Ohio Cities Top List of Most Affordable Housing Markets
September 6, 2008
Business Week just released the top ten list of cities across the United States that have the most affordable housing markets. 4 of the top ten cities listed were in Ohio. They include Youngstown, Toledo, Dayton, and Akron. To read more about this story, go here.
More Victims of Foreclosure
August 4, 2008
If you follow my blog at all, you should probably already know that I am a huge animal lover. My wife and I have four pugs and two cats. I guess some would say we are on our way to becoming “those people” or the “cat couple.” Anyway, I’ve been noticing a lot of cats lately on the sides of highways and it has made me wonder if the economic situation in this country is making people dump their pets because they can no longer afford to feed them or give them the medical care that they deserve.
I’ve also noticed some stories of people that have found themselves in this situation. In fact, our adopted animal we found roaming a busy street very late at night. He looked to be a small kitten, but the truth be known, he was nine months old and weighed about 4.5 pounds. He literally was all skin and bones. We picked him up, put him in the car, and took him home and fed him and began giving him the attention and care that any living creature deserves. We have now rescued three of the six animals.
I realize that times are tough out there in the country, but I implore animal owners to not disgard of their four legged friends in such a way. There is often help out there for you with regards to food and care. Check with your local humane society. Many cities also have pet food banks as well as many of the regular food banks now have pet food available.
If you have room in your home and in your heart, there are many wonderful animals available for adoption. You can also help by donating to your humane society (they accept many items as well as money).
More On Foreclosures
July 30, 2008
Its a big day for the American people. Our government has come to the rescue in an unusally rare bipartisan effort to stem foreclosures. According to the AP, both parties were eager to prove they were in touch and trying to help those Americans that are facing a financial crisis. Interesting that bipartisanship can happen right before an election, isn’t it?
According to the article:
The FHA could insure $300 billion in such mortgages, which would be available to homeowners who showed they could afford a new loan.
It goes on to say:
It provides $180 million in pre-foreclosure counseling for struggling homeowners.
The Treasury Department gains unlimited power, until the end of 2009, to lend money to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or buy their stock should they need it. The Federal Reserve takes on a new “consultative” role overseeing the companies.
The measure includes $15 billion in tax cuts, including a significant expansion of the low-income housing tax credit and a credit of up to $7,500 for first-time home buyers for houses purchased between April 9, 2008, and July 1, 2009.
Democratic leaders, recognizing that the measure could be one of the last items to become law during what’s left of their abbreviated election-year schedule, tacked on an $800 billion increase, to $10.6 trillion, in the statutory limit on the national debt.
So what do you think? Why did it take an election to get democrats and republicans to spend our money in unison?
Franklin County to the Rescue
July 21, 2008
This article about from the Columbus Dispatch details plans by Columbus and Franklin County to help bail out citizens that are facing forclosure. The idea is to help keep people in their homes and to also go after some of the predatory lenders that may have been somewhat deceiving when they lent money in the first place.
A statistic in the article that I was unaware of is that “Ohio’s foreclosure rate was sixth-highest in the nation last month.” That’s pretty amazing. It is never good to be in the top ten for such bad things as human misery.
For me this is somewhat of a tough call so I am asking for your opinion. Is it fair for the government to spend large amounts of money to help borrowers, many of which never had the means to buy the house in the first place? I know that $3 million may not sound like a lot of money, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. On a side note… isn’t it crazy when we are so numb to hearing numbers in the millions and billions that we just kind of shrug our shoulders and not think twice about spending that amount of money?
I do feel sorry for people in these situations. Many cannot afford the houses because the the crippled economy. What do we do to help?
The Sucking Sounds Continues In Ohio
July 8, 2008
Remember when Ross Perot warned of the sucking sound of jobs heading from the United States to south of the border? Well, the sucking sound now is jobs flooding out of Ohio. According to NBC4, Cardinal Health Care, located in Dublin, Ohio, announced that it will restructure and will cut 600 jobs.
This seems to be more evidence of the lousy economy for which we can thank both the republicans and democrats. When will either party decide to step up and help out the citizens of this country that are hurting from gas prices, home foreclosures, and the increase of products and goods that are necessary to survive?
Isn’t the GOP the Party of Fiscal Responsibility
June 16, 2008
Not so, according to this Dispatch article. As a Clinton democrat, I admit that I am new to the party and still have some Republican leanings. I do think it is absolutely imperative that we balance our budget with regards to all levels of government.
Both parties in the state of Ohio are attempting to spend more money from the rainy-day fund.
On Thursday, the governor vetoed a section of the $1.6 billion economic-stimulus bill that would take $200 million from those emergency reserves. He was concerned about setting a precedent of spending rainy-day money for new projects instead of stabilizing the budget, spokesman Keith Dailey said.
Why can’t the parties work together to find solutions to the many problems that we have in this state without constantly throwing money at them and doing little to actually fixing them?
Greed Affecting Our Economy
June 12, 2008
In an article entitled “Woman admits she Ok’d fraudlent loan applications in Columbus mortgage scam,” the Dispatch treats us to the following:
A Michigan woman admitted today that she approved fraudulent mortgage loan applications for Columbus homes and might have been responsible for as much as $1 million in losses.
Kenyatta Johnson, 28, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Columbus to conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with a $25 million mortgage scam that affected more than 200 home buyers.
In a plea agreement, Johnson admitted that, as a loan officer for a bank in Ann Arbor, Mich., she approved loans brought to her by Dwayne L. Carter of Reynoldsburg that she knew included inflated, fraudulent employment information. In exchange, Carter wired her kickback money.
Johnson is the seventh of nine defendants to plead guilty in the conspiracy case. None has been sentenced. She could get up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine and have to pay up to $1 million in restitution.
Johnson has agreed to become a witness for the government’s case in exchange for her guilty plea.
The nine are accused of using bogus appraisals of more than 500 properties to obtain mortgages beginning in 2002. Charges include wire fraud, tax evasion and money laundering. Many of the properties ended up in foreclosure.
The scam was detailed in The Dispatch in the September 2005 series “Brokered Dreams.”
I wonder why she doesn’t have to pay more? I sure hope that they nail the employer as well.
Payday Lenders Are Back
June 8, 2008
Did you ever think that the payday loan shark lenders would go silentely into the night? I have to say that I knew that would never happen. This is obviously a lucrative buisenss. When you are out and about you can see how many of these companies are popping up all around the poorer areas of ohio.
According to the Dispatch, the payday loan sharks are going to take their case to the people.
The payday industry has hired Columbus attorney David Paragas to act as counsel, coordinate the ballot effort, and explore potential legal challenges to the law. Ohio Petition Co., which guarantees clients that their issues will qualify for the ballot, is expected to collect the signatures. The company is working separately with a union-led coalition on a ballot initiative mandating paid sick days.
DeVault said the payday industry will “devote the resources necessary to make sure (voters) understand what is at stake.”
Faith said he thinks Ohioans will side against payday lenders, but he is worried that the industry can vastly outspend defenders of the law in a campaign.
Under the new law, lenders are allowed to offer a two-week loan with a 28 percent annual interest rate and a one-time $15 origination fee. A $300 loan can require about $18 interest, compared with the $45 charged today.
The payday industry is working on a similar ballot campaign in Arizona, where a law threatens to wipe out the short-term, high-interest lenders in 2010.
Remember people of Ohio…these people care only about themselves. They are NOT fighting on your behalf.
More Bad Economic News For Ohio
June 4, 2008
From the Dispatch:
A bad year for Ohio workers just got worse.
General Motors said yesterday that it will close its sport-utility-vehicle plant south of Dayton in Moraine, one of four plants the company is shutting down in North America.
The move, which will cost Ohio roughly 2,400 jobs, is an exclamation point in a year of grim job news.
Ohio lost 19,423 jobs to mass layoffs in the first three months of this year, the greatest first-quarter loss this decade.
More recently, the bad news has continued to come in waves, from the sudden demise of Skybus in early April to last week’s word that ABX Air could lose thousands of jobs in Wilmington because it no longer would provide services to package shipper DHL.
The worst might be yet to come. In all but one of the last eight years, the most layoffs happened in the fourth quarter.
It seems like no job is safe anymore.
Does The Mortgage Crisis Disproportiantely Affect African Americans?
June 3, 2008
In a Columbus Dispatch article today, the paper claims that adjustable rate loans have affected African Americans at a higher percentage than their Caucasian counterparts.
In fact, black borrowers with incomes above $100,000 were likelier to receive high-rate mortgages than whites with incomes below $40,000, the analysis found.
“This is an epidemic, a disaster for our African-American communities,” said Linda Stallworth, housing services director for the Columbus Urban League. “These families were preyed upon and targeted by lenders, typically with mass mailings and phone calls. Some people will blame the borrowers for this, but now we are paying the price for all these bad deals.”
Several national experts agree that middle-class minority families were victims of predatory lenders. They accuse companies of using millions in marketing schemes that targeted vulnerable minority families looking for a quick fix to financial problems by selling them mortgages that they couldn’t afford.
You know, I kind of struggle with this issue. The data appear to show that more minorities were given loans with an arm, but when lenders give options of loans, they aren’t looking at just income.
When my wife and I bought our house a few years ago, we told our lender that we only wanted a quote on a 15 and 30 year fixed loan. We didn’t want to know about an adjustable rate loan.
All loans take into account the income that you bring to the table, but a large part of the decision has to do with your FICO scores.
While I think something needs to be done to help people in financial trouble, these families chose to gamble with their family’s livelihood. They chose to take a gamble on having the teaser interest rate and keeping their fingers crossed about future increases.
What do you think???
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