by SpringFour | Mar, 27, 2013 | Default
We’ve recently come across a nifty idea that’s become an entire movement. Called “Home Matters,” it stresses the idea that home isn’t just four walls and a roof. A home gives self-worth and health, protection to families, security to communities, and ultimately makes America itself more formidable and stronger.
To us here at MortgageKeeper, Home Matters underscores why we work so hard to keep people in their homes. By providing local resources to help out, we hope to mend family budgets so that mortgage payments are more easily met. The folks at Home Matters (who find support from sponsors like Citi Community Development, NeighborWorks America, and Wells Fargo), are working together to think more about this concept, and make homeownership not just the “American Dream” but a reality.
What do you think of Home Matters? Let us know in the comments below.
by SpringFour | Mar, 7, 2013 | Default
According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, more than 50,000 homeless people are in NYC shelters on any given night. But rather than fitting the stereotype of older men, nearly half of these are children (1% of the city’s youth). For the first time since 1987, the average homeless family is staying in a shelter for more than a year.
Now homelessness in New York is, sadly, nothing new. But in the words of the article, ” it has become an escalating crisis in recent years amid a chronic shortage of affordable housing and an unemployment rate higher than state and national levels.” And New York is not alone. Other U.S. cities have seen their homeless numbers increase, creating a national trend.
Here at MortgageKeeper, we’ve seen a gradual uptick in the searches for “basic need” services. Counselors and individuals have made food assistance and affordable housing very popular in our list of 20+ categories.
It’s not a trend we love to see.
As the economic stall in the United States continue, those hardest hit will need more and more of the basics until they can get back on their feet. Here at MK, we continue to make sure that our data provides the best information possible to those who desperately need it.
by SpringFour | Feb, 11, 2013 | Default
We read with interest The Wall Street Journal’s recent article on Fifth Third Bancorp. Seems that the enterprising folks at Fifth Third Bank are expanding a job coaching program that offers training for homeowners who have fallen behind on their payments. It specifically targets delinquent homeowners who have lost their job or had a significant drop in their income.
The tiny pilot program was quite a success. Eleven of the 28 participants found jobs after 6 months. Best of all, none of the participants were foreclosed upon, although Fifth Third maintains that they kept “the foreclosure clock” running.
Here at MortgageKeeper, our data consistently points to the need struggling homeowners have for job assistance. It is consistently one of the top three needs of folks who don’t know how they will make their next mortgage payment. To paraphrase the old saying: Giving a homeowner a loan modification will help decrease his payments, but teaching a homeowner to find stable employment will help them never to be delinquent again.
MortgageKeeper has many mortgage servicer clients who provide employment and other support to their borrowers, using our products to help delinquent homeowners get to the root of their financial problems and find a way to make their financial picture whole again. We look forward to hearing more of Fifth Third’s successful program
by SpringFour | Jan, 29, 2013 | Default
A childhood friend of mine recently posted the following on Facebook:
“I was listening to NPR’s Marketplace weekend show, and there was a piece on renting versus buying a home. The generation after ours has seen how the housing bubble burst, and they’re tending to rent with no plans to ever buy a house/condo. Any opinions? As for us, we bought our house at the height of the bubble and then watched it lose almost $30K in value in one year. We’re slowly gaining equity again, but we certainly didn’t expect this to happen.”
She has racked up 23 comments and counting. The opinions are all over the board:
A responsible landlord is like gold!”
I too bought at the height of the bubble and over the last few years I’ve lost $50K in value. I wish I had rented instead. I love the flexibility of renting. Owning is an elaborate set of leg irons.”
“…we’ve watched [our house] lose almost a third of its “value”. But, the thought of ever renting from someone again—bleah.”
We have been very hesitant to buy. I’m sure my parents were in their 2nd home when they are 30! Real estate doesn’t seem like the “investment” it used to be. Also, our generation moves more and “settles down” later than the preceding generation and owning a home “ties” one down.”
One post cited a calculator from The New York Times to help determine if you should buy or rent. But perhaps this is too big of a question to be determined by a newspaper logarithm.
Did you buy or do you rent? And do you stand by your decision?
![The Service We Offer That Hopefully Goes Unused]()
by SpringFour | Jan, 16, 2013 | Default
If you are familiar with MortgageKeeper, you know that we offer 20+ categories where folks can find help to their personal and financial crises. From prescription drugs to property tax, child care to credit counseling, we have it pretty well covered.
That is, except for disaster relief services.
We only began seriously considering this category in the last year or so. But after Hurricane Sandy, it seems like a wise and prudent move to offer our clients a means to refer their callers or online users to the most up to date relief available to them during a crisis.
We’re sure hoping that a disaster relief category gathers a lot of dust. But it will be there if it’s needed.
Recent Comments