Five Benefits of the Obama Plan

Bob Boog — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:25:54 +0000

by Bob Boog

The president’s 75 billion dollar Housing Fix-it Plan has arrived and because people are asking what its all about, here is my expert analysis. In a nutshell, the plan offers to make house payments more affordable for hard-pressed homeowners and contains five major benefits. Here they are:

1. The main benefit is that it provides assistance to homeowners who wish to stay in their homes. The sour economy has made it tough for many homeowners to refinance because for most, their equity has dried up and they are unable to do so. This plan also helps those who may have lost income due to the current recession.

2. The Initiative Offers No Aid for Speculators: This initiative will go solely to helping homeowners who commit to make payments to stay in their home ” it will not aid speculators or house flippers.

3. It Helps to Protect Neighborhoods: This plan helps to stabilize home prices for all homeowners in a neighborhood. After all, a foreclosed home often reduces the value of the entire neighborhood. The average homeowner could see his or her home value stabilized against declines because fewer homes will fall into foreclosure relative to what would happen absent the Homeowner Stability Initiative.

4. The Plan Proactively Assists Homeowners Not Yet Late on Payments. Oftentimes responsible homeowners who know that their jobs are in jeopardy due to the recession will call their mortgage lender(s) hoping to make some kind of arrangement, only to be told that there is nothing that can be done. Unless a homeowner is in arrears, banks will not listen to their plea for help. This plan offers assistance to homeowners at risk of default despite being current on their mortgage payments.

5. The Plan helps to restructure total Debt. The financial stability part of the plan is to create payment plans that can be kept by the homeowner ” not pipe dream payments. By working in conjunction with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to standardize loan modifications, the Treasury Department hopes to do just that.

The goal of the Obama program, in a nutshell, is to lend security to the current volatile financial markets. The Treasury must placate nervous lenders who wish to pull the trigger on non-performing assets out of fear that home prices might fall even further if they wait, but stop the market from plunging further so that new purchasers may buy. In other words, lately a purchaser with good credit is finding it difficult to purchase a home because of lender concerns about the depreciating values in the marketplace. The Obama plan addresses both issues in one fell swoop.

The Obama Housing Fix-it Plan has much more to it. Parts of it involve granting incentives to lenders who postpone foreclosures, paying down principal for owners who stay in their property for five years, and even giving incentives to people who successfully modify loans.

The Treasury Department will be using the full power of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to standardize guidelines for loan modifications. And the benefit not talked about to consider is this one: by pumping 75 billion into the economy, the administration is giving the economy a sudden jolt that might be felt as quickly as June. The word on the street is that purchasing a home now and renting it out may prove to be a much safer bet than keeping the money in the bank!

About the Author:

Bob Boog is a California homes broker and author who has been selling homes for thirty years. His excellent free informative guide on mortgage modifications is available for a limited time. Visit his website to obtain a free copy.

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Five Benefits of the Obama Plan

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