Several of the big banks announced a moratorium on foreclosures into March. J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, SunTrust and Citigroup Inc. have agreed to halt home foreclosures while the federal government works out a plan to stabilize the nation’s banking industry.
This is great news and once again illustrates that banks do NOT want to own property. There has been alot of controversy over Obama's Homeowner Stability Initiative. I know that there are alot of homeowners who pay their mortgage on time and who are concerned that this plan means that they are bailing out their neighbors. However, the cost to those same homeowners will be even greater if they let their neighbors fall into foreclosure. If the number of foreclosures on the market does not go down, home values will continue to slide down - and that affects every homeowner.
In the past several months, I have met with alot of people who are struggling with their mortgages. People fall behind on mortgage payments for a variety of reasons. Illness, divorce, job situation, death of a loved one...all human tragedies that could affect anyone at any time. My heart goes out to these people and it becomes more and more difficult to counsel them and not be emotionally effected.
Around Christmas time, I found my neighbor passed away in his yard. His wife now struggles to carry that morgage by herself - she cannot sell the house in this market without short selling it. She may go into foreclosure. I don't know if they had life insurance or how much it may have been for, but I know she is struggling.
As nieve as it sounds, living by the golden rule can only beget good kharma to those who choose to live that way. Helping those around us who may be financially struggling can only help to stabliize our own property values. That is why it is refreshing to see big banks behave in such a manner. The moratorium's length of time is not very long, but it is a breath of fresh air to see corporate America attempting to divert further tragedy to us ALL.
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