Exploring the Foreclosure Crisis Essay examples

In the United States we face many issues such as poverty, death, health, and many others. But the issue that is currently effecting society the most is foreclosure. What is foreclosure? How has it effected society?. The definition of foreclosure is a legal or professional proceeding held by a lien holder which is a court order termination of equitable right of redemption amongst housing properties. Foreclosure has not just effected us financially, but has effected society physically.

It is evident that the housing deficit is just a layer of the many problems we are suffering from during the hard times in our economy. Foreclosure is indeed a horrific word that is haunting homeowners across the US. Because of the situation in the current economy, millions of Americans have been plagued by foreclosing on their homes and are left to find new location for themselves and their families to live.

The housing crisis of the late 2000s rocked the economy and changed the landscape of the real estate business for years to come. Decades of people purchasing houses unfordable houses and properties with lenient loans policies led to a collective housing bubble. When the banking system faltered and the economy wilted, interest rates were raised, mortgages increased, and people lost their jobs amidst the chaos. This all culminated in tens of thousands of American losing their houses to foreclosures and short sales, as they could no longer afford the mortgage payments on their homes. The United States entered a recession and homeownership no longer appeared to be a feasible goal as many questioned whether the country could continue to support a middle-class. Former home owners became renters and in some cases homeless as the American Dream was delayed with no foreseeable return. While the future of the economy looked bleak, conditions gradually improved. American citizens regained their jobs, the United States government bailed out the banking industry, and regulations were put in place to deter such events as the mortgage crash from ever taking place again. The path to homeowner ship has been forever altered, as loans in general are now more difficult to acquire and can be accompanied by a substantial down payment.

In 2008 the real estate market crashed because of the Graham-Leach-Bliley Act and Commodities Futures Modernization Act, which led to shady mortgage lending or “liar loans” (Hartman). The loans primarily approved for lower income and middle class borrowers with little income or no job income verification, which lead to many buyers purchasing homes they could not afford because everyone wants a piece of the American dream; homeownership. Because of “reckless lending to lower- and middle-income borrowers who could not afford to repay their loans many of the home buyers lost everything when the market collapsed” (Tankersley 3). Homeowners often continued to live in their houses for months or years without paying any

In the gleeful times of 2005, my parents decided, like so many others, that it was time to “upgrade.” They sold our smaller home on the other side of town, which had appreciated nicely, and bought a 3700 square foot behemoth in a town with already exorbitant property taxes. My younger brother and I were thrilled to finally have a basement, our own rooms, and even a concrete basketball court in our backyard! All eight-year-old me knew was that things were going to be a whole lot more comfortable from there, and my optimistic parents seemed to think the same.

was August, and I was seven months behind on the mortgage. The house had now gone into foreclosure, and on the twenty-eighth, it was going to be auctioned. Despite what that letter said, I still trusted God to perform a miracle. That letter did not faze me a bit. My faith was solid, and nothing or any person was going to shake it. After all, I was following the direction of the Lord.

The foreclosure crisis that devastated our economy several years ago not only impacted the middle class wealth but also the upper class wealth. The upper class families who were not prepared for this crisishad to downsize their primary homes or utilize their investments and savings to keep their properties. The middle class families were hit the hardest during this crisis with losing there homes, depleting their life savings and investments. The middle class families who were forced to foreclose on their homes due to their loss of income and financial security moved into rental apartments or moved to a family members home to regroup from this crisis. Areas that may have added to foreclosures or short sales were the lost of many jobs due to a corporation downsizing of their employees, or the over appraising of a property if the property was appraised higher than the true value or what a buyer was willing to pay for the property. Homeowners were forced to sale their property at a lower price if the homeowner was in the process of a divorce, relocating for a job or foreclosing because they had fallen behind on their mortgage payments.I have seen circumstances where certain peoplelived above their means by spending more for a home or nonessential items like luxury vehicles they couldnot actually afford to pay.

mortgage was due, and I had not paid anything since they sent the check back to me in March. I received a letter stating that I had to send them both payments, or they would not accept it. I had believed that if I was sending them a payment, everything would be okay until I was able to catch up. When I sent February’s payment in March, the mortgage company sent the check back. I explained to them that I wasn’t two months behind because I had until the 15th of March to pay them. They would not work with me, and now I had a problem of needing at least another one thousand dollars to catch up with my mortgage payments.

The demand for houses, along with a belief that home values would continually soar, fueled the building boom that would eventually result in our demise. Once the grace period on mortgage loans ended, and house prices began to decline, many people found themselves unable to escape the high monthly payments and began to default. Increasing foreclosures continued to lower the prices of homes, by 2008 it was estimated that 23% of all homes were worth less than their mortgages. 2.9 million vacant homes later, it is safe to say the consequences of short-sighted expenditures were severe. Since then, more than 6 million Americans have lost their homes to foreclosure. Much of the blame for the housing crisis can be traced back to rumor in the stock market. While homes are not typically viewed as investments under speculation, statistics show that this was not the case during the mortgage crisis. 22% of homes purchased in 2006 were for investment purposes.

It was my sophomore year. I was younger, more friendly, more talkative, and more credulous. My family and I had lived at our house for eight and a half years. One day when my mother checked the mail, she got a letter saying that the house would be foreclosed in a month, but a wise man once said: “A house is not a home.”

Since the housing market bust, there has been an explosion in the number of federal investigation of mortgage fraud scheme across the country. Mortgage Fraud is a violation of state and

Mortgage lending is a major sector with the United States financial market today. “The modern mortgage has only been around since the 1930s, but the idea of a mortgage has been around for a lot longer.” (History of Mortgages, 2016) The literal meaning of the word ‘mortgage’ has Latin roots: ‘mort’ or death and ‘gage’ or pledge. Translated it supports “the idea that the pledge died once the loan was repaid, and also the idea that the property was ‘dead’ (or forfeit) if the loan wasn’t repaid.” (History of Mortgages, 2016) A mortgage is an agreement for the terms of your home loan, technically not the home loan itself. Real estate transactions require written documentation and this is the purpose of a mortgage.

The United States economy has been in trouble for the past couple of years. The foreclosure crisis is a condition that began due to the inability of homeowners to pay their mortgages. Foreclosure is a legal proceeding whereby a lender obtains a legal termination of a debtor’s right to redemption. The foreclosure rates have been increasing for a considerable period and certain steps have been put into place to solve the problem. While the government, financial institutions and the general public are highly aware of the crisis, the steps taken to combat the problem are still not sufficient as the foreclosure rates are still increasing.

Around 2006 the price of houses began to fall substantially fast. “The oversupply of houses and lack of buyers pushed the house prices down until they really plunged in the late 2006 and early 2007” (The Subprime Mortgage Crisis Explained). These actions threw investors into a big dilemma. In the beginning they believed buying the mortgages would bring them a profit, but quickly realized that the mortgages would cost them more financial damage than reselling the homes. “Nationwide, home vales have declined about 16% since the summer of 2006 and experts project that the drop will continue until homes have lost about 25% of their value” (Biroonak, 2008). In other words mortgage homes are “underwater”, that is, the mortgage owed equals or exceeds the value of the house (Biroonak, 2008). Investors and homeowners started to go more in debt trying to pay off their original debts.

Establish Credibility: According to US News, the great American dream of owning a home appears poised for a comeback. Real estate company Trulia reports that in many parts of the country, rents are rising while housing prices are falling, making buying a home more affordable. Trulia found that in 98 out of 100 major metropolitan areas, including Detroit, Atlanta, and Cleveland, buying has become more affordable than renting.” I think the mortgage catastrophe of 2001 left prospective home buyers afraid of buying a house without being extremely certain that is the right decision.