As of this writing it's impossible to avoid hearing something about the 2016 presidential election wherever you go. It's on television, all over the web, and everyone is talking about it. Of all the topics the candidates have addressed in countless debates, rallies, and interviews, they never seem to talk about foreclosure and the housing market. Why?
Is it because foreclosure isn't a problem very many people are dealing with anymore? Hardly.
Home values have been rising and many borrowers are using the equity that's helped to give them to take money out of their homes with cash-out refinances. But they're choosing to take out much less than they could. People seem to have learned how drastically home values can drop and erase their equity and then some, and they don't want to be stuck in that situation ever again.
Home equity is how much more your home is worth than what you owe on it. Negative equity, also called being underwater or upside down, means you owe more on your mortgage loan than the home is worth. The value of a home changes based on things like supply and demand for real estate and the health of the economy.
Obviously everyone wants equity in their home. If you have enough, you have the option of selling your home for a profit. Negative equity is bad and most homeowners never anticipated having it.
If you need help with your mortgage, there are government programs out there that may help you. But when it's all new to you, the programs can sound like an alphabet soup of acronyms that confuse and frustrate. For example, you may be able to use HARP or MHAs HAMP, but your RMA is likely to be denied if you DIY. All those letters leave me SMH (shaking my head), but before you LOL, get the 411 on one more.
HAFA, the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, is meant to help borrowers who are not able to keep their home with a HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) or other modification. Mortgage loan modifications are a great option for borrowers who have the income to afford their home with a reduced payment.
If you need help with your mortgage, you're not alone. Millions of Americans have experienced hardships caused by factors beyond their control that made their mortgage payment unaffordable.
If that's happened to you, there is assistance available that can help you keep your home and avoid foreclosure. But to get that assistance, you'll need to complete a Request for Mortgage Assistance.
Anyone who drives a car has noticed that gas prices are dramatically lower than they've been in years due to lower oil prices. While we're all happy that filling up our tanks is easier on the wallet, there is a down side: cheap oil can cause people who make a living in the oil industry to lose their jobs, and their homes to foreclosure.
When the price of oil plunges, companies in the oil business or businesses that service or support them, lay off some workers or pay them less. Those workers are more likely to be unable to afford their mortgages payments and fall into foreclosure. The oil business is employs a lot of people, so when it suffers, a lot of workers can suffer.
Some problems in life are too tough to handle on your own. They're too complex and are outside of your areas of expertise. To address those problems you have to get help from someone who understands your issues from the inside out. Nowhere is that more true than for homeowners facing foreclosure.
But how do you even know what type of help you need, what options to pursue, and who to turn to? Many do it by trial and error...
Goldman Sachs recently announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to pay $5.1 billion to settle an investigation by the government into its activities involving residential mortgage-backed securities in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.
$1.8 billion of the money is supposed to go to providing consumer relief. Goldman's press release states:
"The consumer relief will be in the form of principal forgiveness for underwater homeowners and distressed borrowers; financing for construction, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable housing; and support for debt restructuring, foreclosure prevention and housing quality improvement programs, as well as land banks.”
If you're like many homeowners fighting foreclosure, you may have wondered if you can sue your mortgage lender. After all, it's been proven that the banks have lied, forged documents, deceived people in desperate need of help, and broken countless laws. It's happened with loan origination, servicing, and in the foreclosure process. If you can't sue for that, then what in the world can you sue for?
Technically speaking, you can sue. You can pretty much sue anyone for anything. All you need is the money to pay the attorney's fees. The question is whether you should. Is it worth the considerable time, effort, and expense? Every situation is different, so the answer will have to be decided on a case-by-case basis, but there are some things everyone should look into before they decide to file a lawsuit against their mortgage lender.
If you've never heard of force-placed insurance, consider yourself lucky. If everything goes perfectly with your home and mortgage, there's a lot you'll never hear much about, like default, deficiency judgment, request for modification assistance, or deed in lieu of foreclosure. But things don't always go perfectly, and a lot of things that used to be rare are more common now because of the housing market crash and recession.
Force-placed insurance (also called creditor-placed or lender placed) is an insurance policy a lender or loan servicer places on a property when the owners' insurance is insufficient or nonexistent. The lender does this not to protect your investment, but theirs. Without insurance, a fire, flood, or accident could cause damage to or destroy the property, and it wouldn't be covered. A home is worth too much, and insurance is required, so the lender will get coverage if you don't.
Amerihope Alliance Legal Services is a leading loan modification and foreclosure defense law firm with attorneys licensed in 5 states. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners fight back and keep their homes.
Our goal is to provide valuable information to help homeowners who are trying to obtain a loan modification or to stop foreclosure. You may schedule a free consultation at any time.
