If your disposable income has disappeared because you have experienced a change in circumstances and are struggling to make your house payments, the Obama Administration’s plan was designed with you in mind. To qualify your home must be your primary residence, the amount you owe on your first mortgage must be equal to or less than $729,750 and you must have obtained the mortgage before January 1, 2009. Do not be surprised if you qualify. The Treasury Department’s plan released March 4th states that as many as 4 Million homeowners will receive assistance.
Posts from ‘March, 2009’
Mortgage Modification Companies: Scams or Saviors?
New companies have sprung up to help homeowners save their homes from foreclosures by working out a modification. This seems to be a growth industry here in Northern California, where foreclosures have been high.
The problem is some of these “services” are simple scam artists trying to make a quick buck by preying on the [...]
Vountary modifications flow from judicial power to modify
The week the House was debating the judicial mortgage modification, lawyers on the other side of three of my cases volunteered their openess to a modification of the mortgage in question. Unheard of!
Prior to this point, I had seen only one client who made any headway with a voluntary loan modification, and it eventually crashed [...]
Senator rejects limitations on mortgage modification
Senator Schumer is quoted in Politico as rejecting a proposed compromise to S. 61 that would limit its scope to sub prime mortgages. Bravo!
The apparent strategy of the bankers is to try to amend the mortgage modification bill into irrelevancy. Schumer points out that such a limitation would dramatically reduce the positive effect of the [...]
The Home Affordable Refinance Program
The Obama Administration’s new plan to help stabilize home prices allows qualified homeowners to refinance their first mortgage up to 105% of the value of their home and take advantage of historically low interest rates. To qualify the property must be owner occupied, homeowners must have a solid payment history, and the existing mortgage must be owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
Senate sends the Mortgage Modification Bill to Committee!
The Senate Banking Committee is now looking at the “Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2009.” Even though the House passed this legislation two weeks ago, the Senate has decided it needs more information; more “debate.”
The Banking Committee now has control over the bill and will argue its merits in the next [...]
Debunking arguments against mortgage modification
Giving bankruptcy judges the same right to help families with underwater home mortgages as investors now have will not create a flood of bankruptcy cases. Yet this is one of the arguments that opponents to S. 61 bandy about as a reason to kill the bill.
I see financially struggling families day in and day out [...]
Making Home Affordable: alternative to walking away
New programs from the Obama Treasury Department will help borrowers refinance or modify their loans without bankruptcy. The plan even gives people options if their economic situation gets worse.
With housing prices falling fast around the country, the San Francisco Bay Area has not seen prices fall like this for decades, families everywhere are feeling the [...]
New mortgage tools without bankruptcy
The complete announcement of President Obama’s housing assistance programs not involving bankruptcy can be found at FinancialStability.gov. The site offers a self assessment tool so you can determine if you are eligible for the programs for loan modification or for refinance.
We will have an overview of these programs here soon.
The success of these programs which [...]
Mortgage Modification Bill Passes House
The House of Representatives passed the bill to allow mortgage modifications yesterday, March 5, 2009, by a vote of 234-191.
If the Bill passes the Senate and becomes law, Bankruptcy Judges will be allowed to modify mortgages to reduce interest rates, modify the amount of the secured portion of the loan and even extend payments. Judges [...]