Monday, February 6, 2012

Renting Out Foreclosures

Throughout metro Atlanta, thousands of vacant homes now owned by the federal government sit languishing  dragging down home values and adding to a mass of housing woes that stunt the region’s economic recovery.

Atlanta’s nearly 4,600 government-owned foreclosed properties is No. 1 in the nation, far outnumbering those in Phoenix, Las Vegas and other major metro areas hit hard by the housing bust, according to a report last month from the Federal Reserve. Statewide, Georgia has more than 6,400 of the homes, second only to California, with nearly 9,000.

But the region now stands to be one of the biggest winners of a federal pilot program to turn the homes nearly 84,000 total nationally into rental housing.

The plan would allow investors to buy up pools of foreclosed homes to rent out. The goal: chip away at the glut of homes and ease pressures on deteriorating prices. Nationwide, declining home values have resulted in an estimated $7 trillion loss in household wealth for Americans significantly dampening consumer spending. Middle-class families have been particularly hard hit since home equity accounts form a larger chunk of their overall wealth.

Read the rest of the article at LoanSafe

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