Einem Bericht des amerikanischen lokalen Fernsehsender Wood.TV im US Bundes-Staat Michigan zufolge, steigt die Zahl der Zwangsversteigerungen in Kent County gerade rapide an:
- wurden in den 90'er jahren noch ungefähr 500 Zwangsversteigerungen pro Jahr gezählt, waren es 2006 bereits 2.500 - ein Plus von 74% gegenüber 2005
- allein im April 2007 waren es über 1.000!
- im gesamten Jahr bis Ende Mai kamen mehr als 3.200 Anträge zusammen!
Kent County foreclosures on record pace
Updated: May 31, 2007 01:39 AM
By PATRICK CENTER
GRAND RAPIDS -- Foreclosure filings in Kent County are coming in at a record pace not seen for many years.
In the 1990s, there were roughly 500 foreclosures a year. In 2006, 2,500 homes foreclosed in Kent County - up 74 percent from 2005.
So far this year, the Register of Deeds told 24 Hour News 8 more than 60 foreclosures per week are being filed, more than 1,000 total through April. The county projects more than 3,200 for 2007.
The Center for Responsible Lending said, while the subprime market produced more than $2 trillion in home loans over the past nine years, it's forecasting almost 1 million American families will fail to make payments and lose their homes.
Realtor Kerrie Idema told 24 Hour News 8, "I showed seven homes between $180,000 - $220,000, and three of the seven were in some state of foreclosure."
A wave of subprime lending to people with bad credit at high interest rates are unable to make mortgage payments is converging with those struggling to make ends meet in a sagging Michigan economy.
"We're in what we would consider a perfect storm," said Tracy Coffman of Home Repair Services, a non-profit group that provides guidance to any family facing foreclosure. "So we have people who are out of work or people who are re-employed but employed making less than what they were making before and now having to deal with a higher mortgage payment. And that combination is escalating our foreclosures to a rate we have just not seen."
