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Despite the Ooltewah area being the fastest growing of Hamilton County, a number of families are losing their place in the community to foreclosure, according to new East Brainerd resident Linda Millar.
“Something happens in people’s lives that causes them to fall into trouble. Sometimes it’s expected; sometimes it’s not,” she said, noting one Ooltewah family who lost their prominent business to the state because of non-paying tenants and subsequently lost their home because of not being able to pay their own bills.
As operations manager for the Ringgold-based company Save America Homes, Millar is working to keep similar stories from occurring throughout Hamilton, Catoosa and Walker counties.
Glenn Bodnar, left, and Linda Millar are working to Save America Homes by saving families from foreclosure.
“When someone has fallen behind they close up into their turtle shell, but they have options,” she said. “Most people don’t know it. People just sit in their houses and think, ‘What am I going to do?’ If they don’t hear about us or someone like us they lose everything.”
She and the rest of the staff work with clients with proven hardships, giving them the option of loan modifications or short sales. Such informational, decision-making consultations are free.
“If people come to us before they’ve moved out, nine out of 10 times, depending on the situation, we can save their home and have them stay in it and have the payment reduced to where it’s affordable,” said Millar.
She noted that the record for the company’s loan modifications, which it can perform nationwide, is a 56 percent rate reduction.
According to licensed real estate broker Glenn Bodnar, of Crye-Leike Realtors on Gunbarrel Road, who is an investor client of Save America Homes, the company can help people even in bankruptcy.
In the case of short sales, which Millar’s company performs locally, it works to settle the debt with the lender, agreeing to perform any necessary work to the home in order to bring a fair price on the open market. As such, Bodnar said there are lots of good deals to be had for those who can afford them, as well as opportunities for other real estate agents.
“The worst thing for a bank is to sell a house at the courthouse steps,” he said. “They lose their shirt. Banks want to work with us.”
He pointed out that this option carries less of a penalty against the homeowner on credit reports than a foreclosure, which stays listed for 10 years.
“The worst thing that can ever happen to someone is foreclosure,” he said. “Because of what we’re doing for them they’re going to be able to buy another house whereas before it would’ve been pretty iffy.”
According to Millar, the company stopped approximately 15 foreclosures last month across the three counties through both of these methods. It is currently working with nearly 50 homeowners.
“He’ll (Jay Mace, the president) try anything pretty much if he thinks it can help people,” Millar said. “The hardest problem we have is with people. They don’t believe it’s real.”
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