Reply #10: Indiania: Foreclosures have increased 20 percent a year for six years [View All]

[UpInArms]

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070610/NEWS01/706100301/1002

excerpt:

Foreclosures spiked as many new homeowners -- some with mortgages worth as much as 125 percent of the value of their home, and many with adjustable rate mortgages -- were hit hard on two fronts: Their monthly mortgage payments jumped as their adjustable interest rates increased two years after their initial financing, and their first property tax bills came due.

"The hit after two years is a double-whammy," said Bill Sultan, president of the not-for-profit Momentive Consumer Credit Counseling. "It can add $500 a month to your housing bill."

Job losses, particularly high-paying manufacturing jobs, left many with less money for mortgage payments.

"Between 2000 and 2006, the state lost 100,000 manufacturing jobs," Sultan said. "In many cases, those have been replaced with service sector jobs that pay a lot less money.

"We'll have roughly 30,000 foreclosures in the state of Indiana this year," he added. "That's up, but not as much as between 2005 and 2006, when there was a 50-percent increase. It will be half that this year."

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