News
New HAMP Program Offers Some Assistance To Unemployed Homeowners
If you’re unemployed and can no longer afford your mortgage, a new Making Home Affordable loan modification program might offer some relief.
The new Unemployed Program (UP) starts August 1, 2010, and it requires lenders to reduce or suspend payments for at least three months for eligible borrowers. It is at the lender’s discretion to extend the forbearance, and the program ends once the borrower gets a new job.
According to Supplemental Directive 10-04, mortgage servicers are required to offer an Unemployment Program forbearance plan to a borrower who meets the following criteria:
1. The mortgage loan is secured by a one- to four-unit property, one unit of which is the borrower’s principal residence.
2. The mortgage loan is a first-lien mortgage originated on or before January 1, 2009.
3. The current unpaid principal balance of the mortgage loan is equal to or less than $729,750 for a single-family property. Higher loan amounts apply to two- to four-unit dwellings.
4. The mortgage is delinquent or default is reasonably foreseeable.
5. The mortgage loan has not been previously modified under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the borrower has not previously received an UP forbearance period.
6. The borrower must make a request before the first mortgage lien is seriously delinquent (before three monthly payments are due and unpaid).
7. The request for the Unemployment Program may be made by phone, mail, or email. Loan servicers must document the date of the request in the servicing file and confirm receipt of the request with the borrower via email or return mail within 10 business days.
8. The borrower must be unemployed at the date of the request and can document that he or she will receive unemployment benefits in the month of the forbearance period effective date even if unemployment benefits will expire before the end of the forbearance period.
Your loan servicer can require that you receive unemployment benefits for three months before the forbearance period begins. And you won’t qualify if your total monthly mortgage payment is less than or equal to 31 percent of your monthly gross income, including unemployment benefits.
Also, servicers are not required to offer you the Unemployment Program if a household member who is not a borrower becomes unemployed, even if that income contributed to the mortgage payment.
In other words, if you’re the borrower but depend on income from your spouse, partner, parent, or child to make your payments and that person loses his or her job, you won’t qualify for the program.
You also won’t qualify if your mortgage, taxes, insurance, and homeowners’ association fee is equal to or less than 31 percent of your gross monthly household income, including unemployment insurance.
Nevada to Get More Housing Aid
By ALAN ZIBEL
AP Real Estate Writer
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration has approved five state-designed plans to help homeowners as part of a $1.5 billion effort to assist areas slammed by the housing bust.
Treasury Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decisions had not yet been made public, said plans for Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada had received approval.
The states estimate that the plans are projected to help up to 93,000 homeowners. That’s a small part of the administration’s main existing $75 billion mortgage assistance program, which is widely viewed as a disappointment.
President Barack Obama unveiled the state assistance effort in February. Since then, state agencies have designed their own approaches, largely focused on borrowers who owe more on their properties than their homes are worth or those who have lost their jobs.
Officials say the state efforts could be used to make changes to the administration’s broader mortgage assistance plan. The state agencies are planning to work with local housing groups to put the plans in place.
The states were picked because they experienced at least a 20 percent decline in home prices. The programs, which vary by state, will help borrowers who have lost jobs make mortgage payments, cancel second mortgages that have blocked loan modifications and assist with the payment of piled-up mortgage bills.
According to the proposals from state housing finance agencies, the largest recipient of the funding is California, which will get nearly $700 million to assist about 46,000 borrowers.
Florida is getting the second-largest pot of money, $418 million. That will help about 12,500 borrowers.
Michigan will receive about $155 million to assist 17,000 borrowers, while Arizona will receive $125 million for 12,000 borrowers. Nevada will receive $103 million for about 5,000 homeowners.
Besides these states, the Obama administration is providing an additional $600 million in financial support to help homeowners in states with high rates of unemployment.
Those states — Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon and Rhode Island — have submitted plans to the Treasury Department. They are being reviewed now, with approvals expected in August.
The Obama administration has rolled out numerous attempts to tackle the foreclosure crisis, which have met with limited success.
More than a third of the 1.2 million borrowers who have enrolled in the Obama administration’s main mortgage modification program have dropped out, officials said this week. About 340,000 homeowners, or 27 percent of those who started the program, have received permanent loan modifications and are making payments on time.
MHA Bolsters Help to Unemployed Homeowners
Help for Unemployed Homeowners
By August 1, all mortgage servicers participating in the Making Home Affordable Program will offer extra help for homeowners struggling to make their monthly mortgage payments because of unemployment. The Unemployment Program will offer homeowners a forbearance period to temporarily reduce or suspend their monthly mortgage payments while they seek re-employment.
The minimum forbearance period is three months, although a mortgage servicer may extend it depending on the investor and regulator guidelines. If a homeowner becomes re-employed in that time, the forbearance period will end and the homeowner will be evaluated for a mortgage modification under the Making Home Affordable Program. Unemployment benefits will no longer qualify as income for the mortgage modification program.
During the forbearance period, a homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment must be reduced to no more than 31 percent (or less) of their gross monthly income. The servicer can decide to temporarily suspend payments in full. The payment amount and due dates will be decided by the servicer depending on investor and regulator guidelines.
To qualify, a homeowner must meet the following eligibility criteria:
- The mortgage must be a first lien mortgage, originated on or before January 1, 2009, and the unpaid principal balance must be equal to or less than $729,750 for a one-unit property.
- The property must be the homeowner’s principal residence.
- The mortgage has not been previously modified through a Home Affordable Modification.
- The homeowner was ineligible for a Home Affordable Modification.
- The homeowner is either behind on payments (but not by more than three consecutive months) or it is reasonably forseeable that the homeowner will fall behind.
- The total monthly mortgage payment is greater than 31 percent of the homeowner’s gross monthly income. If the payment is less, it is up to the servicer’s discretion if they will offer the program to the homeowner.
- The homeowner will be unemployed at the start of the forbearance period, and is able to document this because they will be receiving unemployment benefits in the month the forbearance period begins (even if the benefits expire before the forbearance period ends).
A mortgage servicer may require that, based on investor and regulator guidelines, homeowners have received at least three months of unemployment benefits before they begin a forbearance period.
There is no cost to apply to the Unemployment Program, although late charges may accrue while the homeowner is being evaluated for the program or in the program. A mortgage servicer may not collect late charges from the homeowner while they are still in the forbearance period.
Servicers may not initiate foreclosure proceedings or conduct a foreclosure sale while a homeowner is being evaluated for the Unemployment Program or in the forbearance period.
The Law Office of Monica T. Centeno Has Moved!
We have moved from our location on Warm Springs & Las Vegas Boulevard.
We are now located downtown at: 720 S. 4th Street, Las Vegas, NV 89101
You can reach us at: (702) 966-0688
We apologize for any inconvenience!
Monica In The Pahrump Valley Times For Short Sale Seminar
Short sale seminars help sellers, buyers
By GINA B. GOOD
PVT
Two community short sale seminars were hosted Saturday by real estate professions at the Basin Avenue campus of Great Basin College.
A short sale is selling short of what is owned on the mortgage.
“One of the things we have noticed over the last several months in Pahrump is that our listings have changed dramatically to short sales,” said iRealty sales agent and broker Lisa Bond. “We recognize there is a big change in the type of housing inventory. Buyers will probably be dealing with short sales.”
Bond explained that in today’s market, “You can buy a house for about half of what it costs to build a new house.”
That means homeowners who want to sell their homes must work with their banks and mortgage companies to establish their eligibility to sell their home for less than is owed on their notes. In some cases, holders of second mortgages will also consider a short sale.
Monica T. Centeno, who worked in the mortgage industry before becoming an attorney, told seminar attendees that after a foreclosure, a bank has six months to pursue (i.e., sue) a homeowner for what is owed on the mortgage. However, a second mortgage holder has six years to pursue a former homeowner for any deficiency. “That’s a long time to be waiting for the other shoe to drop,” she said.
“Nobody gets paid in a short sale,” said Centeno.
The most important item to write into the contract of a short sale between a homeowner and a mortgage holder is that the financial institution will not come after the homeowner at a later date for the remainder of the mortgage amount that is not covered in the sale of the home.
Bond agreed with Centeno, saying “If you are selling your house for far less than what you owe, as the seller, you will not leave the sale with any money because you are short the amount of money you owe.”
There are also considerations such as closing costs to consider.
“Some banks will satisfy the debt, but there could be tax liabilities involved,” Centeno said. Home sellers must contact their tax consultant in a short sale to protect themselves.
Centeno answered attendees’ questions about bankruptcy home sales, credit scores, assumable loans (there aren’t any) and answered questions such as: Must a homeowner have late mortgage payments to qualify for a principle reduction.
“Our goal is to provide information to sellers, buyers and agents,” said Bond. “The real estate market is so volatile now … Agents also need to keep up to date. We are the experts in the community, but as Realtors, we can’t go beyond our scope of licensing.”
Bond believes the more informed the buyer and seller are, the less confusion there will be surrounding sales of homes in foreclosure and due to bankruptcy.
“You will not get financing for another home until four years after a bankruptcy,” said Centeno. “After a foreclosure, you can get financing in five years” if your income qualifies and you have kept current on bills. “A short sale can be valuable,” she added. “You can get home financing in just three years after a short sale.”
While the short sale process for sellers can take months to complete, giving buyers numerous reasons to back out or just buy another home, Centeno said, “A lot of banks are getting more on board with the process.”
Bond works with Cow County Title Co. to keep the business and expertise in the community. She said most people are so attached to their homes, they are not realistic when it comes to its value, or lack thereof, in today’s market.
“It doesn’t matter what amenities you added,” she said. “Your cherry wood cabinets, travertine floors and granite counter tops don’t count for much … You could have all new appliances and every conceivable upgrade, but it just doesn’t matter.”
Attendees at the seller’s seminar were shaking their heads in dismay when Bond told the group of about 20 that “it doesn’t make a difference how much money you put into your house.” She said landscaping adds no value in an appraisal “because it can die.” Rock landscaping, on the other hand, can add to an appraisal because it is considered permanent.
According to Bond, overpricing helps the competition sell a home because it sends interested buyers to other properties and extends the time a home is on the market.
“An overpriced home takes more time to sell and usually sells below market value. An overpriced home won’t be appraised at the higher value, which will further delay a sale,” said Bond.
In answer to a question about selling the home to a relative, Bond said a short sale “has to be at arm’s length, it cannot be sold to a relative, not even when that relative has cash.”
Bond has been selling homes in Pahrump since 2003. She teaches the 90-hour real estate pre-licensing class for the state at Great Basin College.
Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 – 2010
Monica T. Centeno is LIVE at the Asian Festival & Tradeshow: March 5-7 Town Square Shopping Center!
Published on: Mar 5, 2010 @ 20:49
We are live at the Asian Festival & Tradeshow at Town Square! Please join us for all of the food, entertainment and fun! Register to win a Nintendo Wii, Super Karaoke Machine, Coach purses and much more. Monica will be here to answer your questions all day and will be conducting free live seminars at 11:30 AM and 3:30 PM each day.
Join Us at the Asian Festival & Tradeshow! March 5-7 @ Town Square Center Las Vegas!
Asian Festival & Tradeshow
March 5-7,2010
Town Square Center Las Vegas
The 2010 Asian Festival & Tradeshow is focused on becoming the leading provider of first class exhibitions, whereby exhibitors and vendors can be exposed to multinational visitors and corporations from various states and nations. During the duration of the expo, exhibitors will have the opportunity to educate and enlighten visitors, meet new prospects, increase their client base, conduct business and even have physical demonstrations. We’ll put you in contact with manufacturers and distributors of different products and services making its benefits accessible to all.
DJ LP SOUND spins, Siren of the Strip: Lani Misalucha, samoan and hawaiian hula dancers – Heart of Polynesia, reggae artists Lady Reiko and the Sin City Prophets, Haleamano.
$3.00 – General Admission
Military and Children under 5 yrs. old are FREE
Location:
Town Square
Las Vegas, NV, 89119
Event Time w/ DJ FOR THE EVENT: LP SOUND
Mar 5 / Fri: 10:00 am – 7:00 pm
DJ TIME Fri: 05:30 pm – 6:00 & AGAIN 7 pm – ?
Mar 6 / Sat: 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
DJ TIME Fri: 05:30 pm – 6:00 & AGAIN 7 pm – ?
Mar 7 / Sun: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
DJ TIME Fri: 05:30 pm – 6:00 & AGAIN 7 pm – ?
For More Info: http://www.asianfestivalandtradeshow.com
Press Release Today @ 1:06 PM Feb 17 2010 2010 Asian Festival and Trade Show takes over Town Square
Las Vegas, NV, March 5-7, 2010
When: March 5-7, Event begins at 10am all three days.
Where: Town Square on the Las Vegas Strip (at the 215 Freeway)
What: A blending of the Asian cultural, entertainment, and business communities into one all-inclusive event celebrating the contribution of Asian business and consumers to our city.
Why: We are a Pan-Asian festival representing an array of Asian countries, cuisines, cultural traditions and performances. And of course, we are a fun way to bring business minded people together to help our community generate jobs and revenue by building new partnerships and exploring new markets.
The festival and trade show will turn Town Square into a hub of Asian culture, community and business from March 5-7 and the entertainment will be NON-STOP.
Saturday night we feature our Block Party and all ages are welcome to groove into the night to our live bands.Budweiser will be sponsoring our adult beverages.
Trade Show Highlights:
*Over 100 exhibitors representing corporate and local business in the lucrative and loyal Asian target market.
*18 restaurant vendors representing an array of Asian cultures and cuisines
*Networking and marketing with the Asian business and consumer markets.
*Introduction into the Asian business and consumer communities.
*Family friendly, fun event sharing Asian culture and cuisine to local and international guests (25,000 attendees over 3 days)
Festival Highlights:
*Non-stop entertainment for 3 days featuring Asian cultural performers, local celebrities, live music , dance, fashion, and more.
*More than 16 performances live on stage during our event and at our Block Party
*Lani Misalucha (Performing 2 days: Siren of the Strip, 3 octave range, various casino residencies, amazing dance skills and dead on impressions, compared to Celine Dion, Barbara Streisand, Winner: 2009 Best Singer in Las Vegas Review Journal poll, currently at the Hilton Hotel and Casino 5 nights a week.
*Block party with live music and DJ to bring people together in celebration
*Import Car Show
*Bands: Haleamano (Reggae), Lady Reiko and the Sin City Prophets (Reggae), Chastity (alternative music) Halfie (cover band) *Vocalists: Samantha Mendoza (R&B)
*DJ: LP Sound with Red Elephant Media
*Dance Groups: Filipiana Dance Co., Apatoerau (Tahitian dance and drum), Heart of Polynesia(Samoa and Hawaiian hula), Kalahi (Philippine Folk Lore Ensemble) Point Blank (female dance grp)
*Martial Arts Demo: LV Modern Kung Fu, Lohan School of Shaolin,
*Cultural Performers: Las Vegas Kaminari Taiko (ancient 2000 yr. old Japanese art of live drumming, Kaminari means: Thunder)
*Kids: Cassie and Dayna (kid singers) Rascals (youth dance group) Point Blank
Sponsors: CLEAR Wireless, Budweiser, Metro PCS, Pizza Hut, ICF global communications, Direct TV, CHASE, eleven spa, Panda Express, Maui Sports and Entertainment, Bass Pro, Census 2010, Jun’s Korean Restaurant, Law Office of Maria Centeno, and more…
Media: KLAV, xradio.biz, Channel 8, Red Elephant Media, Philippine Times of Southern Nevada and more to be announced soon…
2010 Asian Festival and Trade Show
Sara Ledesma
Director of PR
The Law Office of Monica T. Centeno New Year Update
Published on: Jan 22, 2010 @ 18:08
It’s 2010 and we’re kicking off the new year with some exciting announcements:
- 2009 was a great year for the law firm, and due to our success we have grown! In addition to our loan modification and foreclosure prevention services, we are now offering debt settlement, traffic ticket fixing, and DUI defense. Call us today for a free consultation!
- Our Twitter feed has been temporarily lengthened to display our updated list of recent and exciting approvals!
- We will be attending the Asian Festival & Tradeshow at Town Square which takes place March 5 – 7. Come visit us and enjoy amazing food and cultural entertainment – hope to see you there!
- Be sure to pick up a copy of the Phillipine Times newspaper to check out our weekly article, and don’t forget to explore the rest of Monica’s blog to learn valuable information about:
Alternatives To Loan Modification
Transcipts & Audio From Heidi Harris Interview (Part 1)
Transcipts & Audio From Heidi Harris Interview (Part 2)
Audio From Monica T. Centeno Co-Hosting “The Money Factor” with David Bach (8/17/09)
Audio From Monica T. Centeno Co-Hosting “The Money Factor” with David Bach (9/14/09)
The Law Office of Monica T. Centeno Feeding Families for Thanksgiving
Published on: Oct 14, 2009 @ 18:40
UPDATE: We have chosen the families we are sponsoring for Thanksgiving! Thank you so much for all your submissions!
Every day, we hear about the terrible hardships that have fallen upon many Las Vegans. Record-high foreclosure and unemployment rates have crippled some local families to such an extent that celebrating the holidays has become a luxury to them, not a necessity. Here at the Law Office of Monica T. Centeno we work tirelessly to keep our clients in their homes and financially secure. But with Thanksgiving right around the corner in the midst of one of the worst economic recessions in history, this year we have decided to go one step further in assisting distressed families.
In what we hope to become an annual tradition, we will be helping 30 troubled families celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday – a full dinner will be personally delivered by our staff. We will be carefully selecting 10 of these families, but we need help choosing 20 more. You can help us by providing your input. Please take a moment to visit our website (www.monicacentenolaw.com) and nominate a family for us to give a happy Thanksgiving to!
New Nevada State Law A.B. 149, FHA Revisions To HAMP Help Homeowners Receive Loan Modifications!
Let Monica T. Centeno, an experienced loan modification attorney, guide you through these new laws and determine how they may help you.
