Margert in the News

Governor Paterson Announces $137 Million To Build and Preserve Affordable Housing
The Full Story

"These awards will help developers leverage an additional $340 million in funding from federal, local and private sources, maximizing the positive impact of our investment," said Governor Paterson. "The importance of affordable housing cannot be overstated. It encourages businesses to invest in our state and create jobs. It helps to revitalize communities and downtown neighborhoods and provides a stable and safe environment for working families, senior citizens and people living with disabilities."

DHCR Commissioner Deborah VanAmerongen said: "The dramatic increase in the number of affordable units created and preserved is due to the commitment of Governor Paterson and the State Legislature, and the unprecedented increase in funding they entrusted to DHCR in the 2008-09 state budget."

The new budget increased funding for DHCR programs by about $200 million over traditional levels. VanAmerongen said she plans to conduct a second round of funding awards later this year.

View full story

Margert a NYS DHCR Local Program Administrator for the RESTORE, HOME and Access to Home programs.

View Margert's 2008 RESTORE Award Summary.

top^

Governor Announces Grants to Fight the Subprime Mortgage Crisis
The Full Story

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 24, 2008

Governor David A. Paterson today announced a total of $1,765,000 in grants as part of New York’s continued efforts to address the subprime mortgage crisis. The grants will be provided to non-profit agencies for homeownership assistance and foreclosure prevention counseling, advocacy and legal services. Governor Paterson has made addressing the mortgage crisis a priority of his administration, demonstrated with the passage of a historic subprime agreement during this year’s legislative session.

“On Main Street, people are losing their homes and on Wall Street, the foreclosure crisis is placing the economies of New York, the United States and increasingly the world into a tailspin,” said Governor Paterson. “One of the most critical things we can do is educate homeowners and help them access the tools they need to keep their homes and their financial security. New York has taken the lead in reaching out to homeowners in need, and it is encouraging to see the House pass a bill that includes significant funds for refinancing, consumer counseling and legal assistance. The Senate and President must do the right thing and make this bill law.”

The grants were awarded by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) and the New York State Banking Department. DHCR awarded $975,000 to 12 organizations through its Urban Homeownership Assistance Program (UHAP) for homeownership assistance programs to low-income families. The Banking Department awarded more than $790,000 in grants to eight agencies as part of a $2 million settlement fund from prior Banking Department enforcement actions. The Banking Department grants will provide foreclosure prevention services.

In addition to today’s awards, the State has also set aside as much as $20 million for financial counseling and legal services for homeowners who hold a subprime or unconventional mortgage under the Subprime Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention Services Program.

Deborah VanAmerongen, Commissioner of DHCR, said: “DHCR is proud to work with Governor Paterson on programs that help people keep their homes and their lives intact during this difficult time. These grants will support the local organizations that are on the ground working every day in communities to make homeownership a positive experience that provides security and peace of mind to families.”

Richard H. Neiman, Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York, said: “With tens of thousands of New Yorkers at risk of foreclosure, borrowers are in even greater need of housing counseling and support. These grants will ensure that strained foreclosure prevention services will receive the support they need to provide the staffing, tools and training to face this crisis.”

View full story

Margert Community Corporation is one of the twelve organizations state-wide to be funded under the Urban Homeownership Assistance Program.

top^

U.S. Foreclosures Double as House Prices Decline
The Full Story

July 25 (Bloomberg)....U.S. foreclosure filings more than doubled in the second quarter from a year earlier as falling home prices left borrowers owing more on mortgages than their properties were worth.

One in every 171 households was foreclosed on, received a default notice or was warned of a pending auction. That was an increase of 121 percent from a year earlier and 14 percent from the first quarter, RealtyTrac Inc. said today in a statement. Almost 740,000 properties were in some stage of foreclosure, the most since the Irvine, California-based data company began reporting in January 2005.

"Rising foreclosures are putting downward pressure on prices, increasing the possibility that homeowners will go upside-down on their mortgages,'' said Sheryl King, chief U.S. economist at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York.  "That will cause more losses in mortgage portfolios and less willingness from investors to securitize mortgages and therefore fewer mortgages.''

About 25 million U.S. homeowners risk owing more than the value of their homes, according to Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co. That would make it impossible for them to negotiate better loan terms or sell their property without contributing cash to the transaction.

Foreclosures push all home values down by an estimated 6 percent, and will contribute to national prices declining another 15 percent by the end of 2009, Ethan Harris and Michelle Meyer, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. economists in New York, said in a report yesterday.

New York filings increased 62 percent from a year earlier to 16,025, with one in every 493 households in a stage of foreclosure, the 30th-highest rate.

New Jersey filings rose 140 percent. One in every 201 households in the state received notice, the 12th-highest rate in the U.S.

View full story

top^

House of Pain as New York City Foreclosures Soar 67%
The Full Story

By Susannah Cahalan, New York Post

New Yorkers can't beat the housing heat this summer - foreclosures in the city were up 67 percent in July compared to the same month last year as me loans and a cooling economy scalded homeowners.

The outer boroughs in particular felt the burn, with the number of auctioned-off homes in Queens surging 81 percent last month compared with July 2007. Staten Island registered a shocking 215 percent increase in the same period.

Brooklyn reached a two-year high in foreclosure auctions, a 63 percent spike in July 2008 compared to July 2007, while The Bronx recorded a sizable 16 percent increase, according to data compiled by real-estate tracking firm Propertyshark.com.

Manhattan didn't emerge unscathed. While only 7.6 percent more homes hit the block last month than in July 2007, there was an alarming 55 percent increase in foreclosure sales from June to July of this year.

Citywide, 2,216 residents have lost their homes to foreclosure already this year. The figure was 338 last month alone - compared to 203 in July 2007.

Queens shouldered more than half of the city's total last month, with 178 homes being foreclosed.

The borough appears to be at the epicenter of the national housing crisis, facing a triple threat of rising foreclosure rates, a 40 percent decrease in the number of homes sold in the first half of 2008, and median sale prices plummeting to $413,000 from $452,000.

Brooklyn recorded 63 foreclosure auctions, followed by Staten Island with 54 - an 86 percent leap from 29 foreclosures in June.

The Bronx had 29 home seizures in July, with Manhattan seeing 14.

"The numbers are pretty dramatic for New York City," said Propertyshark.com CEO Bill Saniford. "In Queens, it's quite scary."

Although foreclosures remain limited mainly to low-income areas, they're having a domino effect that has driving down prices citywide, said Saniford.

View full story

top^