Victoria Gotti, the daughter of mob Don John Gotti a reality star in her own right, let her home go into foreclosure in 2009. She owned an estate on Long Island which she put up for sale originally for 3.9 million. The home was located in the lovely and high end town of Old Westbury. She was unable to sell her home for even 2.9 million. She had originally paid over 4 million dollars for her home.
Well-To-Do Americans Letting Their Homes Go Into Foreclosure
The foreclosures rates in many of the more affluent towns on Long Island, New York have been going up. In the town of Great Neck, there is a foreclosure rate of over 7%. Great Neck is considered one of the most affluent towns in the United States.
The State of Florida is one of the hardest hit states concerning foreclosures of homes. Florida is home to two extremely high end areas that have very high foreclosure rates. These are Fischer Island and Rosemary Beach. Fischer Island is located off Miami Beach and it is one of the most expensive zip codes in the United States. The foreclosures rate in this millionaire haven is over 20%. Rosemary Beach, a planned community in the pan handle area of Florida, which maintains the 69th most expensive zip code in the United States has a foreclosure rate of approximately 10%.
Homes Lose More Than 50% of Their Value
The high foreclosure rates in the United States have caused the value of homes to tumble. In many areas homes are worth less than 50% of what they were previously. Many of these homes are underwater (meaning the mortgage amount is higher than thevalue of the home).
Why Affluent Americans Are Walking Away From Their Homes
Many well off homeowners have stopped paying their mortgages. They have done this for calculated financial reasons. “Strategic defaults can be an even bigger issue with high end homes, where if you are 25% underwater that could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, if the borrowers may be more financially shrewd and consider it a financial decision to walk away from the home,” pursuant to the analysis of Daren Blomquiste of REALTYTRAC.
The reasons why affluent Americans are walking away form their homes can be summed up by the term “strategic default.” Financially well off Americans will not qualify for short sales or loan modifications. They usually have too much income or too much in the way of assets to qualify for these programs.
Chris Tucker, a well known comedian, owned a home in Florida which had a mortgage of 4.4 million dollars. The home was originally worth 6 million dollars. Its current assessment is 1.6 million. So Chris Tucker dealt with this problem by strategically defaulting on his mortgage.
Initially only the middle class was affected by the mortgage/financial crisis in America. Now even the upper class is caught up in the foreclosure crisis in the United States. Pain is being felt by Americans throughout the economic spectrum!
The attorneys of the Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo have more than 45 years of helping their clients with foreclosure related legal problems. They assist their clients in dealing with mortgage modifications applications and mortgage modifications programs that fail to meet client’s needs. They deal with issues such as forensic audits, defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending, and various other real estate problems.
We will discuss foreclosure related bankruptcy with their clients when it is appropriate. Sometimes following either a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13, bankruptcy can be utilized as a strategy in dealing with foreclosures. We will discuss the bankruptcy process with you at your initial free consultation. The filing of the bankruptcy can eliminate second mortgages in some situations, stop foreclosures, stop debt collection activity and eliminate creditor harassment. We will also discuss bankruptcy exemptions and why filing bankruptcy might be the best route in dealing with your financial difficulties.
Call us for a free consultation our phone numbers are 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 and 718-350-2802.
