By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.com
If you’re behind on your mortgage payments, don’t despair silently and wait for foreclosure.
And whatever you do, say local housing counselors, don’t pack up and move out.
There’s help available from those counselors and attorneys, and the services are free.
And there’s money available to help make payments and keep families in their homes.
Salisbury Community Development Corp. is expanding its reach to help residents throughout the county.
The agency’s two housing counselors, Lou Adkins and Robbie Stevens, are extremely busy, but the wait to see one of them is usually only a couple of days. In emergency cases, they can act quickly.
“Spread the word. There is help available,” Adkins told people attending a foreclosure prevention seminar Tuesday night at the Park Avenue Community Center at 632 Park Ave.
A dozen or so mostly middle-aged couples attended the session, raising their hands frequently as Adkins and attorneys went through a list of “bad practices” to which home buyers have fallen victim.
Adkins and some of the participants warned others not to fall victim to companies wanting hundreds of dollars up front and promising to repair mortgage problems and stop foreclosures.
One couple attending the session said they paid $750 to such a company, and the company did nothing.
Others shared similar stories.
Adkins said her agency can help deal with banks and other lenders and can help with mortgage payments.
Through the United Way, Salisbury Community Development Corp. can make one mortgage payment.
Among new programs, someone who is laid off and wants to go to school for retraining can get a low-interest loan to make mortgage payments for up to two years. Another loan will cover payments for six months while the homeowner tries to find work.
Adkins said the agency has been working extensively with foreclosures since Pillowtex closed in 2003.
While the Community Development Corp. works with lenders and offers credit counseling and other programs, free legal help is also available.
Melany Earnhardt, an attorney with Legal Aid of North Carolina, and Bill Cameron, a local attorney, offered an extensive list of potential problems with mortgages and predatory lending practices.
Both stressed anyone facing foreclosure shouldn’t try to ignore the calls and notices.
“If you’re facing foreclosure, get help,” Cameron said. “There is help out there, and a lot of it is free.”
“You’re not alone,” Earnhardt those attending, noting 80,000 North Carolina homeowners are now in foreclosure.
Cameron and Earnhardt said the housing problem is now a community problem: Housing values are falling; empty houses attract vandals and lower the value of neighboring homes.
Cameron and Earnhardt said anyone facing a foreclosure hearing absolutely must have an attorney, and the homeowners need to show up at the hearing.
Adkins and Cameron praised Rowan County Clerk of Court Jeff Barger for carefully examining foreclosure documents, applying the law and, in some cases, helping homeowners by giving them more time.
“Barger is a great clerk. He’s open minded and fair. If there is a way to help a homeowner, he’ll find it,” Cameron said.
Adkins also urged homeowners who are facing tough financial times, but aren’t in foreclosure yet, to get credit counseling and work to avoid foreclosure.
And for those in foreclosure already, Adkins said, it’s never too late to work to save the home.
“We had one person who’s house was sold in July, and he’s still in there,” she said, adding that in today’s housing climate, the banks really don’t want your house.
For assistance, contact Adkins at 704-638-2154 or Stevens at 704-638-5383.