Partnership To Fight Repo Houses For Sale In Minnesota
By Joseph Smith
The ever-increasing number of repo houses for sale in Minnesota has spurred national and local organizations to join efforts to help fight the foreclosure crisis.


The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Home Ownership Center have partnered with national organizations, NeighborWorks America and HOPE NOW to hold a repo houses for sale prevention workshop in Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

The event is open to the public and will be offered for free at the St. Paul River Centre on June 4. The event is expected to attract national lenders and services and local housing counselors. It aims to become a one-stop shop for those who are interested in preventing the spread of foreclosures in the state.

Minnesota Home Ownership Center executive director Julie Gugin said that the partnership is a combination of the Minnesota foreclosure counseling expertise and lender/servicer relationships of HOPE NOW. She adds that the partnership will greatly benefit distressed homeowners who want to save their properties from foreclosures.

The workshop is expected to attract over 800 homeowners and will serve as a vehicle for them to speak with non-profit foreclosure counselors and directly discuss with their lenders loan modification options to help them remain in their properties and avoid foreclosures.

It

is expected that more than 25 major lending institutions will be present at the workshop, including Countrywide, Citi and Wells Fargo. Additional resources will be offered to distressed homeowners at the workshop, including legal, energy assistance and property tax assistance.

Minnesota foreclosure filings in the first three months of this year reached a total of 7,173, representing an 8 percent rise from the last quarter of the previous year and 70 percent increase from the first quarter the previous year.

In March, the state saw 3,077 properties receiving foreclosure filings, a 20 percent rise from February and 133 percent higher from the March total a year ago.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Home Ownership Center has been offering repo houses for sale prevention workshops since 2007. It partners with various community-based organizations that provide free advice on mortgage and foreclosure problems.

On the other hand, HOPE NOW is an organization of investors, counselors and mortgage servicers that has established and is implementing a plan to help distressed homeowners avoid repo homes for sale.

NeighborWorks America, meanwhile, provides opportunities for those who want to improve the condition of their lives and stabilize their communities by offering access to own homes and to affordable and safe rental housing.
Joseph Smith has been educating buyers on the finer points of how to Repo Houses for Sale in Minnesota at ForeclosedPropertiesData.com for over five years. Read information on finding Repo Houses for Sale.