Fewer families will be able to modify loans in the coming months

Although about 500,000 American families have taken part in the federal home loan modification program thus far, the Mortgage Bankers Association said rising unemployment means that fewer will be able to save their homes from foreclosure in the coming months. “You can’t modify someone if they don’t have income or a job,” John Courson, president and CEO of the MBA, explained in a press conference on Tuesday. When depressed home prices and the complexity of loan modification paperwork are factored into the equation, it appears that the predicted next wave of foreclosures may be difficult to thwart without novel solutions, the group said. To find them, the MBA is planning to put together a think tank that will focus on overcoming the developing foreclosure crisis in creative new ways. [SFBJ]