Perrywood Residents Share Stories
By Rosalind S. Helderman and Ovetta Wiggins
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, April 11, 2008
More than 200 people packed a Prince George's County elementary school cafeteria last night to address a surge of foreclosures in the county and to examine ways to help homeowners in danger of losing their homes.
Many in the crowd were from Perrywood, a subdivision in Upper Marlboro that has been hit hard by the mortgage crisis.
"This is one of the largest crises we've seen," said Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince George's). "We see people suffering because they don't know where to turn."
Currie helped organize the forum with the Perrywood Community Association after learning from a recent Washington Post article that over the past two years, 49 owners in the 1,100-home subdivision have either received notices threatening foreclosure, gone through auction proceedings or had their homes repossessed. Fourteen of those actions occurred between November 2007 and last month.
Earl Day is one of the Perrywood homeowners threatened with the loss of his home. Speaking to the crowd, he said he bought his house with his wife eight years ago and never missed a mortgage payment until they refinanced their mortgage, tapping their equity to pay down credit-card debt. The monthly payment almost doubled after the refinance and the couple fell behind.
"When I've gone for help, they've asked, how's my credit. Well, how do you think my credit is?" said a frustrated Day.
The forum drew Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), who earlier in the day urged Congress to approve federal funding for homeowners faced with foreclosure. In testimony on Capitol Hill, O'Malley and District Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) asked for grants for cities and states to help local governments purchase abandoned properties and convert them into affordable-housing units.
Other officials in attendance were Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D) and Maryland Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez, who advised Day to speak with counselors brought to the forum to offer homeowners advice.
Currie told the crowd that there is no shame in being behind on a mortgage payment. He said he once had a business that failed and ultimately led to a lien being placed on his house.
"I got lucky -- I was able to work with the bank," he said, adding that homeowners in trouble have options.
Perrywood's situation is not unusual. There are other upscale developments across the country dealing with fallout from the mortgage crisis.
"This is something that could happen anywhere," said Mac Claxton, president of the Perrywood homeowners association.
As he did on Capitol Hill, O'Malley used last night's forum to highlight reform legislation recently adopted by the Maryland General Assembly providing new oversight of the home-loan industry and designed to help people prevent foreclosure. In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, O'Malley said the state's "Achilles' heel" has been the inability to collect a pool of dollars that can be used to entice loan providers to allow homeowners holding subprime mortgages to renegotiate their loan terms.
He praised a feature of the proposed congressional legislation that would provide cities and states with $10 billion to purchase vacant properties, which bring down neighborhood property values, and put them back into productive use, calling it a "critical tool to curtail the negative impacts foreclosures have on our neighborhoods and communities."
"To lose even one home is a tragedy," he told the committee. "To lose thousands is a threat to the growth and vitality of the American middle class."
Last week, O'Malley signed into law one of the country's most comprehensive packages to help homeowners facing foreclosure. One of the laws provides immediate assistance by extending the timetable of a foreclosure from 15 days to 150.
Another law toughens the criminal penalties for mortgage fraud. The package also includes a provision that bans prepayment penalties and "foreclosure rescue transactions" in which homeowners facing foreclosure are duped into signing over their homes to third parties.
O'Malley plans to lead a statewide campaign to inform troubled homeowners about options available to them.
Fenty said the District has been hit less hard by foreclosures, but he noted that the economic ripples of the mortgage crisis have been far-reaching.
"We really do need this [relief] right way," he said in an interview. "A sense of urgency would be great."
The two local leaders joined Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman in pushing for the legislation.
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