The aid will not trickle down to the millions of people who need help the most – those who took out unaffordable subprime loans.

With property value going down, it is clear that the housing crisis affects all homeowners. Not only must funds go towards suffering mortgage companies. The root of the problem is the sheer number of unaffordable home loans. The government should focus on this if it wants to solve the foreclosure problem.

California’s Lake County hit record foreclosure rates in September this year when it had 136 foreclosures, an increase of 14 percent from August and a staggering 3,514% above September 2007 figures.

Based on reports from RealtyTrac, Lake County’s third quarter foreclosure properties totaled 470, ranking it 12th among California’s 58 counties in terms of number of foreclosures per capita.

In September, California’s foreclosure filings decreased by 51 percent from August following efforts by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to control foreclosure rates by issuing moratoriums on foreclosures. RealtyTrac’s chief executive James J. Saccacio noted California’s legislation in early September that requires mortgage lenders to contact borrowers before registering a notice of delinquency not less than 30 days in advance.

Schwarzenegger has also proposed initiatives that would prevent future mortgage crisis in the future, including the following:

• reevaluation of lending processes and licensing prerequisites for loan originators
• enforcement of federal financial regulations by the California Department of Corporations and Department of Real Estate
• counseling requirement for borrowers using risky types of mortgages and
• imposition of penalties on real estate professionals violating lending regulations

The following web sites have also been launched to help troubled homeowners, especially those in Lake County:

• www.dist02.casen.govoffice.com
  This is a site run by Senator Patricia Wiggin, who has co-authored a state law that gives tax relief to distressed homeowners.
• www. foreclosureinfoca.org
  This is run by the California Bar Foundation to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. It is available both in English and in Spanish.
• www.hud.gov/hopeforhomeowners/consumerfactsheet.cfm
  This is run by the U.S. Federal Housing Administration to provide information on its HOPE for Homeowners Program.

Governor Schwarzenegger also called on the national government to require mortgage loan originators to be responsible for part of loan risks to ensure proper underwriting of loans. In a legislative session this year, the governor has signed several bills from state legislators that aim to help homeowners facing foreclosures and borrowers in distress.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has approved housing counseling agencies to provide assistance to homeowners in trouble of losing their homes to foreclosures. With a 55 percent increase in clients since it started in 2001, more and more people have benefitted from the counseling services these non-profit agencies provide.

With the growing number of clients seeking help in their foreclosures problems, HUD has announced that it will provide additional Housing Counseling Grant’s to non-profit agencies to fund additional counselors for foreclosures prevention. HUD has already funded $50 million this year for foreclosure prevention counseling efforts.

This fund was provided to at least 1,800 counseling agencies that provide help to homeowners with their mortgage concerns and assist them in communicating with their servicers. Federal support has also reached $360 million to support these efforts.

These counseling agencies are helping troubled homeowners deal with foreclosures by helping them review their financial situations. They also help these troubled homeowners to talk with their lenders and work out a best solution for their mortgages that would be beneficial for both parties and avoid foreclosures. These agencies also conduct seminars and awareness campaigns to help neighborhoods deal with the problems associated with foreclosure properties.

In one particular case, counselors from Southwest Improvement Community, a non-profit agency approved by HUD, helped a medically-challenged Yolanda Garcia. She is a resident from Denver, who had problems paying her mortgages after a leg surgery, and sought mortgage counseling.

After discussions with Garcia’s lenders, her interest rates dropped from 10 percent to 3 percent. Thousands of similar cases have already been registered, with homeowners saving their homes from foreclosures.

Officials from the Housing and Urban Development have signified that the presence of housing counselors is crucial in addressing the current housing crisis. A resolution to the problems of the housing and mortgage industries is a vital key to the economic recovery of the country.

What does one do when the government effort to prevent foreclosures has been falling short? A city sets an example in making the best out of the Massachusetts foreclosures problem.

New Bedford is a quaint community filled with working-class neighborhoods. However, the once picture-perfect city has been struggling with a common problem lately – that of foreclosures. The housing crisis has not only been an eyesore and constant nuisance for residents; it has also threatened to plunge real estate value in the area.

The city’s housing problems have added to Massachusetts’ foreclosure problem. The number of troubled homes has risen to 380, a big leap from 175 from three years ago. Because of this, the neighborhood, headed by Mayor Scott Lang has decided to make concerted efforts to solve the problem.

New Bedford has decided on a very simple yet effective solution. Instead of depending on banks and investors who are thousands of miles away, the city has been planning to employ city employees to demolish foreclosure homes which have no hope for rehabilitation.

Meanwhile, those that are salvageable are renovated and sold to first-time home buyers who are chosen via lottery. Just recently, the city spent $280,000 to renovate a deteriorating multifamily home and was able to sell it.

The grassroots effort has brought back stability to the neighborhood, especially to those hardest hit by the crisis. Patrick Sullivan, the director of the local Office of Housing and Community Development said that the city was also trying to ensure federal and state grants to finance the demolitions and renovations. A grant would be easier to obtain in cases where the substantial back-taxes are owed or if a house is structurally unstable and becomes a community hazard.

So far, the foreclosure program of the city has gathered strong support from its residents.

Foreclosure home sales, including evictions which are to take place in November 26, 2008 to January 9, 2009, have been suspended by Fannie Mae. The temporary halt is true for occupied single-family homes. The said move is taken in support of the streamlined modification program.

Affected borrowers now have the chance to keep their properties while they are waiting for the implementation of the streamlined modification program. They will be allowed to stay in their mortgaged properties until further help is within their access.

The program, when implemented, is a great help to distressed borrowers. It will help borrowers acquire lower interest rates, extension of loans or even postponed payments. This initiative is aimed at reducing the number of state foreclosures.

According to Fannie Mae President, the suspension will give a chance to homeowners who are capable and willing to keep their properties to avoid foreclosures.

In joint efforts with servicers and foreclosure lawyers the approximately 10,000 homeowners who will be affected by the suspension will be kept track. Occupied homes will be temporarily spared from foreclosure.

In addition to the suspension, borrowers will be helped in reviewing their workout options. Fannie Mae personnel will check whether all possible instruments to help in the repayment of problematic loans have been exhausted.

Fannie Mae encourages borrowers to seek help from their loan servicers, regardless of the conditions of their loan, as they could help find solutions to lessen the debt burden of borrowers and prevent foreclosure.

Fannie Mae has been taking several measures in order to help prevent the widespread foreclosures in the country. It is dedicated in serving the housing market. It will exert all efforts so that housing problems are avoided as much as possible. Among its primary objectives is to provide the American housing market with affordable homes.

In California, more and more real estate professionals and companies have been taking on the business of helping borrowers negotiate loan modifications with mortgage lenders, as the number of homeowners facing foreclosures increase and as more loan modification funds are offered by the federal and state governments.

To enter the loan modification market, these agents and brokers who planned to charge fees upfront from borrowers had to sign advance fee contracts with borrowers. The contracts require the parties to put fees in a trust deposit account from which the broker could draw from as the loan modification progresses. Advance-fee contracts had to be approved by the California Department of Real Estate before the contracts become valid.

Borrowers need to check that they are dealing with licensed brokers, as there are lots of companies which have sprouted overnight to take advantage of the rise in foreclosure properties and borrowers in danger of foreclosures.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has just announced the arrest of three people who put up First Gov, also known as Foreclosure Prevention Services, which charged $1,500 to $5,000 but failed to deliver promised services to homeowners.

One of the legitimate negotiators who have produced results for homeowners is Guardianship Real Estate Services in Redlands. It imposes a fixed fee of $3,000, with $1,600 paid upfront and the $1,400 paid after the loan is modified and the homeowner is able to avoid foreclosure.

Another one is Home Resolution & Credit Services Inc. which charges $2,500 upfront and has about 25 processors negotiating with lenders for about 300 borrowers. Its president Robert Aldana said that his processors have achieved outstanding results, such as two percent fixed-rate, debt relief for five years and payment relief until the home is sold.

Meanwhile, what Fortune Bancorp has done to get into the foreclosure prevention business was to leverage the services of licensed independent brokers by hiring them as partners to work under its Credit Angel service. Brokers get $1,250 for each successful modification for borrowers who each pay a fixed fee of $2,850.

Foreclosures created a large problem for Focus Property Group. They bought a government estate with 1,710 acres in size located in Kyle Canyon three years ago, fulfilling a promise to make Mount Charleston a suburb.

The group spent $510 million to construct properties which they gained from Bureau of Land Management bidding. The project named Kyle Canyon Gateway, with an estimate of 16,000 houses, was permitted by the city of Las Vegas.

That was before, though.

No house was ever built, and it was the reason the property was filed as foreclosed by Wachovia Bank, according to Chief Executive John Ritter of Focus Property Group.

Nevada’s foreclosure problem was envisioned by officials of Las Vegas as sustainable which shows that a district’s growth can go on without the resources being overtaxed.

On the other hand, the project, being miles away from the city, is one thing that the environmentalists complained about as it may result to a long travel for commuters. Mount Charleston residents said that a development this large might be a burden for them.

Rebecca Grismanauskas, a resident, said she feels sorry for the numerous Nevada foreclosures, but it would be better if no residential or business development will occur because the area has no sufficient facilities and services for it to be more populated.

The group was sued by Wachovia for failing to pay for the development of Las Vegas.

In addition, Inspirada, located in Henderson, is currently being developed by the group where homebuilders failed to make payments to J.P. Morgan and Chase & Co.

Up to five properties in Inspirada are sold every week. Unfortunately, sales went down due to unemployment, according to Ritter. He also made a statement about the market getting worse each day and that people should not be too confident in their businesses which is one lesson to be learned.

There was a rapid increase in foreclosure, but Ritter is positive that the market will recover to its normal state soon.