Rhode Island enjoys a high success rate when it comes to saving the homes of troubled borrowers, according to housing counselors.
"Forty-seven percent of those counseled have positive outcomes," Helen Iasimone, director of Homeownership Connection, said at the New England Mortgage Banking Conference in Providence on Thursday.
"Positive" means anything that helps families remain in their homes, including forbearance, a loan modification or even a reverse mortgage. But it doesn't include a short sale. If it did, Iasimone said, the success rate would be closer to 50%.
Now, though, a lot of those people are coming back for help a second time because they've lost their jobs. According to John Nimmo, a Pawtucket counselor who works for the Housing Network of Rhode Island, the Ocean State has one of the nation's highest foreclosure rates at 27%.
