Don't leave us to foreclosure (A messaage to the President)

New Orleans Times Picayune ^ | 9-29-06 | Times Picayune Editorial

[Uncle Sham]

Don't leave us to foreclosure Sunday, January 29, 2006 Here in a community full of ruined homes, it takes no imagination to predict an epidemic of foreclosures that could devastate families, cripple the recovery of greater New Orleans and strain the nation's economy. If your flood insurance payout isn't nearly enough to cover your mortgage, you wonder if you'll have to abandon your unlivable home. If you look down the block at a dozen other damaged houses and know that your neighbors are in the same bind, you understand the fear of losing your neighborhood to blight. If you travel daily past block after block of empty, flood-marked houses, you understand how large the hole in our economy could become. This explains why U.S. Rep. Richard Baker is not giving up on his proposal for a federally backed buyout of flooded-out homeowners and small business owners. He wants Congress to create a corporation that would release Hurricane Katrina's victims from their mortgages, sell bundles of property to developers and help get storm-ravaged land back into commerce.

[N3WBI3]

To be fair the insurance companies are being rat b@stards about this. There have been many claims denied on hurricane insurance because they are saying the water pushed in by Katrina's winds actually fall under flood insurance..

[Howlin]

A banker who didn't have insurance to cover the cost of not being able to live in his house?

Well, now I know what I've been talking to.

Obviously your family DEPENDS on the government taking care of them.

[Howlin]

They do.

[CobaltBlue]

If that is the case, it sure as hell won't come from attorneys.

[N3WBI3]

Thats crap, a hurricane broke the flood containment system and caused massive flooding...

[CobaltBlue]

Obviously your family DEPENDS on the government taking care of them.

Seems to me, from outside, that the way it works is that people who pay taxes feel like they're entitled to collect when their time comes.

You still haven't explained what your family does when the hurricanes come through your neighborhood.

[Howlin]

Actually, it's not crap.

Read your policy.

[rock58seg]

So let the homes go into foreclosure. The federal goverment will then own the property through one of the loan guarantee programs. Keep anything in the flood plain. Then open the levees and voila!!!
Lake New Orleans Recreational Area.

[Howlin]

You still haven't explained what your family does when the hurricanes come through your neighborhood.

Why we have insurance, of course. And yes, we have flood insurance -- and we're not even near the water.

[CobaltBlue]

Why we have insurance, of course. And yes, we have flood insurance -- and we're not even near the water.

Federally guaranteed flood insurance, no less! So, you too, are sucking from Uncle Sugar's tit!

At last, an honest answer from Howlin. Thank you, ma'am.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

It is my understanding that speculators are very interested in much of that property. Perhaps the Baker plan is to shortstop that and protect the owners. I don't know the behind the scenes reasons.

Regardless, you have homeowners, insurance companies, speculators, and the government all in play there. Many homeowners are absent an unable to appraise the situation to decide what to do.

It seems that the government has already categorized the houses in some neighborhoods. There is FEMA, the EPA, and others who are sometimes at cross purposes.

Not all residents will return but all property owners probably will. The whole situation needs some time to shake itself out but many are in such a hurry that they want things done now. Baker's plan doesn't get much sympathy because it creates yet another government agency that will be there forever and will be asked to do the same for every disaster. Hagin and Blanco also didn't do much to create sympathy for the area.

Although I live in Dallas now I have lived in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and New Orleans so I know the area and love the people. However, these decisions are bigger than New Orleans. They are the lynch pin for how much we expect government to do. We are trying to turn government around and this kind of new program would be a big step in the wrong direction. Sometimes, Caveat Emptor is the best policy.

[John Lenin]

It makes no sense to rebuild until the levies are rebuilt to CAT 5. Any politician who does so should be canned.

[CobaltBlue]

I don't have a problem with caveat emptor.

The point here is that government -- be it local, state, or federal -- will ultimately be on the hook here for all the people who default on their loans.

There's simply no way around that. So now, what do we do?

I suggest to you that for those whose property is covered by federally guaranteed flood insurance, rebuilding on the flood plain is insane. But, they have the moral and legal right to everything that the law provides.

Which is why I say, "pay them now, or pay them later."

[Howlin]

Federally guaranteed flood insurance, no less!

Ah, no, it's not.

[Howlin]

Bingo!

[CobaltBlue]

Any politician who does so should be canned.

What's the legal way to stop someone from doing something that is their legal right to do?

[CobaltBlue]

Your flood insurance is NOT guaranteed by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)?

Pardon me while I scoff in disbelief.
http://cdn.consumerreports.org/cro/personal-finance/flood-insurance-905.htm

But, at any rate, if your community doesn't qualify for NFIP, then you live in a very dangerous area. But, hey, that's your choice, no?

[Lurker]

If 'progress' includes rebuilding homes below sea level in a known flood plain and hurrican alley, please count me out.

If you didn't adequately insure your home before this happened, please don't come crying to the American taxpayer to subsidize more of your very poor choices.

L

[Howlin]

You said: To be fair the insurance companies are being rat b@stards about this. There have been many claims denied on hurricane insurance because they are saying the water pushed in by Katrina's winds actually fall under flood insurance..

And I said: They do.

And then you said: Thats crap, a hurricane broke the flood containment system and caused massive flooding...

Read your home owners policy; I can guarantee you it has something close to this in it:

Under exclusions:

"Number 1) We do not insure for loss caused directly or indirectly by any of the following: such loss is excluded regardless of any other cause or event contributing concurrently or in any sequence to the loss:


c.) Water damage, meaning:

1.) Flood, surface water, waves, tidal water, overflow of a body or water, or spray from any of these, whether or not driven by wind.

2.) Water which backs up through sewers and drains or which overflows from a sump; or


3.) Water under the surface of the ground, including water which exerts pressure on or seeps or leaks through a buidling, sidewalk, driveway, foundations, swimming pool, or other structure.

Direct loss by fire, explosion, or theft resulting from water damage is covered.

[Howlin]

Pardon me while I scoff in disbelief.

Scoff all you want; plenty of us on this forum have flood insurance from private companies.

if your community doesn't qualify for NFIP, then you live in a very dangerous area.

Actually, I don't live in a dangerous area at all; I'm just PREPARED for anything that might come along.

For a lawyer, you don't appear very smart; you seem to think all things come from the government.