NEW HUD HOME BUYERS VIDEO: SHOPPING FOR YOUR HOME
New HUD Home Buyer’s Video Clip: Shopping For Your Home
The Department of Housing and Unban Development has just come out with a three video series designed to help home buyers better understand the home buying and financing process. The videos are straight forward and easy to understand. They range from 10 to a little over 12 minutes long and are a MUST VIEW for any first-time home buyer. More experienced home buyers may also find them helpful.
Here is a link to the first of the three, Shopping For Your Home: http://www.youtube.com/HUDchannel#p/a/u/0/kTn6hSrEGZg
Anyone who is seriously considering the purchase of a home should take the time to view these videos. It might be prudent for home sellers to view the videos as well.
If, after viewing the video, you have any questions or need assistance in finding the best deal on a home, feel free to give us a call at (916) 337-0658, or e-mail Mike@BuyYourVilla.com.
Serving El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Cameron Park, Placerville, El dorado, Sacramento and Place counties.
KEEP YOU HOME CALIFORNIA: WHO IS ELIGIBLE
KEEP YOUR HOME CALIFORNIA PROGRAM: Who Is Eligible
The “Keep Your Home California” program is a $ 1.83 billion-with a B-program designed to help low to moderate income California homeowners to keep their homes. They have a target of an estimated 100,000 California homeowners. A key requirement to qualify for the program is that the homeowner must have endured a verifiable loss of income.
Who is Eligible?
- The program is being administered by CalHFA (California Housing Finance Agency). They also back loans to qualified borrowers. A borrower does NOT have to be a CalHFA borrower to qualify.
- The borrower MUST own and occupy the home as their primary residence
- The borrower must meet the low to moderate income limits. The limits are set by county. The limits are fairly liberal. In El Dorado, Sacramento and Placer counties a family of two may not have a combined income over $ 70,150 per year. $ 78,950 for a three person family.
- The borrower must complete and sign a hardship affidavit and document the reason for their hardship. Losses of employment, reduction of income, disability or illness are all acceptable for this program. Supporting documents may NOT be more than 60 days old.
- The borrower must have sufficient income to sustain the modified mortgage payments, according to lender guidelines.
- The borrower must be able to meet the CalHFA guidelines
- The borrower’s mortgage must be delinquent or the servicer must have received documentation from the borrower that substantiates an imminent default that meets the hardship qualifications.
- Borrowers who have recently encountered a financial hardship due to their military service are presumed eligible on the condition that their servicer has received a financial hardship statement provided by the borrower.
General Property Eligibility Requirements
- The mortgage involved must be a first lien. Second mortgages are not part of the program.
- The total original mortgage can not exceed $ 729,750
- The property must not be abandoned, vacant, condemned or in a serious state of disrepair.
- The property must be owner-occupied, the borrower’s principal residence and located in California.
For more information about the “Keep Your Home California” program go to http://www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org .
If you are in need of assistance in avoiding or stopping foreclosure contact Mike West at (916) 337-0658 for a no cost consultation.
KEEP YOUR HOME CALIFORNIA PROGRAM
KEEP YOUR HOME CALIFORNIA PROGRAM
The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) reported this week that its “Keep Your Home California” program implementation will be delayed. They report logistical problems have delayed the original November 1st start date.
The “Keep Your Home California” program is a $ 1.83 billion-with a B-program designed to help low to moderate income California homeowners to keep their homes. They have a target of an estimated 100,000 California homeowners. A key requirement to qualify for the program is that the homeowner must have endured a verifiable loss of income.
There are two primary forms of aid. The first is $ 875 million earmarked for unemployed Californians. The program plans to help them make up the shortfall in their mortgage payments. The second is $ 790 million earmarked to directly reduce mortgage loan balances for qualified Californians.
A major reason for the delay in implementation is that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac instructed their loan servicers to participate in this program. These two quasi government agencies handle the vast majority of mortgages sold on the secondary market and the volume has overloaded the CalHFA staff.
Although the program has been delayed for several weeks, homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments are encouraged to contact their loan servicer or lender and advise that they wish to be considered for the program. DO NOT WAIT! These programs tend to run out of funds quickly.
For more information about the “Keep Your Home California” program go 
tohttp://www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org .
Stay tuned for more information.
If you are in need of assistance in avoiding or stopping foreclosure contact
Mike West at (916) 337-0658 for a no cost consultation.
FORECLOSURE FREEZE: UPDATE
The Foreclosure Freeze: Update
The foreclosure freeze continues be a hot topic in the media. With hundreds of thousands of homeowners in some level of distress with their mortgages it continues to be an item of interest.
John Stumpf, Chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo, announced that Wells Fargo has no plans to freeze foreclosures today or in the future. He advised that Wells Fargo procedures have always been through and in full accordance with the law.
Apparently, not all mortgage lenders have had the same level of confidence in their procedures. “Robo-signing” of foreclosure files seems to have been a standard practice with many. However, most have gone back and reviewed suspect files and the moratorium is over for a majority of lenders.
One new development has resulted from the recent scandal, New York has become the first state to pass legislation requiring attorneys handling residential foreclosures for these lenders to sign an affidavit that they took “reasonable” steps to review and verify the accuracy of the foreclosures files.
Other states are almost certain to follow. The New York Court of Appeals estimates that there are 80,000 foreclosures actions pending in the state’s courts.
The “robo-signing” scandal is focused on 23 states where judicial foreclosures are the norm. California I not one of those states.
If you have questions or want to discuss a specific situation, feel free to call for a no cost consultation. We are here to help by stopping foreclosure one home at a time. Call (916) 337-0658 TODAY.
El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Placerville, Sacramento, it makes no difference; $ 100,000 homes and million dollar homes; banks are still foreclosing and distressed homeowners need assistance.
THE FORECLOSURE FREEZE AND WHAT IT MEANS!
The Foreclosure Freeze And What It Means
Most of us are is aware of the foreclosure freeze that has been all over the media in recent weeks. In essence, GMAC mortgage had a process in place to maximize the efficiency of their foreclosure handling process. That process had one employee in place to sign 400 foreclosures a day (good old American knowhow and efficiency) that had not been reviewed by anyone at that institution. GMAC, the nation’s fourth-largest mortgage lender, called this little omission a technicality! Fortunately, the courts forced them to halt all foreclosures in 23 states (California not included).
It turns out that Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and other lenders were following similar practices, known as the 
use of “robo-signers.” They were processing delinquent loan files and no one in management was reviewing the files for errors. They were efficiently throwing delinquent borrowers out of their homes without reviewing the conditions of each transaction. They were not even following the law in many of the states in which they were operating. What supreme arrogance!
As a result of the actions started in Maine last month GMAC Mortgage was forced to stop all foreclosures and go back and review each file for the 23 states involved. Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and many other lenders followed suit, in fact Bank Of America also stopped foreclosures in California.
Today Ally Financial (GMAC’s mortgage unit) and Bank Of America are now proceeding with the foreclosure process. You can guess how much scrutiny these files have received.
Unfortunately, far too many paid attention to the media storm, distressed homeowners/borrowers pinning their hopes on a moratorium, prospective buyers halting their buying plans until they could determine where all of this activity would lead. This was also an opportunity for pre-election posturing for incumbent candidates and want-to-be candidates as well.
In the end, it turned out to be a lot of noise over little. The foreclosures continue, the lenders may have changed their processes slightly, but distressed home owners are still losing their homes.
There is some positive action in this arena. The lenders are becoming more agreeable to allowing distressed borrowers to get approvals on their short sales and thus avoiding the blight of a foreclosure on their credit record. Some lenders have streamlined their processes so that short sales do not take as long. However, one factor remains constant. Distressed homeowners should engage the services of a Realtor who specializes in helping homeowners avoid foreclosure in the early stages of their foreclosure process. They need help in navigating the treacherous waters of a pending foreclosure. There are solutions available to most and the earlier one starts the more options they have.
If you have questions or want to discuss a specific situation, feel free to call for a no cost consultation. We are here 
to help by stopping foreclosure one home at a time. Call (916) 337-0658 TODAY.
El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Placerville, Sacramento, it makes no difference; $ 100,000 homes and million dollar homes; banks are still foreclosing and distressed homeowners need assistance.