LHAND seminar to give foreclosure tips

LYNN – Homeowners facing foreclosure have a place to turn Tuesday night when the Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development holds a seminar on home loss prevention from 6-9 p.m. in its 10 Church St. community room.Seminar organizers plan to outline eight strategies homeowners can use to avoid foreclosure. The options include pre-sale plans allowing the owner to retain equity in their home and repayment plans as well as arrangements allowing the owner to transition to prime rate mortgage and others allowing them to give the property to the lender.The seminar is one of several planned through December. The Authority received a $36,000 grant from United Way of Mass Bay to pay for the program.The assistance effort is similar to Revere’s partnership with Chelsea Restoration Corporation (CRC) to help homeowners in that city avoid foreclosure.Mayor Thomas Ambr-osino announced the program in February and CRC representatives at the time said 358 Revere homes are currently in foreclosure with mortgage lenders threatening to take the properties away from their ownersThe agency sent Ambrosino a letter last December indicating that 1,147 other homeowners are on the brink of seeing their low introductory mortgage rate escalate.The Authority’s response to foreclosures reflects the severity of a statewide and national problem. Massachusetts continues to see a rise in foreclosure petitions, a first step that often leads to owners losing their homes.Petitions last December rose 28 percent from the same month a year ago to about 2,700. That total is up slightly from November of last year.The current crisis reflects the steepest slump in housing in more than two decades, a severe downturn that followed a five-year boom that saw home sales and prices both hit record levels, only to come crashing down over the past two years.Homeowners who had counted on being able to refinance their adjustable-rate mortgages before they reset to sharply higher rates have been caught in the sharp downturn as home sales and prices have plunged in many parts of the country.State Reps. Robert Fennell and Steven Walsh support legislation aimed at reversing the foreclosure trend and helping property owners entangled in it.The legislation requires lenders to give homeowners 90 days to repay the interest and payment balance accumulated, before starting foreclosure proceedings.If the borrower successfully completes this payment, their mortgage would be reinstated without penalty or foreclosure. This clause insures that consumers are not saddled with the weight of enormous legal fees associated with a foreclosure filing for simply falling behind on payments for a short period.The bill also requires licensing of 20,000 loan originators with a $750 license fee. The state Division of Banking would also be required to hire more regulators to monitor mortgage lending practices.