Keeping the borrower's financial health in mind is the first process of stopping foreclosures.
This day started off well: Andrew and I were invited to a meeting with other real estate agents (the top 5% in Licking County) by First Federal Savings of Newark. Sarah Wallace and Paul Thompson organized this meeting to discuss the current market conditions, asking the real estate agents what their thoughts were to making the market better and asking of us, what First Federal could do to help us.
One item I think of often, rather it be Dan Delawder of Park National Bank or Paul Thompson & Sara Wallace of First Federal, they compliment each other in public often. They both are community based institutions in Licking County wanting our community to grow healthy with their help. Both are unlike many large over gown lenders flowing funds out of the area, who really do not care about our community and most likely do not know where Newark, Ohio really is located on a map. Paul said today that First Federal will be 75 years old this year and Park National just celebrated 100 years of doing business.
Two of the big statistics that came out of the meeting (and I hope I am quoting them correctly) First Federal and Park National combined carry about 55% of the market share in Licking County, this is a great number. Part of this is because they care, are very personal about doing business and are locally operated companies and are helping their customers make sound business decisions.
During 2008 there was 1,625 foreclosures in Licking County. Combined First Federal and Park National only foreclosed on 4.2% of the 1,625.
One may ask, why? Well being a community bank, they can try to work on a person's problems face to face. It is very hard to explain your problems and discuss possible fixes face to face with an 800 number. Beside, the person you talk to today at First Federal, will be there tomorrow, believe it or not, you will be able to talk to the same person twice in a row without explaining your entire problem again.
Thank you to Paul and Sara for inviting myself, Andrew and the other Realtors today, it means a lot to us that we have a local company concerned about local people.
My guess is these banks made smart home loans to start. And yes, things change and it's nice to talk with someone face to face who can change the loan to fit the situation. Sometime the best they can do is throw a payment on the back end etc. It is hard to do any of this with a 800 number. Thanks for the story.
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