Saturday, May 03, 2008

Renters worried about Foreclosure Threats

RealtyTrac, an online tracker of real estate released that foreclosure was up 57% in January since last January. These numbers only increase the fears of recession and the mortgage meltdown. Many renters are scared that they will be evicted from there homes with no warning or time to find a new home. This forces people to find affordable housing as quick as possible and can really hurt there financial situation because they have to move there stuff to a relatives house or storage until they can find a new place to live.

In most states the lenders like the bank and the landlord do not have to notify the tenant of the foreclosure and the tenant usually only finds out that they have to move just a few days or weeks before they are evicted. This creates a huge financial problem for the tenant and can sometimes screw up the life and credit of a normal good working person. This is because the cost off the eviction will total thousands and not too many people can spare that much money. When the tenant is evicted they usually will have to pay a fee just to be able to rent another property. Many landlords are starting to offer a plan called “keys for cash” where they will give you some money if you get evicted to help you out, but you should not care if your landlord offers this “plan” because the money is usually nothing more than a few hundred dollars.

Foreclosures are not just happening in the urban areas, today there are an increasing number of foreclosures in rural and suburban areas. The number of foreclosures is rising so high that the real estate market is going into meltdown leaving tenants out of luck with almost no warning to the problem.

Congress is voting on a new law that could allow make it so even after a rented property is foreclosed the tenant still has up to 6 months to move out. It passed the House of Representatives in November of 2007, and would not take effect until mid to late 2008, that’s if it becomes a law. Many are opposed to this law especially the lenders because they do not want to become a landlord just because that person rented the property out.

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