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Foreclosure Prevention Forum
Manteca, Private Sector Stepping up to Help
Dennis Wyatt
Managing Editor
Manteca Bulletin 7/7/08
There are nearly 1,500 homes in Manteca in various phases of the foreclosure process.
The banks that are preparing to sell them already own some. Others are at least at the first step of being a month delinquent in payments.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that some banks are starting to work more aggressively with struggling homeowners to avoid foreclosure. Also, there is a coalition of private and public sector resources banding together in a bid to arm homeowners caught up in the foreclosure mess with essential information to help them take control of their future.
“To be honest, a lot of people may not be able to save their house but they will have the information they need to proceed with dignity,” said Edward Parcaut, a mortgage planner out of Modesto who has been working with the non-profit No Homeowner Left Behind effort.
But as Parcaut noted, the fact the group exists and has been working with various cities and lenders has helped improve the odds of homeowners to possibly save their homes or at least be able to move on with less fear and more certainty.
The first Manteca forum is Wednesday, July 16, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Manteca Senior Center, 295 Cherry Lane.
It is a forum not only to have experts answer questions but to prepare distressed homeowners to talk to lenders at an upcoming larger gathering designed to see if there is a way that they can keep their homes.
At such gatherings in the past, some homeowners have been successful with negotiating with bank representatives on the spot to secure 30-year fixed rate loans that have kept them in their homes,
Parcaut cautioned that not all banks are working to that degree. He also warned that some people might simply not be in a position based on the determination of the bank to get a streamlined loan at a reduced rate. But, as he noted, the climate today has vastly improved compared to six months ago when banks were struggling to figure out what to do.
“We can’t guarantee that your house will be saved,” added Anna Rocha of the Manteca Redevelopment Agency.
She noted what the forum July 16 and the upcoming face-to-face with lenders that will take place after a second forum is completed in the upcoming weeks in Tracy can accomplish is helping people deal with the unknown of maneuvering through the foreclosure process.
Rocha, along with Parcaut and Central Valley Association of Realtors President Bev Marlow, indicated the worst thing people can do is simply do nothing or ignore the foreclosure process.
Similar efforts in Fresno have been credited with drastically reducing vandalism done to homes by frustrated homeowners who were losing them to foreclosure.
“You’re seeing a lot less damage everywhere because people are being shown how they can deal with it with dignity,” Parcaut said.
Rocha added that there is no longer a stigma attached to foreclosure since the odds are there is another neighbor who is going through the same problem. With 1,500 homes in various stages of foreclosure in Manteca that represents about 1 out of every 14 single-family homes in the city’s housing stock.
“It isn’t to anyone’s advantage to see a home going into foreclosure,” noted Deputy City Manager John Nowak who cited the potential for blight, crime and deteriorating neighborhoods not to mention economic and property tax impacts.
Staff is executing the City Council’s directive to take steps to do what can be done to ease the impact on the community and affected families.
“Obviously, the redevelopment agency doesn’t have the resources to intervene on a (large) scale,” Nowak said.
He added that the coalition to educate homeowners is the most effective way that the RDA money can be spent as it is showing results.
Marlow noted that even though home sales have picked up to double of last year’s pace with nine out of every 10 of the 410 existing homes that have sold in Manteca since Jan. 1 being foreclosures, there is a serious concern about how many more people will be able to take advantage of the housing market to become homeowners. For now, more foreclosed homes are being sold than those that are being taken back by the banks. The biggest wave of foreclosures, though, has yet to hit.
Parcaut said some lenders understand that concern which is why they are now willing to deal aggressively.
But those who don’t get involved with the process may find themselves losing a home they could have saved.
“The worst thing is to do nothing,” Marlow said.
Past forums have helped people to understand that if they trash their home, it will become more difficult – if not impossible – to rent.
While the foreclosure goes on credit reports, it doesn’t necessarily preclude families from renting.
But what might are landlords who will drive to the home where a family who is in foreclosure stress had been buying to see what condition it is in.
The forum could also benefit those who rent homes being foreclosed to make them aware of their rights and what they can do.
The forum will feature Housing and Urban Development certified housing counselors and a panel of housing industry professionals from the No Homeowner Left Behind Central Valley collaborative to answer questions. All are volunteers. No solicitation for business will take place.
Although this is not the gathering where you would need to have your loan documents and other information to meet face-to-face with bankers, it can be helpful to bring mortgage papers if you have questions that need to be explained regarding the specific document.
For more information contact the Manteca Redevelopment Agency at 239-8427. |
