Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Foreclosure rates up in rural Minnesota

From the SC Times.

Foreclosures are up 83% in Benton and Stearns Counties!

Stearns and Benton counties handled 317 foreclosure auctions last year
combined, an 83.2 percent increase over the 173 recorded in 2005, according to
the sheriff's departments.

Benton County foreclosures soared 172 percent to 98 last year, while
Stearns County auctions climbed 59 percent to 219.

And industry experts say the St. Cloud area has not reached its peak.
Instead, they are bracing for what some call a "foreclosure tsunami" as a
projected $1.2 trillion to $1.7 trillion in mortgage adjustments nationwide come
due this year.


Some of this is due to predatory lending and risky lending practices.

Personal accountability is at play here as well, and you cannot legislate your way to more accountability. People do need to live within their means. But, when the housing markets are crashing, wages are stagnant, and people live paycheck to paycheck, something needs to happen.

Sounds like a depression to me...

Guess which of the candidates out here was talking about this issue? I'll give you a hint...

It was not Senator Dille, Representative Shimanski, or Representative Urdahl.

1 comment:

Avidor said...

Isn't Michele Bachmann on a committee that could do something about this?