Felder is a Realtor in Northern Virginia who in October started The Center for Foreclosure Alternatives (ctrforeclosurealt.org), a nonprofit information depot that provides homeowners heading into foreclosure with a free source of information on ways to avoid losing their house.
How did this idea come about?
I found myself doing dozens of short sells and started looking into ways to help homeowners find a different path to avoid foreclosure. I met Dena Roudybush, a lawyer at Compliance Counsel, and she started working on loan modifications and loss mitigation cases. We realized people had little information on the options available to them when they found themselves upside-down on their loans.
Mortgage fraud has become a big issue. Do you see the center as a way to combat it?
The sad thing is you have a lot of companies out there taking advantage of the situation. They make people pay up front to help them avoid foreclosure and prey upon people who are in a tough situation. In reality, there are 11 options to avoid foreclosure. Our goal is to give homeowners the correct information on those options and then let people make their own decisions as to what’s best for them. We encourage them to talk to their attorneys and accountants to help them make those choices.
Is there a particular need for this in the Washington area?
This is an area that saw many types of creative financing options, and when they adjust [interest rates], there’s no way people could pay. … The Latino community was hit hard by predatory lenders. Then there were people like contractors who were buying $1 million homes when construction was going well — now those jobs have dried up and they can’t make the payments.
Do you feel like the center is having an influence yet?
I think it has. We’ve started by reaching out to the community, organizing events at churches and other community centers where we get the information about the center and the options to avoid foreclosure out to the public.
– Freeman Klopott
