There is Help out There!
8.21.08
Help for Troubled Borrowers A home is security, a place to slow done the pace of life. It’s where you have provided protection for you and/or family. It is not to be taken away. In Real Estate and Mortgage institution there is little sympathy but hard cold facts.
We as Realtors® are seeing a lot of foreclosures and we have empathy for those who are losing their place of protection and security. Empathy means that we experience your pain in our hearts.
Borrowers across the country are wondering how or whether their eligible for relief announced by President Bush in mid-December to stem the tide of defaulted subprime mortgages. It is up to us as Realtors® to pass this information along. *There is help out there for you!
What can you do if you are facing pre-foreclosure or foreclosure? Call the national counseling hotline 888.995.4673 (888.995.HOPE). It is a 24/7 telephone number. When you call you will be in contact with a HUD-approved counselor that affiliates itself with a non-profit Homeownership Preservation Foundation.
This is not a quick conversation where all of the help and options to help you are rattled off. Information needs to be gathered about the caller’s financial situation, this will help to find out if you meet eligibility requirements.
Expect for your conversation to be about 45 minutes. There is much information to be gathered such as your financial situation. The counselor will determine whether you are eligible to participate in this program and have you contact the mortgage institution to work out a plan. There may be a need for the counselor to recommend to you to call another counselor in your area and receive counseling in person. In other cases the consoler will contact the mortgage institution directly.
The criteria for help is offered for three types of homeowners.
A. Homeowner is up-to-date on their mortgage payments and there is no problem to keep them from being up-to-date with their payments. After the rate change they would like to refinance into a loan with an interest rate that is lower.
B. Homeowner has keep up with their mortgage payments but will default after the interest rate kicks to a higher percentage rate. The present loan needs to be adjusted to an interest rate that is not going to be cumbersome or can refinance to a loan that is within their reach.
C. Homeowner is in trouble and will default before there is any interest rate change. This help applies to purchase-money mortgages and only to borrowers and only borrowers that purchased during the height of the market boom from Jan 1, 2005 to July 31, 2007 and whose rate changes between Jan. 1, 2008 through July 31, 2010. That all said and done, but what about those out there who don’t meet this criteria. The counselors will provide help.
It happens to a lot of us these days, income problems such as losing your job or having to run to the emergency room, a family member has to stay and the cost of the medical was definitely not in the budget. That’s where the counselors can give direction. They are there to help you, no matter where the mortgage market is turning. Carefully going through your financial situation will take time, so everything may not resolved with just one conversation with your counselor. To get everything going in the right direction you may have to talk more than once. The need may arise to talk together a few more times.
If you want to shorten the time period, have available paperwork verifying income and monthly expenses. Things like utility bills, weekly or monthly food purchase, auto loans, credit card payments, etc. In order to get the quickest response, please be prepared before placing the call.
Mortgage companies, banking institution and other lending companies are getting more REO’s (Real Estate Owned - meaning the home has been foreclosed) than they can handle. This part of the market has required to hire more people, train them and give them more authority. These companies need to get rid of this runneth over of inventory. Some of the lending institutions are providing work out plans. There is help! There are also ways to avoid prepayment penalties when it comes to refinancing. It can be done by having your loan restructured so that the prepayment penalties will be eliminated. As always there are catches to get the process going. Don’t give up!
Posted by Just Ask Madeline at 12/22/2011 8:50 PM 
Categories: Housing Market, Virginia Information
Tags: Real Estate Buy buyers Sell sellers Real Estate Market
Categories: Housing Market, Virginia Information
Tags: Real Estate Buy buyers Sell sellers Real Estate Market
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