2008-04-22 00:00:00 -
via:
Apr. 22--FLORENCE -- Florence, along with Charleston, Greenville, Horry and Richland, are the top counties in South Carolina with the highest foreclosures rates.
And according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, there were more than 550 new foreclosures in the state for 2008 by the end of January. That's why the S.C. Foreclosure Task Force has been established. The task force has been in place in the Pee Dee since early March and has been trying to aggressively attack the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The Charleston based nonprofit organization is a partnership between The Homeownership Resource Center/Division o Family Services, Inc., The S.C. Association of Community Development Corp., NeighborWorks America and the Federal Reserve, to provide free default counseling and foreclosure intervention programs statewide.
"We (The Homeownership Resource Center) received a $300,000 grant from NeighborWorks America that is good until the end of 2008," said Toby Smith, the Pee Dee task force facilitator,. "When people come into our clinics we have people to assess their nee s and try to help them get out of the situations." The task force presented a seminar Monday morning at Poynor Adult/Community Education Center. Among those in attendance was Shemeka Cusack, a Realtor with Situs Properties and Mortgage. Cusack said the crisis has hit the Pee Dee hard in the past two years. "I have a lot of clients and know a lot of people that have purchased homes in the past two years that are in foreclosure," she said.
"I know of at least two large neighborhoods in Florence and the majority, at least 70 percent, of the residents in thos neighborhoods are in pre-foreclosure or are foreclosing (on their homes)." Fifty percent of South Carolina residents in foreclosure lose their home unnecessarily because they don't know exactly what they can do about defaulting on mortgages, Smith said. "(The mortgage crisis) is a derivative of bad lenders and rates," Cusack said. "The first thing people do is give the house back because the don't know other options. This affects me because when I have clients in foreclosure, it slows down the buying p ocess.
I came to get information so I could give my clients knowledge on what to do when nearing foreclosure." Kidd said her organization steps in when the homeowner gets behind on mortgage payments and stops communicating with the lender. She said people don't realize that they are more likely to keep their home by being two payments behind and setting up a pla than by just giving up. "Last year, our staff assisted more than 500 residents in foreclosure and was able to save more than 350 homes from foreclosure," she said. Kidd said to be cautious of local billboards and advertisements around town from agencies saying they can help get homeowners out of foreclosure while asking for an up-front fee.
"We're free. Scammers come out when there is a great need, and that's what we're seeing now," she said. For more information on mortgage default and foreclosure counseling or to register for the program, call Family Services Inc./The Homeownership Resource Center at (800) 320-0350. On the Web Family Services Inc./The Homeownership Resource Center, www.ForeclosureHelpForSC.org