The subprime lending crisis that has devastated many of the borough’s working-class communities took on new urgency last week as experts predicted another wave of foreclosures in the coming months.Foreclosure Wave To Hit Queens
In July alone, Queens saw 882 foreclosure filings, the most of any borough, according to a report released last weekend by Sen. Charles Schumer. That tally marks a 56 percent increase from February, when foreclosure filings reached 566.
Hardest hit, experts say, will be the borough’s poorest neighborhoods. There, unscrupulous lenders have sold an inordinate number of subprime loans that charge high interest rates to borrowers with lower credit scores and fewer financing options.
And more often than not, those borrowers are low-income families and elderly residents, predominantly in communities of color, experts say. With offers of “no money down” and longer loan terms, unscrupulous brokers open the doors to home ownership for residents of lesser means with little regard to whether they can actually afford it.
14 comments:
Let me get this straight, Sens. Smith & Klein want to limit the lenders' ability when "there is no foreseeable benefit to the homebuyer" and that the borrowers' ability to repay the loan has to be "verified".
Can you see a black couple sitting at the desk of a lender and, following the above criteria, the lender makes a decision that it's a "no-go" for the loan.
You're going to tell me that they're not going to sue his ass off for "discrimination"?
So irresponsible adults made their own decision to take on more debt than they could handle and it's someone else's fault. And responsible taxpayers may be paying to bail them out before this is over. God bless America.
I'm "white" and I had to sit in front of the same loan officer's desk at the bank
when I applied for my mortgage .
They told me what I could realistically afford.
No diamond encrusted Rolex watches
or BMWs for me if I expected to meet my monthly house payments !
Having Champagne taste with a beer bankroll
doesn't make it anywhere in the world.....
regardless of race color or creed!
There may be some people that were duped, and the mortgage brokers who do engage in unethical behavior should be weeded out, but for the most part I can't feel sorry for people that took loans without knowing the terms to which they were agreeing, or who were irresponsible in biting off more than they could chew. From what I have read so far, despite Schumer's mugging to the cameras, the government will be providing some assistance but will not engage in a taxpayer bailout.
Predatory lenders......
tempting and misleading
ignorant home buyers was all part of the plan.
You can clear "problem" neighborhoods
of certain "undesirables"
so that these "underutilized" prime areas
could be cleared for new over development
and put back on the market at higher prices
for awaiting yuppies with real money!
Urban renewal.....Black (etc.) removal.....
as the old adage goes!
You can't bite off more than you can chew!
But that's exactly the opposite of what....
"Countrywide"and other sub-prime lenders were telling unsuspecting low income home buyers after all?
Buy now and pay later (with foreclosure)!
With no federal oversight such as FHA etc.
these "lenders" (loan sharks) had a field day !
I just heard that China is taking a big hit
because they invested in Wall Street stocks.......
companies that were in the sub prime lending market.
This collapse is starting to have
world wide implications....
with more serious fallout to soon follow!
I don't feel sorry for the people who were foreclosed on so much as I do for the rest of the neighborhood, which will certainly be destroyed as developers snatch up these properties only to tear them down and build crap on the lots.
Home ownership stabilizes a neighborhood. You can blame these misguided borrowers all you want, but the end result is more urban decay.
The blame should also rest on the real estate industry for charging exorbitant prices for these homes.
As for the residents who couldn't afford to pay their bills- again, if the cost of living wasn't so damn expensive, we wouldn't have this crisis.
This city needs more affordable housing, not luxury condos.
1st - the "real estate industry" doesn't charge prices - the owner does, and if someone is charging too much, the buyser have a choice to NOT buy
2nd - I can dig up LOTS of articles from circa 2000 that praise these "Innovative loan practices that are allowing many first time home buyers to reach the American Dream" - and articles about lenders who refused to do the questionable loans for discrimination against minority buyers (yeah, the same complaint now going against the folks who DID make the loans
Was it a mistake to MAKE those loans? IMHO - NOT if they explained the loan. I know two family who used those inovative loans to buy their house - BUT they knew what they were getting into, and withing 2-3 years, bit had refinanced back to a more normal loan (Heck, with my first house, I had to take out PMI - we thought of structuring our loan into 2 loans, but...)
The reality of a bubble is that the buyers, the sellers, and the folks that help enable the transactions are ALL at fault. You can't SELL a house at a crazy price without a buyer willing to pay it (case in point - 2 houses on by block are for sale - one for over 2 years, one for a year - both are prices at least 10% more than ANY house in the neighborhood has ever sold for)
For years blacks have been griping about how they are discriminated against in getting mortgages, despite the obvious fact that it is based primarily on credit score. And because blacks have, on average, much lower ones, it has been more difficult to find financing. Fast-forward to the recent "innovations" and the development of the subprime lending market. If you look at the foreclosure map, it almost perfectly coincides with the racial makeup of Queens. And NOW blacks will be griping that they were "ripped off". As pointed out elsewhere, there was a damned good reason people with shaky credit were not previously lent money, and this is a perfect illustration.
Flash....just published in "Newsweek"......
foreclosure repos are hitting the Mc Mansion market.
you might add our "indicted for rape and assault" councilman, dennis pee gallagher to the list of foreclosurers. he has already refinanced his house several times. after he gets hit with his legal bill he may not have a pot to piss in.
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