Staving Off Foreclosures

A year ago, our now ex-governor, Jon Corzine, announced the formation of the Foreclosure Mediation Program, which was designed to give homeowners in trouble a chance to sit down with their bankers, and perhaps hammer out a solution that would keep them in the home. With 60,000 properties across New Jersey already in foreclosure, this program was supposed to stem that tide a bit.

But after a year of the FMP, only 750 homeowners have had their loans modified by it. Another 2600 people have signed up for help, but even that's just a drop in the bucket. All the program ensures is that people have a chance to met with their mortgage-holders; there's no guarantee of modification, or even a procedure to move that process along.

Whatever the good intentions of this program, it doesn't look like it will do much to improve overall home values for New Jersey homeowners. We've seen a bit of positive movement on housing values here lately, but at this point, it's clear that market forces rather than government intervention are going to be the key.