In what's deemed an effort to stabilize places hit hard with housing woes, 11 Rhode Island communities will share in the majority of $19.6 million in federal money for aid in buying and renovating foreclosed and abandoned properties, helping first-time home buyers with down payments and demolishing blighted properties.
Providence, with 55 percent of Rhode Island's foreclosures, gets the lion's share of aid, at $9,594,224.
Who is going to get that help with down payments? Who is going to fix up abandoned properties? After all, they aren't exactly abandoned, they are bank-owned. For a state with massive budget problems to manage a program like this, which boils down to handing out money (hopefully with some sense of fairness and equity), is pretty scary.
We've talked on ProPil how the state has been in a severe budget crunch since we arrived. Here's another story - from DEC 3rd - that speaks to the pitiful financial management taking place in the Ocean State.
Tempers flared in the State House yesterday as legislative leaders grilled Governor Carcieri’s department heads about chronic overspending that has exacerbated a budget hole that now threatens services and programs for tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders.
The House Finance Committee called upon nearly every major department director to explain spending decisions responsible for almost $80 million of Rhode Island’s current-year deficit of $357 million, believed to be the largest budget shortfall as a percentage of state spending in the nation.
We'll see how the homeowner assistance program goes, but we expect allegations and recriminations. We'll keep you updated.
While all of this economic turbulence has been transpiring, we have been working to refinance our mortgage. Interest rates - since Bernanke's big move on Tuesday - have dipped even lower. Our locked-in 5.5% rate was re-locked at 5.25% this week. That's cheap credit. We also received our mandatory appraisal, and while we think it's a bit pie-in-the-sky, the appraiser suggested our place is worth $240,000 in this market.
PS
Sue was disheartened by a seminar last night. It focused on achieving work-life balance as a psychologist in 21st Century America. Apparently we're getting 2-4 inches of snow tomorrow. We've got an appointment to get the windshield fixed next Tuesday. Hopefully it doesn't get much worse before then.
3 comments:
tell sue that attending that seminar last night was what we in the business would label "self-sabotage." rather, she should have been out at the bar, or relaxing in a bath, and then actually realizing that work-life balance is out there to be had.
Ah, if only it were an optional seminar. I now see the irony in the fact that it was part of our mandatory core seminar series.
Balance is always the goal. The relaxation & enjoyment are just as important on the calendar as the appointments.
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