All Philadelphia Home Foreclosure Sales For April Are Hereby Cancelled!!!

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

• With housing advocates predicting that the subprime mortgage crisis will hit the city hard in 2008, Sheriff John D. Green yesterday suspended sales of foreclosed properties for April and said he would seek court approval for an even longer moratorium. His announcement came about 30 minutes after City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling on him to freeze sheriff's sales.

• "We are excited about having a partnership with City Council," Green said in a news release, noting that he did not have the same support when he unilaterally imposed a 30-day moratorium in 2004. Green said the reprieve would give his office more time to identify predatory-lending victims and to help struggling home owners. Lenders caution that any moratorium could drive some mortgage bankers out of the city, making loans costlier and more difficult to obtain for everyone.

For more, see Phila. sheriff's home sales suspended.

See also:

• Reuters: Philadelphia suspends sales of foreclosed homes,
• Philadelphia Daily News: Subprime crisis spurs sheriff to postpone foreclosure sales ("Green said he will ask Common Pleas President Judge C. Darnell Jones for permission to halt sheriff's sales for six months.") diversion program