If your home is on the foreclosure sale list in South Carolina, you just got a major reprieve. According to the AP article, SC court halts thousands of home foreclosure sales:

South Carolina’s highest court on Tuesday temporarily stopped thousands of pending foreclosure sales in the state to give homeowners more time to take advantage of a new federal program to help them refinance mortgages.

The request was at the behest of federal houing lender Fredding Mac. It seeks to give more homeownwers a chance to take advantage of the Obama administration’s program to stop foreclosure.

Facing Foreclosure? Find Out If You Qualify for Federal Help

Find out if you qualify for a home loan modification under the Obama administration”s “stop foreclosure” program. Answering a few questions will tell you all you need to know.

P.S.: Learn how to easily modify your home mortgage and put the stress of possible foreclosure behind you.

Copyright © 2009: Foreclosure Business News

In February, the government announced the Obama administration’s plan to help struggling homeowners stop foreclosure. Even though the officials behind the plan said that it would help up to 9 million homeowners, many said that the program left much to be desired. And apparently, they were right.

According to the recent CNNMoney.com article, Obama expands foreclosure fix, modifications are being made to the original plan so that more homeowners can get help to stop foreclosure. The article states:

The administration is seeking to address some of the concerns by tweaking the original modification plan, which calls for adjusting eligible borrowers’ loans so monthly payments are no more than 31% of pre-tax income.

Stop Foreclosure: Specifics Addressed in the Govt’s Plan to Help More Homeowners

The plan addresses two specific areas that should help more borrowers qualify, ie:

Second Mortgage Help: The interest rate on second mortgages is being reduced. The reason is, many homeowners have these and lenders were not eager — or flat out refusing to – modifying loans to reduce payments on first mortgages when the second loan remain untouched. By reducing the interest rate on second mortgages (the gov’t picks up the tab for this), it removes a significant roadblock many homeowners faced when trying to modify their home loans.

Incentivizing Lenders to Participate: The government is really jumping through hoops to get lenders to participate in modifying mortgages. For example, one of the changes they’ve initiated include paying lenders that originate new loans up to $1,000 a year for three years.

Do You Qualify for the Government’s Mortgage Modification Program?

Find out if you qualify for a home loan modification. Answering a few questions will tell you all you need to know.

P.S.: Learn how to easily modify your home mortgage and put the stress of possible foreclosure behind you.

Copyright © 2009: Foreclosure Business News

Hope Now, a nonprofit that works with struggling homeowners to help them renegotiate their mortgages with lenders, reported that initial foreclosure filings increased by 20% in March. This means home foreclosure listings are set to increase.

Foreclosure Filings Mean Opportunity for Some

While this presents more opportunities for foreclosur realtors, foreclosure cleaning companies and investors, it means that the foreclosure crisis continues.

Foreclosure Filings Up by 20% in March

Banks Not So Fast to Take Posession of Foreclosed Properties

Even as foreclosure filings spike, however, banks seem reluctant to actually take back properties. According to the CNNMoney.com article, Foreclosure filings in record jump:

. . . transactions in which lenders have actually taken back homes from defaulting borrowers, dropped by 39% in March. Banks repossessed only 53,000 homes compared with 87,000 taken over during February.

The obvious question is why and it seems to due to the Obama administration’s foreclosure prevention program, Making Homes Affordable.

P.S.: Find Foreclosure Jobs! Did you know that you can find a foreclosure job with a simple click of your mouse? YOu can using Foreclosure Business News’ new job search portal. It’s just to the right here. You can search by job title, category, keyword, city and/or state. Find your dream job in this exciting real estate niche today!

Copyright © 2009: Foreclosure Business News