Home foreclosures continue to be a problem in most Massachusetts communities in 2008 and many economists expect that it’s only going to get worse. We visit one city where foreclosures are blamed for destabilizing neighborhoods and harming the local economy. Is it (as one analyst says) a "perfect storm" situation where the housing market slump, the credit crunch and predatory lending have combined to create a wave of debt and abandoned buildings?
Listen to the full show:
Radio Boston: Foreclosures
Airdate: January 11, 2008
- Guests:
Barry Bluestone, Director of Northeastern University’s Center for Urban and Regional Policy
Fred Kent, President of the Project for Public Spaces
Jeremy Shapiro, President of Foreclosuresmass.com
Susan Renfrew, President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors
Bruce Marks, CEO of Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America
From the Radio Boston Email Inbox. A listner who prefers to stay anonymous:
—
“i heard mass. passed a law to assist people
about to be foreclosed, to delay the process.
the law took effect 11/29/07, “an act protecting and preserving home ownership, chapter 206 of the Acts of
2007.”
under section 11, homeowners are NOT protected, because
the law takes effect on 5/1/08. therefore, what was
reported is actually NOT correct. there is NO protection for people who are in trouble now.
in may, homeowners are protected who are 90 days in arrears, but a homeowner may use this protection only
ONCE every 5 years !!
thank you.”
From another email, and yet another listener who prefers to remain anonymous:
—-
“The way I see it, this is yet another increase in the ever widening gap between the have’s and have not’s. It worries me. I wonder how many more people will be forced to live in the tent cities in Lowell. I am lower middle-class and know it is more than a small challenge to live the “American dream” of homeownership, especially in this state. Even rents are sky high.
I wish to remain anonymous.”
I am a real estate appraiser and broker in Mass and although I feel awful for the families who are losing homes and the communities suffering serious devalution, I have to also remind people that greed is rampant in our society and acquiring more than we can handle either in credit cards or taking out loans we can not handle is very much our responsibility and not just the “nice” people who will had it to us at cut throat rates. Lets teach out children how to really manage there money and be wary of a “good deal” and maybe we can save them from a future like this.
Thanks