DS News - U.S. Bank

80 New Jersey Lisa G Lopez Broker of Record Home Alliance Realty 142 E. Bay Ave Manahawkin, NJ 08050 609-978-9009 (o) 609-384-5109 (c) lglopez@verizon.net www.HomeAllianceRealty.com www.LisaLopezProperties.com Connecticut Planet Realty, LLC Sales@CTREOTEAM.com 203-982-4985 cell www.CTREOTEAM.com Security • Preservation • Disposition Steve Rivkin MASSACHUSETTS Helping Bostonians Understand Foreclosure Rules What happens when residents or tenants can't pay back for their homes even at reduced prices? e Coalition for Occupied Homes in Foreclosure (COHIF), a Boston-based advocacy group that works with tenants and residents of foreclosed homes to help them understand their rights and foreclosure rights, might have found the answer in a pilot project it launched in the city. e Greater Four Corners Community Stabilization Pilot Project informs homeown- ers and tenants of their rights under foreclosure and tenant/landlord law, identifies residents with interest in and who may be good candi- dates for purchasing, and trains residents to work with the Inspectional Services Depart- ment to identify and remedy code-enforcement issues with bank-owned properties. e COHIF found that many tenants and residents could not pay back for their homes, even at the reduced prices the group fought for, and this led them to include building affordable housing developments through the project. As an affordable housing developer, the project aims to purchase "short-sale" proper- ties, to work with lenders to undertake "bulk" purchases of properties, and to purchase properties currently in receivership that may be at risk of foreclosure or may already be bank-owned. "We had to find another entity to buy those homes," Owen said. "e [original] idea was to get a [community development corporation] to purchase the properties. at didn't happen. COHIF ended up creating new financial path- ways to acquire and renovate these properties [itself]." COHIF was formed as a result of the financial crisis, when a group of around 25 tenant, community, nonprofit, legal, and gov- ernment agencies and organizations based in Boston came together as an advocacy group for tenants in foreclosed properties. e group was eventually turned into an affordable housing developer with its Greater Four Corners Com- munity Stabilization Pilot Project. "It is probably the only place that I know of where radical housing advocates and more mainstream policy advocacy folks in the hous- ing world, nonprofit developers, for-profit de- velopers, financiers, and city agencies all come together to deal with this [foreclosure] crisis and what has turned into now a displacement crisis for renters and owners," said Lisa Owen of City Life/Vida Urbana, a Boston communi- ty-advocacy organization, on NEXT City. NEW YORK How New York's Foreclosure Rates Compare by Borough Since 2018 began, first-time foreclosures in New York City have consistently de- clined, and the third quarter has only seen this trend extend, according to a report by PropertyShark. Foreclosures in the city's five boroughs are down overall 17 percent year- over-year, or 19 percent if one calculates from one quarter to the next. is is a noticeable drop, with 716 unique cases reported this quarter—the first-time foreclosures in the city have fallen below 800 for the first time since the first quarter of 2017. Citywide, preforeclosures dropped 36 percent year- over-year, or 15 percent if one calculates quarter-over-quarter. e report reveals that certain parts of the city witnessed the number of foreclosures drop significantly more than others, and a couple of major neighborhoods even saw their foreclosure rates stagnate. Of all the New York boroughs, Queens was the only one that saw an increase in foreclosures year- over-year. is increase is slight, however (5 percent) and could be interpreted as leveling off since, quarter-over-quarter, the neigh- borhood still saw a 15 percent contraction, the report said. Brooklyn meanwhile saw its number of first-time foreclosures barely budge, dropping just 1 percent year-over-year but still falling a full 10 percent since Q2. e other three boroughs, however, saw their number of foreclosures drop dramati- cally this quarter, the report indicated. e largest dip was seen in Manhattan, where just 22 properties foreclosed on marks an impressive 44 percent decrease. is breaks a record for lowest number of foreclosures in Manhattan since the first quarter of 2014. e Bronx saw the second-largest decline in foreclosures at 43 percent year-over-year, though there was an increase of 10 percent since last quarter. Staten Island also saw a very sharp decline in foreclosures, a total 40 percent year-over-year or—even more strik- ing—67 percent if one calculates quarter- over-quarter. was the increase in New Jersey households "struggling to afford the basics" between 2010 and 2016. Source: ALICE Report (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) released by United Way of Northern New Jersey in October 2018 STAT INSIGHT 15%

• Cover