Results tagged “subprimemortgagecrisis”

Manhattan, once one of the few spots that seemed immune to the foreclosure bug that has swept the nation. But the NY Times reports that more apartment owners in Manhattan are missing payments, putting their apartments up for sale to avoid losing them with foreclosures for this July up 78 percent from the year before. Manhattan homeowners may have believed that they were invincible because of the relatively stable real estate market with those folding on their mortgages in Manhattan being not your typical middle-class. The Times describes the new foreclosure class: "Their Facebook pages feature them at parties with friends, and their LinkedIn bios list prestigious careers and educational credentials." A program coordinator of foreclosure prevention for Neighborhood Housing Services tells the paper that he finds his Manhattan clients seem to have “a level of not fully accepting what is going on.”

It's not surprising, but it's jarring to see the numbers: Personal bankruptcies filed by New Yorkers during the first 7 months of the year has increased 31% over last year's first 7 months. According to Crain's New York, it's "fueled in large by the number of homeowners who could not keep up with monthly payments on subprime loans," which is different from the usual reasons of "catastrophic events such as accidents, illnesses or divorce." An example of those facing bankruptcy include a 28-year-old math teacher who says he was "scammed" into investing in $1.5 million in real estate without putting money down, "I make $50,000 as a schoolteacher. There's no way I should have been approved for loans that big."