Foreclosure Fair In Merced

March 6th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosure

Merced is best known to be the gateway to Yosemite National Park. It has 65,000 residents. The Merced Civic Centre was buzzing with activity with spilling crowds. spilling over from the main auditorium over onto the stairs and the halls. All had come with babies and elders together with sheaves of documents – the witness to the break up of their dreams of owning a house.

Many more such fairs are scheduled to be held in March – the month being dubbed as the Foreclosure Prevention Month by the politicians. These are being sponsored by Hope Now – a non-profit body supported by industry groups, government as well as HUD. Initially there were fears that many would not turn up but in the end the response was overwhelming. The idea is to help foreclosure victims in and near the San Joaquin Valley. It is rich farmland here including three metro regions – Stockton, Modesto and Merced. The highest foreclosure listings have been posted here.

Another fair was held in the old farming city of Los Banos, in Merced County, having 35,000 residents. Here 5% of the 10,000 houses have already been foreclosed and another 5% are also facing the same fate in the forthcoming months. That reads to 10% of the entire city will become homeless. Stanislaus County, including Modestor, ranks fourth in the national foreclosure race. Merced County is fifth. Here the unemployment rate jumped to 13.3% in January from 11.9% in December. In contrast the unemployment rate of the state and the national was 6% and 5.3% respectively.

In Merced County the average house price was $215,000 – a decrease of 33.8% from the previous year. In some towns like Atwater the price plummeted by 50%.

The number of homeless peoples people are also growing. A recent study showed 104 chronically homeless adults. A survey was made of those attending the Merced Foreclosure Fair. Of six families interviewed, four had already got notices and were unsure of the future. Despite the hype no one was sure how many would actually benefit from the programme. All were categorical that hitherto lenders had turned a deaf ear to their pleas for reconsideration. The sponsors agreed that the key to success is the following up of the fair. Another is scheduled to be held in Stockton and the hope is that it will draw even greater attention. Bottled water will be distributed in the fairgrounds of San Joaquin County.