Register Real Estate Advisors

If You’ve Exhausted All of Your Options the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) Program May be the Program for you.  If you can’t afford your mortgage payment and it’s time for you to transition to more affordable housing, the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program is designed for you. HAFA provides two options for transitioning out of your mortgage: a short sale or a Deed-in-Lieu (DIL) of foreclosure. In a short sale, the mortgage company lets you sell your house for an amount that falls “short” of the amount you still owe. In a DIL, the mortgage company lets you give the title back, transferring ownership back to them.

In either case, HAFA offers benefits that make the transition as favorable as possible:

• Unlike conventional short sales, a HAFA short sale completely releases you from your mortgage debt after selling the property. This means you will no longer be responsible for the amount that falls “short” of the amount you still owe.  The deficiency is guaranteed to be waived by the servicer.
• In a HAFA short sale, your mortgage company works with you to determine an acceptable sale price.
• HAFA has a less negative effect on your credit score than foreclosure or conventional short sales.
• When you close, HAFA provides $3,000 in relocation assistance

There are many homebuyer incentive programs right here in Texas. Problem is, not many people – Texas Realtors included – know about them. Until now…
Background
Ira Gribin, 1989 NAR president, was a national pioneer in workforce housing education and advocacy. In early 2010, the Texas Association of Realtors Housing Opportunity Foundation (TARHOF), a 501c(3) charity, receive and Ira Gribin grant from the National Association of Realtors. Why? Because we created a Texas-specific program that you can use to help more consumers achieve and maintain their goal of homeownership.
Program goals
• Train Texas Realtors on workforce housing issues, consumer needs for workforce housing, and specific workforce housing and first-time buyer programs available for Texans – who sponsors them, how they work, and how to access them for clients.
• Leverage existing Texas Association of Realtors partnerships with various state and federal agencies with affordable-housing programs – including Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs, Texas Veterans Land Board FHA, and others.
• Build consumer awareness of available programs and Texas Realtors role in bringing real solutions to real people.
• Create incentives for more homebuyer education programs throughout the state.
Problem
• Despite being such a large state whose roots and culture are tied to private-property ownership, Texas ranks just 44th out of 50 states in homeownership. The overall Texas homeownership rate, including all ethnic groups, is 65.4% compared to 67.4% nationwide, according to U.S. Census data.
• While overall affordability is good in Texas, home prices in the major metro areas can be prohibitive, especially for public servants such as teachers, law enforcement personnel, and firefighters.
• The homeownership gap is widest in Texas among Hispanics, who account for 36.5% of the Texas population and yet only 58% are homeowners.
Solution
• We’ve re-tooled our highly successful Texas Affordable Housing Specialist (TAHS) certification program to focus even more on workforce housing programs available within our state. We’ve incorporated updated and expanded training on FHA and manufactured housing, where appropriate.
• We’re providing grants through TARHOF to Texas Realtors, local associations, and other organizations with Realtor ties to host consumer education workshops on workforce housing.
• We’ve launched a statewide advertising and public relations campaign, incorporating new radio messages and promoting the new Website, TxHomePrograms.org, made possible through the Texas Association of Realtors’ participation in an NAR pilot program.
Three ways to expand your horizons and tap into workforce housing…
1. Use TxHomePrograms.org.
The Texas Association of Realtors created TxHomePrograms.org, a searchable online database of homebuyer-assistance programs. You and your clients can find programs, such as downpayment assistance and below-market mortgage interest rates, available only in Texas. Many, though not all, of the programs depend on household income and whether the consumer has owned a home in the last three years. TxHomePrograms.org also has a glossary of real estate terms, outlines the homebuying process, and provides information on issues that affect many first-time buyers, such as predatory lending and credit repair.
2. Take the new training for Texas Realtors.
Texas Realtors University is offering workforce housing courses through local associations on the ever-changing FHA rules, manufactured housing, TxHomePrograms.org, and more. The 12 hours total leads to the Texas Affordable Housing Specialist (TAHS) certification, putting you in touch with more potential homebuyers via an online searchable database of TAHS graduates on TxHomePrograms.org and TexasRealEstate.com.
3. Conduct a consumer workshop.
The Texas Association of Realtors Housing Opportunity Foundation will issue up to $1,500 grants to host/conduct consumer workshops on workforce housing. The whole idea is to position local Texas Realtors as the experts and advocates for affordable workforce housing in Texas.
Interested? Visit TexasRealtors.com/workforcehousing.

TEXAS (Austin Business Journal, San Antonio Business Journal) – Local governments statewide have obtained funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), notably Austin, San Antonio and Bexar County.

The capital, given $13.4 million, and Alamo City and its surrounding county, given a combined $25.7 million, are receiving grants from HUD for community development and production of affordable housing.

The City of San Antonio will receive $14.6 million in Community Development Block Grant funds; $640,466 in Emergency Shelter Grant funds; $7 million in HOME Investment Partnerships Program funding; and $1 million in Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS funding.

Separately, Bexar County will receive $1.7 million in Community Development Block Grant funding and $650,999 in HOME funding.

HOME is a federal block grant program that can be used by state and local governments to develop affordable housing.

Other local governments receiving grants include Brownsville, Edinburg, Harlingen, Laredo, McAllen, Mission, Pharr, Round Rock, San Benito, San Marcos, Victoria and Williamson County.

COLLEGE STATION (Real Estate Center) – Texas beats the rest of the country when it comes to housing affordability, according to first quarter 2009 Texas Housing Affordability Index (HAI) numbers compiled by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

The numbers reflect the ability of a median-income family to purchase a median-priced existing home in their area. Texas had a ratio of 1.95 in first quarter 2009 compared with the nation’s 1.55.

“The slowdown in the housing market nationally and within Texas has led to significantly increased housing affordability everywhere, and Texas continues to maintain its place as the most affordable high-growth state in the country,” said Dr. Jim Gaines, research economist with the Center.

The index is posted on the Center’s website.

by Ralph Roberts

Read the entire article.

The Treasury Department recently released its Home Affordable Modification Program Guidelines (part of its Making Home Affordable initiative), which include eligibility requirements to determine which homeowners qualify for relief under the plan. Following are the eligibility requirements as specified in the guidelines:

 

 

• Mortgage must have originated on or before January 1, 2009. 
• Home must be an owner-occupied primary residence (verified with tax return, credit report, and other documentation such as a utility bill) – this program is not designed for investor-owned properties. 
• Home must be a single family 1-4 unit property (including condominium, cooperative, and manufactured home affixed to a foundation and treated as real property under state law). 
• Home may not be vacant or condemned. 
• Borrowers in bankruptcy are not automatically excluded from consideration. 
• Borrowers in active litigation regarding the mortgage loan can qualify for a modification without waiving their legal rights. 
• First lien loans must have an unpaid principal balance (prior to capitalization of arrearages) equal to or less than:

 
1. 1 Unit: $729,750 
2. 2 Units: $934,200 
3. 3 Units: $1,129,250 
4. 4 Units: $1,403,400

 
• Foreclosure actions are suspended (not cancelled) during the trial period or while borrowers are considered for alternative foreclosure prevention options. If homeowners fail to qualify, foreclosure proceedings may resume. 
• No minimum or maximum LTV ratio for eligibility purposes. 
• Loans are eligible for only one loan modification under the program. 
• Subordinate liens (such as second mortgages or home equity loans or lines of credit) are not included in the Front-End DTI calculation, but they are included in the Back-End DTI calculation. Back-End DTI is used to determine whether the borrower will be required to undergo credit counseling as a condition to modification. 
• Servicers should follow any existing express contractual restrictions with respect to solicitation of borrowers for modifications. Applicants will be accepted into the program only until December 31, 2012 (the program expiration date), but incentive payments will continue up to five years after the date of entry into the Home Affordable Modification Program. Monitoring will continue through the life of the program.

When discussing this program with homeowners in your area, it’s a good idea to point out the following:

 
• Eligibility requirements are simply government guidelines. Guidelines may change, and lenders make exceptions, if it is in their best interest to do so. In other words, homeowners should not count themselves out. If they are having trouble making their house payment, they should explore the loan modification option. Sometimes, the only way to determine whether you qualify is to apply. 
• Not all servicers, lenders, or investors are required to participate in the program at this time. The program is designed for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages, but the plan’s incentives may encourage servicers, lenders, and investors to modify other types of mortgages, as well. 
• The individual servicers that agree to participate in the program are required to sign a contract agreeing to abide by the program guidelines. If the servicer does not contract under the program, they are not eligible for incentive payments. 
• Homeowners should consult a specialist who works with lenders on a daily basis to review their situation and determine whether the homeowners are likely to qualify for whatever workout options are available through the lender. Sometimes the only way to determine whether a homeowner qualifies is to submit an application.

During this unprecedented crisis in the housing industry, you can play a valuable role in keeping homeowners in your area well-informed of the programs available to help them keep their homes. I encourage you to do your part to preserve the American Dream of Homeownership and stabilize your corner of the housing market.

WASHINGTON (Los Angeles Times) – Hoping to bring new ideas to the old problem of affordable housing, President-elect Barack Obama has nominated Shaun Donovan to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Donovan has worked in both business and nonprofit sectors and at HUD during the Clinton administration.

He later worked at Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. before being named commissioner of New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Today, Donovan leads the largest municipal affordable housing plan in the nation.