Marshfield Massachusetts Foreclosure Seminar Wrapup
Though he came too late to see any of the speakers’ presentations, much of Monday’s foreclosure prevention seminar at Marshfield Town Hall was familiar to Marshfield resident Jim Nielsen.
And not only because he had been to a similar seminar months earlier. Many of the issues and obstacles discussed by the nights’ presenters were familiar to Nielsen because he has experienced them himself over the past few years.
So, when Joseph Leonard, counsel for the Massachusetts Division of Banks, warned about the complexity of banking infrastructure and the difficulty of trying to maneuver the system without help, Nielsen would have agreed to that. He said he spent at least two years trying to hold off the foreclosure of his own home.
And when Dan Condon, from the attorney general’s office, warned the audience of the scammers and con artists that would try to take advantage of people who are getting foreclosed, Nielsen could have shown the visitors the stack of mail he had received offering him a swift, too-good-to-be-true solution to his problem.
And when Deirdra Hall, from Quincy Community Action Programs, gave a speech about the various ways she could help homeowners try to get their loans restructured, Nielson had been through that, as well. In fact, it was Hall who helped put him on the right track, he said.
According to the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds, in the first six months of 2009, 28 properties in Marshfield received foreclosure notices. In Scituate, where, according to Hall, property values have not dropped as far, the number was 13. Countywide, the number of foreclosure notices was 1,106, up 37 percent from 701 in the same period last year.
Nielsen is a self-employed construction worker – he owns Seacoast Construction. He said he received his foreclosure notice after the interest rate on his adjustable rate mortgage increased at the same time the construction business slowed down.
It got so bad that the bank actually named a foreclosure date. Nielsen’s home was scheduled to go up for auction this July. Notices ran in the newspaper.
At a loss for what to do, Nielsen attended a seminar foreclosure prevention seminar hosted by State Rep. Jim Cantwell, who represents Marshfield and five of Scituate’s six precincts. That meeting was one in a series of similar meetings hosted by Cantwell.
“It wasn’t pretty, people were upset,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen attended the tail end of the July 27 meeting to offer his support to the program that he said had helped put his situation back on track. Because Hall knew the system, he said, she was able to get Nielsen’s foreclosure held off.
“What little (work) it was, it was a lot of help,” Nielsen said. “She knows what to do.”
Nielsen said he was glad to see that the most recent meeting was well attended, meaning that people were getting help. He estimated that the meeting months ago had only been attended by six other people. The July 27 meeting had at least 21.
“If two of us get help because of this, it was well worth it,” Nielsen said, looking around at the group of visitors who were asking advice from the night’s speakers.
There was Joan Dowd of the Marshfield charity, Sowing Seeds, getting information to use when helping residents with housing troubles.
There was the Bridgewater woman, who was in the process of reorganizing her mortgage after her husband had lost his job.
“I wanted to know what my options were,” she said. “This was very helpful, at least we have a contact person we know is on our side.”
There was a Brockton couple that had signed up for a loan they never could have afforded. The loan, they said, was based on an inaccurate valuation of the property.
Both the Bridgewater woman and the Brockton couple asked not to be identified.
Cantwell said the goal of the night was to provide people with information and contacts to avoid trouble. He had invited Nielsen to show his story of relative success to others.
“I’m pleased to learn that we’re helping to keep people in their homes, here in Marshfield and Scituate,” Cantwell said.
Source: WickedLocal
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