Homeowners Could Benefit From New Foreclosure Bills in NJ Introducing: Waiver of Realty Transfer Fees; Opportunity to Rent Until Able to Rebuy; New Fees to Initiate Foreclosures; Appropriations for Legal Services
Legal Services E-lert
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Author: Angela Delli Santi
Source: Newsday
Date: October 19, 2008
Newsday states: "With the housing crisis taking center stage in the well-publicized, $700 billion bailout of financial institutions, the New Jersey Legislature will consider bills of its own to help struggling homeowners remain in their homes and protect neighborhoods from being blighted by foreclosures . . . . A measure sponsored by Democratic Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman would waive the realty transfer fee for nonprofit groups who work with banks to buy foreclosed homes and help the homeowners remain as they recover financially. Under the program, the foreclosed homeowner is charged a rent they can afford, as they remain in the home with the hope of rebuying the property within seven years . . . . [Gov. Jon S.] Corzine supports the concept of the bill, and said Thursday [October 16, 2008] he would appropriate $50 million to the neighborhood stabilization effort . . . . Another Watson Coleman-sponsored bill establishes a $30 million fund to pay for emergency loans, counseling services and efforts by nonprofits to buy foreclosed properties and return them to productive uses. [This bill] would be funded by charging lenders and loan servicers a $2,000 fee to initiate foreclosure proceedings on high-cost loans covered by the measure. The fee could not be back-billed to borrowers, under the proposal . . . . Another bill backed by Corzine would appropriate an additional $7 million in state aid Legal Services." For more information on the proposed supplemental legal services funding, see the related story in last week's E-lert.