Posted on 08/20/2013 4:21:25 AM PDT by YourAdHere
A group of 16 housing advocacy organizations want the Prince George’s County Foreclosure Task Force to find ways to stem an alarming rise in housing foreclosures recently.
Maryland is third in the nation for homes in foreclosure actions, lead largely by a flurry of foreclosure activity in Baltimore City and Prince George’s and Charles counties, according to RealtyTrac, a website that tracks real estate listings and foreclosure filings.
According to industry experts, one in every 647 homes in Maryland is in a stage of foreclosure proceedings and in Prince George’s it is one in every 540 homes. The county had 49% more foreclosures in June 2013 compared to this time last year.
Housing units in the county are in varied stages of foreclosure with 53.4% up for auction, 29.9% in pre-foreclosure and 16.7Z% being bank owned, RealtyTrac reports.
HIP is seeing 70 to 80 new foreclosure clients a month and 50% or more are African-American. Foreclosures hot spots for Prince George’s are Aquasco, Glenn Dale, Clinton, Accokeek and Upper Marlboro, according to Realtytrac.
“A lot of our clients have had a reduction in their income. Another segment of our clients worked in construction or lower-wage jobs and a lot of that industry has been hit,” said Hunter.
The surge in foreclosures in 2013 can be traced to the Maryland Foreclosure Mediation Law which was passed in 2010 and required that banks assist homeowners in foreclosure proceedings with securing loan modifications. The banks finally became compliant with the law this year and the backlog of mortgages, “are moving at a break neck speed,” said Mary Hunter, director of the Housing Counseling Program at HIP Services, Inc. (HIP).
HIP recently signed onto a letter with 15 other housing advocacy organizations asking that develop and deliver more programs to stem the rise in foreclosures. Even lending giant Fannie Mae is jumping in to assist the foreclosure problem by holding a “Help for Homeowners” event at Fed Ex Field in September.
Housing industry experts say the spike in foreclosures will continue until year’s end as the job market remains unstable and banks look to clear their books of housing inventory.
From what I keep hearing immigrants keep spreading the word that Howard county has the best public schools(on the East coast apparently) , and so more and more of them come here and seem to love the high and rising taxes for that, replacing nature with pavement, and supporting higher taxes.
In those other counties (PG+Balt) which ‘benefited’ from Balt city flight the kids act and dress like Trayvon and CO. Guess the Koreans, Indian and Pakist's are not attracted to that for their kids
I remember when Prince Georges county was tobacco farmers and bedroom communities for Pentagon workers, Bolling and Andrews AF bases.
I went back to visit my old high school a few years ago: now there’s a nursery attached to the school and school uniforms to try and discourage gang colors.
Now it’s the Trayvon Martin Show.
Grew up in Montgomery Co. near Howard in the 60’s and 70’s. Finally left in ‘92. Last time I visited I didn’t recognize anything.
Anyway... my first reaction to this story, after considering the source, was to be a little disturbed. This was suburban Washington, home of American nomenklatura, though it would be difficult to describe it as anything other than "urban" today. My first reaction was to ask whether this truly reflects some kind of economic reality on the fringe of Washington, perhaps something going on in the service sector, among the subcontractor class attached to the Washington Parasite?
Perhaps a ripple (so to speak) of the Part-Timer shift moving through a part of the Leviathan mob with the least political clout.
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