Archive for the 'Foreclosure Help' Category

Orlando, Florida Mayor Buddy Dyer, Secretary of HUD Shaun Donovan and Congressman Alan Grayson toured a city neighborhood to highlight the success of two federal programs designed to reduce the number of bank and government foreclosures homes.

Donovan described Orlando as the ground zero of the foreclosure crisis. He also defended the Obama Administration’s $75 billion Making Home Affordable program and Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).

He said that the initial goals of the federal loan modification program will be met but he admitted that the program is not a solution for the country’s unemployment problem. The officials toured a foreclosure home that is being renovated through the NSP. The city of Orlando purchased bank and government foreclosures homes using NSP grant from the HUD.

The renovated house that was toured by the three officials was bought for $125,000. The city intends to spend $20,000 on renovation and repairs of the house. The renovated house is expected to be sold for $145,000. Industry experts are hoping that the rise in sale price will help drive up property values of surrounding houses.

Meanwhile, Donovan said that the government program provides much needed respite to distressed homeowners who are facing foreclosure while the NSP helps stabilize and strengthen property prices and values.

He urges the Congress to approve President Barack Obama’s modernization plan for the country’s financial system and for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency in order to protect families who avail of financial services and purchase financial products daily.

On the other hand, Grayson pointed out that the two HUD programs are important in helping families remain in their homes, staving off foreclosures, helping create affordable home ownership and providing shelter to those who cannot afford to own a home.

The federal program was created to stabilize the housing market in the country. The initiative includes Home Affordable Refinance Program to help nearly 5 million homeowners have an easy access to refinancing, Home Affordable Modification Program to lower monthly loan payments and providing support to low mortgage rates.

So far, the loan modification program has helped modify mortgages of more than half a million families and prevented bank and government foreclosures homes from further spreading across the country.

The city of High Point in North Carolina is providing federal funds to buy foreclosed homes for sale. The city has received about $2.625 million under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).

The federal funds are intended to be used to purchase foreclosure properties in High Point neighborhoods badly hit by the foreclosure crisis. The funds will also be used to rehabilitate these foreclosure homes.

Industry experts are anticipating a demand for funding, adding that the program is a good chance to move the foreclosure properties. According to market data, about 400 houses were foreclosed in High Point in 2008. And most of the foreclosed homes are located in the zip code of 27265 where moderate and high-income neighborhoods can be found.

Under the NSP, eligible buyers must be first-timers or those who have not owned a house for the past three years.

A loan will be provided to qualified families to help them buy foreclosed homes for sale. The deferred loan amounted to $7,500 and will be used for down payment. Furthermore, qualified buyers may be given as much as $20,000 for repair assistance after they have acquired the properties.

Also covered in the program are 27260 and 27262 zip codes which are inner city areas where foreclosure houses and blighted properties are in abundance. To qualify for the program, potential buyers should meet the income requirements, undergo and complete a consumer credit counseling training.

Industry experts are hoping that the program would help expedite the recovery of the housing market in the area. So far, everything points towards recovery. Last August, the number of home foreclosures in North Carolina dropped by 6 percent compared with the previous year.

Market data showed that 4,317 properties were foreclosed in North Carolina in August, or one out of 956 households. This earned the state the 29th position nationwide in terms of rate of foreclosure filings.

But despite the improvements in this year’s numbers compared with the previous year, foreclosures in North Carolina jumped by 26 percent in August from July. Industry experts attributed the increase to the lifting of moratoriums and the continuing rise in unemployment rate. But they are hoping that the program that aims to help families buy foreclosed homes for sale would pull up home prices and values and may lead to the recovery of the housing market.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed has proposed a law that aims to curb the growing number of properties on bank foreclosure list. The bill is proposed in an effort to abate the rapid spread of foreclosures across the country and at the same time help stabilize the housing markets.

The bill gives hope to thousands of distressed families who want to remain on their homes and to communities that are badly hit by the foreclosure crisis.

Under the proposed Preserving Homes and Communities Act of 2009, all qualified homeowners will be evaluated and offered mortgage modifications. The law also establishes a program that will provide mortgage payment assistance to distressed homeowners.

Additionally, the law proposes to provide incentives to local and state governments to motivate them to develop mediation programs that will allow troubled homeowners and servicers to negotiate and create alternatives to help curb the growing bank foreclosure list.

Reed explained that the foreclosure crisis has left many American families devastated and homeless, crippled local communities and neighborhoods and further dragged down the already sick economy.

He said that despite federal, state and local efforts to prevent the spread of foreclosures, the problem continues to grow rapidly. Industry experts said that the current foreclosure rate surpassed the numbers for last year by almost a third.

They said that even homeowners who have fixed-rate mortgages are finding difficulty paying their mortgages and are at risk of losing their homes to foreclosures.

They predicted that the number of troubled loans could increase to almost four million in 2009. Additionally, fixed rate loans accounted for a third of the total repossession starts filed in from April to June of this year. This means that one out of eight homeowners has missed at least one payment.

Durbin believed that the economic crisis could not be resolved unless the housing market has been stabilized. He explained that the proposed law would force lenders to workout with troubled homeowners to modify their loans.

The bill also proposes to expand the loan modification of the government to allow more homeowners to avoid bank foreclosure list and to require banks and lenders to offer approved mortgage modifications to all borrowers who qualify.

Co-sponsors of the bill are Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Dick Durbin and Jeff Merkley.

The federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program has been helping people in Delaware in buying bank foreclosures. The program has provided federal housing funding amounting to $19.6 million to help first-time homebuyers. Under the program, about 120 families will have the chance to buy and rehabilitate vacant, foreclosure houses until next year.

The collapse of the mortgage industry turned out to be the savior for Merrill Lynch and its subsidiaries. Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick dismissed the securities fraud lawsuit filed against Merrill Lynch and its subsidiaries.

About 17 Democratic lawmakers have issued an urgent call for measures to stave off the number of bank foreclosed homes in the country. Congresswoman Doris O. Matsui called on the Obama Administration to act quickly to address the growing housing crisis in the country today.

Last year and in the past months, taxpayer money was used to bail out the country’s largest financial institutions. Now, the question of using taxpayer money to bail out the commercial real estate sector is again floating around.

Distressed homeowners can expect more aid to come their way to help them save their properties from becoming bank foreclosed home. This is what Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell told the audience during the ceremony for the unveiling of $2.5 million federal funds intended for the brownfield redevelopment at the Housatonic Community College.

City officials of Santa Rosa, California are planning to develop a 20-acre property on Bank Foreclosure List into 400 apartments for low-income families. The foreclosed property was once intended for market-rate houses in the southeast and southwest quadrants of the city.

With bank foreclosure listings rising every day in Hamilton County and Chattanooga in Tennessee, local officials have decided to expand assistance initiatives provided to distressed homeowners who are facing the threat of losing their homes to foreclosures.