FORECLOSURE PREVENTION FORUM

Educating Those Caught in Foreclosure
Forum Equips Struggling Homeowners with Information

Vince Rembulat
Reporter
Manteca Bulletin

Don’t yell. Be persistent. And work as hard to keep your home as you did to buy it.

That advice - coupled with the nuts and bolts of trying to avoid foreclosure - was provided at the No Homeowner Left Behind forum Wednesday at the Manteca Senior Center. The gathering was designed to educate and provide possible options to those in danger of losing their homes according to Ana Rocha of the City of Manteca Redevelopment Agency.

She organized the group of volunteer professionals in the field to possibly provide direction to the nearly 50 in attendance who are among 312 homeowners in Ripon, Manteca, and Lathrop currently in one of the early or more advanced stages of the foreclosure process. There are currently 221 homes that have already been foreclosed and taken back by the banks that are available for sale in the three cities as of Friday.

Included on the NHLB panel were Ed Parcuat, Karen Eckstein, Pete Kovacs, and Dori Beck, with Lucy Living, a HUD-certified counselor with ByDesign Financial Solutions in Stockton, as the special guest.

“A mortgage is a promissory note,” she said.

For those having trouble paying their mortgage, Living indicated that one solution might include making cuts to personal expenses.

“Analyze your situation,” she said. “Are you spending $150 a month on cable TV? Do you have a $200 phone bill? Maybe you own one too many cars?”

Her HUD-certified counseling services in the Northern San Joaquin Valley not only offers free advice about home buying but assists resolving mortgage problems.

“We’ll work one-on-one with you to find the best option. We might even contact your investor. But at the same time don’t expect miracles,” Living said.

As for working with the bank, those on the panel agreed that it’s important to be persistent but, at the same time, be cordial.

“Don’t yell (on the phone) at those people,” Living said. “They might not want to work with you.”

And rather than talking to customer service or collections, they suggested contacting loss mitigation.

NHLB was started up in Fresno, with Stanislaus County forming a Central Valley branch not too long ago.

“We’re a round table of certified professionals (Realtors, counselors, lenders, planners, etc.), volunteering our time to meet on a monthly basis. We’ve pooled our resources to efficiently educate people,” said Rocha, who worked in Stanislaus County for eight years prior to coming to Manteca three months ago.

“We’re here for options,” added Parcuat, a mortgage planner. “Everyone has different reasons for being here tonight.

“There may even be those who can’t afford to keep their home and just want to move on.”

In addition, they touched on the foreclosure process, defaulting on a loan, and options.

Included were reinstatement of a delinquent loan, refinancing loan, litigation and bankruptcy.

“Bankruptcy has to be your very last option,” Parcuat said.

Many on the panel are optimistic that housing market will someday improve based on the trends of the 1980s and 1990s.

“What’s happening (today) is unprecedented,” Kovacs said. “We’ll eventually get out it.

“Those who held on to their home will benefit the most.”

As for those in danger of losing their home, Parcuat strongly recommended spending at least one hour a day talking to the bank.

“You worked hard to get your house,” he said. “Do you think you should work hard to keep it?”

Several forums are planned - or main events, according to Rocha - including one at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds in Stockton on Friday, July 25, from 3 to 9 p.m., and Patterson’s Apricot Valley Elementary School, 1320 Hensley Parkway, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The NHLB event in Patterson will include representatives from Countrywide, Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual, and Citibank.

Another Manteca forum is planned for the coming months, Rocha said.

For more information, call 239-8427.

For Real Estate Information go to www.CentralValleyHomes.com