Throggs Neck resident George Weier is one of many area residents struggling to hang on to their homes as the foreclosure crisis gripping the country continues.
The economic downturn has hit the electrician hard, and he has been without steady work since being laid off in September 2011, when the company that he worked for closed up shop.
Weier will be among those attending a workshop this evening called “Preventing Home Foreclosures: Knowing Your Rights and Finding Assistance.”
Sponsored by Senator Jeff Klein, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, the workshop will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Harding Park Home Owners Association at 1820 Gildersleeve Avenue, and is being held in collaboration with Legal Services NYC’s Bronx Foreclosure Prevention Program.
“By hosting this forum, I’m hoping to help people like George,” Klein said. “If you own a home – or hope to own one in the future – this event is for you. Everyone who stops by gets all of the information they need about mortgages and loan modifications.”
In Weier’s case, he negotiated a three-month extension that allowed him to pay a third of his income from unemployment compensation, about $500 instead of his $2,300 regular monthly payment to One West Bank.
But the bank recently told him he was no longer eligible and appears to be headed for foreclosure on the Prentiss Avenue home he bought in 1982.
He has fallen behind on payments before, sometimes as long as nine months, but said he has always caught up. Weier believes he is close to having his number called by his union, Local 3, for more work.
“I am going to go to the forum to speak about where I stand,” Weier said before the program. “I am hoping for some support so I can get through this with the bank another month or so until I can get a job. I can’t pay a $2,300 mortgage on an income of $1,620 a month.”
Having the workshop in Harding Park, known as Little Puerto Rico for its large Spanish-speaking population, is important because any language barrier can hamper efforts by a homeowner to stay in their homes, said Assemblyman Crespo.
