The Reverse Eminent Domain Movement
On December 23, Huffington Post published a blog titled Our Most Powerful Weapon Against Wall Street? The Reverse Eminent Domain Movement.
Our Most Powerful Weapon Against Wall Street? The Reverse Eminent Domain Movement
Wall Street tore the heart out of our economy. It profited wildly by puffing up the housing bubble. It profited wildly again when the federal government provided more than $10 trillion worth of bailout money and loans. And right now, 95 percent of the economic growth of our so-called recovery is going to the top 1 percent — the very bankers, traders and mortgage moguls who wrecked the economy in the first place. Meanwhile, Wall Street’s reckless gambling caused more than 8 million workers to lose their jobs in a matter of months.
Today — five long years after the collapse — we face a sustained unemployment rate higher than anytime since the Great Depression. In addition, housing values have plummeted. For many, the value of their homes has fallen by half. Even with the recent uptick in housing prices, 10.8 million homeowners are still underwater — meaning that their homes are worth less than their mortgages. The total amount of negative equity stands at $805 billion as of October, 2013.
Being underwater is a big, big problem brought to us by Wall Street’s predatory profiteering. If you’re underwater and need to move, you’ll still owe the bank after you sell your home (called a short sale). Or you could just walk away from your home and let the bank foreclose, which means you’ll lose whatever equity you had and see your credit rating crash. Further, if you’re underwater it probably means that you’re living in a neighborhood with many foreclosures, which often leads to safety concerns and further downward pressure on the value of your home as well as raising the costs of local policing and sanitation services. And of course, if you lose your job, you are in great danger of losing your home as well.
Please click here to view the blog in its entirety.
About Safeguard
Safeguard Properties is the largest mortgage field services company in the U.S. Founded in 1990 by Robert Klein and based in Valley View, Ohio, the company inspects and maintains defaulted and foreclosed properties for mortgage servicers, lenders, and other financial institutions. Safeguard employs approximately 1,700 people, in addition to a network of thousands of contractors nationally. Website: www.safeguardproperties.com.
