A group in Monroe County that comprises of housing counselors has started conducting free seminars for home owners with ARM loans discussing options they could have in trying to avoid their homes going through foreclosure.
The first seminar was held on August 11, 2008.
With an increasing number of homes in Monroe County ending up in foreclosure listings, counselors from Catholic Social Services of the Scranton Diocese and Neighborhood Housing Services of Lackawanna County conducted this seminar to help people facing foreclosure deal with their respective situations. Two other seminars have been planned for this month.
This first seminar that took place at Tobyhanna’s St. Ann’s Church had homeowners coming in with concerns of their home mortgages becoming unaffordable.
This year’s first half has seen more than seven hundred cases filed for foreclosure, as per the Monroe County Prothonotary’s Office.
The counselors said that not all homes that were served foreclosure notices ended up in foreclosure. Homeowners should be made aware of options such as negotiating terms of the loan with lenders, using government backed loans to refinance their mortgages or selling their homes to pay the debt and avoid foreclosure.
The most important thing is to start working on options as soon as the homeowner starts to face problems in making the monthly payments on the mortgage.
Home owners were asked to be cautious of rescue scams where people offer quick fix solutions to home owners in distress for their foreclosure problems. The services the counselors offered at the seminar, they stressed, were free.
Executive director, Jesse Ergot, of the Neighborhood Housing Services of Lackawanna County said that lenders don’t really wish to repossess homes. He also said the banks were in the housing industry for profits, and foreclosing on homes provided more loss than profit.
Seminars similar to these are to take place next month in Pike County. The reason they took place in Monroe County first was keeping in mind the dire situation of homes in foreclosure listings in Monroe County.
The next seminar in Monroe County is to take place at St. Luke’s Church in Stroudsburg on August 18 and the one after that is to be held at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Brodheadsville on August 26. Both the seminars are to start at 07:00 pm.
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Written by Alex Rolim.
