Chance Gates' Blog

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On May 18, 2011, the Treasury Department released an update to the Making Home Affordable Program (MHA) that becomes effective September 1, 2011. The update directs participating servicers with a participation cap of $75,000,000 or more to establish and implement a process through which borrowers that are potentially eligible for HAMP, Home Affordable Unemployment Program (UP) or Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA) are assigned a relationship manager. The relationship manager will serve as the homeowner’s single point of contact and will promote compliance with MHA program requirements and timelines between all parties until all available home retention and non-foreclosure liquidation options have been exhausted. No later than the effective date of this Supplemental Directive, the servicer must assign a relationship manager to a delinquent borrower or a borrower who requests consideration under imminent default immediately upon the successful contact with the homeowner and the determination that the servicer will consider the homeowner for HAMP, UP or HAFA. Relationship managers must provide written notice to the borrower within five business days of the assignment, which must include a toll-free telephone number and at least one other method by which the borrower may directly contact the relationship manager, as well as the preferred means by which documents should be delivered by the borrower to the servicer. This update does not apply to loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Additional information on the MHA updates can be found in Supplemental Directive 11-04.

Making Home Affordable Supplemental Directive 11-04

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As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.comhttp://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable For a free copy of my report   “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page http://chancegates.com/about and ask for more information on preventing foreclosures. or   to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney

http://www.realtor.org/government_affairs/gapublic/making_home_affordable_servicer

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What Should You Do If You Think a Servicer Isn’t Following the Making Home Affordable Program Guidelines

Members have called NAR asking what to do if they think that servicers are not following the guidelines for the Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable Program for modifying eligible mortgages and refinancing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages. Here are the recommended steps to take:

1) First, go to www.makinghomeaffordable.gov, the official Treasury website for the Making Home Affordable Program. At the site, determine whether the loan is owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac by clicking “Loan Look Up” on the ribbon on the top of the home page. Only the holder of the loan is allowed to perform this , so do in the presence of your client or after obtaining their written permission.

If the loan is a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan, call (1) 1-800-7Fannie or (1) 1-800-Freddie, as appropriate, describing the specific inconsistency. Do this whether the issue relates to the refinancing or the loan modification program.
2) Next, if the loan is not owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac you can determine if the servicer is participating in the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) by going to the website and clicking “Contact Your Mortgage Servicer” on the top ribbon. To date, 16 servicers are participating, covering more than 80% of all mortgages.

If the servicer is participating, the first step is to contact the servicer using the phone number or email address listed on the site so you can appeal the issue to a supervisor. Be sure to identify the specific provision of the guidance that you believe is not being followed. If the supervisor cannot or will not correct the problem, call 1-800-7Fannie to report the disagreement. Fannie is administering the program for the Treasury Department and will work to resolve the issue.

Making Home Affordable Program Website (consumer friendly)
www.MakingHomeAffordable.gov

Site for Detailed Information on Making Home Affordable and Other Government Programs
www.FinancialStability.gov

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.comhttp://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable For a free copy of my blog titled  “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page http://chancegates.com/about and ask for more information on preventing foreclosures. or   to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

RISMEDIA, August 13, 2010—Through the existing Housing Finance Agency (HFA) Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets (the Hardest Hit Fund), the U.S. Department of the Treasury will make $2 billion of additional assistance available for HFA programs for homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments due to unemployment. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will soon launch a complementary $1 billion Emergency Homeowners Loan Program to provide assistance—for up to 24 months—to homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure and have experienced a substantial reduction in income due to involuntary unemployment, underemployment, or a medical condition.

“We remain committed to helping struggling homeowners, and this program will provide additional assistance to states hit hardest by unemployment,” said Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Herb Allison. “This is part of the Administration’s comprehensive housing policy that has helped to stabilize a fragile housing market and allows responsible homeowners the chance to reduce their monthly mortgage payments to affordable levels.”

“HUD’s new Emergency Homeowner Loan Program will build on Treasury’s Hardest Hit initiative by targeting assistance to struggling unemployed homeowners in other hard hit areas to help them avoid preventable foreclosures,” said Bill Apgar, HUD senior advisor for Mortgage Finance. “Together, these initiatives represent a combined $3 billion investment that will ultimately impact a broad group of struggling borrowers across the country and in doing so further contribute to the Administration’s efforts to stabilize housing markets and communities across the country.”

Hardest Hit Fund
President Obama first announced the Hardest Hit Fund in February 2010 to allow states hit hard by the economic downturn flexibility in determining how to design and implement programs to meet the local challenges homeowners in their state are facing.

Under the additional assistance, states eligible to receive support have all experienced an unemployment rate at or above the national average over the past 12 months. Each state will use the funds for targeted unemployment programs that provide temporary assistance to eligible homeowners to help them pay their mortgage while they seek re-employment, additional employment or undertake job training.

States that have already benefited from previously announced assistance under the Hardest Hit Fund may use these additional resources to support the unemployment programs previously approved by Treasury or they may opt to implement a new unemployment program. States that do not currently have Hardest Hit Fund unemployment programs must submit proposals to Treasury by September 1, 2010 that, within established guidelines, meet the distinct needs of their state.

The states eligible to receive funds through this additional assistance, along with allocations based on their population sizes include:

Alabama – $60,672,471
California – $476,257,070
Florida – $238,864,755
Georgia – $126,650,987
Illinois – $166,352,726
Indiana – $82,762,859
Kentucky – $55,588,050
Michigan – $128,461,559
Mississippi – $38,036,950
Nevada – $34,056,581
New Jersey – $112,200,638
North Carolina – $120,874,221
Ohio – $148,728,864
Oregon – $49,294,215
Rhode Island – $13,570,770
South Carolina – $58,772,347
Tennessee – $81,128,260
Washington, D.C. – $7,726,678

HUD Emergency Homeowners Loan Program
This new program will complement Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund by providing assistance to homeowners in hard hit local areas that may not be included in the hardest hit target states. These areas are still being determined.

The program will work through a variety of state and non-profit entities and will offer a declining balance, deferred payment “bridge loan” (zero percent interest, non-recourse, subordinate loan) for up to $50,000 to assist eligible borrowers with payments on their mortgage principal, interest, mortgage insurance, taxes and hazard insurance for up to 24 months.

Under the program, eligible borrowers must:

1. Be at least three months delinquent in their payments and have a reasonable likelihood of being able to resume repayment of their mortgage payments and related housing expenses within two years;

2. Have a mortgage property that is the principal residence of the borrower, and eligible borrowers may not own a second home;

3. Demonstrate a good payment record prior to the event that produced the reduction of income.

HUD will announce additional details, including the targeted communities and other program specifics when the program is officially launched in the coming weeks.

For more information, visit www.hud.gov.

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog.  You can email me @  chance at ballard-company.com or http://www.myspace.com/chancegates