Now There Is Mortgage Help for Unemployed Homeowners

Now There Is Mortgage Help for Unemployed Homeowners


There has been a lot of press regarding programs to help struggling
homeowners stay in their homes. The Home Affordable Mortgage Program is
just one avenue to avoid possible foreclosure. Up until this point,
however, homeowners could only get assistance if the situation that put
them in financial distress in the first place had been resolved.
Unfortunately, this left people who were victims of the declining job
market without options for aid. Now unemployed homeowners in 18 states
can also get the help they need.The federal government realized that some states throughout the
country were worse off than others and established the Hardest Hit Fund
in February 2010. States exhibiting a greater than 20% decline in home
prices since the downward spiral of the housing market or states
struggling with unemployment rates at or above the national average were
designated to receive funds. Eighteen states were designated to receive
funds: Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,
Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, North
Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee.President Obama’s Hardest Hit Fund was established over a year ago
and was specifically intended to help homeowners that were out of work.
Depending on the state you live in, unemployed homeowners can receive up
to $3,000 a month to pay their mortgage, up to a maximum of 36 months.
The rules and guidelines vary in each state.Although the federal government provided each designated state with
anywhere from 20 million to almost 2 billion dollars as part of this
program, states have been slow to roll the program out. This is due, in
part, to each state being given the flexibility to create state specific
guidelines for assistance. The government felt this was the most
effective way for each state to tailor the program to best meet the
needs of their specific economic situation.
The 32 states that were not included in the Hardest Hit Fund were
left to take care of themselves. Or, so they thought. The Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) program has stated they will help any state not
covered by Obama’s program that has a high foreclosure rate. HUD’s plan
is to make accessible no interest loans for emergency mortgage relief.
http://www.stockmarketsreview.com/realestate/2011/03/25/now-there-is-mortgage-help-for-unemployed-homeowners/

This 18 state rule makes no sense at all. If you lost your job and are about to lose your house because of it. What does it matter how the housing market fairs in your area. Just because the foreclosure rate may not be as high in my state, does not mean I am able to sell my house to get out from under it.
Even though HUD is trying to help with a no interest loan, how on earth are we ever gonna be able to pay it back?

Another bureaucratic nightmare.....yet the alternative (not having the program at all) is worse. The Repub-dominated House voted recently to cancel the program.....but the cancellation won't get 60 votes in the Senate. Plus now the states now have the programs up & running so the states would be ticked off if the program suddenly disappeared.

The bill became law in Feb. 2010 & is finally established Mar. 2011?? Yet those tax cuts for the rich went into effect within a month.....

http://www.ncsha.org/advocacy-issues/hardest-hit-foreclosure-initiative

Good info on that site.