Archive for the 'Stop Foreclosures' Category

Loan modifications could have helped control the spread of bank foreclosure homes in Maine if only troubled homeowners could reach lenders easily and on time to save their properties from foreclosures.

As such, many distressed homeowners complained of the difficulty of reaching lenders to alter their loans into affordable rates. The Maine Legislature stepped in and offered mediation for parties involved. The mediation program will officially start on January 2010. But a trial run is set at Sanford’s York County District Court where foreclosure rate is at the highest.

York County Community Action Program home financing counselors helped explain to distressed homeowners about how to use the mediation program to save their houses from becoming bank foreclosure homes. Counselors said that homeowners have the right to demand a mediation if they think that, given reasonable amount of time, they can make their mortgage payments.

So far, the mediation program in Maine has five judges who volunteered to act as mediators. Many homeowners liked the program, especially of having a third party join in negotiations with lenders. They said that they were having difficulty negotiating with banks and mortgage lenders on their own that having someone to mediate for them is a relief.

Some homeowners said that they were trying to make arrangements with their lenders to pay partial amounts. But their lenders rejected their offer, saying that if homeowners want to make their accounts current, they have to pay the whole overdue amount, plus interest and fees.

Under the mediation program, troubled homeowners and their lawyers have a half-day time, face-to-face discussion with their lenders. This is a welcome change to many homeowners who have given up hope of ever meeting with their lenders.

One of the groups involve in the program is the Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project. Its members have been providing free legal services to homeowners at risk of foreclosure. They said that many distressed homeowners have heard about government programs that could help them save their properties from foreclosures. The problem is, they could not find someone that would help them go through the process.

Maine law requires all lenders filing foreclosures in the state to join the mediation program or face sanctions, including case dismissal and barring.

Industry experts said that it is in the best interest of lenders to work out solutions with homeowners because having too many bank foreclosure homes on their inventory could be more costly for them.

Short selling a property to avoid government bank foreclosures is becoming a trend in the real estate industry. A few years back, short selling are unfamiliar words in the real estate industry. Now, it has become a byword in almost every household in the country, particularly in distressed houses.

In the investment world, short selling is turning to be a gold mine for many investors. Recession or no recession, investors are finding ways to repair run-down foreclosed houses and sell them for huge profits.

In the current economic downturn, the practice of buying, fixing and selling is given a name: short sales. The method involves investors finding distressed homeowners who are on the brink of government bank foreclosures. They will make cash offers to banks to purchase the distressed properties for low prices.

Usually, banks would agree to sell the houses to reduce their losses resulting from foreclosure costs, maintenance, taxes and legal fees. This means that banks also agree to accept the amount from the sale of the distressed properties as settlement payment for the mortgage owed by their homeowners.

On the part of homeowners, they are more than willing to sell their properties to minimize the damage to their credit record and avoid the complex process of foreclosures.

Industry experts said that short selling has always been an alternative for banks. But the current economic downturn fueled the growth of short sales. Experts said that in short sale deals, the winners are the people who have the means to take advantage of low property prices. As of May, both foreclosure and short sales accounted for 33 percent of the total existing housing market.

In the following two months, the figures dropped to 31 percent. Essentially, banks would review every short sale transaction to determine if the loss they are going to take will make more sense. Many banks have to answer to their directors and stockholders and need to reduce losses on foreclosure properties on their portfolio.

But lately, many homeowners who want to go the route of short sale to save their properties from foreclosures were complaining that banks are taking longer to respond to their requests. The Obama Administration knows about the shortfall and decided to offer financial incentives to lenders to encourage them to expedite their short sale process to help more homeowners avoid government bank foreclosures.

Many distressed homeowners in Sonoma County, California are feeling frustrated about the difficulty of finding help to save their properties from bank foreclosure house sale. And a number of them are questioning why banks that receive millions of bailout funds are not doing their best to help them save their properties from foreclosures.

The desperation to save their homes from foreclosures and not knowing who to turn to for help have driven many homeowners to unknowingly put their trust on the hands of fraudulent foreclosure prevention companies.

Homeowners who have been waiting for months to hear anything from their lenders over their loan modification applications are questioning the effectiveness of the $75 billion federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) which is designed to give mortgage relief to financially-strapped homeowners who lost their jobs, facing an increase in mortgage payments and have seen their income reduced.

According to housing advocates, the HAMP is an improvement from the previous administration’s programs that failed to reduce the number of bank foreclosure house sale. Under the program, banks are provided with incentives to motivate them to lower their interest rates, extend mortgage terms or delay principal loan payments.

Additionally, the program stated that borrowers who remain current on their modified loans will receive incentives to reduce their mortgage balances.

Industry analysts said that despite the efforts of the federal government to make the HAMP work to help troubled homeowners, foreclosure remains unabated, ruining hundreds and thousands of lives, pulling down home values and prices and devastating neighborhoods.

Analysts said that the federal subsidies were not enough to encourage many lenders to do their share in helping alleviate the foreclosure problem by helping distressed homeowners save their houses from foreclosures.

In Sonoma County, about 100 notices of defaults were issued by lenders every week for homeowners who defaulted on their loan payments for the first six months of this year. Federal officials said that while homeowners are having their troubled loans reworked, banks should boost their loan modification activity. Market data showed that 19 percent of about 3 million eligible homeowners across the United States were able to modify their loans with the help of their lenders.

Banks claimed that they have been intensifying their efforts to help troubled borrowers avoid bank foreclosure house sale, including hiring more employees and working with more borrowers who are at risk of defaulting.

The Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in Ohio has been criticized for neglecting to use court-ordered mediation option to help distressed homeowners protect their properties from becoming bank foreclosure home.

Military families have to deal with the difficulty and emotional hardship of seeing their loved ones fight war overseas. And the experience is even made difficult if they are facing the possibility that their properties would be added to the growing statistics of bank foreclosed home.

For the second consecutive month, property values in San Diego County, California rose slightly by 1.55 percent from May to June.

A couple in Bowie, Maryland had filed a case against Wells Fargo Bank. According to court documents, the couple accused the bank of knowing beforehand that they could not afford to pay the mortgage for their property.

Several programs are available for distressed homeowners in Missouri who want to save their properties from foreclosures. One of the most popular forms of staving off bank foreclosures is counseling.

The commercial real estate market is experiencing a change in banks’ strategy. To try to avoid realizing losses on their loans in the commercial real estate market, banks are offering loan extensions and modifications to stem the tide of bank REO properties.

Two months after the federal initiative, Making Home Affordable was launched, JPMorgan Chase and Co. was able to modify about 138,000 troubled mortgage loans. The initiative is designed to contain the number of bank foreclosure property in the country.