New foreclosure figures show that more people in McLennan County are needing the help that a massive new housing bill will provide. A total of 99 properties have been posted for foreclosure in McLennan County in August. They’re scheduled to be auctioned off Tuesday on the steps of the McLennan County Courthouse. That’s eight more than were posted in August 2007, meaning the upward trend in foreclosures this year is continuing. Through August, 724 properties have been posted for foreclosure in the county that includes Waco, according to Foreclosure Listing Service. That’s 12 percent more than the 644 posted through August of last year.Brown, with Foreclose Listing Service, said the 724 postings for McLennan County are the most through August for any year since the company began tracking foreclosures in late 2003. Jim Gaines, a research economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, said he believes foreclosure rates statewide could continue to rise for at least another year. In the Austin metropolitan area, foreclosures through August were up by nearly 1,000; and for the San Antonio metropolitan area, they were up by nearly 1,500, according to Foreclose Listing Service. Gaines said Texas remains in better shape than states such as Florida and California, which have been hit hard by foreclosures due to subprime lending. But Texas hasn’t escaped entirely unscathed.
Homeowners who financed their homes with adjustable-rate mortgages two to five years ago are finding themselves with monthly payments they can’t afford as these mortgages “re-set” at higher interest rates, he said. They’re adding to the foreclosure numbers. “These borrowers in trouble may have defaulted three to five months ago but are just now coming up for foreclosure,” said Gaines, who added that foreclosure figures statewide “are coming in waves.” “Some months they are up; some months they are down,” he said. Struggling homeowners locally and around the country may get help from a massive housing bill signed Wednesday by President Bush that provides mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners. It also offers temporary assistance to troubled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and tightens controls over the two government-sponsored businesses. Bill Nesbitt, chairman of Central National Bank, said he likes what the government is doing to help homeowners.
“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are oddball entities that are part governmental and part privately owned. So we have the shoring up of agencies that also have private shareholders. To that extent, (the housing package) runs against the grain of free enterprise,” said Nesbitt. “All that being said, I do believe the good outweighs the bad,” Nesbitt added. “For these entities to collapse would have waves of consequences for our economy, and some people who did not make bad decisions would get punished in the backlash.” Monte Hulse, chairman of First National Bank of Central Texas, had a different take on the housing legislation. “Generally speaking, both parties are at fault, the borrowers and the lenders. The responsibility should be shared,” Hulse said. “I’m a little concerned that a lot of hard-working people buy houses, pay for them and sacrifice to get it done. But some of these borrowers are getting off with a free ride and not having to pay their debts. “I also know that some lenders took advantage of borrowers, and I don’t want the government bailing them out,” Hulse added.
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