Foreclosure crisis affecting Southern burbs

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Ok, so Minneapolis alone had over 6000 foreclosures in 2008-2009 according to the information on the city website-so with a population of 325,000 or so compared to the population of Dakota County of 400,000 and 2889 forclosures in 2008-2009 according to the Dakota County website--who has the bigger problem with foreclosures. If you look at the interactive map on the Dakota county website you will also see the vast majority of those foreclosures happened in the more established areas of the county, like West St. Paul, where you find a lot of rental properties and first time home buyers, which people falsely assume is is the "McMansion" owners that are filing when in fact a good portion of the filings are actually investment property owners and first time homebuyers. Then if you look at forclosed property prices (market value of the houses) you will find that the vast majority of the houses for sale are worth under $300,000 which in NO WAY is a "McMansion" in Dakota County.

I don't know what Dakota County's population is but Minneapolis's population is around 390,000, not 325,000.

[uptown_urbanist]

Who cares what Minneapolis' foreclosure rate was? I mean I care, as should we all, but the larger point is not that "Minneapolis has so many more foreclosures than Dakota County," but rather that the current economic crisis is having a regional impact.

[Camden Northsider]

I haven't read all of the posts on this thread, but I feel like a lot of the responses/interactions on here were pretty disrespectful to Slig. He posted a perfectly valid article highly relevent to this forum and the times as a starting point of discussion. Was there an element of sarcasm in his voice?- yes, but that hardly justifies an immature "grow up" response or some of the other comments made here. Those who live in glass subdivisions shouldn't throw stones.

[Wellstone]

While conservatives like Michelle Bachmann have been blaming this crisis on minorities who bought homes they couldn't afford, they ignore that the highest rates have been occurring in the most conservative parts of her district - and apparently now in conservative southern suburbs as well. I guess we can only assume this was a Republican problem. They did in fact cause it with deregulation, and the repeal of Glass-Steagall.

[kurls]

I agree that it is almost funny how the neocons are blaming this on Acorn, HUD, Fannie and Freddie, Clinton, and all the minorities who never deserved to own homes in their opinions. The majority of foreclosure to date are not from subprime they were Alt A and NINJA type loans. Many of these investment owners have let their mortgages go, the majority of foreclosures in North Minneapolis were not owner occupied. Allowing the mortgages to be chopped up and traded on the derivatives market was the only reason many of these idiotic loans were made in the first place which allowed housing values to run up.

While we are on the topic of housing, my wife and I are looking at homes and it seems the only sellers who are realistic in what their properties are worth are the REO(bank owned) and short sellers. Sorry everyone but if you own a home even in MN the values tanked like the rest of the country. MN is actually fairly high up on the list of states with the most foreclosures on a national level. If you think last year was bad wait until all the strategic defaulters and the foreclosures in the pipeline hit this year.

[WannaBeinBoston]

I live in the southern suburbs and have noticed a handful of foreclosures in our neighborhood and truthfully, I thought there would have been more. The development started in 2003 so unless my neighbors put down 40-50%, I suspect that most of us have loss our equity, or are upside down. The foreclosures that have occured have been due to divorce and in one instance, investor owners. The others have been due to folks that were employed in the real estate/mortgage business. None of the home modification programs that have been put in place would have helped these situations.

My gut tells me that there are alot of people out there, from the pure economics of it, should walk away but they stay because they can make a mortgage and still need a roof over there heads. How about rewarding those that play by the rules and are responsible vs. those that have been reckless with their finances, leveraged themselves with consumer debt and then bail. This country continues to move down a path of Robin Hood capitalism.

[Robert P Stewart]

Let's not forget the next wave of foreclosures caused by adjusting ARM loans and the general mishugas caused by unemployment.

I'm meeting 3-4 families a week that cannot make their mortgage payment and are looking for options. It's really heartbreaking, honestly.

RPS

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by Robert P Stewart

Let's not forget the next wave of foreclosures caused by adjusting ARM loans and the general mishugas caused by unemployment.

I'm meeting 3-4 families a week that cannot make their mortgage payment and are looking for options. It's really heartbreaking, honestly.

RPS

Just out of curiosity, where do these families seem to be concentrated? And in your opinion what are the best options out there for them?

[TimtheGuy]

Originally Posted by Slig

Anyone who has been reading these message boards for the last few years would understand.

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