Hundreds of homeowners seek help avoiding foreclosures at fed-sponsored event in Arizona city

Homeowners seek help at Glendale foreclosure event

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Hundreds of homeowners trying to avoid losing their homes to foreclosure met with housing counselors and lender representatives at an event in Glendale on Thursday.

At least 500 homeowners met with counselors approved by the federal Housing and Urban Development Department, and then representatives of their lenders. The outreach event was organized by federal agencies under the Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable program.

Up to a third of those attending similar events in recent months left with a trial home loan modification or a start toward one, said U.S. Treasury Department spokeswoman Andrea Risotto.

The program provides incentives to lenders to modify home loans for people unable to make their payments, whose homes are worth less than what is owned or whose mortgage terms are unsustainable.

HUD-approved counselors provide the advice for free, and thoroughly review the homeowners’ finances and ability to pay so they can give advice about the best options, Rizotto said. So do the bankers.

But finding out what help is available is up to the homeowner.

“For some homeowners, this is the first step they take to get help,” Risotto said. HUD-approved counseling is free anytime, Risotto said, and homeowners don’t need to pay money to private firms to get advice.

Arizona is one of the five states hit hardest by foreclosures, and although the nation’s home foreclosure crisis is showing some signs of easing, it is expected to persist.

Figures released by the Irvine, Calif.-based foreclosure listing company RealtyTrac Inc. on Thursday showed that one in 418 homes received a foreclosure notice last month. That’s down slightly from January but still totaled more than 308,000.

Avoiding a foreclosure notice is just what drew Surprise resident Denise Knott to Glendale. Her home, bought in June 2008, has plunged in value and her fiance hasn’t been able to find work in construction. Still, the retail manager isn’t ready to walk away from her home.

“I’m hoping to get my mortgage modified and get into a payment that I can sustain,” she said as she clutched a file stuffed with documents.

But Knott is also realistic of her chances of getting a modification that lowers the debt to a level that makes sense.

“I look at it this way,” she said. “I love my home, I want to keep it. But I really might be better off letting it go and renting.”

A second day of the event is set to run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday at the Glendale Civic Center.