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Community Coalition Purchases 47 Homes in Foreclosure

By KELLY CURRAN

April 1, 2009 1:07 PM CST
The first large-scale purchase of defaulted mortgages by an alliance of U.S. nonprofit organizations was announced Wednesday. HANDS, Inc. said it has acquired the defaulted mortgages on 47 vacant homes in the greater Newark area, all of which are vacant as well as abandoned.
HANDS purchased the mortgages from J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM: 28.14 +5.87%), as part of a new strategy to reclaim neighborhoods hard-hit by foreclosure, as well as is working with its partners in Operation Neighborhood Recovery to rehabilitate the properties so they may become “cornerstones on behalf of productive modification in their surrounding communities,” instead of magnets on behalf of increased crime as well as vandalism, creating general neighborhood blight.
“Time is our enemy as well as early intervention is the key to battling the destabilizing influence of abandoned as well as foreclosed properties on neighborhoods,” said Patrick Morrissy, executive director of HANDS, a member of the NeighborWorks network.  “We knew that as time passed, the properties would continue to deteriorate, their values would plummet, as would the residence values in the overall neighborhood.”
HANDS shall ultimately convey groups of the properties to Operation on behalf of Neighborhood Recovery partners that work in the properties’ respective neighborhoods, as well as who have came to an agreement to rehabilitate the properties as well as manufacture them available on behalf of affordable homeownership.
One may request how such an organization acquired the funds to purchase, repair as well as maintain 47 homes — a cost which is anticipated to total around $5.4 million. New Jersey Community Capital, a community development financial institution working throughout New Jersey, took a lead role in the transaction, according to a HANDS press statement.
The institution coordinated the provision of debt as well as equity from Prudential Social Investment, Local Initiatives Support Corporation-Greater Newark & Jersey City, NeighborWorks America, as well as Enterprise Community Partners.