Foreclosure Workshop Draws Large Crowd
Foreclosures, and how to avoid them, were the topic of discussion at a meeting held last night in El Centro
Cold hard numbers have defined the mortgage meltdown. Each month, the number of defaults tell a tale of lost homes and broken dreams. Last night at a special workshop called by El Centro Mayor Ben Solomon, those numbers became faces and names.
“It is a terrible, terrible thing for people to be forced out of their home, and anything that we can do to help you keep them in their homes, we are going to do.” - Congressman Bob Filner on the foreclosure crisis in Imperial County, addressing the meeting via telephone from Washington D.CThe meeting, which brought together local political officials, banking and real estate professionals, attorneys, and housing officials offered people who are facing foreclosure an opportunity to find out what options they have.
For the latest figures on foreclosures in Imperial County, Click HERE
“Today it might be your neighbor that is in foreclosure, tomorrow it might be you,” Solomon said. “I believe the worst is yet to come. I believe we need help and we need it now.”
The meeting generated a standing room only crowd at the William R. Condit Auditorium at the main facilities of the Imperial Irrigation District. Concerned homeowners listened intently when Congressman Bob Filner (D-San Diego) speaking via telephone from Washington D.C., said that all levels of government needed to be aware of the concerns of stressed out homeowners.
“I also want you to tell us what we need to do – What we have to do at all levels, whether it is federal, state, or local to help our constituents,” Filner said. “It is a terrible, terrible thing for people to be forced out of their home, and anything that we can do to help you keep them in their homes, we are going to do.”
Jess Torres, assistant director for the Inland Fair Housing and Mediation Board, (IFHMB) a housing and counseling agency that offers advice and referrals for people caught up in the housing crisis, said no one area of the housing and finance arena is blameless in the foreclosure scenario.
“There is plenty of blame to go around,” Torres said. “ You've got greed from the mortgage industry, you've got greed from investors, you've got buyers that were buying homes and saying 'I'm going to keep this home for four or five months, I'm going flip this home, I'm going to make some money', and a lot of people got caught right at the cusp there where they couldn't sell that home."
For Jenne and Ronnie Golden of El Centro, it is not clear whether any assistance the government can offer them will come in time
“We refinanced at the peak of the market and so therefore our home is not of the same value,” Jenne Golden said. “We're making high payments, and now we are finding it difficult all last year and this year – there is a worker's comp injury involved, so yeah, things are just getting more difficult.”
"I've had several tenants come in unaware that the property that they were renting is gone into foreclosure (and) the defaulting owner never gave them a heads up – they keep paying their rent then all of a sudden they are slapped with a notice to vacate.” - Lorenzo Campbell, Directing Attorney, California Rural Legal Assistance
She said she was looking for answers, and the meeting offered a ray of hope for her and her husband
“No, I don't know where to look - I'm trying to educate myself , that's why we are here,” Golden said.“I appreciate Ben Solomon trying to get something together for the homeowners.”
The meeting also brought to light another part of the foreclosure mess that hasn't been widely publicized – the fate of renters who live in a property which is in foreclosure.
Lorenzo Campbell , the directing attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance in El Centro, said he often sees people in that situation.
“I think it is extremely common," Campbell said "I've had several tenants come in unaware that the property that they were renting is gone into foreclosure (and) the defaulting owner never gave them a heads up – they keep paying their rent then all of a sudden they are slapped with a notice to vacate.”
Torres was one person in the room who could offer some hope for people. His organization provides information and services free of charge to homeowners who are facing foreclosure. IFHMB cannot guarantee that a home can be saved from foreclosure, but it can make homeowners aware of what options are available.
The decline in housing values here in Imperial County has sent a flood of people to Torres' organization.
He said the number of people that he sees with loans that are “upside down” is staggering. Upside down loans are those where a homeowner owes more on the property than it can be sold for.
“Everyone who comes to us is under that scenario, Torres said. "A lot of people think that because we are a counseling agency, that we are going to be able to get these banks and these lenders to do whatever it takes to get these people a loan modification to fit their needs to go with a house that is upside down, and that in reality is not the case. They (banks and lenders) will move a bit, but they are not going to take a house that is upside down and do a new loan on it.”
Several people asked if more meetings such as the one last night were planned. If the heavy turnout was any indication, more meetings to offer homeowners information regarding how to deal with foreclosures may help a region that has been devastated by the housing crisis,
To view the Inland Fair Housing and Mediation Board Web site, click HERE