Michigan: More homes facing foreclosure

[UpInArms]

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=local&id=3967223

Mid Michigan - (03/06/06)--The statistics are startling. The number of homes undergoing foreclosure in Michigan doubled over the last two years.

And on top of that, 8,200 homes in this state are going into foreclosure at a rate that is two and a half times the national average.

<snip>

The face of foreclosed homes have changed. Banks are repossessing homes not only in depressed neighborhoods, but also in high-end subdivisions surrounded by golf courses.

"I think a lot of it is people want to live right to their means," said agent Teresa Gordon.

<snip>

They got into them for nothing down or an interest-only loan and don't have the savings to save their home.

"So if there is any problem with gas prices raising or a job or an extra child -- whatever situation. If there might be any fluctuation in the market they're in trouble," Gordon said.

...more...

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. Michigan Real Estate Appraiser here... this story is actually misleading.

Many times, the homes I am appraising in foreclosure actions are the three bedroom, little slices of dream with the swingset in the back yard...not on a lake, not surrounded by golf courses. The blue collar workforce has been hit hardest in this increase.

[Thtwudbeme]

3. That is even sadder to me

"little slices of a dream..."

Man, I hate that....

I get headaches from trying to figure out Michael's retirement stuff--and at least we HAVE retirement stuff. That's the damndest part of it--how much better off we are than so many people at this income level.

Sad, sad, sad.

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. I know. We save all of my income--just in case. And I still worry.

I worry about what kind of future is out there for my kids, and whether we even really have any equity in this home.

[Thtwudbeme]

10. oh, it's sickening!

We are living on just Michael's income while I am back in school....and you know what's really, really scary?

I thought there would be more "one older student living on one income" people like me in college...taking advantage of their what's left of it youth to further educate themselves.

Wrong.

I am the ONLY one I have met at a major university.

And what's even weirder is the people I meet that are my age have been wage slavers and are scared to hell of the teachers. That's the first thing I LIKED was that I was older than them and they were scared of me.

;)

Particularly the dorky little twenty something grad school assistants.

[bain_sidhe]

12. What area?

And are you seeing property values going down? I ask because I'm wondering why my assessment went down by $5,000 this year. (Background, the city hadn't even looked at the property in over 20 years, and since the last "eyeball" the previous owners had added a one car garage, enclosed both the front and the (large) back porch (which we use as a 3-season family room) and a patio. I'm not so much complaining as mystified. A couple of days after the assessments came in the mail, one of our neighbors put his house up for sale (there are already two - my neighbor to the south has been trying for over a year to sell their house, but I think they're asking too much. Two other property owners in our block ripped down old decrepit houses and put up brand new "large footprint" houses, so it can't be the the neighborhood is in decline... I just don't get it, unless property values are going down across the board. (I'm in Plymouth, which has always been an attractive middle-to-upper middle income area, with good schools, so that's not it either.)

Or, I could just have you come appraise my house! :-)

[MichiganVote]

21. Not only that. Where I live in Mi. our tax appraisal went up $4500

in one year. So I'm sayin' to myself, now why would our property go up this much when the whole dang state is depressed? Granted it is about a 10 year old neighborhood with some high end housing but why so much? The houses do sell as evidenced by the number that have traded hands and they always sell for more but geeezzzz...$4500? We haven't done anything substantial since we finished the basement about 3 years ago.

[free4now]

24. This story is much deeper than you think

Want to learn whats really going on? See here
www.msfraud.org

The American Dream of homeownership is being turned into

a NIGHTMARE !
This nightmare is orchestrated by a growing number of
well-known, corrupt and ruthless mortgage servicers who manufacture defaults on performing loans to then flood the account with illegal fees strategically designed to STEAL the borrower's equity -- and ultimately the property. In addition, the borrower's credit is destroyed to prevent them from refinancing with another lender. Read "The Issue".



When the property owner runs out of resources to fight back, their property is then stolen. Investigations verify this scheme is deliberate, and as one attorney put it;'criminally brilliant'



:cry:

Read this site then look to see how many of your Reps in govt have "mortgage backed securities"

[ScreamingMeemie]

26. I don't have to. I work in the business. This is the way it has been for

at least as long as I've been appraising. Ethics went out the door a long time ago. Sadly. It's hard for ethical appraisers because we refuse to "make a figure".

[earth mom]

29. Thanks for posting this link.

OMG-there are some BIG name lenders on the fraud list! :puke:

[SoCalDem]

2. Zero or little down, interest only loans..they "rented"

and now they are moving on.. Only this kind of rental shows up on a credit report..

I know people who have used their houses as an ATM..every spec of equity gets removed , so a few years down the line, they have nothing to show for having "bought" the house.. IF the market's way up, they can bail, and break even or make a little money, but it;s a gamble..Looks like lots of people are coming up snake-eyes these days

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. The problem is, Michigan's real estate biz has been smoke and mirrors

for far too long. Houses were bought and paid for that are no where near the value they deserve. Now, the market is showing that...and people are getting bitten bad. :(

[Tempest]

14. It's not just in Michigan

The smoke and mirrors in the housing market is nationwide.

The high rate of home foreclosures in Michigan is in no way an isolated incident.

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. Actually, I'll find you the statistics...foreclosure rates are 3x higher

in Michigan than elsewhere, which does not negate that it's happening elsewhere.

[Tempest]

16. Foreclosures are up 32% in Mass.

As an example of how foreclosures are up all over the place.

[ScreamingMeemie]

17. Sure they are Tempest. I'm not saying they are not. I'm just saying

this article is misleading. :shrug: Michigan's automotive industry is far more depleted than people realize. The 3rd tier suppliers are all but gone. I don't see a reason to get in a tiff over this.

The original article was with regard to Michigan...This is what I'm commenting on.

[FloridaPat]

7. Michigan's that nice state that GM & Ford laid off around 40,000

workers. These people have been getting economically screwed for decades.

[CrispyQ]

9. "used their houses as an ATM"

Sad, but so true.

I know many, many people who have no equity in their house but have beautiful furniture, the lastest appliances, new cars & a great two week vacation every year.

Houses in my area -- front range -- are taking longer to sell.

[lovuian]

4. I think Healthcare is doing this

its just eating everyones bank accounts...

[area51]

11. Good point.

How are we supposed to save for our retirements if all of our money can be gobbled up by a healthcare emergency?

Republinazis: stop wasting our tax $ & give us our tax $ back in universal healthcare like the civilized nations.

[SoCalDem]

30. Middle class.middle-aged people are often "supporting" THREE generations

grown kids who cannot afford to "launch", themselves, and caring for elderly parents..

There are LOTS of people in their 50's & 60's with parents still living...

Many 20 & 30-somethings are returning to the nest (with kids in tow) after failed marriages,lost jobs, whatever, and guess who's welcoming them back in...Yep.. Those "GREEDY,LAZY,SELF-ABSORBED" Boomers... all the while, trying desperately to save for their own "later days"...

I have a friend, aged 58, who cares for her Mom and her husband's Dad, (both in their 80's)and their 34 yr old daughter just came back with her 2 kids.. My friend had to quit her job to care for the parents, so their income just got cut in half.. The parents get social security, but not that much, and once they pass on, my friend knows that she will be too old, and too long out of work to get much of a job again..She's diabetic, and thankfully her husband has good insurance, but the daughter has NO insurance, so every time she gets sick. Mom & Dad have to help her foot the bill.. The kids are covered by a program offered here in CA, but Mom's minimal job barely keeps the car running..

[CoffeeCat]

8. I noticed this happening around here....

I was on our county assessors page--looking into home prices in an upper-mid class neighborhood on a golf course. The houses range from $350-$800k. At least 25 percent of these homes were recently sold and they were foreclosed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I imagine that this is happening all over. It won't make the news. However, it's huge news that many people got into houses that they could not afford. 40 percent of all new-home loans are INTEREST ONLY. If you get into an interest-only loan because that's all that you can afford--then you can't afford that house.

This is such an abomination. Banks should protect people from themselves, not encourage irresponsibility. The banks will be hurting too, if people simply default on these loans.

Depending on how the economy goes--banks may have a "2 For 1" sale on McMansions that they can't sell!

[TruthTeller]

18. Credit Unions

That is why I use them rather than banks. I'd rather be a member than a customer. I'm in Michigan too. I have seen many houses up for sale for way too long--lower, middle, and upper class areas. Now they are trying to rent them. It is really hard not just here--everywhere!


TT

[MADem]

13. They are up 32 percent in Massachusetts, as well

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060130005440&newsLang=en

Highlights of the report include:

-- Overall from 2004 to 2005, foreclosures increased 32.27% (8689 in 2004 to 11,493 in 2005);

-- Regionally, the largest increase (47.62%) was in Essex County, followed closely by Barnstable County (47.43%) and Suffolk County (44.75%);

-- 9 counties experienced at least a 20% increase, 7 of which had at least a 30% increase, and 4 of which had at least a 40% increase;

-- Q4, 2005 finished the year off with the most foreclosures in a given quarter not just for the year, but for the past 3 years running at a staggering 3,071 foreclosures filed from October 1st through December 31st;

-- Of all of the months in 2005, August had the most foreclosures started at 1,055, 55.15% more than in August, 2004 with 680;

-- 2005 statistics for the 11 communities with at least 100 foreclosures filed in 2004 included Boston (up 43%), Springfield (up 21%), Worcester (up 45%), Brockton (up 43%), Lynn (up 56%), Lowell (up 16%), New Bedford (up 42%), Haverhill (up 43%), Plymouth (up 48%), Taunton (up 25%) and Chicopee (down 3%);

-- Of towns with at least 50 foreclosures in 2004, the towns with the greatest increases from 2004 to 2005 were Lawrence (110%), Wareham (80%), Fall River (74%), Barnstable (71%) and Attleboro (70%);

-- Of towns with at least 10 foreclosures in 2004, the towns with the greatest increases from 2004 to 2005 were Burlington (175%), Reading (162%), Braintree (123%), Newburyport (120%) and Bridgewater (112%);

-- Of towns with at least 10 foreclosures in 2004, the towns with the greatest decreases from 2004 to 2005 were Upton (33% decrease), Whitman (40% decrease), Sutton (44% decrease), Rowley (50% decrease) and Weston (60% decrease).

.....

It's ugly everywhere, and likely to get uglier....

[Platonium]

19. Almost all in SE Michigan

I saw a statistic half a year ago that showed that of ~5300 foreclosures ~2400 were in Wayne County alone. That's where the blue collar workers of Ford and GM live. Figures.

[ScreamingMeemie]

25. Welcome to DU Platonium. The majority of union workers now

live in Oakland and Macomb counties. :hi:

[cliss]

20. Is the real estate bubble starting to burst on the East Coast?

We're here in Oregon. There doesn't seem to be any bubble bursting. On the contrary, house prices just keep going up
up
up
up

I know it's going to hit us sooner or later (probably sooner), but it's interesting that the east coast is getting hammered.

[jwirr]

22. I hope a good share of those homes are owned by repugs.

[WhiteTara]

23. in five years they'll be grateful

that they were forced to move, because the climate change is going to make that place unlivable from cold.

[shrike]

27. Where are they going to go?

Ain't no promised land anywhere in the United States. Not no more.

[NickB79]

28. What the heck is that a map of?

Is that Atlantis off the Eastern seaboard? :-)

[WhiteTara]

33. Edgar Casey's map of the U.S. after

the tectonic plates converge and the seas rise from the ice melt. Atlantis? Maybe

[PVK]

31. Had a guy in my model home from Michigan last weekend.

Working in the automotive business--said he's looking for work here instead because it's in the dumper.

We have a pretty good UE rate now. We don't need everyone moving here from Michigan to take jobs.

[AlCzervik]

32. My god this is the 4th thread i've seen with this same subject line but

with a different state--scary.