With the numerous reported failures of the federal program known as HAMP, inside senior officials seem to be jumping on the band wagon sharing their new found pessimistic viewpoints on where this program may be headed.

There were letters recently exchanged between one key senator and Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), on the subject of HAMP with Barofsky saying that only 1.5 million or so homeowners would get any type of mortgage assistance.

Compare this to the 4 million it initially claimed, even if this new number of permanent loan modifications could be accomplished at this point seems to be only a miracle.

The actual statistics may be surprising but only 200,000 homeowners have been able to go from their trial modification to a permanent loan status.

But if matters couldn’t be worse, the inspector general’s report warned that many borrowers are at risk of re-defaulting on their St Louis mortgages even after receiving help under the federal program.

Again the critics are coming out of the wood works suggesting that these homeowners are irresponsible. But the truth of the matter is, many still owe more money than what their home is worth not mentioning that others have second mortgages.

The detestable statistics that will be briefly mentioned may be those thousands of homeowners who were indeed irresponsible to the point of buying homes they knew they couldn’t afford. And what is worse is the multitude of consumers who blatantly lied on their applications when it came to the now infamous stated income loans or what others call “liar loans.” These are the very one who helped create this mortgage fiasco alongside the insurance and banking behemoths.

Getting back to the matter at hand, Barofsky then shows his further skepticism basically saying that these loan modifications may not be the best program to continue offering. The Treasury department had other opinions as to the wide spread criticism.

In a long, drawn out response included in the report, Herbert M. Allison, assistant Treasury secretary for financial stability said the program “should be measured by how many eligible homeowners are able to avoid the pain and stigma of foreclosure by reducing their mortgage payments to affordable levels while either remaining in their homes or transitioning with dignity to more suitable housing. The number of permanent modifications is one element, but not the only element of gauging the success.”

The approach here seems to be to make an excuse or perhaps help us to see how this program should actually be viewed and decided as regards its ultimate success or failure.

What Allison, in reality, was saying is that the problem is not in the failing of HAMP, but rather that Barofsky and other critics are not measuring its lack of success the correct way. Oh, really.

But the Treasury department along with Allison cannot fully believe this concept since he goes on to say that permanent modifications are really only one way to help struggling homeowners.

The fact that servicers offering other foreclosure prevention initiatives and alternatives such as short sales must be taken into consideration.

The bottom line to all this was that the administration sold the American consumer on the fact that HAMP was going to be the ultimate savior in stopping foreclosures and steering this country back on course to a full recovery.

And as we are finding out, many of these modifications did not include a realistic principal reduction, which means in all likelihood, it will fail.

If you are wanting to discuss some of the best home loan options on a St Louis mortgage or a St Louis refinancing loan, visit our websites or call Floyd, Steve or Doug at 877-334-0210 or 314-334-0210.

In the last 24 months the American homeowner has had to face banking and real estate crises including unemployment rates that have been hovering in the double digits.

With the federal tax credit program soon expiring, St Louis refinancing and lending analysts seem concerned that any hope of a recovery may now be out of reach as unemployment seems to be on the rise.

However, to the great disappointment of political experts and financial professionals, the Obama administration’s additional initiatives to modify consumers’ loans facing foreclosure has horribly failed and has not met with any great success thus far just as the federal stimulus met with similar doom.

St Louis mortgage professionals also fear that a huge supply of discounted homes will hit the market in 2010 and this additional supply of homes will only worsen an already failing market situation.

As the deadline for the home tax buyer credit approaches April 30th, there is no evidence nor likelihood that we will see any increase in housing demand whether it would be new purchases or refinancing nor will this federal program be extended any time in the near future.

But what is surely ironic is no one seems to be strongly and publicly advocating consumers to buy a house at this time. In fact, Tim Surrat, a real estate agent, seems to echo this thought by saying: “No one is saying that they need to buy before the tax credit expires.”

Some experts are saying that the size of the tax credit at $6,500 to $8000 is actually too small to influence buyers to make any kind of immediate buying decision.

The real problem that the banking industry seems to agree upon is this in no way takes into consideration the needed savings to offset the home buyer’s down payment or commissions to real estate agents.

Let’s take for example a house that is priced at $164,000. If the real estate agent’s commission is at 6 percent, the amount paid would be $9840. In this case, as it would for most transactions, the expenses would be much higher than the $6500 to $8000 being offered.

As Roberton Williams, a senior associate at the Tax Policy Center, said: “You’ve got a really big problem that requires big guns, and the tax credit is just not big enough.”

Many lobbyists are saying more time should have been spent on making this program much more financially advantageous to buyers rather than the apparent wasted time on the controversial passage of the recent health care program.

The next crisis that seems to lay ahead of our political decision makers is will the social security system get the needed emergency cash to help keep it going. Let’s hope this agenda passes with gold stars.

Want to find out more about a St Louis home loan, then visit Floyd J. Tapia’s site on how to choose the best St Louis mortgage for your needs. Call his office 24 Hours at 877-334-0210 or 314-334-0210.

It has been a bewildering year as homeowners nationwide have had to deal with massive job losses, the insolvency of banks and continued tidal waves of imminent foreclosures.

The harsh reality of this appalling situation is a paltry 4 percent of total homeowners receiving long-term mortgage assistance who faced foreclosure this past year.

This has created a whirlwind of lawmakers trying to explore financial alternatives within the Obama administration aimed at helping the remaining 96 percent who may still lose their homes.

Demographics are showing that approximately two million homes and other real estate elements are falling into foreclosure or are bank-owned with more losses coming.

The government’s current solutions have been futile at saving homes from this foreclosure epidemic and that there is an anticipated 8 million foreclosures looming on the horizon as the economy falters according to Citigroup analysts.

Could the answer lie in encouraging more short sales? Well, the National Association of Realtors reported that over 500,000 home sales in 2009 were actually short sales. This was almost 10 percent of total house sales for the year.

Interestingly, Bloomberg.com said that banks who were once contrary to these type transactions are beginning to go along with short sales in larger numbers.

Further data shows that short sales almost tripled to 40,000 in the first six months of 2009, compared to the same months in 2008 as reported by the St. Louis Refinancing Group and the local lending community.

The Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency seems to feel that in reality there were 25 foreclosures started or completed for each short sale filed and completed.

Mr. Richard Green, the director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles writes: “It’s really finally dawning on banks that they’re better off with a short sale. I think banks were in denial.”

Most homeowners don’t know this but there are a few benefits in doing a short sale. You remain in control of the sale as like any other home sale. And you can spare yourself the social stigma of having a foreclosure on your credit report.

And if your mortgage payments were never 30 days late and the lender didn’t require you to pay back the loan, you would be allowed to purchase a future home after said short sale occurred according to Fannie Mae guidelines either immediately or after a waiting period of no more than 3 years.

However, if your mortgage payments fell behind more than 30 days and a short sale was approved by the lender, you still may qualify to buy another home with Fannie Mae within 2 years.

But what if you were a victim of foreclosure? Do not despair. Even with restrictions in place, you may qualify to by another home within 5 years and if there’s no restrictions in place, within 7 years.

And for those who are investors and do not occupy the home, the wait to buy with a Fannie Mae insured loan is 7 years.

With political pressures escalating from demanding consumers in the mortgage arena, the Obama administration has had no choice but to champion the short sale as a feasible alternative to foreclosure.

There have been finalized guidelines carefully defined by the Treasury Department for utilizing short sales under the Making Homes Affordable program.

Under the new Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) program, the administration is urging participating servicers to follow through with short sales as an alternative to foreclosure.

This new program known as HAFA was executed to assist distressed homeowners who were not able to qualify for a temporary or permanent loan modification under the (HAMP) Home Affordable Modification Program.

Learn more about the best St Louis Mortgage loan. Stop by Floyd J. Tapia’s site where you can find out all about a St Louis Mortgage Refinancing and what a new home loan or refinancing can do for you.