Lawmakers Ponder Nevada Foreclosure Crisis

Legislators in Nevada want to help homeowners there facing foreclosure but are less compassionate to buyers that got in the market in hopes of making a fast profit, according to reporting today in the Nevada Appeal newspaper.

A legislative panel of the Nevada statehouse yesterday heard testimony on the state’s mortgage foreclosure rate, the highest in the nation. Nevada had one foreclosure filing for every 185 households, with 15,800 in pre-foreclosure status in August, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Another 11,700 properties have already been foreclosed on, the paper reports.

The panel is seeking to set up a toll-free hotline for homeowners facing foreclosure. The hotline might be offered in tandem with the Federal Housing Administration and include credit counseling and help in mortgage refinancing. Nevada is also setting up a Web site to help homeowners having trouble paying their bills.

The efforts come as federal funding for credit counseling services were cut in Nevada from $281,000 in 2006 to $81,000 this year, Michelle Johnson, chief of the state’s Consumer Credit Counseling Service, told the panel.

Clark County, which encompasses Las Vegas, has nearly 29,000 homes for sale, and about half are vacant, according to testimony from a legislative research analyst. Several lawmakers said the vacant homes are probably owned by speculators.

This group, who bought homes with hopes of “flipping” them for a quick profit, received little sympathy from state Sen. Warren Hardy, a Republican from Henderson.

“There’s got to be pain associated with the greed,” Hardy said, according to the Appeal. “If we soften the load for the individuals who created this, there’s no incentive to correct it.”