New Help for Real Estate Market - Daytona Beach in 1st Round

Building on the first Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets (the “HFA Hardest Hit Fund”), the Administration recently announced an expansion of the initiative to target five additional states with high shares of their populations living in local areas of concentrated economic distress.

This second HFA Hardest Hit Fund will include up to $600 million in funding for innovative measures to help families stay in their homes or otherwise avoid foreclosure in states that have been hit hard by concentrated economic distress. The first HFA Hardest Hit Fund targeted five states with home price declines greater than 20%, including Florida. The second HFA Hardest Hit Fund will target five states with high concentrations of people living in economically distressed areas, defined as counties in which the unemployment rate exceeded 12% in 2009. These include North and South Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Oregon.

President Obama announced the first HFA Hardest Hit Fund on February 19, 2010, with up to $1.5 billion in funding for innovative measures to help families. States that were allocated funds under the first HFA Hardest Hit Fund were not eligible for the second HFA Hardest Hit Fund, so this makes 10 states which will benefit from the new government programs.

As reported by RisMedia, "The HFA Hardest Hit Fund is designed to allow the maximum possible flexibility to HFAs in designing programs that are tailored to the needs of each participating state. To be eligible for Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”) funds, all programs must promote the purposes of EESA and be consistent with its requirements. Section 2 of EESA provides that the purposes of EESA are to restore liquidity and stability to the financial system and to use TARP funds in a manner that, among other things: Protects home values; Preserves homeownership and promotes jobs and economic growth; and Provides public accountability.

"The objective of the HFA Hardest Hit Fund is to allow HFAs to develop creative, effective approaches that consider local conditions. To provide guidance to HFAs in designing programs, Treasury has outlined some of the possible types of transactions that would meet the requirements of EESA. States are encouraged to submit proposals that provide targeted relief to areas or localities with high concentrations of economic distress, but each state should respond to local conditions:

"Unemployment Programs – Programs may provide for assistance to unemployed borrowers to help them avoid preventable foreclosures.

"Mortgage Modifications – Programs may provide for modification of mortgage loans held by HFAs or other financial institutions or provide incentives for servicers/investors to modify loans.

"Mortgage Modifications with Principal Forbearance – Programs may provide for paying down all or a portion of an overleveraged loan and taking back a note from the borrower for that amount in order to facilitate additional modifications.

"Short Sales / Deeds-In-Lieu of Foreclosure – Programs may provide for assistance with short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure in order to prevent avoidable foreclosures.

"Principal Reduction Programs for Borrowers with Severe Negative Equity – Programs may provide incentives for financial institutions to write-down a portion of unpaid principal balance for homeowners with severe negative equity.

"Second Lien Reductions – Programs may provide incentives to reduce or modify second liens."

This is not a complete list. For more information, visit the government site Financial Stability.

I can't say it often enough - if you are having problems paying your mortage, contact me NOW. You have options to foreclosure!

Sherry Armstrong, Realtor
386-679-3191
yourkeytothebeach@gmail.com
www.sherryarmstrong.com
www.daytonabeachscene.com
www.ormondbeachscene.com