To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Foreclosure Avoidence
The gist of it would be for some consideration given to keeping a person in their home by lowering interest rate, re-fi at market value, extending the loan to reduce mortgage, and if foreclosure is imminent after these are exhausted, to maintain the condition of the house.
Why is this important?
On 60 Minutes (Dec 18) thousands of homes are being abandoned by owners who can no longer afford the mortgage payments. The bank takes possession and let the houses rot to the point they are no longer marketable. This is due to: 1. banks will not keep the property in in marketable condition (it costs money to do that) and 2. Scavengers break into the abandoned homes and take anything of value including copper wiring, plumbing fixtures, appliances, cabinetry, even aluminum siding.
It seems to me that the banks, rather than causing folks to abandon their homes due to high mortgage rates, should refinance at the current market value to lower the payments so the folks can stay in their homes. This results in banks taking a lost in the equity, but when a home is abandoned and not cared for, the banks loses 100% of their loaned amount instead of 50 %.
Homes in Ohio are being demolished, and banks are losing the entire cost. It was banks that caused the problem in the first place - even after TARP and another 7.7 trillion dollars loaned out to Wall Street/Banks at 0.01% interest.