Boston Non-Profits, Housing Advocates Lead Effort In Helping Area Homeowners, Existing Tenants Stay In Bank-Foreclosed Homes Thru Buy-Back Program

In Boston, Massachusetts, The Boston Globe reports:

• Thomas Quinn did something that most people who lose their homes to foreclosure can only dream about: He bought back his family's Hyde Park house. [...] "I'm a happy homeowner again with a payment I can live with," he said. "It is saving me over $1,000 a month." Quinn is one of a small but growing group of former owners who are not only staying in foreclosed homes but are buying them back, with the help of nonprofit groups and housing advocates. And in some cases, they are getting their homes at significant discount the second time around, because real estate values have plunged.

• "We are in the process of helping a lot of people buy back their homes," said Zoe K. Cronin, a housing attorney for Greater Boston Legal Services. "There is not likely going to be another buyer. If there is someone willing to buy it back at a real value, that's probably the best option" for lenders, she said.

• Boston Community Capital, a 25-year-old agency with a mission to help create healthy communities, is at the forefront of the effort, with about 30 borrowers - tenants and former homeowners - already in the process of purchasing their homes. In Quinn's case, the nonprofit bought his house from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in February and weeks later sold it back to him for $198,750 - about what he owed the bank.

For more, see Still there, foreclosed no longer (Nonprofits help occupants buy back homes).