SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Utah lawmakers are bracing for the next wave of foreclosures. Goldman Sachs predicts another 12 million, across the United States, in the next five years.
There have already been 6.6 million foreclosures nationwide since 2007. It's the biggest trauma to the middle class since the Great Depression.
A panel of lawmakers and experts met on Utah's Capitol Hill to hear feedback from Utah's housing market experts and homeowners.
Karolyn Michelson told the panel about her struggle. She is trying to save her Draper home from the company holding her mortgage in New York.
She offered to pay for her entire loan, but says the mortgage company demanded all interest and fees too even after its bailout.
“I was literally laughed at and told that it would not happen and they refused to even take it to the owner of my loan,” said Michelson.
Douglas Short is a foreclosure defense attorney. He says there are major problems in the foreclosure process. “I think the biggest key is getting a real person at a desk in Utah."
He says this would clear up confusion between homeowners trying to save their homes and mortgage giants often to busy to give families in crisis the help they need.
Sen. Ben McAdams D-Salt Lake City says foreclosure reform should start with communication.
"What we really want to do is get back to that sense of security that we had 20 years ago where I need to know who I can talk to to work out my situation and work out some compromise where I can continue to stay in my home,” said McAdams.
McAdams and Rep. Lavar Christensen are drafting a bill to reform the foreclosure process. If you would like to contact the lawmakers with suggestions go to the homepage and click on the orange box.
