Sunday, Aug. 09, 2009

Metro-east homeowners find out how to get foreclosure help

Workshop explains options, gets ball rolling on state grace period

Crystal Ridenhour has fallen behind on the mortgage payments of her Collinsville home.

Her husband, a union pipe fitter, injured himself and has been out of work for six months. Plus, she has six children, four of whom she adopted. After a decade of paying the mortgage on time, she's fallen behind on the bills.

Now, she's just trying to make ends meet. And she's not alone.

Ridenhour was one of more than 35 people who attended a free mortgage workshop hosted by state officials Saturday in Collinsville.

"If they could reduce (monthly payments), that would be great," she said.

Illinois Housing Development Authority Managing Director Bill Smirniotis said most people seeking mortgage assistance are unemployed or underemployed, meaning they've taken a pay cut. They're looking for mortgage modification or the chance to refinance, he said.

David Trokey, of Granite City, was laid off from his position at Tower Automotive when it filed for bankruptcy in 2006. He was getting paid an hourly rate of $18. Now, he struggles to keep up with his mortgage payments.

"You just don't find those jobs making that kind of money," Trokey said.

Todd Ambuel, of Edwardsville, has been limited to a 40-hour work week since the economy went south. He was used to working overtime and depended on that extra income.

"I got behind in bills," he said. "It's tough."

They both attended Saturday's workshop with the hope of getting assistance so they can stay in their homes and avoid foreclosure.

At the workshop, homeowners met with counselors who could help initiate a 90-day grace period and temporarily halt foreclosure proceedings.

The grace period is part of Gov. Pat Quinn's Mortgage Relief Project, which is designed to give property owners facing foreclosure the time and resources to explore their options.

"A lot of people don't even know there are these programs," Smirniotis said.

According to statistics from California-based Realty Trac:

* In Madison County, home foreclosures for the first five months of the year went up 9 percent, from 759 for January to May 2008 to 830 for the same time period in 2009.

* In St. Clair County, home foreclosures for the same time period went up 11 percent, from 853 in 2008 to 945 this year.

Home owners, families and banks all lose when a home gets foreclosed, said state Rep. Tom Holbrook, D-Belleville. "No one benefits from a foreclosure," he said at workshop.

The event was sponsored by Quinn, Holbrook, state Sen. James Clayborne, D-Belleville, state Reps. Jay Hoffman, D-Collinsville, and Daniel Beiser, D-Alton, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and the Illinois Housing Development Authority.

Ridenhour met with a mortgage counselor Saturday and said she plans to make another appointment with the counselor with more exact figures about her monthly expenses.

Ridenhour said she left the workshop feeling hopeful, but also nervous and a bit overwhelmed.

"There's just so much information," she said. "With their help, I really hope it will all work."