Over 400 Homeowners Attend The San Mateo County Foreclosure Resource Fair

Over 400 Homeowners Attend The San Mateo County Foreclosure Resource Fair

San Mateo County Foreclosure Resource Fair Draws Large Numbers Of Homeowners

Over the weekend, over 400 homeowners showed up at the San Mateo County Foreclosure Resource Fair in order to gain education about saving their home.

Currently, many politicians and banks do not consider foreclosures “sexy” anymore. A few years ago many elected officials and organizations held foreclosure prevention events which of course provided good exposure and photo ops. Earlier in 2012, Bay Area Resource worked with State Senator Leland Lee to create a foreclosure prevention event. In this case Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson took the effort and expense to create this event that benefited many people.

Even at 8 a.m., people lined up at the doors of the Sabrato Center for Nonprofits in Redwood City to enter the event. People maintained positive attitudes even while waiting in line to register and enter. Upon entering, homeowners had multiple options to meet one-on-one with HUD-approved housing counselors, lenders, non-profit attorneys, and various other groups.

The opening remarks by Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson, State Senator Joe Simitian, Assembly Member Rich Gordon, and Vice-Mayor Jeff Gee, Redwood City offered an overview of the information and overview of the event.

Panel Events Included Discussions About Loan Modifications, HARP 2.0 And Short Sale Options

The panel discussions that followed throughout the morning and afternoon included Ins & Outs of Foreclosure & Underwater Mortgages with Kevin Stein – California Reinvestment Coalition, Martin Eichner – Project Sentinel, and the always stirring Maeve Elise Brown from Housing and Economic Rights Advocates.

The second panel discussed Options & Programs to Save Your Home with Stephen Gallagher – California Housing Finance Agency, Keisha Woods – Housing for All, and Keith Rockmael of Bay Area Resource.

The afternoon events concluded with a session about Predatory Lending & Loan Modification/Rescue Scams with John E. Wilson, San Mateo County District Attorney followed by the topic of Post-Foreclosure with Lena Robinson – Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and David Carducci – San Mateo County Legal Aid Society.

Although the event officially ended at 1 pm, many homeowners remained at the center until past 3 pm in order to find information for their situations. Most people attending seemed grateful for the event and the resources. Although some homeowners experienced some frustrations most found ideas and solutions to their issues.

Even though this term marks the final one for Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson let’s hope that her desire to help homeowners inspires other local leaders to follow her example.