Group to offer weekly workshops on foreclosures

Sessions planned as county leads state in foreclosures

A new group of lenders, government officials and community advocates in Prince George’s County plans to kick off a set of weekly workshops Sept. 13 in Hyattsville to counsel residents on foreclosures and help stem a problem that is worse in the county than anywhere in Maryland.

Prince George’s County recorded more foreclosures in the first seven months of this year than any other Maryland county. The 2,800 foreclosures were more than triple the number during the same period last year, according to data company RealtyTrac. The increase accompanied a statewide and nationwide surge in foreclosures.

‘‘There are so many people being foreclosed on that the counselors can’t see them,” said Mosi Harrington, a member of the Prince George’s County Coalition for Homeownership Preservation.

The homeownership coalition, which includes the Prince George’s Housing Department, was formed this spring to educate residents on how to negotiate with lenders before they lose their homes, Harrington said. She said many residents never even try to negotiate.

Through its new program, the coalition will sponsor a two-hour workshop hosted by a different nonprofit counseling organization every week through November. The set of meetings starts at 7 p.m. today at the Hyattsville Municipal Building located at 4310 Gallatin St. Residents should call 301-883-5570 to reserve a seat.

The free workshops are targeting residents who are behind on mortgage payments or expect to be soon.

‘‘Prince George’s County has been one of the hardest hit counties in the state,” Harrington said. ‘‘People can barely turn around and their houses are gone.”

Cora Ganzglass, an attorney with Legal Aid, a Prince George’s group that gives free legal service to low-income residents, said part of the problem here and across the country is ‘‘exotic mortgages.” For homebuyers who signed on to adjustable rate mortgages a few years ago at low teaser rates, those rates are resetting now, making them less affordable.

‘‘People were given loans that they could never afford,” said Ganzglass, who is coordinating the workshops.

Donna Badgett Hurley, coalition member and director of the Oxon Hill-based counseling group Housing Options and Planning Enterprises, said the workshops will probably continue into next year, even though only nine have been put on the calendar.

‘‘The whole idea is to be proactive, because the ... earlier you start the process, the more options you have,” she said. ‘‘[Lenders] really don’t want that foreclosure ... because they lose money.”

The local workshops will coach residents in danger of foreclosure on how to keep their homes, but will also tell them how to avoid scams aimed at desperate homeowners.

Thomas Perez, secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, has launched 127 investigations this year into questionable mortgage cases.

The labor department last month announced the first ‘‘foreclosure rescue scam” conviction in state history.

Prince George’s State’s Attorney Glenn F. Ivey’s office prosecuted defendant Perver Lee Taylor, who pleaded guilty in Circuit Court to a felony theft charge in connection with a foreclosure rescue scam and was sentenced to 10 years in jail, with all but 12 weeks suspended. Taylor was required to repay $40,000 stolen from a victim, whom Taylor made transfer ownership of her home. Investigators found Taylor tried to take the home, evict the victim and sell the property.

A report released over the summer by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now also showed that foreclosures are highest in the central and southwestern parts of Prince George’s County. The study urged local governments to provide funding for borrowers about to lose their homes and for housing counseling programs.

Harrington said the new coalition is not funded, but that the individual organizations participating in the program have applied for funding from a state task force on homeownership preservation.

What: Foreclosure counseling workshops
When: Weekly, beginning 7 p.m. today
Where: Hyattsville Municipal Building, 4310 Gallatin St.
Contact: 301-883-5570
Admission: Free
Reservations required
For a complete schedule of the foreclosure workshops, see www.gazette.net⁄links.