More on home foreclosures

Linda Stamato wrote an excellent article in NJ Voices about the foreclosure market.  Ms. Stamato points out that while the state legislature is debating various "solutions" to the foreclosure mess, cities and nonprofit groups are filling in the void.  The city of Elizabeth developed a program to help people facing foreclosure by helping them sell their homes.  It's a matching program where first-time homebuyers locate affordable homes, other people are prevented from going into foreclosure, and pre-qualified mortgages are arranged through nonprofit groups.  Ms. Stamato also highlights what other states are doing to battle the historically high levels of foreclosures.  New York, Iowa, Georgia, and Connecticut all have programs requiring parties to a foreclosure to mediate first.  

I've written before that foreclosures are a failure for everyone:  the homeowner and the mortgage company.  A trained neutral could be very beneficial to helping the homeowner and the mortgage company reach creative solutions--and solutions that are better than having to force thousands out of their homes and having mortgage companies hold millions of dollars of properties until the next buyer comes around.