foreclosure

The great American Dream of owning a home has never looked so impossible to achieve: roughly 1.65 million homes are in the foreclosure pipeline, housing prices are at an all-time low, and nearly 7% of mortgage holders are more than 60 days late on their payments. Despite the dreary picture, there are an ever-increasing number of lifelines for people trying to avoid foreclosure:

One of the biggest national hotlines for free home counseling is 888-995-HOPE, run by the Congress-funded Home Preservation Foundation. To date, the HOPE hotline has counseled four million homeowners since 2008, and helped 70% avoid foreclosure within a year. HOPE is the number to call before you seek a loan modification or expensive legal representation: a counselor will listen to your housing and financial concerns and, if necessary, facilitate a three-way conversation with a third party for additional help. With 550 employees stationed in 8 centers around the country, Diane Zyats, VP of Communications at the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, says there is rarely a backlog of homeowners waiting to receive advice. This, Zyats stresses, is key to preventing a distressed homeowner from falling for one of the many foreclosure scams out there.

The HOPE website also offers this helpful list of warning signs of a scam. Foremost? "No one should charge," she says. "There are so many sources for not charging that there is no reason to charge." Click here to see more.

NeighborWorks America is another Congressionally-funded program that provides financial and technical support to community-based foreclosure prevention efforts, such as the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program (NFMC), which boasts a 60% success rate. It also manages this exhaustive database of certified, HUD-approved foreclosure counselors by state.

At a local level, many communities are showing an incredible display of humanity and compassion for their neighbors facing foreclosure. For example, the non-profit Brooklyn Volunteer Lawyers Project is a coalition of 80 Brooklyn-based lawyers serving low-income Brooklynites on a pro bono basis. Although volunteers receive credited continuing legal education (CLE) training, taking on a case can take up a huge chunk of time. For example, foreclosure cases take anywhere from three months to years and usually require multiple court appearances and ongoing counsel. But Jamie Lathrop, director of foreclosure intervention, sees it as a simple matter of civic duty, "Why help? These people are our neighbors. They keep our neighborhoods clean, watch our kids on the street, return our mail to us. They let us know when someones scratched our car," he says. "It's part of being in a community."

Currently the BVLP handles over 160 active foreclosure cases, and has successfully prevented 45 from final foreclosure through mediation. Brooklyn is one of an increasing number of areas around the country where mediation has become mandatory before a home can be foreclosed on. Although victims don't need legal representation at these settlements, it can provide an immense amount of reassurance.

Over in Philadelphia, the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program is often touted as the first successful city-sponsored foreclosure prevention plan. Under the compassionate eye of Judge Annette Rizzo, recipient of the 2009 Louis J. Goffman Award, this two-year-old program makes it mandatory for borrower and lender to meet face-to-face, and discuss every possible option before the home can be foreclosed on. These options include forbearance, settlement, stay of sale, loan modification or reinstatement, and as a last resort, a "graceful" exit.

August 20th, 2010 1:42 pm ET

There are an awful lot of people who post on here every day who seem quite content to blame the President for everything from the economy to the fact that it's raining at their house. Seriously folks .. ..you aren't taken seriously when you are so consistent in your hatred. Try, just once, to look at the bigger picture. Nothing happens in a vacuum. The country didn't start down this path of economic failure the day President Obama took office! There are many, many reasons for it spanning decades of bad management by our elected officials . . . . from both parties! Can't you, just once, acknowledge the fact that the current President was handed a country in deep crisis and that he is working to turn things around but that it is going to take more than the two short years he's been in office? Can't you, just once, acknowledge the fact that turning it around is going to take the cooperation of both parties in Congress and that one party isn't acting in good faith? Can't you, just once, acknowledge the fact that the Repubs have done nothing except obstruct legislation which could, and in many instances would, help turn things around simply because they believe if the status quo is maintained some voters (you all) will be so pissed off that your knee-jerk reaction will be to vote them back in again? All of the disparaging names and insults you spew at and about the President don't show you to be patriotic or smart. All it does is make you sound childish and bigoted.

eric seiger

Betaworks and The Times Plan Social <b>News</b> Site - NYTimes.com

Something is stirring deep within the technology incubator Betaworks: A personalized news service called News.me that is being developed in collaboration with The New York Times.

Defining Normal In The Brain - Science <b>News</b>

Scans set standard for how connectivity evolves during maturation.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 9/9 - Arrowhead Pride

It begins tonight, and Kansas City Chiefs fans across the globe will wait. I'm so ready for football, I could run through a wall and rip someone's head off. Anyway, while we wait for our game on Monday, the Saints and Vikings kick ...