The city of Philadelphia has been containing bank owned foreclosure auctions relatively well, as it has launched a lot of programs with help from nonprofits and business organizations to curb the effects of the nationwide housing crisis.
Its foreclosure prevention program that has saved over 43,000 residential units in the Philadelphia area from becoming bank REO homes for sale was even made a model for the national foreclosure rescue program included in the Financial Reform Act, which was already passed by the Senate.
Under the proposed national program, unemployed homeowners who pass certain requirements will be granted a loan that they can use to pay their monthly home loan amortizations for up to 24 months. The loan limit is $50,000 and partial loan payments will be made to the Housing and Urban Development Department.
About $3 billion in funding has been proposed for the program and this will be sourced from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Of the 5.5 million homes at risk of getting listed for bank owned foreclosure auctions, a significant number are expected to get help from the new program.
Through the state Homeowner’s Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program, the total number of bank owned properties in Pennsylvania is being contained. A total of $236 million in home loans has been provided by the state through HEMAP to help jobless homeowners keep their homes. If the foreclosure prevention provision passes in the House and signed by President Obama, the inventory of Philadelphia bank owned properties will fall further.
It was Pennsylvania legislator Chaka Fattah who worked to include the provision in the financial reform bill. Advocates said that over 7 million houses have already been repossessed by lenders in the housing crisis, so the others in default because of job losses must be helped.
According to members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the provision for unemployed homeowners in the financial reform bill will significant slow down bank owned foreclosure auctions in many cities.
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Original Post: Philadelphia Handling Bank Owned Foreclosure Auctions Well on BankOwnedHome.net.
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