More Good News For Housing in Minnesota

Preforeclosure Notices Resume Their Drop 


On  Thursday, August 2nd, the Minnesota Homeownership Center released its data on the aggregate number of Preforeclosure Notices received by foreclosure counselors in the Homeownership Advisors Network for the second quarter of 2012.


Notices received dropped 17% from the first quarter of 2012, reaching their lowest point since the law was enacted in late 2008.


In the second quarter of 2012, members of the Homeownership Advisors Network received 9,995 preforeclosure notices, 17% fewer than the previous quarter, and 25% fewer than the during Q2, 211:

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Encouragingly, the metro area also experienced a similar 16% drop in the number of notices received:

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There are, however, a few areas of the state that we’ll need to continue to monitor as they have bucked the downward trend of the rest of the state: the City of Minneapolis and, to a lesser degree, Carver County:

While the overall numbers are certainly cause for celebration… we also have to remember that this brings the year-to-date total of Preforeclosure Notices received by Minnesota homeowners to 22,101. 


More than 22 THOUSAND Minnesota families continue to struggle with mortgage payments.  You can help them by sharing the message that help is available.  For free.

This online advertising campaign (more info here) is already helping hundreds of struggling homeowners by connecting them with information, resources and effective foreclosure prevention help.  Join us in spreading the word by placing them on your blog/website… or asking your employer, social service agency or local government to post them.   For electronic copies of these ads, visit: http://hocmn.org/en/bannerpage.cfm.

New Online Ad Campaign for Foreclosure Prevention

Screenshot of ad.  Actual ad
rotates through 4 panels 

The Minnesota Homeownership Center has launched a new online advertising campaign to reach struggling homeowners and get them connected to the Homeownership Advisors Network where they can get the foreclosure prevention services they need.

 

OUR STRATEGY:   This week, the Center  will begin an integrated digital (online) advertising program to reach struggling Minnesota homeowners through: 

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) (Highlighted ads that appear on Google, Bing, Yahoo! and other search engines when consumers search for specific topics). 
• Online banner advertising through the Yahoo! Advertising and the AdTaxi networks.  

Online banner and SEM advertising allows us to limit production expenses and get the ad seen by as many targeted households as possible.  When all is said and done, the ads will have been posted over 4 MILLION times.

 

OUR TARGET:   Online data and web usage tracking allow us to target struggling homeowners that meet specific demographic profiles.  We’ll be focusing on these homeowners in:   

• the 7-County Metro area (Hennepin, Ramsey, Carver, Scott, Dakota, Washington Anoka)
• Isanti, Pine, Sherburne, Chisago, Mille Lacs and Kanabec Counties;
• The cities of St. Cloud, Duluth, Rochester, Mankato and their surrounding communities. 

By targeting these areas we are reaching the hardest-hit areas of the state as well as close to 75% of the statewide population.

 

OUR TIMELINE:   The banner and SEM ads will begin the week of July 9th and are scheduled to run through early 2013.   

 

WE'RE BEING PROACTIVE:  The Center feels strongly that we can't wait for homeowners in trouble to come to us.  We have to proactively reach out to them to let them know help is available.  That's what this campaign is all about.  It's a no-nonsense message -- we're an effective, free, non-profit way for any Minnesotan to access foreclosure prevention services.

 

WE'RE BEING EFFICIENT:  We chose an online campaign to reach people in the most efficient way possible, and to ensure we could have the conversation with homeowners at a time when they are just one click away from getting help.  

 

WE'RE FOCUSED ON OUTCOMES:  We didn't want a feel-good campaign.  We want MN homeowners to get help, and we'll be monitoring the campaign's web analytics in real time to see how we're doing.  If search terminology or ad placement isn’t working, we'll adjust.  We are hopeful this approach will prove to be both an efficient and effective way to connect homeowners to foreclosure prevention services, and we'll be carefully measuring against that outcome.

 

PREVIEW THE ADS.  Unless you fit the targeted demographic and geographic profile we’ve identified, you may not see our ads much, or even at all.  We have, however, uploaded preview versions of the ads to our website here: http://hocmn.org/en/bannerpage.cfm

 

YOU CAN HELP!  

We can send you these ads electronically so you can email them to others, put one on your website or ask that your municipality, local social service organization or other partners post it.  The more broadly the ad is seen, the more likely homeowners will get the help they need!