City Resourceful Way of Dealing with Home Foreclosures

City uses foreclosure as club, and 6,000 pay
By BRIAN MEYER
News Staff Reporter
6/3/2005


About 6,000 property owners who were behind in paying city taxes and fees have settled the debts to protect their homes from hitting the auction block in October.

But 5,460 delinquent taxpayers remain on the foreclosure list, and they received certified letters a few days ago, warning that their properties will be put up for sale if they do not make payments.

For the first time, the city is using the foreclosure process to collect delinquent garbage user fees, water bills and sewer charges. In January, about 12,000 properties were delinquent in paying at least one city charge, including property taxes. As of Thursday, the list had been cut in half, a fact that officials attribute to the new get-tough offensive.

"The public has to get acclimated to the fact that the city is serious," said Bruna Michaux, assessment and taxation commissioner.

Still, Michaux said, the city will work closely with the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo and Legal Services for the Elderly to try to help individuals who are facing legitimate hardships. The groups can help low-income residents to try to obtain court orders delaying foreclosures. Michaux is arranging a meeting with agency representatives to discuss the plan.

"While we're coming down with a hammer, we also have to be sympathetic to those individuals who are experiencing true hardships," she said.

Athena McCrory, staff attorney in the housing unit at the Legal Aid Bureau, expects to see an increase in the number of people who will seek the agency's help. She also is worried that some individuals might turn to unscrupulous lenders who charge excessive interest rates or impose unfair terms.

"We don't want people to get predatory loans to pay their bills," she said.

The city plans to make people aware that they can seek to represent themselves in court if they do not have money to hire a lawyer but have incomes that make them ineligible to obtain free legal services.

People had until late January to make payments without incurring a $439 foreclosure fee. McCrory said the additional charge makes it even more difficult for some people to settle their debts.

The auction will be held Oct. 24-26 in the Convention Center. A third day has been added to accommodate what City Treasurer Michael A. Seaman thinks might be a record number of foreclosures. Some officials expect between 2,000 and 3,000 properties to remain on the sale list.

"The most I've ever done is about 1,700," Seaman said.
----------------------------------------------------

Buying a Home Foreclosures- Buying a home foreclosures makes you generate quick profit. Step-by-step process in buying a home foreclosures for quick cash.