HUD secretary to solve foreclosure crisis
Posted by RealEstateGuru
Shaun Donovan, the secretary of the HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) is expected to face the greatest challenge of ameliorating the foreclosure issue to revive a nation, hit by one of the worst economic crisis in recent times. The president, Barrack Obama also declared that his secretary would make homes available at an affordable rate.
According to Ben Bernanke, Chairman Federal Reserve, banks are all geared up to foreclose about 2.25 million homes, higher than their previous rate of one million homes and less in earlier years. According to reports submitted by Mortgage bankers Association, one person of every 10 property owners have failed to make mortgage payments or have been hit by the foreclosure crisis. Obama in this situation declared that, he will make use of the second half of the $700 billion fund for economic bailout, sanctioned by the Congress to bring down the foreclosure rate.
A 42-year architect from Harvard University, Shaun Donovan is estimating a $7.5 billion project in New York to maintain about 165,000 houses at reasonable rates. Most of the eminent personalities of the city feel that they have just reached halfway. Donovan remarked last year in June “New York City and cities like us across the country cannot preserve this resource on our own”. He further maintained “We need the commitment and partnership of the federal government”. Obama nominated cabinet positions including the ministers of Treasury and Commerce departments, HUD in view of the economy.
Hailing from New York, Donovan holds a master’s degree in public administration and architecture. He also worked as the principal assistant HUD secretary for multifamily housing under President Bill Clinton.
Foreclosure HUD New York Obama Secretary Shaun DonovanHUD launches ‘Keep your home. Know your loan’ campaign to prevent more foreclosures
Posted by Bhavesh
The Housing and Urban Development Secretary of the U.S. government, Steve Preston advocated a few days ago that HUD would undertake an aggressive stance to stave off the foreclosure crisis by introducing an awareness program for the consumers in Chicago, Detroit, Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. The campaign commenced as ‘Keep your home. Know your loan.’ The consumer awareness program was begun by Preston at a New York City agency, known as Neighborhood Housing Services. It provides free counseling to the delinquent borrowers.
Apart from fighting the mortgage crisis, the HUD was also known for transforming impoverished neighborhoods into secure and clean areas. The HUD has been particularly praised for its successful initiatives in the past with regard to community planning and development. A rehabilitation program of the Carver Park neighborhood was successfully launched few years back. Over 60 homes were restored.
The financial literacy program supports the extensive effort which the HUD has made to assist about 2,600 housing counseling agencies all over the country. Apart from the HUD’s efforts in easing out the mortgage crisis, President Obama’s presidentship is looked upon as a solution to ‘repair the broken economy’. Keeping this in mind, the year 2009 is being regarded as a period of financial literacy.
During the last year, the need for counseling, ratified by the Housing and Urban development Department got further momentum. Preston claimed that “This campaign is a call to action for families at risk of losing their homes.” He further added “We want people to pick up the phone and call a HUD-approved housing counseling agency before they reach a point of no return. Keeping your home may be as easy as dialing (877) HUD-1515.” It is important that the distressed property owners ask for assistance earlier.
Otherwise chances of readjustment become less at a later period of the foreclosure crisis. The “Keep Your Home. Know Your Loan.” program will feature discussions through print, radio and television announcements.
Development Financial Literacy Foreclosure Government Housing HUD U.S. UrbanHUD’s new mortgage reforms aim to benefit borrowers
Posted by Bhavesh
In November last year, the department of Housing and Urban Development of the U.S, Government, popularly known as the HUD brought out mortgage reforms, overdue for the last 30 years.
The HUD had earlier worked on plans to give a boost to housing in various ways. A plan for a real estate school in Richmond was considered ‘exemplary.’ To emphasize the concept of ‘affordable housing’, few years back the division of Affordable Housing Research and Technology of HUD got together with the National Building Museum to promote the idea of affordable housing as an essential architectural and economic asset.
The consumers will highly benefit from these reforms. They will now be able to get the lowest cost mortgage and prevent any kind of expensive loan offers. The department would want the lending institutions and mortgage brokers to offer the consumers with a standard Good Faith Estimate (GFE), which would underline the important terms, conditions and closing costs of the loan. The HUD foresees this new policy will help consumers save about $700.
The Secretary of HUD, Steve Preston commented that “It has been a long road but today we can finally announce a better way to buy homes in America. He further said “Consumers need and deserve to know what they’re getting themselves into before they sign on the dotted line. After carefully considering the concerns of consumers and the different businesses in the housing sector, we have developed an approach that empowers the average family to shop for the most appropriate loan to meet their needs.”
HUD drew up plans for new reforms during March, last year to meet the regulatory requirements of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) by encouraging a process of underscoring the loan terms and the final costs clearly. The proposed reform was stretched until June for more speculation over the GFE.
The Assistant Secretary of Housing, Federal Housing Commissioner,
Brian Montgomery declared that “We have carefully considered the concerns expressed from every corner of the mortgage market in developing this rule. I am convinced that we successfully balanced the needs of consumers with those in the business of homeownership. None of us can lose sight of the fact that millions of Americans simply don’t understand all the fine print of their mortgages and this, in many respects, is at the heart of today’s mortgage crisis.”
Many industry commentators felt that the proposed GFE plan by HUD was lengthy. The GFE form was cut short to three pages to make it more convenient for borrowers understanding. The loan applicants will be in a position to draw a comparison between the approximate and the final cost. Shaun Donovan, president Obama’s nominee for the secretary of HUD, is looked upon as a ‘housing expert’, is expected to bring about more changes in the department.
department of housing and urban development good faith estimate Government HUD lowest cost mortgage Real Estate