Veterans Returning Home Gain Short Sale Help
"The new standards set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now requires servicers to meet deadlines. They can no longer leave someone hanging during the qualifying and approval short sale process. ~ Jenna Thuening
Minneapolis, Minnesota (PRWEB) June 28, 2012
The new short sale policies for military homeowners are being applauded across many agencies.
At a news conference this week, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco announced changes to short sale policies that will make it easier for military homeowners with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans to honor their financial commitments when they are required to move as part of their duty. New policy benefits are only applicable to military homeowners with a GSE-backed mortgage.
When a service member receives orders to relocate, many have been caught without sufficient time to prepare a home for market, find the right buyer, and be moved within the time allotment. Since Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders require military members to relocate, they can create a hardship, especially at a time when millions of homeowners are underwater and find it impossible to sell their home due to negative equity. This left many service members stuck with two residences or to default on their mortgage. Short-sale approvals have exasperated the patience of many a saint. With PCS orders pressing and not hearing a necessary response over months, some service members have given up and let the home go into foreclosure.
Already facing enormous adjustment challenges, healthfinder.gov reports, "An estimated 18 U.S. military veterans commit suicide each day, according to information in the news release." The Wounded Warrior Project explains that "A veteran with a good job, good social supports, and a healthy leisure routine may have an easier readjustment to civilian life."
“It is in everyone’s interest for the men and women serving in our armed forces to focus on the important job they are doing defending our country, rather than worry about the maintenance and leasing of a property in another jurisdiction,” said DeMarco. “These Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac policy changes, in combination with related guidance last fall, should now provide military homeowners with access to the immediate and automatic full range of foreclosure alternatives.”
Home Destination's owner Jenna Thuening finds that "short sales, pre-foreclosure sales, foreclosures, or reverting to a bank lease option are significant financial setbacks and cause a lot of time, energy, and emotional upheaval for most veterans. It can simply be 'too much' when you are already adjusting to life back home."
Already facing enormous adjustment challenges, healthfinder.gov reports, "An estimated 18 U.S. military veterans commit suicide each day, according to information in the news release." The Wounded Warrior Project explains that "A veteran with a good job, good social supports, and a healthy leisure routine may have an easier readjustment to civilian life."
New policy changes include:
- Servicers now must provide borrowers with status updates during the evaluation process
- Servicers are now allowed to respond to unsolicited pre-foreclosure sale offers They need not require an evaluation first
- Pre-foreclosure sale offers submitted for consideration now have a maximum required response time
Two proposed bills, the Hire at Home Act and the Help Veterans Return to Work Act, focus on jobs that will help veterans make their mortgage payments or help qualify for a home loan. The Veterans' Affairs website states, "The problem of Veterans’ unemployment is serious and especially urgent for our youngest Veterans. According to the June 2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey Monthly Averages the overall unemployment rate for post-9/11 Veterans averaged 12.7 percent."
"The Department of Defense (DOD) supports the intent of two other bills that would expand the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to increase mortgage protections to military members, Fredrick Vollrath, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness and Force Management", U.S. Department of Defense reported. "The Military Family Protection Act seeks to improve protections for service members and surviving spouses against mortgage foreclosures. It seeks to expand protections for troops serving in support of contingency operations, veterans who are disabled at retirement, and surviving spouses of service members."
"The department also supports the Fairness for Military Homeowners Act", Vollrath told the panel. If passed, it would ensure that military members who move away from their principal residences for active duty aren’t prevented from refinancing the mortgages on those properties.
Veterans with a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan who are facing a foreclosure or short sale, can contact Home Destination for support.
