The City Council wants to make mortgage negotiation in the city much different than it is anywhere else, giving mortgage holders the power to retain home ownership for an entire year despite defaulting on a loan, instead of just two weeks. This will inevitably cause banks and other mortgage companies to examine the Baltimore City real estate market in quite a different way than they treat it anywhere else.
The potential year gap between default and foreclosure would then become a strong factor in the equation that banks use to determine what mortgages to issue and what not to issue. After many years in which urban advocates have steadfastly tried to get banks to increase lending in the city, this would certainly work the other way. Mortgage money would dry up. Just like in the old redlining days.
