All posts tagged Hope for Homeowners

Renewed Hope for Homeowners

by Justin Miller on May 21, 2009 in Bailout, Foreclosure, Loan Modification, Refinance with No comments

Hopefully this isn’t another let down.  “On Wednesday, President Obama signed into law a bill that attempts to correct the program’s problems. The president said the program had many provisions that discouraged servicers from using it.”

http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/20/real_estate/new_hope_for_homeowners/index.htm?section=money_realestate 

Hope For Homeowners

by Justin Miller on May 6, 2009 in FHA Loans, Foreclosure, Guideline Changes, Loan Modification with No comments

“The Obama Administration today announced details of new efforts to help bring relief to responsible homeowners under the Making Home Affordable Program, including an effort to achieve greater affordability for homeowners by lowering payments on their second mortgages as well as a set of measures to help underwater borrowers stay in their homes.”

http://www.hud.gov/news/2009-04-28.cfm

 

And they better do this b/c below is a scary statistic and one that could be even higher depending on who is calculating the value.  “The downturn in home prices has left nearly 30% of U.S. homeowners owing more on a mortgage than their homes are worth, according to one new study, signaling additional challenges to the Obama administration’s efforts to stabilize the housing market.”

 

However with the Hope for Homeowners (if they actually help as many as they said they were going to this time) and according to the rest of this article they may increase the loan to values on the current Obama Plan.  I don’t know how many lenders will allow this after they re-evaluate the risks involved just as Jaime Dimon, Chase’s CEO, decided with the current program and won’t allow up to 105% loan to value.  “For instance, fewer will qualify to take advantage of a key component of the Obama administration’s plan to stabilize the housing market. Under the plan, announced in February, as many as five million homeowners whose loans are owned or guaranteed by government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can refinance their mortgages, but only if the mortgage loan is a maximum of 105% of the home’s value. Government officials are considering an increase in that limit. “It’s a question that we’re looking at,” said James Lockhart, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie.”  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124156804522089735.html 

Hope For Homeowners

by Justin Miller on April 30, 2009 in Foreclosure, Loan Modification, Refinance with No comments

Here is some big news.  I haven’t heard this product mentioned for quite some time now but hopefully banks starting implementing it b/c it is a great product.

http://www.financialstability.gov/docs/042809SecondLienFactSheet.pdf  

Common Sense Answers About the Obama Plan

by Justin Miller on March 5, 2009 in Bailout, Economic News, Foreclosure, Loan Modification, Refinance with No comments

This article is from the Wall Street Journal. 

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123620094171232805.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

 

Here are 7 things to know from Yahoo Finance

 

http://biz.yahoo.com/usnews/090304/04_obamas_loan_modification_plan_7_things_you_need_to_know.html?&.pf=loans 

Hope For Homeowners Loan

by Justin Miller on February 3, 2009 in Bailout, Foreclosure, Loan Modification with No comments

The Hope for Homeowners loan is meant to help borrowers who are behind or upside down on their mortgage.  It is a new based on 90% of the current appraised value.  There are certain guidelines you have to adhere to in order to get this loan.  It is supposed to help 400,000 plus borrowers but has only helped 357 so far. 

 

The 1st link will include what you need to qualify for it and will address the shared appreciation with the government. 

 

Here is the link for Hope for Homeowners http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page?_pageid=73,7606147&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL 

 

Here is another link with a list of numbers to call for the different banking institutions. 

 

http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page?_pageid=73,1827476&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Loan Modifications Can Stop Foreclosures

by Justin Miller on January 31, 2009 in Bailout, Foreclosure, Loan Modification with 2 Comments

Below is a great opinion article from The Wall Street Journal.  As I will continue to say, we need to stop foreclosures in order to stabilize the housing market. 

The article states that the evidence shows that such modifications don’t work. For one thing, many of the servicers who control the mortgage loans claim they are not legally permitted to agree to voluntary modifications. And even when they are legally permitted to agree, their financial incentives are stacked in the direction of foreclosure.

As a result, the much-vaunted federal “Hope for Homeowners” program launched in October has been only a limited success. The program is supposed to facilitate new mortgages for homeowners if lenders agree to reduce the amount of money owed on a home to 90% of its assessed value. The program went into effect with the goal of helping hundreds of thousands of homeowners. To date, it has processed less than 400 applications.

My thoughts are that it is not in a banks best interest to foreclose.  Why not put a portion of the balance into forbearance if you don’t want to do the Hope for Homeowners loan which reduces the principle balance.  I understand why banks don’t want to do this program because the government shares in the equity but if you put a large portion of the balance into forbearance they can make out.  For example, say the borrower who fell behind has a $300,000 mortgage but the property is only worth $150,000.  Put $150,000 into forbearance that doesn’t have to be repaid until you sell your home or recover the value to refinance.  They could give you an interest rate of 0%-3% on the balance in forbearance as long as you prove you can afford the home at that amount.  If a bank let’s the property go into foreclosure they will get less than $150,000 for their offers, have to pay a realtor 4-6% to sell it, keep up the property, pay back taxes, etc, etc.  Isn’t this a win, win? 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123327754670931503.html?mod=todays_us_opinion