Foreclosure workshop set for Saturday By JANE MCHUGH Staff Writer
A foreclosure workshop at the Bowie YMCA, 3501 Moylan Drive, Saturday is expected to draw a crowd, as Bowie is one of the hardest hit foreclosure locales in Maryland, according to an official who's running the workshop.
Baltimore-based Civil Justice is sponsoring the free event, which has traveled around the state and proven a big hit in this nerve-wracking time of rising foreclosures, said Phillip Robinson, executive director.
Six or seven lawyers will meet one-on-one for 15 to 30 minutes with homeowners, who are asked to call 302-864-8353, ext. 10, in advance to make an appointment and bring relevant paperwork.
"The greater Bowie area has one of the largest foreclosure rates in the state. There's a lot of people who are nervous and not sure what to do," Robinson said.
But legislation passed last month by the Maryland General Assembly should help, he said. The new laws "give many more opportunities to help people facing foreclosure or who are even past foreclosure than ever before," he said.
Until recently, a foreclosure could be accomplished in as fast as 15 days. The new laws stretch out that process to more than 55 days to give homeowners time to prepare or find solutions, he said.
One of the Civil Justice lawyers who will be at the workshop is Diane Cipollone, who says that most of the people who've attended recent workshops in other parts of the state have lived in their homes less than three years and that "probably less than 50 percent have a realistic opportunity to be helped."
However, she said, "the state has all sorts of programs to help folks in different situations."
"Say you are current now on your mortgage payment but won't be in September. The state can help. The state also has a 'bridge loan program' for people who are behind in the payments," Cipollone said.
"We give homeowners a road map of what to do." That includes referring them to housing counselors, she said.
Meanwhile, Gov. Martin O'Malley has launched a multimedia advertising campaign to help tackle rising foreclosures in the state and make people aware of programs they can use to provide assistance and relief.
The campaign is a collaboration between the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Department of Labor and Licensing Regulation and the Department of Transportation.
Ads will be put on Metro buses in Prince George's County with the tag line, "Mortgage Late? Don't Wait!" along with contacts for consumer information. In addition, postcards announcing the theme and giving the contacts have been mailed to ZIP codes with high foreclosure rates. Ads also are running in newspapers.
"This ad campaign is really about closing the gap that we see so often in foreclosure cases. We have help to offer and we need to do everything we can to make sure homeowners can access that help," said Labor and Licensing Secretary Thomas Perez. He spoke at a news conference in Baltimore Tuesday with O'Malley and other officials announcing the campaign.
