About Me
“ Craig D. Robins, Esq., has been a practicing Long Island bankruptcy attorney for over twenty-four years ”
Written by Craig D. Robins, Esq.It’s no wonder that I’ve been especially busy helping Long Island homeowners save their homes from foreclosure.
Some recent statistics show that the number of Long Island homes that fell into some stage of foreclosure climbed 37 percent last year, with Suffolk homeowners seeing more such activity than all but one county in the state, according to a newly released breakdown of the foreclosure crisis that was reported in Newsday yesterday.
Suffolk County Foreclosure Figures are Second Highest in New York State
Foreclosure on Long Island has been especially prevalent. The data shows that 7,582 Suffolk County homes were in some stage of foreclosure last year. This represents a 29 percent jump from the preceding year when 5,885 homes were in foreclosure proceedings.
Those homes equate to 1.39 percent of Suffolk households, including renters, which is second only to upstate Orange County’s 1.4 percent.
Nassau County Foreclosures are Very High Also
In Nassau, the number of homes directly affected by foreclosure last year shot up 48 percent to 6,064 properties, or 1.32 percent of households, up from 2008’s 4,099 homes. That 1.32 percent put Nassau County fifth in the state for foreclosure activity. Only Queens had more homes directly affected than Suffolk County, 8,248 homes.
Obama’s Making Homes Affordable Program Is Not Dampening The Number of Foreclosures
Initially there was much hope that Obama’s federal mortgage help program would do something to stem the tide of foreclosure. Unfortunately, the help that many struggling homeowners had hoped would come from the program never came. Just last week I reported Obama’s “Making Homes Affordable” Mortgage Modification Program Failing .
As it turned out, 2009 broke monthly records nationwide in foreclosure activity. To make matters worse, the rescue system was strewn with problems. Loan modification and foreclosure prevention programs have been heavily criticized for being clunky and disorganized.
Even though I am quite busy defending foreclosures and helping other homeowners stop foreclosure and pay their mortgages back through a Chapter 13 bankruptcy on Long Island, I will not do mortgage modifications, except in the rarest of situations. I even wrote about this last summer: Why I Won’t Negotiate Loan Modifications .
National Foreclosure Figures Also Show Substantial Increase
The number of foreclosed homes in the U.S. last year increased to a record 2.8 million, a 21 percent rise over 2008 and 120 percent over 2007.
Half of the foreclosures in the U.S. last year occurred in Arizona, California, Florida and Illinois. California had the most, with 632,573 foreclosed properties (up 21 percent from 2008), Florida posted 516,711 (up 34 percent), Arizona had 163,210 (up nearly 40 percent) and Illinois reported 131,132 (up 32 percent).
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About the image and the artist
The foreclosure image above is printed with permission from illustrator David Dees, who takes delight in creating unusual, striking and provocative political activist illustrations. Check out his website.
The foreclosure image above is printed with permission from illustrator David Dees, who takes delight in creating unusual, striking and provocative political activist illustrations. Check out his website.
