More Cash from HUD

HUD just announced a $50 Million program to provide local municipalities with funding to rehab damaged foreclosed homes in their areas. This will allow the local cities assistance to avoid these homes' further deterioration. This program will help avoid urban blight. HUD, as part of the plan, will also send experts on rehab into local communities in order to help the local rehab program gain the best benefit for its program.
The largest share of the national funding – $26.2 million – will go to three groups: ICF Incorporated, Enterprise Community Partners and the National Council for Community Development. The local grants will be distributed in $500,000 and $750,000 increments to groups in 10 states.

Important News!

Congress last week unanimously passed a rule promoting the leasing of homes to owners who have lost their homes to foreclosure. This was done as a way of trying to keep people in their homes even after they've been foreclosed.

Coming Soon!

Keep your eyes tuned to You-Tube! I'll be posting a video or two designed to help anyone facing foreclosure. I'd say very likely in the next few days.

Loan Mod Hope

I've mentioned this before when the President established the program, but it's worth a fresh look. If you are having trouble making your payments because they are just too much of your pay, or perhaps because your economic situation has deteriorated, take a look at loan modifications. Under the President's program, you may be able to restructure your loan and have more affordable payments. For more info, either go to: www.995hope.com , or call: (888) 995-HOPE. Again, good luck! The house you save may be your own.

Help for Fannie Mae Borrowers

If you are having problems keeping up with your payments because of some of the adverse things that life can visit upon you, there may be some additional ways to cope. If your mortgage is an Fannie Mae loan, there are two programs that may be of interest to you. Both are designed to help make your payments more affordable, and, in some cases, can be used for up to 125% of value of the home. In other words, if your home is worth, say, $100,000, and you fit into the program, you could refinance up to $125,000, if necessary. For more information, check out the web site: www.efanniemae.com and click on Home Affordable Refinance Program. You may be glad you did! Good luck!

California Moratorium

Effective this past Monday, June 15, a 90 day moratorium on foreclosures went into effect. While it does give jeopardized homeowners some additional hope of avoiding a foreclosure, it is not as finite a solution as the name might sound. What it does do is require lenders to make additional efforts at loan modifications before they can foreclose during the next 90 days. If, after the modifications have been attempted without success, the lenders can then proceed with the foreclosure sale. But they do have to maintain proof of their pre-foreclosure modification efforts.

Bad News From the Senate

Yesterday, even though a Democratic-led Senate is in power, the Senate defeated a bill that would have allowed Bankruptcy judges order potential foreclosures into bankruptcy. Had it passed, this bill would have helped avoid many foreclosures. Bank supporters were able to convince enough Senators that doing this would drastically raise interest rates and harm the chances of a recovery for the economy.