Cleveland Real Estate News

There was a Congressional field hearing yesterday and it was held here in Cleveland. You can read about it on Mark Gillispie’s PD Blog. It was a natural that Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland testified at this hearing. Lou Tisler was kind enough to provide his testimony  which was is definitely worthy reading. (pdf but on line based).  *you and I will find out together if this testimony linking works I just joined scribd which can supposedly make this happen.

Just a few highlights and comments:

1. Ohio’s foreclosure rates have doubled since 1999 but what I found truly interesting is that the biggest spike seems to have occurred in 2001, long before most anyone was paying attention.

2. Ohio unemployment rates hit 6% in ’04 and ’04 (no doubt exacerbating the foreclosure issue). According to stats and GCNHS testimony, by January 2007 our unemployment rate was 5.3%.

3. Ohio’s mortgage delinquency rate rose in the third quarter of last year. This is why we are not seeing an abatement of foreclosure filings. I found this quite significant.  And of course people who are delinquent in their payments are the most at risk for filing a foreclosure.

4. ARMs, or adjustable rate mortgages were prominent in this testimony. People who use them in conjunction with sub prime loans were at a very high risk for being a future foreclosure candidate.

#4 makes so much sense to me. I implore people to do a thorough analysis when they are thinking about getting a mortgage loan.  First, if you are not accepted as a prime loan candidate (meaning you have credit issues, lower salary issues, more debt than income, etc), my first suggestion would be to call Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland.  They are a non-profit and they can advise you as to whether or not in  your specific financial situation you should consider a sub prime loan or an ARM. It truly makes sense to get an expert opinion before you do something you might regret.

5.  is not much of a revelation: sub-prime mortgages accounted for the highest percentage of foreclosures in Ohio.

I also found it interesting that as of now apparently Nevada and North Dakota have moved ahead of Ohio in foreclosure filings.

I’ll let you read the testimony on your own. Here is the NHSGC website. Call them if you are worried about being delinquent on payments or please call them (and this is my idea) if you were told by a lender you do not qualify for a ‘prime’ loan. Call NHSGC before you move forward with a sub prime loan. Peace Out – 3C