BOSTON HOMES BLOG

December data are down

— By: Marilyn Jackson

December home sales data reflect a slow market with soft prices, according to Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of the Warren Group, which publishes Banker & Tradesman. Its report was released Jan. 24. Home sales of single-family homes across the state dropped 5 percent in December in a year-over-year comparison, while condo sales dropped 15.75 [...]

City collects $9.4 million from non-profits

— By: Marilyn Jackson

The city has collected $9.4 million from non-profit, tax-exempt organizations for the first half of fiscal year 2012, a 24 percent increase from fiscal year 2011, Mayor Thomas M. Menino stated in a press release Friday. The city had requested $10.8 million. Guidelines for the PILOT or payment in lieu of taxes program were revised [...]

— By: Linda Goodspeed

More details about mortgage assistance

I received more e-mails about the Obama administration’s new mortgage assistance program for unemployed workers. They want to know how they can apply for this assistance. 

To recap: unemployed borrowers can receive up to six months of temporary assistance to help cover their mortgage payments. The assistance covers any amount of the mortgage payment over 31 percent of the borrower’s monthly income.

Borrowers must live in the home as their primary residence, provide proof that they are receiving unemployment benefits and have a mortgage amount of less than $729,000. They cannot be more than 90 days delinquent on the loan.

You must apply for the assistance through your lender. Not all lenders are participating, but many of the major ones are. If you are unemployed and receiving unemployment benefits, by all means check with your lender.

Even if your lender is not participating in the new Obama program, you may be able to work out some kind of temporary payment plan while you are unemployed. Contacting your lender should always be your first step whenever your financial situation changes and/or you begin having difficulty making your mortgage payments. 

Q:

We applied for a loan modification over a year ago when my husband lost his job and we had a new baby. It’s been over a year and we still have not heard anything. I don’t know how to proceed or what other resources are available to us. 

A:

Your experience is not surprising. Only about 170,000 homeowners have received permanent loan modifications. It is truly shameful.

The Obama administration announced some new guidelines for loan modifications earlier this spring in the hopes of stimulating more of them.

The problem is, modifications are done at the discretion of lenders. You have to work through your lender. The feds are providing more incentives for lenders to do them. For example, lenders are being encouraged to reduce the mortgage principal for borrowers with mortgage amounts more than 115 percent of the home’s value.

The writedown would occur over three years. If the lender reduces the loan amount by at least 10 percent, borrowers may be able to refinance the home into a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) backed loan, thus taking a risky loan off the lender’s hands. 

Many lenders have been dragging their feet on loan modifications. Hopefully, these new incentives from the federal government will stimulate more of them to do loan modifications.

Get back to your lender, and find out where your application is. You said your husband is unemployed. Lenders also are getting incentives from the feds to provide temporary mortgage assistance to borrowers receiving unemployment benefits.

Other resources: HOPE (Homeowner Preservation) program: 1-(888) 995-HOPE (4673), or online: www.Makinghomeaffordable.gov.

A local resource is the nonprofit Ensuring Stability through Action in our Communities (ESAC). ESAC provides housing counseling and advocacy. Counselors are extremely kind and helpful. You can reach ESAC at: (617) 524-2555

 

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