The Month Of May Sees A Spike In Foreclosures In Gaston County

Posted on June 26, 2008
Filed Under Foreclosure Homes |

The last month of May 2008 has seen a spike in foreclosures in Gaston County – a record since the last six years. In May many house owners lost their property – the greatest number of losses in any single month. In May there were 110 foreclosure postings. In April there had been 64 foreclosures. Thus in one month the numbers had nearly doubled. Martin C. Eudy of Real Data released the figures. He collects them from the office of the Register of Deeds and notes when the lender actually takes over the property.

In recent years the foreclosure trend has been growing in Gaston. In 2001 there had been 321 foreclosures during the entire year. But in 2008 already the first five months has noted 394 foreclosures.

The first thing that a borrower should do is to contact the lender. The next is to carefully analyze if anything can be done to escape foreclosure. Angela Saunders of Mortgage Concepts, Gastonia opines that the most important thing is to open lines of communication with the mortgage company. In most cases they are not interested in taking over the house considering the mood of the current real estate market. So they will be amenable to negotiations. Saunders explains that mortgage payments being missed out hurt credit counts and this makes it more difficult to find a second house to live in. Even rented accommodation calls for credit history checks.

Scott Schneider of Consumer Credit Counseling Services echoes these sentiments. The lender should be called at the first signal of trouble. The earlier the lender comes to hear about it, the more options do they have for avoiding foreclosures. On the other hand if the borrower waits for the notice to come from the sheriff then by that time all the avenues will be blocked. Schneider advises that the best counseling agencies are those certified by HUD, like the one he is engaged in – a branch of Family Service Inc. The services of these agencies are free. They help families to understand the situation and accordingly take steps. Often note is made of the income and tips given regarding priority spending. With the permission of the client they start off the dialogue between lender and borrower. Schneider threw in a word of caution about fraudulent rescue agencies that take the borrower for a ride. The latter ends up in a worse situation than before.