August 11th, 2009 — Mortgage Loans, Mortgage News
One plan making the rounds in D.C. is Right to Rent: a program, first floated some two years ago by liberal think-tanker Dean Baker that would allow folks who have lost their home to foreclosure to continue living in the home as a renter.
As Baker sees it, giving the person facing foreclosure the right to rent their home at a market rate for a long stretch, i.e. five to 10 years is a win-win. This way the landlord, i.e. investor or bank gets market rental income, the homeowner isn’t uprooted, property values aren’t further depressed by foreclosure fire sales, and taxpayers aren’t asked to bail out lender or borrower.
In mid-July a Treasury official confirmed the administration is mulling the idea. The House has supplied traction too, recently passing the Neighborhood Preservation Act, which would permit FDIC-insured banks to lease back homes to folks it has foreclosed on. Did you catch that artful spin? This isn’t solely about helping the foreclosed; it’s about protecting your neighboring home’s value.
Read a detailed article at CNN Money
August 9th, 2009 — Mortgage News
Actress Angela Logan after playing many roles off-stage to earn a living had done great with mortgage apple cakes. It was when she fell into foreclosure on her Teaneck, New Jersey, home.
It was a flash of desperation,” Logan said. “I thought, ‘Wow. We could sell these cakes, they’re so good.’ ”
Logan named her delicacy Mortgage Apple Cake and determined to sell 100 in 10 days at $40 each to meet a mortgage payment, pay off bills and qualify for a federal program that could lower her monthly payments. The only marketing she did was to advertise the cake to everyone she knew, including her classmates.
“The hardest part was saying, ‘Can you buy my cakes, this is my problem,’ because admitting to your friends that you’re in foreclosure, and that you need their help, that’s a hard thing to say,” Logan said. She figures she’s baked about 200 cakes, i.e. double her goal. And since qualifying for the federal Make Home Affordable program, her monthly mortgage payment is dropping by nearly 20 percent
Other Americans facing a financial crisis can also find creative answers to their cash crunch, Logan says.
Many hobbies have the potential to produce extra cash: teaching a skill like playing an instrument or speaking a foreign language; home repairs for those who are handy; even dog-walking or pet-sitting for animal lovers. So try out something new if you’re also facing financial situation like Logan. Be creative and do your best, you’ll find out a way!
July 29th, 2009 — Mortgage Loans, Mortgage News
Aggravated with the slow development of President Obama’s housing-rescue plan, administration officials met the mortgage executives Tuesday and pushed them to pick up a good tempo of loan modifications for troubled borrowers.
The meeting at the Treasury Department observed the officials calling on mortgage-servicing companies more than doubles the number of borrowers getting help under the foreclosure-prevention plan by November 1.
The administration’s target is 500,000 trial modifications, in which borrowers normally make three months of reduced payments before they can qualify for a full modification. So far, more than 200,000 trial modifications are in progress. Administration officials have said the plan could eventually help three million to four million homeowners.
Officials from 25 mortgage-servicing companies, including Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., were summoned to the meeting to discuss ways to advance the plan, which was announced with fanfare in February. The plan provides financial incentives for mortgage servicers and investors to reduce loan payments to affordable levels.
