Home Owners Counseling

Mortgage Investors to Chip in for Homeowners' Counseling -- Washington Post Washington Post, By Renae Merle June 12, 2008

Mortgage investors are rolling out a plan to pay housing counselors who assist troubled homeowners in avoiding foreclosure.
Nonprofit counselors have long depended on charities and governments for funding. They see the change as a long-sought acknowledgment from the financial industry that their efforts to help distressed homeowners also help the people who lent them money.
The effort is expected to cost the industry millions of dollars over the next two years and expand the availability of services, said Tom Deutsch, deputy executive director of the American Securitization Forum, the trade group behind the change.
"It's a good investment," Deutsch said. "It is helping borrowers understand their options, and the credit counselors are very good at doing that."
Hope Now, a coalition of lenders and nonprofit groups, plans to announce today adoption of the guidelines for the payments, up to $150 for a session with a distressed homeowner. Nonprofit agencies can receive more if there is a positive outcome for the lender.
"This is a great way to prevent foreclosures, to be connected with counselors," said Faith Schwartz, Hope Now's executive director.
The industry has received mixed reviews of its work with homeowners. Lenders tout their progress through Hope Now, noting that nearly 1.6 million borrowers have received help. But advocates have said that efforts so far have relied too heavily on establishing repayment plans instead of making changes to the terms of a loan, such as lowering the principal owed or the interest rate. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency noted in a report yesterday that repayment plans outnumbered loan modifications 4 to 1 during March 2008.
The money would be available for counselors who work with homeowners who are late on their payments -- or that think they will be soon. It would not cover homeowners already in bankruptcy or many who have had credit counseling within the past year.
The funds will be in addition to the $180 million in grants Congress has approved for nonprofit counseling agencies, as well as payments the industry already makes to the 450 housing counselors who staff a hotline for homeowners. That hotline, 888-995-HOPE, has reported 315,000 calls this year, compared with 245,000 for all of last year.
"If the financial services industry embraces this fee-for-service, the value that counseling brings, this could be revolutionary," said Marietta Rodriguez, director of national homeownership programs at NeighborWorks America, a nonprofit group based in the District. "Right now, counseling is really being paid philanthropically and through government sources, and given the magnitude of the problem, they are not sufficient sources."
The extra money would enable a counseling center to build a more sustainable line of business, Rodriguez said. But details still need to be worked out and the process could be difficult for small local counseling services because it requires them to establish separate contracts with each lender, she said.
The payments will be helpful, but they would not fully reimburse counselors for the 8 to 12 hours they spend helping a homeowner negotiate a loan modification with a lender, said Marcia Griffin, director of HomeFree-USA, a District-based homeownership counseling group.
HomeFree has hired 10 employees over the past year as demand jumped. The nonprofit is contacted by about 25 homeowners a day, compared with 10 a week before the housing crisis began, Griffin said.
"Somebody has to come up some more money in order to help nonprofit organizations to service these people," she said. "If I had more money to work with, we would be able to do many, many more things."

MLS Stats for MAY

Southeast Valley areas were up 19% with these areas standing out:
Area 503 (North Tempe) up 73%!!
Area 504 (South Tempe) up 71%!!
Area 519 (S. of Apache Junction) up 69%
Area 514 (S.E. Mesa) up 41%
Area 505 (West Mesa) up 30%
Area 517 (Apache Junction) up 26%
Area 510 (Gilbert) up 26%

Very encouraging for our sellers. Buyers remember now is the time to buy!
Call me if you are looking for that great deal or what to get some more information on searching for properties.

Moving Can Be a Pain

Moving can be very exciting...but it can also be a bit of a pain as well. Besides packing and unpacking, there is a long list of details to be handled. Things like choosing a mover, connecting utilities, getting Internet and cable service, or subscribing to newspapers or magazines in a new area can be quite a chore. And if you forget to connect one of the utilities you could be stuck in your new home for several days without that much needed service. To ease the stress of moving and schedule new connections for all of the utilities in one convenient location, simply logon to www.whitefence.com.
You can quickly compare prices for movers, phone, electricity, television, or high-speed Internet. Just select the service you wish to compare--for example, phone, cable, and electric. Or, enter your address on the home page, hit search, and within seconds a list of services and prices available in that area will appear. Next, click on the service of your choice to view details and pricing or comparison shop by choosing three providers. Once you determine the provider, select the service plan, complete the requested information, enter the connection date, and within minutes a confirmation will be sent to you.
If you want to change your current provider, simply hit the icon for phone, cable, or internet, select "switch provider", complete the requested information and a list of providers in the local area will appear. Choose the new provider and the service will be changed.
Additionally, on the site you can complete a change of address form, subscribe to local newspapers, and order magazine subscriptions. Moving to a new home should be enjoyable and exciting. Using this tool can help remove a bit of the stress of moving and will also help save valuable time.
Thanks to Mike Bennett.