Some Defaulting Homeowners Make The Best Out Of Tough Situation As Banksters Choke On Their Own Foreclosures

The New York Times reports:

• Forced by the harsh realities of the real estate market, lenders are increasingly likely to allow defaulting owners to remain in their homes — a change in attitude and strategy that is helping to buoy some neighborhoods while further slowing the nation’s foreclosure process.



• Some lenders are now willing to make deals with owners to let them stay after defaulting, offering to pay home insurance, for example, while the resident pays for utilities. Other lenders simply look the other way, quietly putting off foreclosure sale dates, knowing that the costs of the ordeal probably exceed the diminishing value of the properties.

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• As a result, the relationship between many borrowers and lenders is softening from outright animosity to something that more resembles a détente.



• Michelle Murray-Clark is one of the beneficiaries — or so she calls herself on a good day. A grocery clerk who found work last month after three years of unemployment, Ms. Murray-Clark has not made a mortgage payment in 40 months. American Home Mortgage Servicing, the loan processor, has not taken steps to evict her and is working on a third attempt at a loan modification.



• The company is also paying insurance on her little house with the blue aluminum siding near downtown Orlando. They talk every week.

For more, see When Living in Limbo Avoids Living on the Street.