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Finance
CrossRoadsNews
September 18, 2010
“We want to comply with the ordinance, but we’re more concerned about the added paperwork and fees.”
New foreclosure ordinance called vague by bankers, lawyers By Carla Parker
Bankers and lawyers think DeKalb’s new Foreclosure Registry ordinance is vague and will load them down with more paperwork. At a Sept. 14 information meeting about the registry that takes effect Oct. 25, a group of about 50 people dominated by bankers and lawyers bombarded DeKalb Commissioner Connie Stokes and other county officials with questions about the ordinance that was approved in July by the DeKalb Board of Commissioners. Michael Keller, a banker at Decatur First Bank, said the ordinance’s language is unclear and that the new registration process will cause more unnecessary work for them. “We already have a registration process in place and they just created a whole new different process,” Keller said. “We want to comply with the ordinance, but we’re more concerned about the added paperwork and fees.” The Foreclosure Registry requires owners of foreclosed properties to pay a $175 fee to register the property with the county. Violators will be fined $1,000 per day, per
Carla Parker / CrossRoadsNews
Chris Morris of DeKalb Community Development speaks at the Foreclosure Registry meeting.
property. Commissioners hope the registry will help the county protect residential neighborhoods from blight caused by inadequate maintenance of thousands of vacant properties. In July, DeKalb had 14,510 foreclosed properties. In many instances, county of-
ficials are unaware of who owns them and are unable to locate the owners. Stokes, who spearheaded the ordinance, said the county needs to know who to call on if properties are neglected. “The intent really is to let people know there are consequences if you don’t take care of these properties,” she said.
DeKalb residents like East Lake Terrace Neighborhood Association President Brenda Pace, who attended the meeting at the Decatur Library in downtown Decatur, said the ordinance is a great idea because unkempt foreclosed homes make the neighborhood look bad. “Somebody needs to take responsibility to what they let happen,” Pace said. “We can’t even sell our homes. Our property values have gone down.” East Lake Terrace has more than 50 foreclosed homes. Robert Broome, the Atlanta Board of Realtors’ director of governmental affairs, expressed concern about the lack of a time frame for filing. “Usually we would see something there about us having ‘X’ number of days to file, but the ordinance is silent about that.” He said property owners won’t know how long they have to register their properties before fines kick in. County officials said they are still working out some details and will post the final ordinance before the Oct. 25 deadline. Stokes said two more meetings will be held before the ordinance goes into effect.
Businessman gets leadership award Johnson launches anti-crime fight receiving a 21st Century Community Waleed Shamsid-Deen, Learning Center grant in 2006, Youth president and CEO of AVF VIBE became a free after-school Inc., is the recipient of Leaderprogram for teens interested in acaship DeKalb’s Sue Ellen Owens demic enrichment and “real world” Award. business applications. Shamsid-Deen, a 1999 The program now operates at Leadership DeKalb graduate, the DeKalb Transition Academy; was nominated by the South DeKalb Business Association. W. Shamsid-Deen Towers, Martin Luther King Jr., and Southwest DeKalb high schools; He received the award on Sept. 14 at Agnes Scott College at Leader- and the Mohammed Schools of Atlanta. Participants get preparation to increase ship DeKalb’s 2010 Annual Meeting. Shamsid-Deen is the founder of Youth test scores; have the opportunity to engage VIBE – Vision, Industry, Business and in thought-provoking dialogue with guest Empowerment, a nonprofit business men- speakers; learn to polish their writing, public toring program that exposes students and speaking, strategic planning and conflict resolution skills; and get tours of area busiyouth to entrepreneurship. During its first decade, the curriculum nesses. For more information, visit www was a biweekly, summer program. After .youthvibe.org.
precinct in the shopping plaza at Residents and businesses along 4467 Glenwood to help increase pothe Glenwood Road corridor will lice presence in the area,” he said. help Commissioner Larry Johnson Beginning at 6 p.m. on Sept. 23, proclaim “Enough Is Enough!” to an Enough Is Enough! Community crime in their community. Awareness March will proceed from On Sept. 21 at 6 p.m., a “Busithe old Kmart shopping center to ness Night Out” will be held at the I-285 bridge to symbolize that 4467 Glenwood Road, hosted by the residents and business owners shopping plaza owners Newburger Larry Johnson are staking their claim on the comAndes. Johnson is launching his Glenwood munity. An Enough Is Enough! Community Renaissance Initiative to fight crime along Awareness meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. the corridor between Columbia Drive and on Sept. 28 at Covenant Ministries Cathedral, Covington Highway, the scene of several 1700 Covenant Ministries Blvd. in Decatur. Residents, business owners and police violent incidents. Johnson, who represents District 3, hopes to send the message that will discuss strategies to combat crime and residents and business owners are taking the successfully take back the streets. For more information, call 404-371community back. “One of my goals is to establish a mini- 2425.
Apply for scholarships, look for job to pay for college Dear Dave, I’ll be starting college next fall. Is it OK to take out student loans if you have no other income to live on while you’re in school? – Mandy Dear Mandy, Wait a second! What do you mean you don’t have any other source of income to live I worked 40 to 60 hours a week all on while you’re in school? Didn’t anyone ever through college, and I still graduated in four teach you about a little thing called work? years. Nowadays, many people would call that child abuse. It’s absurd! Don’t try to box me into a corner with the ridiculous notion that you have to take out student loans to go to college. You do not! Did you know that only 57 percent of people who start college actually graduate? That means 43 percent don’t. And guess what they have? Student loan debt and no degree! Here’s what I want you to do. First, apply for every college scholarship you can find. Next, get a job! You may even have to take a couple of part-time jobs, but so what? Once you’re there, live in the dorm and eat dorm food, too. It won’t kill you. And a state college, where you can get in-state tuition, is always a good idea. If there’s one close by you can save even more money by living at home. Is a college education important? Sure, it is. It’s a great thing, and I recommend going to college. But is student loan debt a necessary part of getting a degree and achieving success in life? Absolutely not! – Dave
Dear Dave, My fiancée is from a wealthy family. The other day, her father suggested a prenuptial agreement. I’m not sure what to think about this. What’s your opinion on prenups? – Jeremy Dear Jeremy, It sounds like her family values its money more than it values their relationship with you. That could be a problem. If your brideto-be feels the same way, then you shouldn’t marry her. In most cases there’s just a really bad spirit that goes along with prenups. It’s basically planning your divorce in advance. One of my daughters just got married, and I never even thought of suggesting a prenuptial agreement. There may be one exception to this rule. If your fiancée was already wealthy on her own, I might change my answer. Extreme wealth has a tendency to attract a whole lot of weirdness and dishonesty. I’ve even told my wife to get a prenup if I die and she marries again. This is different than just the potential to be wealthy, like your case. You can still have a wonderful marriage, even if you don’t see eye-to-eye with her family on this. But both of you need to be on the same page and of one mind. That’s why I think it would be a really good idea for you guys to address this before the wedding with a heart-to-heart talk and some premarital counseling! – Dave