To Stop Foreclosure: Is the Gov’t Mortgage Modification Program Helping?
Depending on whom you listen to, the government’s “Making Home Affordable” foreclosure prevention program may or may not be working. The lastest statistics show that the program has helped almost half a million homeowners to modify their mortgages, which decreases their monthly payments and allows them to keep their homes.
HOWEVER, the program’s aim is to help some 4 million homeowners, and critics say the program hasn’t come close to reaching these numbers. And, there’s a greater worry, namely that . . . .
More Home Foreclosures On the Way: Upwards of 12 Million
According to the October 9th BusinessWeek.com article, Home-Foreclosure Rescue Is Falling Short, Critics Say”
. . . the [Making Home Affordable] program may barely dent the crisis. Indeed, with estimates that the economic crisis will force as many as 12 million homes into foreclosure, it may not prove enough . . .
Why Industry Experts Believe Home Foreclosures Will Continue to Escalate
Quite frankly, “It’s the economy, stupid,” to use a phrase from an old Bill Clinton campaign. When the whole foreclosure crisis started, it was mostly due to mortgage fraud and/or subprime mortgages (eg, people being put into homes they could not afford). But now, the reasons have shifted.
Homeowners are losing their jobs and this means many of them are no longer able to afford their mortgage payments. Hence, it’s no longer about mortgage fraud and unqualified buyers; it’s the “average Joe with previously good credit” who’s losing his home now. And, while the economy seems to be on the road to recovery, it’s a slow one.
Retraining the American Workforce: Why Some Homeowners Will Lose Their Homes & Their Livelihood for Good
Couple that with the fact that many of the jobs that have been lost are not coming back (eg, manufacturing in middle America), and what you have is an even slower economic recovery for many homeowners. Many of these workers accustomed to working in factories and bring home decent paychecks are now going to have to be retrained for new careers, because again, their jobs have not only disappeared — they’ve disappeared for good.
Unless these workers take the initiative to retrain themselves for new careers, they may not only lose their homes, but they may lose their livelihood for good.
The Bottom Line on the Home Foreclosure Crisis Right Now
Housing prices have yet to recover. Many owners are sitting on houses that are severely underwater (ie, worth much less than what they owe on them and/or paid for them). And sadly, home foreclosures are here to stay for a while.
Business Opportunity.: Learn how to start a foreclosure clean up business — and get on the road to creating financial security for you and your family.
Copyright © 2009 Yuwanda Black for Foreclosure Business News. Article may not be reprinted or reproduced in any manner without the express, written consent of the author.