The Obama administration has announced “enhancements” to its housing program that will make it easier for a homeowner to lose their home via short sale. Huh?
If this is part of a home retention program, I don’t get it. A short sale nets no money for the seller. It simply allows a buyer to get clear title to the property even when the existing lenders get less than they are owed.
The Obama program will also try to make it easier for homeowners to deed their properties to the lender without the necessity of a foreclosure.
It makes little difference to the former homeowner whether the mechanism of home loss is foreclosure, short sale, or deed in lieu. The home is gone, and the family may be sliding out of the middle class. I spend lots of time pointing out to those on the brink of losing their homes that living there payment free til the foreclosure may be the only return they will get on their investment.
The cynic in me wonders whether this program is simply another attempt to bolster the bankers, rather than the home owners.