Paul Owers | Sun Sentinel |
“Just 10 days before Christmas 2009, Ganel Appolon found an envelope taped to his front door. He and his family were being evicted from their Tamarac home. Appolon had fallen behind on his mortgage payments, and the lender repossessed the property under terms of his bankruptcy filing.
Despite the financial setback, Appolon vowed to own again.
He spent the next four years saving money and rebuilding his credit. Last fall, he qualified for another mortgage and in December bought a three-bedroom home in Fort Lauderdale for $177,500.
“I feel free,” said Appolon, a 46-year-old electrician. “My kids are really, really happy. They kept saying, ‘Thank you, Daddy. Thank you, Daddy.'”
Appolon’s experience may give hope to tens of thousands of people snared in a housing collapse that hit South Florida particularly hard. Many of those people thought they’d never own again – or at least have to wait a decade or longer to even think about it. Instead, South Florida lenders and real estate agents say many former homeowners are recapturing the American Dream, as “boomerang buyers.”
“Time will heal everything, and that’s what’s happening here,” said Jim Flood, regional manager for Supreme Lending in Plantation. “I think it’s great that people are getting a second chance. Don’t we all want that in life?”
How many are getting that chance? No one knows. The government and housing industry don’t track it. But lending titans such as Bank of America and community banks and credit unions typically follow the guidelines from government-run mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together insure about half of the nation’s home loans.
A person who unloaded a home before the bank foreclosed – such as through a short sale – must wait two years to get another Fannie or Freddie loan.
A consumer seeking a Federal Housing Administration-backed loan can qualify three years after a foreclosure or short sale.
Former owners who lost a home because of at least a 20 percent cut in pay may be able to qualify for another mortgage after only a year through FHA’s Back to Work program.”