Bank Owned Properties in Georgia – Focus of Wells Fargo

The number of bank owned properties in Georgia, particularly in metro Atlanta, are expected to be contained in the next few months after Wells Fargo and its subsidiary Wachovia Bank agreed to delay foreclosure actions in Atlanta and neighboring areas.

The decision of Wells Fargo was in part driven by protests being staged in Atlanta against lenders for the sharp increase of foreclosures in the state and in the metro area.

In the most recent report on foreclosures nationwide, Georgia is still among states with the highest rates of foreclosure in the July to September quarter. With a foreclosure rate of one in 119 homes, Georgia is seventh in the ranking. It posted more than 33,000 foreclosure filings, including 11,243 REO units and more than 22,000 trustee sale notices.

Compared to both the previous quarter and the third quarter of 2008, Georgia’s foreclosure rate this year was higher. It increased by almost 7 percent from the April to June quarter and over 25 percent from last year’s third quarter.

In addition to being hit badly by foreclosures, Georgia has also been battered by bank failures, with 20 Georgia-based banks already closed. These banks loaded the real estate market with bank owned properties in both the commercial and residential sectors.

To step up efforts to help troubled borrowers, Wells Fargo and its unit Wachovia will offer loan assistance to borrowers having difficulties in making their monthly loan payments. This week and the following weeks, the two banks will also hold free workshops that will be handled by bank representatives and specialists able to help borrowers choose remedies to save their houses from foreclosure.

For homeowners who want to start negotiating with Wells Fargo, they can go to the bank’s web site and fill out the foreclosure assistance form. For others in Georgia whose home loans were not taken out from Wells Fargo, they can visit the web site of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department. The HUD web site is comprehensive because it leads users to web pages of agencies and HUD counselors working in their communities.

Additionally, the Wells Fargo web site offers information on several programs that contain bank owned properties such as the Project Lifeline, Fast-Track Solution and Hope Now Alliance. Project Lifeline focuses on homeowners who have defaulted by at least 3 months while Fast-Track Solution focuses on borrowers who took out adjustable rate mortgage and subprime loans.

Related Posts:

• Is Project Lifeline Reaching Homeowners in Need?
• Atlanta Foreclosure Home Auctions to Sell 10,000 Units
• A Fight Against Foreclosures
• Bank and Government Foreclosures Prevention Efforts
• Atlanta Foreclosure Homes a Rising Problem for the People of Atlanta, Georgia