In The News"In Demand"Sunday, September 13, 2009 By Jon Rutter George Flood had things planned to a T. His fiancee would join him in the spacious clapboard house he'd purchased in Mountville in 2006. He'd fix up the place and their combined income would pay the mortgage. In six years, they'd sell and move to Thailand. But hitches developed. Flood did renovate the home. He did marry his fiancee, Charuwan Flood, who came here from Thailand in 2007. However, red tape blocked her from getting a job for nine months. Then, Flood said, the mortgage company socked them with old back tax payments. "We knew back in April we were in trouble," the 56-year-old mechanic said. "We did the best we could and contacted Tabor." There are more and more variations of the Floods' story out there. In one year, said Tabor financial and homeownership services division manager Lowell Jantzi, default mortgage clients have soared 270 percent. The surge that began in early 2008 was overwhelming, according to default mortgage counselor Gladys Delgado, who said she was, for years, "a one-man department." And so Tabor has hired a second full-time counselor, Randi Shober, half-time counselor Bill Stamey and intake manager Darcy Eddy. In addition, this past spring, the nonprofit community help organization at 308 E. King St. launched a new, secure Web site, www.tabornet.org. Clients can log on to access housing education workshops and get help with rental, foreclosure, credit, and financial literacy counseling. The Web site was established through a gift from Tabor board member Ted Williams of Ameriprise and a grant from the Digital Community Foundation. Jesse Stowell, a 2008-09 VISTA staff member at Tabor, helped set up the site. As of June 30, according to Jantzi, 336 clients had successfully worked with their banks in the preceding 12 months to avoid foreclosure. But the need is expected to stay steady, Jantzi said, and the education gap remains large. The important message to convey is that "people need to come in sooner rather than later," he added. "The longer the delinquency, the fewer the options." Tabor, the only local mortgage and reverse mortgage counselor certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is emphasizing helping people long before a sheriff's sale is breathing down their necks, Jantzi said. (In a reverse mortgage, the homeowner, typically 62 or older, converts some of the equity of his home to cash.) A lot of retirees came in last year because they lost so much income during the stock market swoon, Delgado said. Clients are from all demographics, Shober said, but the largest single group she's seen are self-employed workers. Many were in established businesses, added Shober, who said she most often has seen clients come from the carpentry, construction and food service industries. "A lot of them don't have insurance now," said Delgado, who has been a mortgage counselor for 21 years. "Their medical expenses have increased as their income has decreased." Financial help and refinancing choices are available through the Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program, which accounts for a third of the payouts to Tabor clients, and the 2009 Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan. Good advice from Tabor is free. But there's no panacea, counselors warn. An attempt to change the term of a loan, for example, is usually more successful if the bank or mortgage company that originally wrote it still owns it. Helping clients trim personal expenses to match their incomes is another Tabor tack. "We start routing [clients] all over the place," Delgado said. "This is where you go to get cheap medical. Here's where you go for food.' You'd be surprised how far you can cut your budget down." And, she said, you might also be shocked to learn how much money you can lose to scammers. Tabor sees clients who have given up thousands, Delgado said. "These people get bombarded" by solicitations. "If there's a fee involved, trash it ... No one should have to pay for these services." Tabor clients can frequently buy time by seeing a counselor and stopping the foreclosure process, Delgado said. However, the counselors warned, even if financial stability is achieved, people can't always stay in their homes. The Floods are one example. The couple redid their budget, George Flood said. "Tabor did what they could. They did what they were supposed to do." But an application for a loan to help the couple get caught up was denied, he said. The government's safety net did not catch them. "We're actually going to put the house up for sale now" and look for an apartment or town home, Flood added. "It's not worth the mental hassle and the financial hassle to keep this place." Jon Rutter is a staff writer for the Sunday News. His e-mail address is jrutter@lnpnews.com. |
