Buying a home is one of the most significant financial commitments consumers make. The process can seem complicated, but the joys of owning a home changes the lives of people and enhances the communities that make up our cities.

But housing costs have increased faster than incomes, making it difficult for our firemen, nurses,  teachers, police officers and retail workers to find safe, quality, affordable housing near their jobs. And in addition to today’s economic and housing recession, there are more families being cautious about buying a home. Many of these first-time homebuyers face much stricter guidelines than those used in recent years. Credit scores, down payments and credit requirements have been increased as lenders tighten access to credit and implement stiffer lending restrictions.

For families who are struggling with credit issues, large amounts of debts or the potential loss of a job, buying a home is a scary situation. Many of these families will be asked to deal with credit, savings and money management before they can enter into the home buying process.

Learning good financial management skills is essential to rebuilding credit and managing debts and an important step before proceeding with a home purchase.

Several non-profit, HUD-certified counseling agencies currently offer financial education in the areas of credit counseling, debt reduction and budgeting. Finding out your credit score is the first step towards buying a home of your own. Paying your bills on time is another aspect of your credit and a good payment history can help lenders decide if you can afford to buy a home.

The North Texas Housing Coalition (NTHC) offers potential homebuyers and anyone interested in repairing their credit to contact creditors and dispute information on their credit report. These homebuyer financial education classes are designed to equip consumers with the tools necessary to purchase a home and access various homeownership programs.

First-time homebuyer workshops are available to help those families and individuals who are interested in purchasing a home learn the ABC's of buying a home by giving them the tools they need before they purchase a home. These workshops empower consumers to take control of their financial situations as well as helping them to better understand their spending habits.

The NTHC offers several first-time homebuyers workshops throughout the year. These eight-week comprehensive workshops feature information on topics such as:

·         Renting versus owning

·         Budgeting and credit repair (2 week-session)

·         How to create a homeownership plan that will work for you

·         How to choose the right lender for you

·         The mortgage process

·         What to do after you purchase a home - how to avoid  foreclosure

·         Work with a lender, realtor and insurance agent to get results

·         Home maintenance and do it yourself repairs

·         Resources available from local, state and federal programs to help with home financing

The Homeownership Center, part of the NTHC, is a community resource that provides comprehensive counseling, training and education. It is the place to go for consumers who want to become financially fit, achieve homeownership or prevent foreclosure.

For more information, please visit our website at www.nthcinc.org. Join us on February 20 for the 8-weeks to Homeownership class.

To identify available resources in your community, including a HUD-approved housing counselor, dial 2-1-1 or go online to 211 Texas, the statewide referral network for health and human services. 

Albert Martin is the executive director for the North Texas Housing Coalition

The North Texas Housing Coalition is a nonprofit organization comprising more than 300 organizations and individuals working to improve and increase affordable housing in the region.

Every day more and more homeowners are faced with the reality that they can’t save their homes from foreclosure. Mortgage default has increased by epidemic proportions throughout the U.S. What happens to those homeowners who are facing a foreclosure but who don’t qualify for the Making Home Affordable program?

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), every three months 250,000 families enter into foreclosure in the U.S. That translates into one out of every 200 American homes.

Facing the prospect of a foreclosure is scary and many homeowners tend to ignore the problem, hoping it will just go away. Most homeowners do not choose to go into a foreclosure voluntarily; it is usually the result of a life-changing development.

If a homeowner is unable to be refinanced and is facing a foreclosure, there are other options they can pursue. These options can also help to lessen the impact that a foreclosure would have to a homeowner’s credit score and include:

• Short Sale – this type of sale allows a homeowner to arrange with their mortgage company to sell the home for less than the amount of the mortgage. The mortgage company must approve the short sale request and be willing to accept less than the outstanding balance of the loan as payment in full.
• Deed in Lieu – The mortgage company agrees to allow the homeowner to voluntarily sign the property deed over to the lender. The lender will then sell the property in order to retrieve part of the loan balance owed by the homeowner. The homeowner must vacate the property at the time the documents are signed.
• Cash for Keys – this is a way for homeowners who are facing foreclosure to receive cash in exchange for handing over the keys to the property and for leaving the property in good condition.

Many homeowners are ashamed to talk with someone who can help. During the foreclosure process, the lender offers several stages where the homeowner can become current on their payments before the home is foreclosed upon. Start by working with your lender as soon as you realize you might have a problem to avoid a foreclosure. Mortgage companies want homeowners to keep their homes just as much as homeowners want to keep them. Constant communication is the key to avoiding a foreclosure or other financial difficulty.

For more information, please contact a HUD-approved counseling agency, such as the North Texas Housing Coalition to assist with the mortgage company discussions. Visit them at www.nthcinc.org.

 
Lately there has been much written about Making Home Affordable, President Obama’s comprehensive plan to help stabilize the housing market. Some of it is good; some of it is not so good. His plan, first introduced in February, is designed to help responsible homeowners who are at risk modify their mortgages in order to lower their monthly payments and avoid foreclosure.

This plan has the potential to help out more than 7 million responsible homeowners avoid foreclosure by either restructuring or refinancing their mortgages. Currently, there are more than 200,000 trial loan modifications underway, tens of thousands of refinancings have closed and informational mailings about the program have been sent to more than one million borrowers who may be eligible.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has implemented changes to its loan modification program. By August 15, FHA borrowers will be able to reduce their monthly mortgage payments by seeking a loan modification through their current mortgage company or loan servicer under the new FHA-Home Affordable Modification Program (FHA-HAMP).

FHA borrowers will now be able to modify their mortgages just like some many already using the Making Home Affordable program to help prevent foreclosure.

How does Making Home Affordable work? There are many incentives that it provides to both lenders and borrowers. Here are just a few:

• The Treasury helps lenders and servicers reduce a homeowner’s monthly mortgage by having lenders reduce mortgage payments to 38 percent of a homeowner’s monthly income.
• The Treasury then matches the lender’s additional reductions dollar for dollar until the mortgage payment reaches 31 percent of the borrower’s monthly income.
• Homeowners are encouraged to stay current on their monthly mortgages and can receive a “Pay-for Performance Success Payment” which gives them $1,000 each year for up to five years as long as they are current on their monthly payments. This money goes towards reducing their principal.

NTHC and other HUD certified counseling organizations stand ready to do their part to help qualified homeowners prepare to talk to their lender and to take full advantage of the bold plan announced by the Obama administration. The NTHC offers FREE foreclosure help and is just a phone call away at 214-946-3500. For more information, please check out our website at www.nthcinc.org or www.makinghomeaffordable.gov.

Albert Martin, Executive Director, North Texas Housing Coalition

While Texas seems to be doing better than the rest of the country during the mortgage crisis, more homeowners are faced with foreclosure than ever before as foreclosure filings in Dallas-Fort Worth continue to grow.

According to First American CoreLogic, during the first seven months in 2009, foreclosures were up by 20 percent as compared to the same time frame last year.  

To help safeguard your home, there are many real solutions available to those who request assistance. The most critical step in staving off foreclosure, in most cases, is reaching out and saying you need help.
 
Many families are embarrassed to pick up the phone and tell their lender they need help. Early communication is important and is crucial for families and lenders to be able to work together to save their homes.  

Other tips include:

• Setting a household budget. By taking a look at your spending, you can spot potential problems sooner. According to HUD, if you are paying more than 35% of your monthly net income for housing, you may need to tighten your budget.
• Don’t ignore the problem – keep in constant contact with your lender.
• Call a HUD-approved housing counselor to discuss your available refinancing options. These services are available at no charge to the client.
• Work with your lender as soon as you realize that you might have a problem to set up a repayment schedule that is manageable.
• Know your mortgage rights. Look over your loan documents and read them to determine what your lender may do if you can’t make your payments.
• Avoid using foreclosure prevention companies. There are many non-profit organizations that provide these services for free or for a low fee.

It may seem that it is easiest to just walk away and give your home back to the lender. However, in foreclosure everyone loses - the family, the lender and the community.
 
By working together, we educate not only those families who need our services, but the North Texas community as a whole on what affordable, quality working class housing can do for the entire community.

-Albert Martin, Executive Director, North Texas Housing Coalition
 

The North Texas Housing Coalition (NTHC) has committed their support to the “Making Home Affordable” program announced by the Obama administration in February. The plan demonstrates the focus on supporting foreclosure prevention and neighborhood stabilization initiatives in order to help a great many homeowners.

The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan (HASP) is designed to help more than 7 million responsible homeowners avoid foreclosure by either restructuring or refinancing their mortgages.

HASP has three goals as set by the Obama administration. The first is to help cut down on foreclosures by refinancing mortgages of “responsible” homeowners. The second goal is to provide more than $75 billion in loan modifications to help the millions of “at-risk” homeowners. Finally, the HASP plan wants to bring down mortgage rates by bailing out troubled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

What is the definition of a responsible homeowner? According to the Obama administration, a “responsible” homeowner is one who has a conforming loan, owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. They also have to be current on their monthly mortgage payments and should have loan-to-home value ratios above 80 percent.

With the continuing decline in the housing market and housing values, these homeowners are currently unable to refinance their existing loans. This new plan would allow Fannie and Freddie to refinance these loans at lower rates until June 2010.

“At-risk” homeowners are those families and individuals who are either currently behind on their payments or who are current but are at the point of imminent default on their mortgage. Homeowners whose debt is more than 55 percent of their total income or who are already in foreclosure are also considered at-risk.

Part of the HASP program entails low-cost refinancing and lower mortgage interest rates. A standard for loan modifications is also part of the plan and states that any modifications completed under the HASP plan must be in place for at least five years, and that under the plan, a homeowner’s mortgage debt-to-income ratio will be brought down to 31 percent. Loan modifications can be made under the HASP program until December 31, 2012.

NTHC and other HUD certified counseling organizations stand ready to do their part to help qualified homeowners prepare to talk to their lender and to take full advantage of the bold plan announced by the Obama administration.

Community-based foreclosure intervention counseling provided by nonprofit certified counselors is a critical part of the foreclosure prevention process. Nonprofit counselors can help homeowners understand their options and the steps they can take to stay in their homes.

For more information about the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, visit www.financialstability.gov. For more information about the North Texas Housing Coalition, visit www.nthcinc.org.

A rowboat isn’t much use without an oar.

You can stand on one leg, but walking requires two.

Similarly, North Texas won’t remain a great place to live without a regional housing strategy to complement its regional transportation strategy. 

Think about it: our transportation system exists primarily to get each of us from home to work. To that end, we have regional planning agencies that project future travel patterns and see that roads and transit lines are built where they’re needed.

Many residents, particularly in newer, more desirable areas, struggle to find affordable housing simply because their incomes have not kept up with increases in housing costs. As a benchmark, the federal government defines any household that spends more than 30 percent of its income on housing as “housing burdened.” In the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area, that includes more than one-third of homeowners who are still paying on a mortgage, according to the Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey. The percentage of renters that are “housing burdened” is even higher.

With more homes going into foreclosure and real estate values collapsing, now is the time for communities to start working together to help those who continue to dream of owning their own home.

According to a report from Zillow.com, a real estate Web site, nearly 20% of the nation's home sales in 2008 were of bank-repossessed properties due to the continuing rising of foreclosures. Another 11% were short sales, in which homeowners owed more in mortgage debt than their homes were worth.

The local economy is affected by all parts of the housing market. Housing costs not only include the mortgage but costs such as insurance, maintenance, utilities, groceries, transportation, education, medical costs, etc. The housing cost burden is increasing faster than incomes and makes it difficult for firemen, teachers, police officers and retail workers to find safe, quality, affordable housing near their jobs. By building affordable housing near job centers and mass transit centers, more families can live and work near their jobs, drawing them back to urban areas such as downtown.

Before the North Texas Housing Coalition’s 2009 housing summit, mayors from around the Metroplex came together to discuss the possibility of a regional housing strategy. The goal for this meeting was to initiate dialog on the need for a comprehensive regional housing strategy.  

Each city that makes up the North Texas region will tell you they have a housing strategy to combat the affordable housing issue. While that may be true, there is no comprehensive regional housing strategy to address the affordable housing solution in North Texas. 

Following are the five suggested housing principles to be a part of a regional housing strategy that were discussed at the January meeting:
• An agreement that housing supports healthy families and communities.
• A recognition that housing should be treated as an integral part of community and economic development.
• An acknowledgement that the stewardship of people and capital is essential for the future growth of North Texas.
• A commitment to be deliberate in the actions taken in planning for the future housing needs of North Texas.
• An agreement to pursue a regional housing strategy for North Texas that reflects all of the above principles.

At our Housing Summit, participants discussed solutions from other regions that could work in North Texas. They include:

• Inclusionary housing policies, which require builders to include a certain percentage of units affordable to moderate- and low-income households in any new development. In return, builders typically receive density bonuses, fee waivers or expedited approvals to offset any loss of revenue.

• Housing trust funds, typically funded through various real estate fees and surcharges.

• Use of federal tax credits to subsidize construction of housing for those who can’t afford market-rate units.

• Curbs on exclusionary zoning regulations that require excessively large lots, forbid accessory units such as garage apartments, or impose other rules that exclude moderate- and low-income households.

• Creating housing enterprise zones or tax increment financing districts that offer incentives to builders of working-class housing.

Based on comments and evaluations at the end of the mayor’s luncheon and the summit, there is enough interest in a regional housing strategy to continue these discussions.

Housing is seen as the foundation for building and maintaining viable communities. With help from every community within the Metroplex, we can begin building more healthy families and communities by developing a set of housing standards that everyone can use.
 We invite you to come be a part of the regional solution to this looming crisis. You can register online at www.nthcinc.org. Regardless of where you live, this is about the quality of your life.

Albert Martin is executive director of the North Texas Housing Coalition. His e-mail address is amartin@nthcinc.org.