Residential Foreclosures in the City of Buffalo, 1990-2000 - Federal ...

to arrange solutions to their financial problems. Homeowners with substantial debt in
addition to their mortgage loan see their options severely restricted, and are more likely
to be unable to stop the foreclosure process once it is under way.
At the time of default, a substantial share of Buffalo homeowners were
experiencing additional financial stress. Half of all properties foreclosed in 2000 had at
least one additional lien. Chart 12 shows the various types of additional liens and the
percentage of foreclosed properties with each type. Slightly more than 20 percent of
foreclosed properties had additional mortgages, while another 8 percent included other
kinds of liens by financial institutions. Just 5 percent of additional liens were attributable
to medical expenses. A greater proportion of homeowners in the Rochester study were
found to experience additional financial burdens, with 65 percent of foreclosed properties
showing at least one additional lien at the time of default. The difference was almost
entirely due to higher incidences of retail, state, and federal tax liens.
Additional
mortgage
New York State
Erie County Dept.
of Social Services
City of Buffalo
Other
Loan or other
financial lien
Retail
IRS, HUD,
or other U.S.
Medical
Chart 12
Foreclosed Properties with Indicated Type of Lien
Percent
5
7
7
Sources: Erie County Civil Court records; author’s calculations.
8
10
10
Utility company
3
0 5 10 15 20 25
11
Table 16 displays by community the percentage of foreclosed properties with
additional liens. Communities differed widely in terms of this variable, and the presence
of additional liens appears to have little relationship with the foreclosure rate or with
other easily identifiable factors.
20
57
21