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Local News
Foreclosure: The new crisis By Janet Conner-Knox | Daily Times Staff Writer Before this year, making it wasn't a problem for the Malin family. Both parents are college-educated, with two teens -- one in college and one in high school. Kathy Malin, a Wilson native, has been a high school teacher for 26 years. Tommy Malin is an accountant. They both had jobs with the Wake County School system. And like most middle-class Americans, they have a mortgage. But trouble began for the Malins about seven months ago, and since then, their world, like that of thousands of other Americans, has been turned upside down by the plunging economy. Tommy Malin got a call during dinner one night in January and was told that his services were no longer needed because Wake County Schools were cutting back its budget and that meant cutting jobs. He was told he did not have to come back to work the next day. Today, he is still looking for a job. Suddenly faced with only one income in the household to try to cover all of the household bills, the Malins were headed toward having to foreclose on their $250,000 house on Queensferry Drive. Even though the family did not want to sell the house, they decided to downsize from the over 3,000-foot square house they lived in and move into a townhouse. But a mortgage lender told the Malins with only one income, the debt to pay ratio was too high and although Kathy Malin made good money, she could not qualify to buy a townhouse. But Kathy Malin kept making the house payments and then started dipping into the money she had saved to tide her over in the summer months when she would not be getting an income. The lender gave Malin a brochure about getting help through Wilson Community Improvement Association, but ashamed to ask for that kind of help, Kathy Malin put the brochure in a drawer and tried to find another way to save the house. The Malins are not the only family in Wilson who have faced this problem. Wilson County's foreclosure numbers are up 140 percent from 10 years ago and the Wilson County Clerk of Courts said that there is no sign of the foreclosure trend slowing down. In fact, the numbers of homes going into foreclosure this year is about the same as last year, when nearly 400 homes in Wilson County were foreclosed on. The bulletin board at the Wilson County Courthouse is filled with notices of homes in foreclosure, both investment rental properties and homes that families purchased to live in. In fact, there are so many foreclosures in North Carolina that the state has intervened and created a hotline for residents to call for help called the N.C. Hope Hotline. After talking to a counselor on the N.C. Hope Hotline, a referral to the Wilson Community Improvement Association and a face-to-face meeting are scheduled for people in Wilson, Nash and Edgecombe counties. With nowhere else to turn, Kathy Malin called WCIA. "WCIA has always promoted home ownership," said Barbara Blackston, executive director of WCIA. "Now we find ourselves having to protect homeownership by addressing the foreclosure crisis that has hit the nation." Blackston said economists expect 60,000 to 75,000 people in the state will face foreclosure each year, for the next four years. What WCIA counselors do is talk with a family about their bills and help them create a budget if they don't already have one. Then they go to the lender to work out details to bring the homeowner current instead of behind in payments. Blackston said that it is better to let one of their counselors negotiate for people behind on their mortgage payments, than if the homeowner tries to do it for themselves. She said the counselors are more familiar with the language and terms that mortgage bankers use and have experience negotiating with lenders. Blackston said that it also pays to have a counselor look at the loan because the average person does not know if the loan falls in the category of a predatory loan like the counselor would. Both Blackston and the counselors who work for WCIA to help those losing their homes say that asking for help is the first step that many people are reluctant to take. "It is very important for people to come as soon as they can, because the longer they wait, the more fees that have to be paid," said Deanie Dawson, home coordinator for WCIA. "People are embarrassed to ask for help, but we can only help them if they come in and ask us." The program helping the Malin family is the Home Protection Pilot Program (HPPP) which makes payments to the lender for the homeowner and brings the homeowner current in their payments. This program is for people who lost their jobs, and the payments can be made for up to 18 months. This loan does not have to be repaid for 15 years unless you sell the home, refinance the home or if the property is no longer the primary residence. "What I like about this program is that it will even pay the property taxes, homeowner insurance and homeowner dues," said Kushunda Barnes, housing project development specialist for WCIA. "The payments are made directly to the creditor. When the loan paperwork is filled out, the homeowner gets a temporary stay of that foreclosure for up to 120 days." Blackston said foreclosure hurts also the surrounding community. "When a family loses their home it affects the tax base, employment, the retail trade in the community slows," said Blackston. "Children don't do as well in school because they are moving from place to place. Neighborhoods suffer because vacant homes can decrease the value of the whole neighborhood." janet@wilsontimes.com | 265-7847
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