Category Archives: Home Mortgage
Stop Foreclosure – The Success of Philadelphia’s Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Pilot
It’s amazing how people come up with highly technical names for programs. Sometimes the most successful programs have the hardest to understand names. This is true for Philadelphia’s Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Pilot Program.
What is this program? Simply it is a program which helps people in Philadelphia who are facing foreclosure save their homes.
What is so great about the program? Its success rate. The program commenced in May of 2008. Mortgage modifications started to be made in June of 2008. At the end of 2008 78% of the people who had their mortgages modified through the program remained in their homes.
Why is this so great? The 78% success rate is the highest in the United States. At the end of 2008 statistics came out for the United States as a whole. Those revealed that in over 50% of the cases where mortgages were modified during the first quarter of 2008 the people fell behind on their mortgages within 6 months and were facing foreclosure again. So the program in Philadelphia is bucking the national trend.
The people in Philadelphia have developed an innovative and effective program for preventing foreclosure. Mortgage companies are required to meet with the people facing foreclosure. At these meetings they are required to negotiate a mutually agreeable solution to the foreclosure whenever possible.
Why is the program so successful? How did they get to the 78% success rate?
First, it is a mandatory program. Both the mortgage companies and the people facing foreclosure have to participate.
Second, it uses a very effective community outreach.
Third, it is easy for people facing foreclosure to participate in. They get the help they need.
Fourth, housing counselors work with the people facing foreclosure.
Fifth, there is a mediation process overseen by the courts.
All of these have come together to make this program far more successful than any other program helping people facing foreclosure save their homes. It is worthwhile to see how this program was put together. Can it become a model for other cities and states?
In Part 2 we will take a closer look at how this program was developed and why it is so successful.
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Ex-Basket Ball Player Facing with Mortgage Fraud and Foreclosed
Todd Leary, formerly a basket ball player of Indiana University, is facing imprisonment up to three years for the part he played in a mortgage fraud plan. He appeared in a court in Noblesville recently for allegedly stealing appliances from foreclosure houses.
The thirty nine years old player pleaded not guilty for the burglary charges said the Administrative Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Wehmueller. Leary is a resident of Carmel – an affluent suburb of northern Indianapolis. Leary said he would engage his own lawyer.
After the hearing he continued to be held on a bond of $ 25,000. Leary’s lawyer representing him in the fraud case did not respond to phone calls. Leary was arrested on 1st September after an investigation that had been carried on for five months.
It was stated in the affidavit that Leary financed two separate men to shift refrigerators and different appliances out of some foreclosed units. He then sold them to stores dealing with appliances in Indianapolis. In reply to questions Leary stated that he had been engaged by a firm that purchased, refurbished and resold foreclosed units.
He told the police that he chose houses from the website of the sheriff of Hamilton County. But the department of the sheriff denied participating in any such type of sale either to any firm or to Leary. The houses that were burgled were found to belong to other owners.
Last July the player had pleaded guilty to charges of felony. He misappropriated escrow funds (title insurance) from a firm of Fort Wayne. Leary’s agreement with the prosecutors of Allen County makes him liable to face imprisonment for nearly three years.
If however he pays about $ 294,000 as restitution, that term will be sliced by half prior to his hearing in October. Leary was engaged by a broker dealing with title insurance who had pleaded guilty relating to fraud case involving $ 2.7 million.
From 1989 to 1994 Leary had been a player representing Indiana University. He was included in NCAA Final Four team in 1992. His average was 5.0 points while playing for Bob Knight for four seasons. As a senior his best years were from 1993 to 1994. His average was 8.3 points and he started off 12 games. During the 2001 to 2002 he began broadcasting over the radio.
He had previously been arrested for charges made earlier at the Assembly Hall, Bloomington last February. It happened immediately before he was to work as analyst for basket ball match between Indiana and Purdue.
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