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Gainesville Homeowners - Have an FHA Loan - Help on the Way

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Anson Properties 3086504
Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) secretary, Shaun Donovan, announced that the agency will be selling off distressed mortgages in bulk. This move attempts to prevent foreclosure for thousands of homeowners and shed those seriously delinquent home loans.

Every time a new announcement comes from any administration it is usually glossed over with "HELP", but not sure of the impact. So far programs such as HAMP and HAFA, though great in theory, rarely work out for homeowners.

In line with this, the housing administration aims to sell 5,000 mortgages each quarter beginning in September of 2012.

The housing bubble burdened the agency with over 700,000 seriously delinquent mortgages which mostly originated from the years 2007 through 2009. There are regulations on how deeply these loans can be modified for as long as they are backed by the agency. My question is how many people will this really save? Remains to be seen. I have seen so many people get their hopes up in trying out these programs only to be discouraged because the lenders representatives do not even understand them! There are many Gainesville Short Sales that have come about from these programs not working for the homeowner.

Donovan supported debt reduction for underwater homeowners and helped realize the $25 billion foreclosure-abuse settlement with the nation’s largest banks, which includes the homeowner debt relief. FHA-insured loans are technically eligible for debt reduction, but only few loans are expected to reduce since banks usually prioritize loans not insured by the agency. Doing the math it sounds as if it will help a very small percentage of distressed homeowners going through a Gainesville Short Sale

Donovan, in his statement at the Clinton Global Initiative in Chicago, said that selling these loans could create a backdoor route to debt reduction and those investors who buy them would have greater leeway to reduce the principal loan or offer rent-to-own arrangements and other means of making the mortgage more affordable to homeowners.

Borrowers whose loans are sold will soon receive calls that their loan balance will be dramatically reduced or they will be offered with a set of options that will reduce their monthly mortgage dues. This is probably the best news that homeowners has ever heard of. Well it takes 1 to 3 years to complete a loan modification for most to only to be let down.

This program qualifies loans that are more than 6 months delinquent that went through FHA’s available foreclosure prevention programs; their loan servicers must have started the foreclosure process, and the borrower must not have filed a bankruptcy. Note owners would have to halt foreclosure proceedings for at least 6 months and should agree not to sell half the properties for at least 3 years.

To mobilize the program, FHA will have to sell the loans at deep discounts. At present, the agency receives only 36 cents on the dollar for a foreclosed home. So the agency may be able to come up with a price offer that is attractive enough for investors without losing money. The pilot version of the program sold more than 2,000 distressed loans. But there has been no confirmation on how much the sales had yielded.

Carrington Mortgage Holdings’ executive VP, Rick Sharga, disclosed that investors would typically pay 40 to 60 cents on the dollar for seriously delinquent loans, but this depends on the local market and whether it is a judicial foreclosure.

FHA emphasized its potential to help homeowners who are behind their payments and those whose property values are threatened by neighborhood foreclosures.

The agency extends its efforts in refinancing loans with lower interest rates to borrowers who are current on their mortgage payments. Effective June 11, 2012, according to FHA, homeowners with FHA backed loans will save an average of $1,000 a year when they refinance.

Other Articles to Read:

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Short Sale Process - What to Expect

Short Sale Top 10 Questions

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Randy Ostrander
Lake and Lodge Realty LLC - Big Rapids, MI
Real Estate Broker, Serving Big Rapids and West Central MI

Good morning Stephanie. Any help is a step in the right direction. Seems like the housing market has took hit after hit and reief in any form is welcome.

Jun 28, 2012 10:47 PM
Bas Panch
SCV Home Buyer - Valencia, CA

Hi Stephanie,

This is good news, and I agree, any form of help is always welcome. Keep up the good work as a top Gainesville short sale agent!

Jun 29, 2012 01:02 PM