Home Affordable Modification Program - A Waste Of Time
Well it's 2010, and I am wondering what the Federal Government is going to do about the failing Home Affordable Modification Program. (HAMP). When the President ran for office, one of his rallying cries was that he was going to help homeowners stay in their homes by modifying mortgages. The Making Homes Affordable Program was supposed to help 7 - 9 million families avoid foreclosure.
Well if you have ever read anything that I have written, you will know that I am deeply disappointed in the results with the President's Making Homes Affordable Program. On the surface, it seemed too good to be true, and you know what they say about things too good to be true: It usually is too good to be true. Kinda like that mortgage we were promised in 2005 and 2006, that we could easily refinance in two years when the property was worth twice what we paid for it. Hmmm, yea that was too good to be true as well.
Now, here we are nine months later, and while some homes have been modified, the vast majority of people who can get their lenders to find their paperwork are in the vast wasteland I like to call "trial modification hell". This is worse than actually being in hell because if you were in hell, you could start to settle in with the understanding that you weren't going to be foreclosed upon someday.
Homeowners in "trial modification hell" do not really know where they are going to be in three months time. They don't know if the foreclosure is still coming. In Southwest Florida, they don't know if they are going to be working in three months time.
So, the homeowners in Southwest Florida are showing amazing patience and restraint by going through the motions with their lenders and playing the mortgage modification game. Homeowners are going to send in their trial payments because they are afraid of losing their homes and the mortgages companies are glad to get the three extra payments knowing that they are not going to approve the final modification anyhow.
Let's face it, and I've been saying this for as long as the program has been in effect, it's voluntary. The Federal Government didn't put any teeth into the program, so the lenders are controlling the process. Great, and did I tell you the one about the fox guarding the hen house.
So, what can we expect. We can expect more foreclosures and less modifications in the years to come. I estimate that Southwest Florida real estate will be depressed for another five years at a minimum.
This post was submitted by Carmen Dellutri, Esq., founder of The Dellutri Law Group, P.A. Currently, the firm has offices in Port Charlotte, Fort Myers, Naples and Sarasota. Mr. Dellutri also sits on the Board of American Board of Certification. Mr. Dellutri is also one of the founders of the Bankruptcy Law Network, Debt Law Network, Credit Law Network, and Mortgage Law Network. Mr. Dellutri also writes for the firm's personal injury litigation blog. Mr. Dellutri also writes for the firm's other blogs: fair credit reporting act blog, fair debt collection practices act blog and the firm's bankruptcy blog.
