|
|
State and Federal Housing Assistance Websites
Florida Housing Finance Corporation
Housing Finance Authority of Pinellas County- Find information on buying, renting, foreclosure prevention, etc.
Chase Homeownership Center- Face-to-face consultations for people with loans services by Chase, Washington Mutual, or EMC
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Foreclosure Assistance
Foreclosure Help is Free Beware of anyone who asks you to pay a fee in exchange for a counseling service or modification of a delinquent loan
There are HUD-approved (and free) housing counselors located in Florida, you can find one to assist you here.
Avoiding Foreclosure: Florida
If your lender will not assist you visit Avoiding Foreclosure: When a Lender Won't Work with You
Federal Foreclosure Assistance Programs
Hope for Homeowners
Making Home Affordable program
-
For information, and to check eligibility, please visit http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/ or www.financialstability.gov. These websites provide homeowners with detailed information about these programs along with self-assessment tools and calculators to empower borrowers with the resources they need to determine whether they might be eligible for a modification or a refinance under the Administration's program.
This plan consists of two programs comprised of refinancing and loan modification.
1. Home Affordable Refinance Program- only available to homeowners whose mortgage is owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and allows homeowners to lower interest rates or change to a fixed rate. This program allows homeowners to refinance into loans with more favorable terms even if they owe more than 80 percent and up to 125 percent of the value of their homes. In addition to having a mortgage owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, a borrower must have a mortgage on a single-family home, live in the home as his or her primary residence, and be current on the mortgage payments in order to be eligible for this program. Rather than targeting homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments, this piece of the MHA plan targets homeowners who have kept up with their payments but have lost equity in their homes due to falling home prices.
2. Home Affordable Modification Program- a $75 billion program for adjusting monthly mortgage payments that most mortgages are eligible for if the lender chooses to participate. This part of the program encourages servicers to provide mortgage modifications for troubled borrowers in order to reduce the borrowers' monthly mortgage payments to no more than 31% of their monthly income. In order to qualify, a borrower must have a mortgage on a single-family residence that was originated on or before January 1, 2009, must live in the home as his or her primary residence, and must have an unpaid principal balance on the mortgage that is no greater than the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac conforming loan limit in high-cost areas ($729,750 for a one-unit property). Furthermore, the borrower must currently be paying more than 31% of his or her income toward mortgage payments, and must be experiencing a financial hardship that makes it difficult to remain current on the mortgage. Borrowers need not already be delinquent on their mortgage in order to qualify.
3. Since the program's announcement, the government has announced several additional details.
-
Second Liens: Many borrowers have second mortgages on their homes. Second mortgages can cause problems for loan modification programs because (1) modifying the first lien may not reduce households' total monthly mortgage payments to an affordable level if the second mortgage remains unmodified, and (2) holders of primary mortgages are often hesitant to modify the mortgage if the second mortgage holder does not agree to re-subordinate the second mortgage to the first mortgage. In order to address the issue of second liens, the government will share some of the costs of reducing borrowers' payments on second mortgages, and will offer lenders and borrowers smaller "pay for success" incentive payments for successfully modified second mortgages. In certain situations, lenders can also choose to extinguish second mortgages in exchange for a one-time payment from the government.
Short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure: When a borrower is minimally eligible for MHA but does not ultimately qualify for a modification, the government will offer incentive payments to servicers who use short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure as alternatives to foreclosures. Borrowers can also receive incentive payments to help with relocation expenses when they successfully complete a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. In order to attempt to streamline the process of short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, the government will also provide standardized documentation and processes for servicers to use.
Home Price Decline Protection: To encourage modifications even in markets where home prices are continuing to fall, lenders or investors will be eligible for Home Price Decline Protection incentive payments for successful modifications in areas with declining home prices. The incentive payments will be calculated according to the home price decline in the quarters prior to the loan modification in the area where the home is located and the average price of a home in that area. Total home price decline protection incentive payments will not exceed $10 billion.
The Home Affordable Modification plan will exist until December 31, 2012. The Administration estimates that Home Affordable Modifications will help 3 to 4 million homeowners and will cost $75 billion. Of this amount, $50 billion will come from TARP funds and $25 billion will come from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
First-Time Home-Buyer Tax Credit
IRS Information on Tax Credit- a tax credit and refunded to through your tax return
The credit is claimed using Form 5405.
2008 Home Purchases
-
For information, and to check eligibility, please visit http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/ or www.financialstability.gov. These websites provide homeowners with detailed information about these programs along with self-assessment tools and calculators to empower borrowers with the resources they need to determine whether they might be eligible for a modification or a refinance under the Administration's program.
2009 Home Purchases
-
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 expanded the first-time homebuyer credit by increasing the credit amount to $8,000 for purchases made in 2009 before Dec. 1.
For home purchased in 2009, the credit does not have to be paid back unless the home ceases to be the taxpayer's main residence within a three-year period following the purchase.
First-time homebuyers who purchase a home in 2009 can claim the credit on either a 2008 tax return, due April 15, 2009, or a 2009 tax return, due April 15, 2010. The credit may not be claimed before the closing date. But, if the closing occurs after April 15, 2009, a taxpayer can still claim it on a 2008 tax return by requesting an extension of time to file or by filing an amended return.
Using Tax Credit during Home Purchase
-
There are programs through both the state and federal government which would allow you to use the $8,000 credit toward the purchase of your home. Your mortgage broker would be the one to assist you with these processes.
Home buyers using FHA-approved lenders can apply the tax credit to their down payment in excess of 3.5 percent of appraised value or their closing costs, which can help achieve a lower interest rate through a new program offered by the federal government. The news release on the new federal program can be accessed here.
There is also a state program, the Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program, which will provide a loan that would be repaid using the tax credit. Information on this state program can be found here.
|
|
