Kansas foreclosure rates higher than national average

[UpInArms]

Source: Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas has higher foreclosures rates on homes than the national average for almost all kinds of mortgages, according to the regional director of a nonprofit group dedicated to community revitalization.

John Santner, district director with NeighborWorks America, which was created by Congress, said that as recently as December, there were 4,220 homes in foreclosure in Kansas and an additional 7,385 home loans were seriously delinquent, meaning more than 90 days past due. A total of 1.32 percent of all mortgages were in foreclosure in Kansas in late 2006, compared with 1.19 percent nationally.

Robert Baker, counselor and education coordinator with Housing and Credit Counseling, said some Kansas residents have credit card debt and are facing job losses, reduced income and medical problems.

"The middle class is getting squeezed," Baker said. "They've become accustomed to a lifestyle that they can no longer afford."

Across the country, people have little savings. The U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said Americans spent more than they earned in 2005, creating a negative savings rate of 0.5 percent for the year.

Read more: http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/business/17154003.htm

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The negative savings rate will soon be shown to be a greater risk than than the "powers that be" will recognize.

[SheilaT]

1. That seems a little odd,

considering that overall housing prices here are below the national average.

[AlCzervik]

2. using their houses like an atm perhaps?

[Cobalt-60]

3. just keep voting republicon, Jayhawks

and every one of you but the Doles will be in the street.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. We have a Dem governor and lt governor and att general

and tripled our Dem reps in the state house from the largest county in the state. We also got rid of the conservative crazies on the school board.

So actually we aren't voting repuke.

[Cobalt-60]

8. thank the gods for that

I get a flash of horror every time I think of the word "Dole".
I've had to switch to brand X Pineapple!

[hadrons]

4. "What's the Matter with Kansas" ....

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Not much actually

[wicket]

10. amen

Predatory lending and hard times know no geographic bounds.

[Skittles]

7. plenty

maybe Kansas and many other states are finally waking the f*** up but it is way, WAY too late

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2004/apr/25/whats_the_matter/

“It’s a study of the conservative mindset, using Kansas as a microcosm of the rest of the nation," said Frank, who has a doctorate in history from the University of Chicago.

He marveled at how a rural state that saw 50 of its 105 counties lose population between 1990 and 2000 keeps getting tricked into electing politicians who rail against abortion while cutting taxes on corporations that send jobs overseas.
Abortion, he said, hasn't gone away, but the jobs sure have.

"The trick never ages, the illusion never wears off," Frank wrote. "Vote to stop abortion, receive a rollback in capital-gains taxes. Vote to make our country strong again; receive deindustrialization. Vote to screw those politically correct college professors; receive electricity deregulation. Vote to get government off our backs; receive conglomeration and monopoly everywhere from media to meatpacking. Vote to stand tall against terrorists; receive Social Security privatization efforts. Vote to strike a blow against elitism; receive a social order in which wealth is more concentrated than ever before in our lifetimes, in which workers have been stripped of power and CEOs rewarded in a manner beyond imagining."

[SpiralHawk]

9. What's Wrong With Kansas? republiconification

of course. you can bet your bippy that republicon cronies will Make Out Like Bandits
while families are being tossed from their homes...

[1932]

11. Low and no interest loans were a way to bleed the middle class of their wealth.

Interest is the bank's profit. Equity is what you get for yourself. Giving people crazy no-interest loans was a way to make sure that banks go as much profit as possible while leaving home"owners" with nothing at all.

The federal, state and local government should have protected Americans from this greed.

[Tesha]

12. How *TRAGIC* for them! (NT)

[mancandy]

13. This isnt about negative savings rates....

its about predatory lending practices. These lending corporations have little regulations to abide by and suck people in by these ridiculously low adjustable rate mortgages, only to jack them up higher in 3 years or so. The government needs to step in and place some guidelines on these corporations. If not, these lender will begin going out of business and can you say "500 billion dollar federal bailout"?