Tag Archives: Housing Counseling

The National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Inc. (NAREB) announced the launch of a 25-city, $1.2 billion REO and foreclosure mitigation initiative called the Homeowner's Assurance Program (HAP). NAREB, through is network of industry professionals, will provide the agent infrastructure to manage, market, and dispose of nonperforming loans and REO assets acquired under the program. Targeted buyers include first-time homebuyers and others who are caught in the credit crunch and having trouble purchasing a home.

Treasury is heading to the coastal cities of Miami and Tampa, Florida, this week in order to offer assistance to homeowners struggling with their mortgage payments. Treasury will host a ""Help for Homeowners"" outreach event in each of the hard-hit Florida cities where homeowners can meet one-on-one with their servicers. Before the homeowners arrive, though, Treasury has blocked off time for real estate professionals to meet with the servicers on behalf of their clients and to participate in short sale workshops led by the servicers themselves.

Connecticut is set to receive more than $190 million from the multi-state settlement with the nation’s largest mortgage servicers. ""There are many reasons why I believe this settlement is good for Connecticut, but the most important reason is this: it provides immediate help to thousands of Connecticut homeowners at a time when they can still use that help to save their homes,"" said Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, who served on the negotiating committee that established the settlement with the banks.

The $25 billion, 49-state settlement awarded Ohio with $335 million to be used for recovery and prevention efforts. Through the creation of a grant program, the AG's office will set aside $75 million to fund the removal of vacant and abandoned properties, which decrease the value of surrounding homes. While the exact number in Ohio is unknown, the estimate is 100,000 properties.

To alleviate issues of foreclosure in one of the hardest hit areas, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn launched two initiatives. One effort will connect homeowners to resources to keep them in their homes, and another will help revitalize areas affected by foreclosed and vacant properties. Illinois is consistently ranked among the top 10 states with the highest number of foreclosures.

A New York housing counselor has been sentenced to 72 months in jail and three years supervision by a U.S. District Court judge after defrauding 136 homeowners who reached out for help as they attempted to avoid foreclosure. The judge also ordered Lori J. Macakanja to pay $298,639 in restitution to the homeowners affected. Macakanja reportedly required upfront fees from homeowners and promised in return to help them achieve mortgage modifications in order to stave off foreclosure.

IndiSoft announced Tuesday that the company has enhanced its RxOffice Premium Counselor Edition. The updated module has been approved by HUD to meet the reporting requirements of agencies participating in its Housing Counseling Program. It was created to address the surge in the number of homeowners needing counseling to make informed housing decisions, and gives counseling agencies a scalable and flexible web-based case management tool to manage their internal business operations.

The U.S. Department of Justice released a 69-page report Tuesday on a foreclosure intervention method that is becoming increasingly popular across the country - mediation. The paper draws from an earlier workshop which was attended by dozens of mediation program stakeholders and researchers. A key finding that emerged, according to DOJ officials, is that the federal government should take an active role, both in helping to develop program and evaluation guidelines and in providing resources for mediation programs and research.

Homeowners who receive foreclosure prevention counseling are at least 67 percent more likely to be current on their loans nine months after a loan modification than those who do not, according to NeighborWorks America. Additionally, among homeowners who receive mortgage modifications, those who participate in counseling decrease their monthly payments by $176 more than those who do not. However, NeighborWorks says the reduced redefault rate is more a result of the counseling than the lower monthly payment.

Bank of America organized 45 dedicated outreach events this year in local markets across the country where the lender is seeing high levels of mortgage delinquencies among its customer base. Ron Sturzenegger, BofA's legacy asset servicing executive, says the goal is to get in front of the consumer. The company undertakes an aggressive marketing campaign ahead of each event and provides a loss mitigation decision on-site to 60 percent of those who come with all the necessary paperwork. BofA expects to host the same number of outreach events in 2012.