Inman

Foreclosure tough on renters

Renters suffer foreclosure woes
More and more renters who are in good standing on their rent payments are being forced to move out when their homes go into foreclosure, Reuters reported this week.

The problem is the inevitable fallout from the foreclosure crisis that has stricken so many homeowners in recent years, and many attorneys who assist troubled renters say the problem has worsened since last year.

In some cases, renters may have up to a couple of months or even as little as a few days to pack up their belongings and vacate the dwelling depending on their state of residence and when they received the foreclosure notice.

According to Legal Services of Greater Miami, the group says one in four housing-related calls in recent weeks have come from distressed renters, while last year these calls were few and far between.

Nevada Legal Services, which operates statewide, has seen a jump in calls from panicked renters and estimates that 5,000 families have been displaced from their Nevada rentals in the past 18 months.

Greenspan sees higher rates ahead
With unrelenting inflation hounding the U.S. economy, former Federal Reserve Chief Alan Greenspan on Friday said the Fed will have to tighten monetary policy to keep prices down, which would drive up interest rates.

Although Greenspan believes the credit crisis peaked in March, financial markets don’t expect the Fed to raise its benchmark interest rate until its Aug. 5 meeting.

Speaking to the continuing financial turmoil, Greenspan said: "It can struggle along for a while. It could get worse, it could get better."

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