Obama’s Making Home Affordable program, which launched in February, has begun modifying loans on a trial basis for 650,000 borrowers, or one-fifth of those eligible, the administration announced yesterday. The program aims to modify loans for up to four million borrowers whose payments are more than 60 days delinquent over the next several years by enticing mortgage companies and investors to reduce their demands. While the Treasury Department said yesterday’s data means the program is on track to meet that goal, JPMorgan Chase said only 26 percent of customers who made trial payments under the program had submitted the necessary documents to make the modifications permanent. At Morgan Stanley, just 500 participating customers have received permanent modifications so far. A permanent fix is only granted if borrowers become current on their payments after three months and submit both a hardship affidavit and other documentation. Because much of the problem seems to stem from documentation, the Treasury Department has begun relaxing some requirements. Last month, borrowers who had made three trial payments were granted 60 extra days on their paperwork.

Housing advocates say that while the Obama administration’s mortgage
modification program could help thousands of New Yorkers, it has been
slow to get off the ground, and the majority of people who have applied
for help have yet to hear whether they will receive it. The Center for
New York City Neighborhoods, a public-private agency that connects
homeowners with counselors approved by the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, has overseen 400 applications for the Making Home
Affordable program, and so far, only about 100 of those mortgages have
been modified. The rest of the applications are pending with lenders,
with people often waiting more than 60 days for a response. “The
promise of this program is enormous,” said Rafael Cestero, commissioner
of the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development. “It’s a
brand-new program and it’s a very complicated issue, but we all share
the feeling that it’s been moving too slowly.” [more]

The latest wave of troubled American homeowners is a surge of people in
financial danger not because of reckless gambling on real estate, but
because of lost income. One homeowner approached mortgage company
Countrywide, now part of Bank of America, for a loan modification, but
the lender instead offered her a refinancing because she did not
present a big enough problem to merit aid. Although the borrower had
just lost her job, she had never missed a mortgage payment, and the
bank said it was focusing on borrowers “already in severe threat of
foreclosure.” A spokesperson for the Department of Treasury said that
these homeowners are eligible for loan modifications under the Making
Home Affordable program, and that mortgage servicers have offered to
modify more than 100,000 loans since the program was introduced. The
spokesperson did not say how many loans have been successfully
modified, noting that the Treasury was working with lenders to
“fine-tune” reporting systems. [more]

The Obama administration’s initiatives to increase the number of
borrowers who can refinance offers hope to homeowners buckling under
the pressure of a tough economic climate. The Making Home Affordable
program is designed to assist 7 to 9 million American families in
refinancing or modifying their loans to a monthly mortgage payment that
is more affordable. The two initiatives are designed to significantly expand the numbers of
borrowers who can refinance or modify their mortgages to a payment that
is affordable now and into the future. [more]

Citi Habitats President Gary Malin says BlackBook is a good fit for the firm

Citi Habitats partners with entertainment guide: Citi Habitats has
formed a Web marketing alliance with BlackBook Media Corp., which
provides entertainment and fashion guides through BlackBook magazine, BBook.com and guide
books. The marketing alliance will add
restaurant, bar and shopping destinations to Citi Habitats’ sales and
rental listings. Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats, said,
“leveraging resources with BlackBook was a good fit for our firm. We
share many demographics, and this partnership has added value and
enriched content to our site.” TRD [more]