HOPE for Homeowners H4H

[pepper61]

All I know is that I tried (last week) to help my sister who is facing foreclosure proceedings to begin any day now. After repeatedly requesting a loan modification "due to the recent Bank Bailout program" by the govt., she was "offer" a loan modification deal from Washington Mutual. The deal included a 30-year fixed at 6.25% at the supposed appraised value of $525,000. The problem is that her property's current market value is approx. $200,000 and even at real estate's peak a couple years ago, was only worth about $445,000 (Max.). I believe the problem with this bailout is that the Govt. has given the bank an "option" to renegotiate these mortgages, and should MANDATE that they renegotiate. Am I wrong? How many more of us could be in this same situation soon? Scary.

[JORDAN63033]

I'm not sure what the deal is with the bail out, Continuing to thank God for Loansafe and Naca, We saved our home.

Point, Countrywide is helping is homeowners (nothing to do with the bailout at this time) They have really changed the way they do modifcations to help it's homeowners. If you call 1-800-669-6107 they will help, even if you had a previous modification. It took us from September to June to do a modification, God blessed us to redo recently. Call countrywide they can HELP

[cahomeowner]

The Hope for Homeowners program has given me some "HOPE" that I might be able to avoid losing my home. I got caught up in the hype and overextended myself by borrowing against my primary to purchase rental homes. I had new equity in all of the properties before the subprime meltdown. Now I am short selling all of my properties and at risk of losing my primary home. My stomach turns every time I think about the mess I am in and the risk I put my family in.

I noticed a couple of things about this new H4H program that just doesn't work out for me. I currently have a 1st, 2nd and 3rd with Wells Fargo. I have no problem sharing the equity if I can save my home.

Refinancing at 90% of the current market value sounds good but then you have to factor that it is a Principal & Interest Loan with origination fees plus PMI not to mention there is a 550K loan limit. Most of us have interest only loans so with all the things factored in my payment actually increased.

I hope they consider the high home prices here in the bay area and raise that limit accordingly. Also if there was a 40 year loan product that would help a lot of us afford to keep our homes. I pray the government figures out the holes in the H4H program and acts quickly.

I don't see how it could be productive to foreclose on homes and continue driving homes values down. Figuring out a way for people not to lose their homes is going to instill confidence and help turn things around.

Countrywide just announced their new Home Retention Program which seems to incorporate the H4H program. I hope other banks follow and take the proactive measures to stop the foreclosures.

perhaps we may see more programs after the election. help is needed and needed badly. The only way I am going to be able to stay in my home is through a principal reduction. Is that even possible through Wells Fargo?

[Moe Bedard]

cahomeowner,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for joining...............
The program has already been finalized and began on October 1st.....
Unfortunately with the program you can not own more than one home either.................

see page 20 of 34

here are the final rules for the H4H program..........

H4H Final Rules

[Bert C]

***, a few posts back you make mention of a program becoming available on the 1st of December. Can you provide some details? Is this for anyone? I haven't heard of anything. Thanks.

Bert

[mayela]

Well.... I called a local approved mortgage company I got from the FHA website.
The gentleman told me they still cannot originate these loans because they have not received final guidelines from FHA.

Has anyone had any luck with a mortgage company?

[AmericanNightmare]

After inquiring about H4H and saying they were going to participate, my lender told me to call HUD, which I did. I was then referred to a Springboard case worker who forwarded my monthly expenses/income back to my lender. My lender requested a hardship letter and my monthly expenses/income which I just mailed today. How many hoops do to I have to jump through? I feel that FHA is inept and my lender is waiting for bail-out before acting.

[garyys]

Mayela, I am working with a local lender from the list. They told me they are waiting on the SEMS, SAMS (I don't know if this is the right acronym, but they are the forms for the agreed appreciation, and equity). I have sent them everything (they sent me a list of documents they will need), waiting to hear back at this point.

[mayela]

Do you mind sharing the lenders information. My local lender wont take any information will not originate any loans untill they get the guidelines so they say?

[garyys]

Anyone know how I send Mayela a PM, I can't find the link like other forums I'm on????

[Moe Bedard]

PM is not enabled on this forum..................too many spammers.

If the lender is on the FHA approved list at www.fha.gov then you can post the link to the page here on the forum.

[Leigh]

So do the fees get written into the loan? Sorry new to this... This is from FHA's site:

The loan amount (including the 3 percent UFMIP) for the new H4H loan cannot exceed 90 percent of the current appraised value of the property.


So the 3% up front mortgage ins becomes part of the 90% and written into the loan? Basically, how much cash do we need to come up with? For us it would reduce our mortgage potentially several hundred thousand, if the lenders forgave the debt. Also will the forgiven debt be taxable? Thanks
Leigh

[garyys]

Mayela, I have had no response from them, two calls to them in two weeks and nothing. So I would hesitate to recommend them.

[garyys]

I have been reading conflicted reports of how many people are getting this loan done (a fox news report said 70 something, local paper said 38)? Talked to a second lender from the FHA list, they told me they are trying to do these loans but no investors want to fund them?

I contacted my lenders (Aurora, and EMC) they will not release the investor info to me for my current mortgage? I have been looking through the posts but cant find a simple way of finding out who the investor is (I think this would help me in my negotiations if I knew what footing the investor was standing on). Would this be something that could be gathered by a qualified written request? Any Ideas?

Another question,

If you close one of these loans and wait, say a year for the value of your home to decrease (yes decrease, I live in California) and manage to refinance into a new loan do you “split” any equity (if I remember this off the top of my head after 1 year 90% to FHA 10% to me) at that point. Then you are free and clear of the FHA restrictions and equity sharing for any future increases in value?


Thanks, Gary
>>

[Moe Bedard]

garyys,

If you click on the link and look to the right there is a sheet with examples of the equity sharing..............all the info on this program and what is known is in those documents on the right side of the article.......
If you have additional questions about the program, FHA might be able to answer those questions...........

1-800-CALL-FHA (225-5342)

HOPE for Homeowners

[garyys]

Thanks ***,

I have read through all of the FHA stuff, just looking for a professional opinion. One of the listed lenders told me that it was a bad deal due to the equity sharing. My interpretation (from reading the terms) is you could refi out of this "bad deal" in a year or two. Just my interpretation, I have been wrong before!

Thanks again ***.

[Moe Bedard]

Try calling directly to FHA............

[michiganmommy]

I talked with a mortgage friend of mine that just was told by a few collegues about a program that a few lenders are approving. It is a short refi- not to be confused with a short sale. In the short refi- if the homeowner is upside down in their loan and value of the house, the lender will renegotiate the loan based on the new appraised value and waive the difference owed on the loan. Hard to believe, but a few lenders actually agreed to this! I am not a mortgage professional, but am a homeowner with a mortgage from IndyMac and have been unsuccessful in modifying our loan because we have been on time with our payments. They are not hearing the part about our income being dropped due to my husband's job loss and we are paying our mortgage with student loan money!
If anyone has any information about this new "short refi" process and who would qualify and more specifics, I would appreciate more information, as I am sure many others could benefit from it also. Our house value has dropped by about $75,000 in the last year.
Thanks!

[Moe Bedard]

This sounds like the H4H FHA program and there is a thread about it here..........

[spj3210]

Originally Posted by *** Damiano

This sounds like the H4H FHA program and there is a thread about it here..........

Actually someone contacted me about the same thing as MichiganMommy wrote about (I'm in MI too btw!) and called it a short refi. I think this was a Florida-based lender on the FHA-approved H4H list that I called several weeks prior. He said it's an FHA refinance that is separate from H4H and that he is trying to get people who are current on their mortgages into this program vs H4H since H4H has more upfront fees and is also not really working out at this point.

I actually found the offer to apply for this somewhat shady as no one else is talking about this option.

Does anyone know if this is legitimate? An FHA "short refinance" loan that is NOT the same as H4H?

[Moe Bedard]

Those are the same as short refis...........and the investors would still need to accept a short pay off.........they are probably trying to get around the equity share situation...........is my guess................

Please post if you hear more.......

[Erica]

I'm currently going through a short refinance right now. See my thread called "EMC Modification".

[AmericanNightmare]

It looks like the H4H program has been a complete flop. I stopped paying in October and plan to do a short sale or DIL.

[NeedHelpwCW]

CW is offering the HOPE for subprime and Option ARM loans only as part of their Dec. 1st program. I have a conv. jumbo ARM. So, I would not be able to qualify for it.

I contacted a lender on the listing of lenders for the H4H. He told me that the program is not available since there's no lender out there that is participating (in my situation). Is this true? I am in California. If not, may I have your contacts.

[Erica]

What I understood from Hope Now was that finding a h4h lender is not the problem, it's getting your current investor on your loan to accept it. I found out that my current investor on my loan is not participating in h4h but they will consider short refinances. That's what I'm currently trying to do.