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Your Bi-Weekly Newsflash from
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A quick dash of news you need to hear
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Foreclosed borrowers may get loans again
|  Will people who currently face foreclosure or short sales or who walk
away from their underwater properties ever be able to get financing to
buy another home down the road?
Banks haven't been very forthcoming on this issue. However,
knowledgeable observers of the situation say that while it may take some
time, the situation will right itself for most people.
Because bankrupt borrowers have eliminated their debts, they should
"constitute attractive fodder for mortgage lenders," says University of
Michigan law professor John Pottow, whose specialty is bankruptcy.
As home prices and the mortgage market stabilize, lenders will be
motivated to lend to people who previously had financial troubles if
they look like they can pay the next time around, says Alan Riegler, a
consultant with CCG Catalyst, which advises banks.
"The lender who figures out how to do more of this case-by-case stuff
cost-effectively is going to end up ahead of the pack," Riegler says.
Read on... |
PA's Emergency Loan Assistance Program: A model program for other states?
|  The jobless may not be getting much help from President Obama's loan
modification program, but those in Pennsylvania have another place to
turn.The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency offers the jobless
and those suffering financial hardship loans of up to $60,000 for as
long as three years to cover their monthly payments or take care of
their arrears. Created in 1983, the program boasts an 80% success rate
in preventing foreclosures. "If you allow people some time to find a job, they can keep their
home, which saves their family, their neighborhood and their
communities," said Brian Hudson, the agency's executive director. The
emergency mortgage assistance program, which is funded by the state and
borrowers' repayments, has come into the spotlight in recent weeks as
the president searches for a way to help the unemployed stay in their
homes. The administration late last month announced a $1.5 billion
initiative that gives money to the states hardest hit by the mortgage
crisis: Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada. The effort
calls for the states' housing authorities to assist the jobless and
those who are underwater -- meaning they owe far more than their homes
are worth. Already, officials in Nevada, California and Florida
have been in touch with Hudson to learn how to replicate Pennsylvania's
program, which has distributed $450 million on behalf of 43,000
homeowners since inception. Similar efforts also exist in Delaware,
North Carolina and Massachusetts.
Click here to read how the program works.
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FL Lawmaker is working to improve loan
modifications
A key lawmaker says he is working with banks, regulators and the Obama
administration on ways to boost the government's struggling foreclosure
prevention effort.
Rep. Barney Frank, D.-Mass, said he is in talks with several major
lenders in an effort to remove a key obstacle: lenders who hold second
mortgages like home equity loans. Those loans, in many cases, are now
worthless, but banks are reluctant to release their claims.
Those lenders can block mortgage modifications that reduce the total
loan amount owed, even in cases where lenders that have senior claims
want to do so.
"Many investors have told us that they're ready to get something instead
of nothing," Frank told a crowd of minority real estate agents. Read on...I hope you enjoyed this newsletter.
Sincerely Yours, Michael C. Blickensderfer, Esq.
This newsletter is not meant to substitute for legal advice. If you have a legal question, please contact our office and speak with an attorney. This newsletter is not an agreement for representation. If you would like to hire an attorney, please contact our offices to learn more.
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