Two of the four townhouses on bank listings foreclosures in Pennsylvania will soon have new owners. A group of nuns from the Felician Sisters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Province are planning to buy the two townhouses in the foreclosure devastated neighborhood of Mooncrest.
The Catholic nuns are hoping that their plan would help boost their presence in the troubled neighborhood as well as abate the repossession of four townhouses that were constructed as part of a revitalization project.
The Felician nuns have been aggressively increasing their presence in the Mooncrest neighborhood, including launching an after-school initiative for children in the neighborhood, The program, started with just six children, was held in a Baptist church.
Two years later, four apartments in the neighborhood were converted into a Mooncrest community center where the program is being held. Now, a third of the neighborhood’s 150 children are participating in several summer and after-school programs of the Felician nuns.
The Felician Sisters are committed to play a larger and significant role in Mooncrest, planning and developing new programs and allotting about $50,000 to expand the community center. The nuns also want to become homeowners in Mooncrest and at the same time, help the neighborhood abate the growing number of properties on bank listings foreclosures.
Many of the almost 400 houses in Mooncrest have fallen into foreclosures, devastating the neighborhood. Several years ago, the Mooncrest Neighborhood Association purchased two dilapidated buildings, demolished and replaced them with townhouses.
The association was planning to sell the townhouses and use the proceeds to pay off the almost $345,000 construction mortgage and fix up other foreclosure properties that have become eyesores in the neighborhood. The larger townhouses were listed for $92,000 while the smaller units were priced at $62,500.
However, to date, one three-bedroom townhouse was the only property sold for $70,000. According to industry experts, the neighborhood association has already missed mortgage payments for 12 months. The association still owes a loan amounting to $250,000.
The unsold townhouses are facing bank listings foreclosures unless the association made a sizable mortgage payment. ACTION-Housing Inc senior housing developer Jennifer S. DiNardo said that the lender has agreed to delay the foreclosure while the Felician nuns are considering purchasing the townhouses for a total of $140,000.
Comments on this entry are closed.