Thursday, May 14, 2009

Obama Administration expanding housing plan

This is good news for many homeowners trying to hold onto their home. This targets homeowner who do not qualify for the assistance of various programs now. Remember, the foreclosures in this country is still at record levels, if we want to stablize this market, which means the value of many homes in this country, we must slow down the foreclosure rate.

The Obama administration expanded its $50 billion mortgage aid program on Thursday, announcing new measures that would help homeowners avoid a foreclosure if they don’t qualify for other assistance.

The new initiatives are expected to streamline the process of selling a home that is worth less than the mortgage, or transfer ownership of a home to the lender. Both options will still ding the homeowner’s credit score, but less than a foreclosure.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan held a press conference Thursday with borrowers who saved their homes through the government’s mortgage aid program called Making Home Affordable.

Since the program was launched in March, Mortgage companies have made more than 55,000 offers to modify borrowers’ loans. So far, 14 companies that service about three quarters of the mortgage market have signed up and will be paid for each loan they modify.

While the number of success stories is growing, it pales compared to the rate of new foreclosures, and many housing counselors across the country are complaining that the Making Home Affordable is taking off slowly.

“Our experience at the ground level has been, so far, frustrating,” said Michael van Zalingen, director of homeownership at Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, a counseling group. Entry-level employees at mortgage companies, he said, are either steering borrowers away from the plan or are entirely unaware of it. read more here....

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