NC: Foreclosure rate 'disaster' sparks action

[UpInArms]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/special_packages/foreclosure/13713753.htm

N.C. House leaders on Wednesday began forming a study committee to attack the growing problem of home foreclosures in Charlotte and across the state.

Their aim is to propose actions for the General Assembly to consider when it convenes this spring.

Rep. Walter Church, who will chair the committee, says the effort was spurred by the Observer's series last week on the rising number of foreclosures in the Charlotte area.

"We want to see what can be done to help save people's homes," said Church, a Burke County Democrat.

The problem of foreclosures is racing out of control, he says. In almost two decades as head of a savings and loan in Valdese, Church said he foreclosed on only five or six loans. The Observer reported that on average, 11 Mecklenburg County homes are now sold in foreclosure auctions every business day.

...more...

I guess they won't study the correlation between jobs/house payments and unemployed or underemployed/no house payments :eyes:

[hatrack]

1. And when banks start to wobble, just WAIT to see how quickly they act

They'll be violating laws of physics to mop up those particular problems.

But until then, why bust a sweat?

[meegbear]

2. Thank goodness that bankruptcy bill was passed to help these people...

lose everything they own.

[Warpy]

9. The bankruptcy bill only robs you if you still have a good income

and people who have been thrown out of jobs paying a living wage and forced to subsist on a patchwork of low income, no benefit, dead end jobs are making well under the cutoff point.

[applegrove]

3. Are not 50% of American bankruptcies causes by lack of medical

insurance?

[Lorien]

12. I read last year that it was slightly over 60%

but unfortunately I don't have a link. :-(

[kurth]

14. Half of Bankruptcy Due to Medical Bills -- U.S. Study (Reuters)

Half of Bankruptcy Due to Medical Bills -- U.S. Study
by Maggie Fox

WASHINGTON - Half of all U.S. bankruptcies are caused by soaring medical bills and most people sent into debt by illness are middle-class workers with health insurance, researchers said on Wednesday.

The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, estimated that medical bankruptcies affect about 2 million Americans every year, if both debtors and their dependents, including about 700,000 children, are counted.

"Our study is frightening. Unless you're Bill Gates you're just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," said Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who led the study.

"Most of the medically bankrupt were average Americans who happened to get sick. Health insurance offered little protection." ...

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0202-08.htm

[applegrove]

15. Thanks. That is an issue Dems can win on.

[cliss]

32. It's the Law of the Jungle, baby.

Or: Darwin's Law. The fittest survive. The rest? Well, they're screwed.

Courtesy of: The Bush Crime Family.

[hadrons]

4. you think that Bush vote worked out for NC???

[saigon68]

26. In NC Guns and God Rule

And those fairy boys can stay in the closet

And those Trampy girls can keep their babies---= no abortions for tramps

</sarcasm>

[leftchick]

28. we had some major election fraud issues in NC

I am not convinced bush won a fuckng thing here.

[joeunderdog]

33. I was sick when I saw NC go red. My head exploded. They had

just announced major layoffs of thousands of people--direct casualties of Bushco policy decisions.

Either NC voters are stupid, or Bush stole it.




He stole it. Just like Ohio and others.

[leftchick]

35. NC, NV, OH, FL were all stolen

to name a few.

[William Bloode]

36. Damn right it was stolen!

I knew that when i heard he won. Only 2 people i know(and i know a lot)voted for *. At the cafe every morning all you heard was * bashing, yet he wins anyway :shrug:

We had more voting irregularities than any state, and not hardly a single one in Dem favor. We are lucky to have a Democratic state government and kick Diebold out. We are not as stupid as many would believe. We are in fact the most liberal state in the South by far, and have always prided ourselves on that fact. We actually look at the rest of the South as backwards.

[joeunderdog]

37. I'm in the North, and I knew it. nt

[Flaxbee]

38. it's my understanding from people who have lived here

much longer than I, that NC residents RARELY split their vote - so it's very odd that we reelected a Dem. governor and got a repuke for Senate and President.

[KoKo]

44. I talked to every Dem I knew about this and sent the information posted

here on DU about the statistical flaws in the NC Election...and even the lawyers I sent it to...just never would get involved with it.

It's taboo.

[Supersedeas]

46. Diebold may have work for * in NC

[Vincardog]

5. There could be some relationship between the way Bankruptcy used to work

and the way it does not work now. Congratulations Low Wage Conservatives you are creating the new slave class.

[FiveGoodMen]

21. Which is just EXACTLY what they're after!

[acmejack]

6. All the new "creative" financing schemes are partially to blame!

Interest only & such where the buyer has no equity makes it easy to walk away with no personal loss. What did they expect?

[Tight_rope]

7. Damn...I saw this coming miles away...Didn't N. Carolina vote for Bush!

Now where did those gay hating N. Carolina's think their manufacturing jobs would go. Surely they didn't think Bush and friends would let them keep them. Hell the can make the shit cheaper overseas. Better luck on voting next election.

[mom cat]

8. Duh!

[BR_Parkway]

11. Charlotte wasn't the manufacturing area of NC, that was the mid state

and they've absorbed more of those losses - I guess replacing one lower paying job with 2 even lower paying wasn't as difficult

Charlotte has been a banking and insurance center for some time now - both Bank of America and Wachovia are hq'd there. It's also been an area where people are buying on spec, no interest hold for a couple years and flip it to get rich like all those people in Calif & Fl are doing. Except that Charlotte isn't having the 40-50% price increases and multiple bids - it's more a normal market where houses do take some time to sell - you can't just pull out your money by writing a check.

On the low income side, payday lending and some unscrupulous predatory 2nd mortgages - like Ameriquest have a lot to get the blame here.

[Lance_Boyle]

18. The area around Charlotte was home to Pillowtex (sp?)

Not "manufacturing" base, but textile base. That area lost thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of jobs with the Pillowtex plant closing.

[BR_Parkway]

24. Different county, and they're already landed a biotech center - at

least there is something for people to retrain to. With traffic, it's an hour to hour an half into downtown Charlotte -

[William Bloode]

29. Thats Gaston and Catawba counties.

Manufacturing is in Gaston, Lincoln, Catawba, Caldwell, Burke counties to the west, and the Greensboro, High Point, Winston area in the north central area. Charlotte is not a big manufacturing area, mostly banking and insurance.

[Wind Dancer]

16. We had more election/voting problems in NC than any other state.

Please stop trashing everybody here with your broad bush. It's hard enough dealing with repubs but attacks by fellow activists aren't productive.

[hatrack]

17. Didn't NC just give Diebold the boot when they wouldn't submit to audits?

If so, bravo for the Tarheels! :toast:

[raccoon]

10. Your last paragraph is right on target.

I betcha they won't touch that.

I wonder how many other cities are seeing this...

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

13. It's Clinton's Fault!!!!

Oh wait, he hasn't been president for 5 years. Guess it might be something else.

Just don't blame King george or Greensplat.

[free4now]

19. Here is more info for everyone on this subject

It a very well hidden scam and in my case guess who really owns my mortagage? They are Manufactering defaults, in otherwords, they hold your payment say its late and every payment after goes to fees for home inspection, property preservation etc etc, after you loose the home they then make ven more, read and understand it here www.msfraud.org

below a little post from the boards there ask your congressmen how many own mortage backed securities

Partners in Fraud: The Bush and Greenberg Families

They are partners in fraud. The Bush Family which runs the USA and the Greenberg Family which runs the insurance cartel composed of AIG, Marsh McLennan and Ace Insurance have a lot more in common than mainstream media will ever tell you, writes government whistleblower Al Martin, author of "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider."

In his column "Secrets of the Insurance (Fraud)Industry: The Bush-Greenberg Connection" published on Al Martin Raw (www.almartinraw.com), Martin writes that "New York State Attorney Eliot Spitzer is investigating systemic fraud in the insurance industry in which Greenberg Family controlled insurance cartel companies like Marsh McLennan, AIG and Ace Insurance get kickbacks for steering corporate clients their way. Three employees of Marsh McLennan have already pled guilty to insurance fraud. Now, in this exclusive report on AlMartinRaw.com, you will learn about the insurance fraud connection between the Bush and Greenberg families which Spitzer is NOT investigating.



"In the 1980's, the Colombian Greenbergs began to expand their commercial real estate business into south Florida and the southeastern part of the United States in general. You would see that in all of the office buildings they bought, including my own, the building wherein I maintained my office, that AIG was the insurer of all of the properties that they own because, obviously, they received a preferred rate from their American Greenberg cousins," Martin explains.

.

The connection between the Bushes and the Greenbergs is deep, Martin writes. "The Bush family is intimately connected with all of the companies that the Greenberg family, both the American and Colombian branches, run. You will note that Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, is the chairman of AIG, and his cousin is Alan “Ace” Greenberg, the former chairman of Bear Stearns.

"Bear Stearns, of course, is where the Bush family, the Cheney family, George Schultz, James Baker, etc. all do business. It is the leading brokerage firm of the great and all powerful Bushonian Cabal.

"For instance, it was Bear Stearns that executed, through an account on the Cayman Islands, the large short positions in United Airlines that the Pilgrim Investment Group and the DLC Trust accumulated just prior to the planes crashing into the World Trade Towers.

In another footnote to history, Martin writes that "it’s interesting to note that the CIA in its operations in northern South America, Venezuela and Colombia in particular, always did their agency banking through Greenberg-owned banks. This connection really goes back to the time that George Bush Sr. was head of the CIA"

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

22. Just A Coincidence

The fact they shorted United Airlines right before 9/11 was just a lucky guess.

By the way, I have a bridge for sale.

[SoCalDem]

31. That damned Carter.. It might be HIS fault.. oh wait.. It might be JFK

[KoKo]

40. No! it was Roosevelt and his Entitlements!

:D

[KamaAina]

43. No! It was Andrew Jackson and those damn $20 bills of his!

:eyes:

[stepnw1f]

20. GOP Bankrupting America and Murdering Democracy

fuckin fascist scumbags...

[AzDar]

23. Didn't you hear?....it's the "new economy". Lose Middle Class

jobs by the 100 thousands, then buy up their lost property, cheap,cheap,cheap! Oh, and of course most of those unfortunates are still on the hook to all the banks/credit card companies, due to B.K. "reform".

[stepnw1f]

25. Their Money Won't Mean SHIT If They Continue

I think we have billions on our side who are just as sick of this shit!

[free4now]

27. THis is how they do it

The American Dream of homeownership is being turned

into a NIGHTMARE !
This nightmare is orchestrated by a growing number of
well known, corrupt and ruthless mortgage servicers who manufacture defaults on performing loans to then flood the account with illegal fees strategically designed to STEAL the borrower's equity and ultimately the property. In addition, the borrower's credit is destroyed to prevent them from refinancing with another lender. Read "The Issue". When the borrower runs out of resources to pay these illegal fees or the expense to fight back -- the property is foreclosed on. Investigations verified this scheme is deliberate and as one attorney put it -- 'criminally brilliant'.

Check out your local forclosures some countys list them online free.
Read this site for more info. And mostly watch your statements.

www.msfraud.org

This is not new its been going on since 1993 at least

[madmark]

30. The home values are inflated and the debt service to pay for

these inflated values cannot be serviced and consequently you're seeing foreclosures. Homes increasing in value is not good economic news in my view.

[William Bloode]

34. No surprise to those of us who live here.

In the 20m stretch from my mothers house to mine on Hwy 10, i counted no less than 60 properties for sale. Not only that places just built are laying empty everywhere. The manufacture of furniture, gloves, socks and textiles has take a huge hit here. It can't be blamed all on * though. Truth be known this started before his selection. Of course he has done nothing to help either.

I personally know 2 families facing eviction. Paying the $700 a month mortgage was no problem when higher paying manufacturing jobs were around was no problem. Now that so many of those jobs are gone, and whats left are part time low paying service jobs that mortgage is harder to make. It's so bad in places now that once could not get enough workers, you cannot even get a job flipping burgers.

If it was not for me being such a cheapskate my family and i might be in the same situation. I worked my ass off and paid my place off in about 8yrs. I got it paid off just before i was laid off from my manufacturing jobs in 2000. My wife was laid off from her job in 2002. I never was able to go back to work, i qualified for disability. When i was searching it took me over a year to get a job delivering papers. It took my wife almost a year to get a job as a cashier. I went from $60,000 a yr to $12,000, my wife went from $38,000 to about $12,000.

What saved me was being brought up with the idea "don't buy it if ya can't pay cash for it". I never did buy into the big consumerism wave, and re mortgage my place, or get in a ton of credit card debt. We only bought our house, and cars on credit. Even then i paid $12,000 of the $28,000 down on my house(tax foreclosure), and both cars were bought with at least $5,000 down.

During this whole period i was called a tight ass, or cheapskate many times for saving my money, and not feeling like i had to have the latest thing right then. Guess what? Who looks the fool now? It sure ain't me.

[free4now]

39. Nobody is understanding the CRIME here

THese people (some of them) Like me were never late a day on the bill. The foreclosures are manufactured because we bought our houses and they have tripled in value. SO now if I owe 60,000 on the house and its worth 400,000 who wouldn't want to hold that note? Then they always make sure their agent is at auction and buys the home, and sell at top dollar.

Read the site what an investment for the brokers who own the loans, try and get that return on your money anywhere else.

www.msfraud.org

This is also why they are inflating the markets everywhere for no reason.

We have no second mortgage or credit cards either.

[anotherdrew]

41. business lesson: sell more than you buy

what do they expect? we don't do shit for jobs, pay is a sick joke for almost half the population of this country. Most of the other half aren't doing all that much better. Can a national economy run well when only the top 20% are doing well? of course not.

[BlueManDude]

42. Buncha damn libruls interferen' with the free market

[barb162]

45. NC house leaders can't figure that no jobs, no med insurance

are the answers? They have to form a study committee? Why don't they just knock on the doors of the foreclosed homes or call the realtor phone numbers on the "for sale" signs on the front lawns on why the people are losing the houses. Do that for 20 or 30 houses and you'll have your answers