Plan to Help 9 Million Homeowners

Hi folks, I guess you probably heard the Obama administration's "Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan" phan. Here the two major components to the program.

• Refinance Program to assists those responsible homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments. You can refinance up to 105% of LTV (Loan to Value). Unfortunately this program will not help many people in my market, especially in the Bay Area, since values are down in half in the last 24 months. In San Jose the house is worth $400,000 and they owe $600,000+.
  
• Modification Program to assist those homeowners who are already behind in their mortgage payments or are facing foreclosure. The loan can modify by:
  - Reduce the Interest Rate
  - Increase the length of the term period of the loan - Reduce the Principle Amount.

To see more details, "read this full guideline"

How to Determine Who Owns Your Mortgage

When trying to contact your lender to work out a payment plan or some other deal, knowing who owns your mortgage can be very helpful. Unfortunately finding out is not as easy as it sounds since more often your mortgage lender is not the one who owns your mortgage. I have my mortgage with Wellsfargo bank, as it turned out, the record shows that Freddie Mac is the owner of my mortgage and Wellsfargo as an investor.

Chances are your loan is backed by either Fannie Mae or Feddie Mac. You can try the following links to check out if your loan is with these two agencies Fannie Mae's Weblink and Feddie Mac's Weblink. You can also call 1-800-7FANNIE and 1-800-FREDDIE.

If you have an FHA loan, contact FHA’s National Servicing Center to determine who owns your mortgage: (800) CALL- FHA or send an email to hsg-lossmit@hud.gov.

One of the most important steps to saving your home from foreclosure is to get in touch with your lender immediately. Better yet, hire a qualified attorney with experience in foreclosures and loan modifications to contact your lender on your behalf, so you have legal representation on your side.

Real Estate Outlook under Obama Administration

As Barack Obama became the 44th president this afternoon, we can expect major changes in the real estate market. The Obama administration wants to end the foreclosure epidemics through ambitious new programs designed to rework the terms of hundreds of thousands of mortgages that are now unaffordable. Versions of that program might include:

• principal write-downs, outright reductions in home owners' mortgage balances, and guarantees to lenders in the event borrowers re-default.
• immediate ban on foreclosure actions for three months, and is certain to enact bankruptcy reform legislation allowing judges to modify mortgage terms to forestall foreclosures.

If the new administration can successfully reduce the numbers of new foreclosures, there's an excellent chance that the current combination of low prices and record low mortgage rates can have the effect to increase new sales.