Help! My house is in Foreclosure!
April 28th, 2009 at 6:22 pm by Eric Harryman under Uncategorized
I had the opportunity to moderate a town hall style event forum that dealt with the real estate crisis last weekend. I watched as audience members asked some tough and sometimes emotional questions.
Homeowners on the brink of losing the American Dream, got some advice from industry experts at the Virginia Beach Center for Higher Education. The office of Democratic Congressman Glen Nye gathered a panel of real estate insiders for a town hall style forum.
A quick welcome from your event moderator!
“I get a lot of phone calls saying, I’m in a tough situation with my house, I thought I was doing the right thing,” said Congressman Nye.
The first question directed to the panel of experts was from Mary McClellan. McClellan’s bank notified her a few weeks ago that her property was under foreclosure.
“I have done everything they have asked me, I have documentation of everything I have done, I am desperate .. they are doing to sell my house on May 6th,” pleaded McClellan.
Housing and financial counselor John Allen offered some advice to McClellan and told her to find someone who can cut through the red tape of the collections department and get in touch with the loss mitigation department as soon as possible.
Congressman Nye prepares to answer tough questions.
Another Virginia Beach homeowner told the panel he had taken out a second mortgage to invest some cash for retirement and not longer after, his home value dropped almost $200,000. Now he’s left with a house up for a short sale and his savings money is running out.
“Why don’t you just quit paying and get it foreclosed on? Well, it’s American pride, I don’t want to do it. I feel for this grandma, I’m a grandfather, June 1st I’m supposed to retire, I can’t retire,” said the homeowner.
Hampton Roads realtor Charlee Gowin says a short sale can only move forward when the bank has an offer on the table.
“You are not going to make any money on the house anyway, you owe more than it’s worth so –it almost doesn’t even matter to you what you sell it for. I would ask your realtor to get an offer, any offer,” Gowin said.
An panel of 6 experts from every sector of the real estate industry.
One thing that seemed to come up over and over in the forum was who to contact first when you realize you’re in over your head.
The answer is call your lender and do it before you miss a payment.
Post forum conversation and advice.
Congressman Nye asked for a promise from many of those who attended the event. He is asking for feedback. He would like to know how things are going for those facing foreclosure. He says it’s the only way to really gauge how federal dollars are helping.
If you’ve got a foreclousure or real estate related story to share, I’d like to hear from you. Reply to this post and I WILL get back to you!
Best of Luck,
E.
Fox 43 News/WAVY 10 News
its not me but my mother…she has a mortgage through wells fargo…and every month since she lost her job they have been reviewing her loan..when the review it they stop taking her payments and it counts against her until the new loan modification is completed…ever since jan my moms loan has been remodified at least 4 times…and everytime they redo it…the payment went up, the lawyers fees go up, the escrow goes up everything…as we speak she is in another loan remodification… but now they r saying they might not help her because she doesnt have a job any more…she gave them my paystubs but i make less then one half of what my mom was making…any adivice will be helpful…this house was my grandmothers who died at the age of 50 from aids and we r trying to keep this house in our family as something to remember her by…any advice would be helpful since i will most likely be moving back in with my mother at the beginning of 2010 and i would like a house to go home to… thank u so very much…kera lake
We contacted our Credit Union on March 8th, just after Obama approved the “Making Home Affordable” program. We were told that the Credit Union did not have all the information, but the Mortgage Department Supervisor took what info we gave her, and researched the program to find out we were right and that we should qualify. The next time we asked about it they said we were the third ones on the list, then the seventh, and we have been continually put off. We are now one month behind on our house payments, something we have desparately tried to avoid, but have nowhere else to pull money from. My husband has been laid off most of the last 14 months, and I was in a car accident, have had three major surgeries and have been unable to return to work. This house has been home to our family, our children, for the last ten years, and we do not want to loose it. If they would just do what the program outlines we could afford the modified payments, but neither the Mortgage Supervisor or the VP of the real estate department will answer or return our calls. Unfortuanately, FannieMae insists that we must go through our lender, our lender says they have sent everything to FannieMae, yet we have received no further information for weeks… not even a letter saying they received our application, they need more information, or that we have or have not been approved. Who else can we turn to for help? We don’t want to loose our home! Thank you!
I am about to get a forclosure notice on my home in Va Bch. Every time I speak with my lender (HSBC) they tell me the only thing they can do is put me on thier hardship program for 6 months and probable reduce interest to about 5% for those 6 months and then after that 6 months I have to reapply for their hardship program again and again and again etc. The first 6 months was fine but they took the deferred interest and added it to the back of the loan which contributes to loan amount higher than home value, and on top of that after reapplying for tehier hardship program I was told I was nolonger qualified to continue in hardship. They tell me they are not working with any 3rd party loan modification.
Obama’s plan looks good on paper but is it actually working? Today (6May09) I see on FOX43 a woman is the first to get the Home Affordable program. It must be super ssssssslow process. I am a 21 year USN Retired and boy do I know how slow our government works.
Everywhere you see and hear don’t use these for profit loan modification companies. Why not use these companies, noone else seems to want to fight for me. Spoke with one of the HUD approved consoulers when I was 3 months behind and they told me there was nothing they could do to contact my lender about Obama’s Home Affordable programs, the lender told me I needed to go to the website to see if I qualified for it. I thought I heard the lenders were suppose to identify at risk homeowners.
HSBC has done nothing to help me, maybe should just let them take it. Thanks for listening.
I have done everything they have asked me, I have documentation of everything I have done, I am desperate .. they are doing to sell my house on May 6th.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to OCWEN………
On Dec 31,2009 New Year’s Eve we were served with Foreclosure notice.And I thought Pres Obama wanted all forclosures halted till after the holidays!!We have modified our loan and this added 400 dollars to our payment.Our late payments,taxes and ins were added to this modification.That was the excuse I got..My husband has been unemployed for 2 1/2 yrs.I am the only one with an income and I only make enough for the payment.That does not leave anything for utilites or other bills.I have 20 days to respond to the notice.I have visited 4 lawyers in the past couple of days and they all say to file bankrupty and let them take the house.I want to keep my American dream..
What should I do??? I am a senior citizen and should taken early retirement by now..