Plop! Plop! Fizz. Fizz.

Plop! Plop! Fizz. Fizz. Oh what a relief it is? Not.

So much money, so many programs supposed to help hurting homeowners, and so many crooks. Anybody else ready to party hard enough on New Years Eve to entirely forget 2009?

It’s hard to tell the difference between the criminals taking advantage of you and government programs that were so understaffed and confusing that they did not provide the intended relief before you lost your home.

Sandpoint foreclosures are part of the national statistics that make the news daily. They will not end soon. Mortgage borrowers set a record in August when 7.58% of homeowners were over 30 days behind on their monthly payment.

Bankruptcy filings are up 32% in August from 2008.

The news media is packed with stories about the road to recovery. That road is lined with homes and their addresses are on the Sandpoint foreclosures list.

Lots of us love the old west but why is this famous Dallas Cowboy, Roger Staubach making predictions about real estate? If the clock is running to our auction date, we don’t need predictions. Even Grandma can see 125 days into the future.

The fact is that Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) are about to reset and more foreclosures will crowd the marketplace.

Sandpoint foreclosures are rapidly turning into bank owned properties. It’s not good for the neighborhood, the banks, the community or the families that are displaced.

When we examine Sandpoint foreclosures in the context of workforce or affordable housing there are opportunities for relief. Partnership between IHFA, community banks, and non-profit groups can use existing tools to salvage some good from the bad.

We have solid examples. We have templates for solutions that have worked in other communities and they can be applied to the homes that are not yet counted as Sandpoint foreclosures.

IRS