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Eversince President Obama announced the Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP) to attack the housing crisis head on, there have been many modifications to the program attempting to address the problem. Though more successful than what the previous administration was able to do, the program started out with the intent of helping only a fraction of the distressed. Subsequent revisions have sought to expand HAMP’s reach, but critics and subsequent evidence have proven HAMP to be too little, too late.

Under the latest change to the program, banks must offer 3-6 months payment relief to the unemployed. Banks are encouraged (but not required) to cut principle payments, which will be compensated by $75 billion in diverted HAMP funds.

The new guidelines are an attempt to address two major causes of foreclosure: unemployment and negative equity. The crisis started among subprime mortgages that reset but spread to other groups – especially those who lost their jobs or saw their housing values dive. When HAMP was hatched last year, it immediately met criticism because it did not adequately address either problem.

In the original program, HAMP did not demand that principal balances on loans be reduced – even though evidence available at the time showed that this was the most effective way to approach the problem, especially in view of the growing negative equity problem.  Now banks will be offered incentives to reduce principle, but it is still not mandatory that they do so.

The crisis is far from over. Over the next two years, 8 million more foreclosures are anticipated.  Pay-option mortgages will reset, making house payments so large homeowners cannot keep up. Many underwater homeowners finally give up, out of necessity or strategic decision. The current reinvention of HAMP is only expected to help a few hundred thousand people, a couple drops of water in a predicted tsunami of foreclosures.

Feel underwater?  Fearing foreclosure?  Express Homebuyers buys homes for cash in DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

This subject came up on Dr. Phil the other day.  He asked the audience about mistakes they had made.  One person brought up that she had bought a house.  “Everyone” suggested it was a good idea, but she thought otherwise when the roof developed a major leak.  She was angry with the landlord until she remembered, “O, that’s me!”  She quickly decided that she didn’t want to be responsible for property and longed for the days of more carefree renting.

Does this describe you? Would you prefer to direct your money elsewhere besides home repair and new carpeting?  Do you travel and find homeownership a burden?  Or are you struggling to pay anything besides your basic mortgage and maybe even having trouble with that since you got laid off or had your hours cut?

It may be part of the American Dream to own a home, but that does not have to be the blueprint for your life. If you have signed on the dotted line sometime in the past and have lived to regret it, you have options!  Maybe you should have bought a condo rather than a house.  Maybe you should have stuck to renting.

Given the state of affairs in real estate today, you may have come to the realization that you made a mistake at the wrong time. Selling can be challenging, even though the Days on Market (DOM) have gone down in many parts of the country, especially in DC, Virginia, and Maryland.

Express Homebuyers fixes mistakes.  We will buy your home for cash in short order, so can get back into your comfort zone within two weeks.  We even give you $2,500 up front to facilitate your move.  A simple call to 1-877-804-5252 can get things going for you.

Even in this age of computer-fed journalism, gallons of ink has been figuratively spilled to discuss and evaluate the hard time that home-sellers are experiencing in the current economy.  Figures in the DC area show shortened Days On the Market (DOM) and more stabilized housing prices. While this may seem like good news for sellers – a lot of the challenges are still not over.

When you want to or need to move, due to divorce, job transfers or economic challenges; you usually want to go quickly.  You find yourself on the downside of Bill Moyers’ famous quip, “Buy a home, sell a house.” Even before you anticipate buying a new home, you have disassociated yourself from the old one.  If you are not in a hurry, you might feel like avoiding the agony of actually going through a sale, until you really need to make one. If you are distressed and are not moving by choice, you have probably surpassed the stages associated with denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance; and really want to move on to the next stage.

Decreased DOM means that on an average, You, as a seller, will have less time to wait to get an ‘ideal’ offer.  According to Jay McDonald of bankrate.com, for sellers whose properties don’t seem to move – DOM means DOOM.  You feel no certainty that your home will sell just because you want to sell it. Your plans are delayed, you are faced with unpalatable choices such as lowering the price, you are just passively waiting to sell or choose to take the home off the market. 

What might give you partial hope is that these days there are many incentives pushing buyers towards homeownership.  The up side is that this triggers a sale of your home more quickly.  However, the huge flipside is that you are the one providing some of the incentives, by giving price concessions, making unnecessary repairs to please buyers, and contributing to closing costs. As a buyer of a new home, you yourself may look forward to some of the same dynamics, however, as a seller, this whole process would give you the short end of the stick.

From a seller’s perspective, how can you minimize your stress, as well as your DOM, so you can move on more quickly?  Contact Express Homebuyers today.  We buy homes for cash within two weeks – much better than the best DOM in the nation!  Contact us today for the answers to all your questions!