Though the rescission has ended, it has been found that the situation in the real estate market has not improved much. It has been noticed that home values have dropped so low that the loan amount is more than the price of the property. Around 11.2 million homes which are underwater and 2.3 million homes are close to slipping underwater. California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida are some of the worst affected states.
Underwater or sunk cost mortgages are more stressful to those who are unemployed. It has to be noted here that unemployment has increased by 10% compared to the last year. No equity and loss of job has disqualified most of the borrowers from receiving refinance or loan modification. Thus, most of the borrowers are on the verge of losing their homes in foreclosure.
However, the Obama administration is coming up with various mortgage assistance programs to help borrowers who are underwater. Let's take a look at some of the option:
- $112M mortgage assistance to New Jersey: A few days back, the Obama administration had given $112 million to New Jersey as mortgage assistance. The money will be used by the state in order to design a program which will help the unemployed homeowners stay in their homes while searching for work.
- $3 billion assistance for jobless homeowners: Apart from $112M assistance to New Jersey, the Obama administration has also offered $3 billion to those homeowners who are suffering due to unemployment and are unable to pay their mortgage payments. Unemployed people of around 17 states will receive help from this assistance. Homeowners who are at the risk of foreclosure would get interest-free loans save their property.
- $1.5 billion mortgage assistance for 5 states: Obama administration has announced $1.5 billion assistance to unemployed homeowners in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada. The high unemployment rates and server decline in property prices are two major reasons why the government has short-listed these 5 states for this special assistance. Check out the following page for more information: http://www.mortgagefit.com/news/5states-loanassistance.html .
- Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) short sale: To stop the rising number of foreclosure, the government has introduced HAFA program. This program offers incentives to lenders so that they promote short sale rather than foreclosure. The best part of this program is that, unlike a regular short sale, the lender will not be able to claim deficiency judgment under the HAFA program.
If borrowers are facing hardship in paying off their mortgages, they should contact their lenders immediately and check out if they can qualify for any of these above mentioned assistance. If the borrowers qualify for any one of these, it would be easier for them to avoid foreclosure.