Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Distressed Homeowners, More Help Is On The Way



Do you own a home, one you have been struggling with making the payments on? Have you given up hope of keeping your home, and stopped making your mortgage payments? Is it your wish to be able to stay in your home, if only the payments on it were more affordable?


Homeowners there are rays of sunshine in all the gloom in the housing market. A streamlined approach is being rolled out to help distressed homeowners wanting to stay in their homes. By December 15, 2008, servicers of loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - this is roughly 58% of ALL the outstanding mortgages in the housing market, Folks! - will be working harder than ever to help struggling homeowners most at risk of losing their homes through foreclosure. These are the homeowners who have missed 3 or more consecutive monthly mortgage payments. If this is you, call your lender and find out if a Note Modification is available to you - even if you have tried this before.

Citi announced they have a separate program in place to aid their own struggling homeowners, a program that is at least as aggressive as the one Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be following. So, if you are making your mortgage payments to Citi, and are falling behind, call them to see if a Note Modification is available to you - even if you have this tried before.


These Note Modification plans are designed to quickly find a solution to get your mortgage payments to roughly 38% of your gross monthly income (before taxes; after business expenses if you are self-employed). You do not need to pay anyone to do this for you. You can and should do it yourself. Banks and Mortgage Companies are looking at several reasonable avenues to help accomplish stemming the foreclosures by making mortgage payments affordable for those who qualify.


This does not mean qualifying by traditional means! It means reducing interest rates, fixing interest rates, lengthening loan terms, forgiving principal and/or interest. They are looking for ways that you may sustainably continue to live in your home by making the payments affordable. They expect you to have low credit scores with the financial hardship you are experiencing.


Folks - are you picking up on the common threads here? There may be several options available to help you and Stay in touch with your lender, no matter what your circumstances are - struggling, starting to fall behind or way behind. If you don't contact them, you may miss out on an opportunity that would help you to stay in your home. Isn't that the best solution for everyone?



Have questions? Go to Frequently Asked Questions on this topic.



See you out there!



Karen Cooper - OR/CA Mortgage Consultant - www.Quality4Loans.com

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