Home Affordable Report Card and Additional Modifications
By: Alison Paoli, Zillow PR Specialist | May 14, 2009
We’ve asked readers to tell us if they have found success with Home Affordable Refinance or Home Affordable Modification, two plans devloped as part of the Obama Administration’s “Making Home Affordable” program aimed at at-risk homeowners who are underwater or unable to keep up with their mortgage. The overwhelming consensus is “no.” In comments left in Zillow Advice or on the Zillow Blog, the experiences range from:
- Can’t get anyone on the phone to provide “real answers”
- Not sure what program they qualify for, if any
- Roadblocks when contacting current servicer
Even though we personally have not come across any positive stories about the Making Home Affordable plan (which we hope to soon!), the Obama Administration released a report card today on the program along with additional program modifications intended to help even more struggling homeowners. According to the report card:
Loan modifications:
- About 55,000 homeowners have been offered loan modifications
- At least 20,000 are already making modified payments
As for the refinancing portion of the Making Home Affordable plan, this piece is only available to borrowers with a Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae-backed mortgage. Fannie Mae reports it has received 51,000 applications for refinancing; Freddie Mac did not report its numbers.
For homeowners who do not qualify under either refinancing or loan modification in the Home Affordable plan, there may now be other options. The administration just announced that is expanding the program to help those who are ineligible for any of the programs.
Here are two additions to the expanded Make Home Affordable program, according to USA Today:
1. Foreclosure alternatives. Homeowners unable to qualify for a modification will see a more streamlined process for pursuing short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosures, which transfer a home back to the lender. The goal is to help homeowners avoid a foreclosure that could lead to a severe hit on their credit score.
A short sale is when a home is sold for less than the amount of its remaining mortgage, but lenders agree to consider the debt paid. Lenders would be eligible to receive a federal financial incentive of up to $1,000 if they permit a home to be sold via short sale.
2. Protections for homeowners whose home value has fallen. Under a $10 billion program, new incentives will be provided to lenders to help them make modifications in areas undergoing steep drops in home prices. These incentives will help cover lenders’ financial loss.
“If a modification is not possible, we are also announcing steps to encourage the quick private sale or voluntary transfer of property, which will save homeowners money and protect their financial future,” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said at a press conference.
So will this help, we sure hope so. If you or someone you know has found success, please let us know, we’d love to hear your story!
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- Categories: Real Estate, Refinance
Comments
16 Comments so far
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Turkish Property Market on May 14, 2009 8:49 pm
Thanks for this great information. Obama really implements new things in his country, especially for the homeowners who will avoid foreclosures. Great job!
Loan modification on May 15, 2009 1:30 am
The Federal Loan Modification program is aimed at helping people navigate the complicated system and offer guidelines. It’s not that easy to figure out what to do though. Great article.
Jason Lauder on May 15, 2009 8:15 am
Since the new plan was recently rolled to brokers, I have had great success with the program. I was able to re-active 8 to 10 loans that would have been dead other wise. Some of the loans under the home affordable refinance did not even require an appraisal to be done.
Bob Dobs on May 18, 2009 4:26 pm
Doesn’t sound like success yet. I would be pleased to see one example of success. That means a successful closing. Good luck everyone
Marie Castellanos on May 20, 2009 8:52 pm
I have not been successful in getting a modificacion, I have never been late, I can’t get a refinance because of falling house values. All I want is the bank to lower interest, an ARM foating free is a very dangerous thing, with potential harm. Wachovia bank, is not helping. I don’t understand all the noise about getting help, no one is listening and banks don’t seem to care, no wonder there are so many foreclosures!
j on May 21, 2009 5:40 am
Been at this since Sept 08. Wells Fargo has been no help. Our home has dropped 30% in value, lost job and entire portfolio. Wife and I are working 7 days a week to try to avoid losing home but need to get mortgage adjusted to the 31% ration the plan says it will do. We do qualify for the plan but have been pushed around like dogs for months now. On the brink of just walking away and starting a new life. Obama seems to speak well but banks don’t seem to care and don’t seem willing to help those suffering. We kept our home at 49 degrees this winter canceled our health and gave up everything to keep current on our mortgage. We have perfect credit and don’t see any reason to pay the bank anymore. They could care less about keeping people in homes. They caused this mess with their greed and now are reluctant to take credit and do the right thing. Gov’t is a joke and we have had enough.
Ben on May 25, 2009 4:45 pm
With all due respect J, you signed on the dotted line after reading the loan agreement. No one forced you into that loan with the adjustable rate and no one is keeping you from walking away now. Sure, there were some shady things going on and you were probobly lied to or at least had the facts mis-construed. Banks and lenders are not in this to help you though, they are in it for themselves and themselves only so quit blaming “them”, take the hit, and get your life back on track. “They” don’t care if you blame them as long as that mortgage check is coming every month.
david daniels on May 26, 2009 9:13 am
Ben with all due respect ….allot of people put there life savings down at respectable price but with all the foreclosures the bottom is endless ..i expect a new wave of foreclosures just as big as the last one … this country is loosing jobs at a rate so fast … that it is going to change this country ..people have lost faith in banks, government ,greed runs this country ..dems & reps are owned by banks ..crazy…we bail them out they use the same money to buy government reps and dems ..obama..he will not do anything …it is just talk ..he is a good talker ..
Ben on May 26, 2009 6:55 pm
You are right David and I apologize to J. I missed where he had lost his job. I have no sympathy for those who bought at the peak, with adjustable loans to purchase homes that were way out of their reach. I had the same opportunity but passed and rented, now waiting on the sidelines as prices continue to move down (Yet still way above where they should be here in SoCal).
For those that did all the right things but due to the economy, have lost their job, I have nothing but sympathy. I hope I am never in that situation. I am in full agreement with you over the governments way of handling this. I am just a simple blue collar worker and can only hope they know better than I do what we need. I won’t hold my breath though.
david daniels on May 27, 2009 2:21 pm
my hope is that they can stem the bleeding …i am with you on the flippers ”but my heart goes out to the poor soul who thought he or she was making a dream come true … if we cant help people out but we can dump billions of tax dollars over seas and shifty wall street bankers …what kind of country is this ..remember Thomas Jefferson said that the country ran by a central bank and corporations would be the end of the republic …he was almost assassinated by British central bank ,,that’s what separated us from them …..
Jerry Powers on June 17, 2009 8:59 am
If you look closely at the numbers and calculate them out there is no way that the government program is going to help anywhere near 5 to 9 million homeowners avoid foreclosure. This is just another example of the government’s Hope for Homeowners program that helped a grand total of 2 homeowners in 6 months! So many people don’t qualify for the government’s program that it isn’t really helping.
I just read on the CNN Money website yesterday where dozens of homeowners reported their results of dealing directly with the lenders. In every case but 2 the results were non-existent! Lenders are not really helping out either. They are too overloaded to really help or care and I would also guess that the process is too complicated for homeowners to attempt a refinance or loan modification without some sort of help. However, when the president, Geithner, and others from the government get on TV and tell the public that anyone else trying to help out, except the government, is a scam artist! It’s no wonder homeowners are not getting positive results. They are left to navigate the complexities of a refinance or loan modification all to themselves. The homeowners have to realize that the lenders are looking out for their best interest and homeowners without some sort of guidance is going to fall victim to the lender’s overwhelming desire to just help themselves.
jacklewitz on June 18, 2009 5:37 am
Your article has confirmed the number of people who are being helped with the HAMP. I recently read the 27 page plan and have some concerns. First the plan does not require a Principal reduction on the mortgage so a homeowner may have a Forbearance amount to pay at the end of loan or when they homeowner decides to sell. What happens when the home value does not equal that forbearance amount? Is there an unsecured debt owed to the bank until the unpaid balance is paid in full? Second what is NPV model being used by the plan that is the ultimate decision in accepting or denying a modification for a homeowner? I have asked to see this model but it is only for servicers. Great transparancy….
San Diego Luxury Homes on July 7, 2009 9:46 pm
This Obama plan definitely was not intended to help owners of properties in San Diego, or in California generally. The median price range of homes in San Diego was above the Fannie/Freddie limits for all or most of the 2000’s. No one got FHA financing for buying a home in San Diego because it wasn’t available. This plan was pretty clearly aimed at the heartland of the United States, the failing industrial cities like Detroit perhaps. But certainly not California, Florida, Nevada, Washington D.C., or even Arizona… the areas that needed help the most.
elizabeth fox on July 24, 2009 12:15 pm
Dear Presidnet Obama,
PPPLLLLEEEEAAASSSSEEE STOP TRYING TO HELP! you are killing us…dragging this thing out beyond belief…quit giving the banks and the car dealership and the “programs and the wetland rodents $$$$. If you absolutely must give out the cash then for heaven’s sake give it DIRECTLY to the people! This is insane, have we not learned from “relief” efforts over the years that building more controls and systems to get the relief to the people only lines the pockets of whoever is running the controls and systems? Just let us hit the bottom so hard that we have a chnace of BOUNCING…the way it is now we will never get back up.
chris elkins on November 18, 2009 5:48 pm
I tried since April to get a modification. Us bank offered me $200.00 per month reduction of a 1300.00 paymnent which was the amount of my escrow. I would then have to come up with enough to make up the escrow. I refused the offer.
oliver-buytoletmortgages on November 29, 2009 5:11 am
Lets hope the loan modifications do the trick.