real estate news

Foreclosure news has shown that the program of the federal government has had mixed results in its goal of helping homeowners avoid foreclosure. The slight deceleration in the downtrend in housing prices and the small drop in the number of foreclosure filings can be credited to this particular government initiative. However, positive foreclosure news has been limited because many of the borrowers who should have been qualified for this government program have not been given a loan modification.

The states where slight increases were observed in home prices were Michigan, Massachusetts, Florida, Nevada, California, Texas, Arkansas and Arizona. The highest increases in the prices of homes were noted in Arkansas and Texas. Meanwhile, foreclosure news has also shown that the number of foreclosure filings in the states of Georgia, California, Michigan, Florida and Texas has started to go down.

Despite the above improvements, critics have been quick to point out that only a small percentage of homeowners who should have been eligible for debt restructuring have actually been allowed to have their mortgages modified. Some people have also argued that the government's foreclosure plan is not based on sound economic principles and therefore has little no chance of succeeding. Nevertheless, the federal administration is confident that the initiative will accomplish what it has sought to achieve. And to demonstrate this view, officials point to the achievement of the milestone in which half a million loan modifications have been approved.

It should be noted that the anti-foreclosure program of the government is supported by some of the funds that have been allocated by Congress to assist troubled financial companies. This initiative wants to stimulate the approval of more loan modifications, refinancing and home loans. Refinancing is geared towards helping homeowners who are underwater in their mortgages, which means that their outstanding loan is higher than the price of their homes. Loan modifications are expected to make the payments more affordable by ensuring that they represent no more than 31 percent of the net income of the borrowers. And finally, the initiative wants to provide more home loans to first time buyers.

It can be seen that the government plan has finally made some inroads but it still has a long way to go. Only time will tell whether it will ultimately attain its goals. For sure, this will be reflected in the foreclosure news as the stabilization of home prices and foreclosure filings.