Home Builders Association of Chester and Delaware Counties

HBA Newswatch

April 28, 2008

PLANNERS OK SIX HOMES
801 MONTGOMERY WILL HAVE 2 SINGLES, FOUR TOWNHOMES
By G.E. Lawrence, Special to The Phoenix
PHOENIXVILLE — The Borough Planning Commission Thursday evening cleared the way for Accolade Properties to proceed with its plans for 801 Montgomery Avenue.
The Commission recommended to Borough Council that Council grant preliminary approval for Accolade’s proposed six new homes on the site.
Four townhomes, designed as two sets of twins, front on Chester Avenue; one single-family home fronts on Sherman Street, and another fronts on Montgomery Avenue.
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FORECLOSURE CRISIS IS NOT JUST A CITY PROBLEM
Norman J. Glickman is university professor at Rutgers-New Brunswick and public policy fellow at New Jersey Policy Perspective.
The foreclosure crisis is upon us. The media have treated it as an "urban" problem, something going on only in Philadelphia or Camden. Politicians in middle-class, suburban towns speak as if they believe their areas are largely immune to the ravages of foreclosures. They are wrong. The foreclosure wave is cresting quickly over the suburbs. Nationally, as many as two million American families could lose their homes in the next year. They will fail to make their monthly mortgage payments, the sheriff will padlock their doors, and banks will repossess their homes. Adiós to their piece of the American Dream. Nationally, foreclosures soared 75 percent in 2007. This frightening trend continues today with no end in sight.
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LOAN INDUSTRY FIGHTING RULES ON MORTGAGES
By STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON — The mortgage industry, facing the prospect of tougher regulations for its central role in the housing crisis, has begun an intensive campaign to fight back.
As the Federal Reserve completes work on rules to root out abuses by lenders, its plan has run into a buzz saw of criticism from bankers, mortgage brokers and other parts of the housing industry. One common industry criticism is that at a time of tight credit, tighter rules could make many mortgages more expensive by creating more paperwork and potentially exposing lenders to more lawsuits.
To the chagrin of consumer groups that have complained that the proposed rules are not strong enough, the industry’s criticism has already prompted the Fed to consider narrowing the scope of the plan so it applies to fewer loans.
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