By John Paul Valdez
The valley is showing every sign of improving economically on so many levels. This has not, however, been without great personal sacrifice and cost to us all. Many homeowners have given up their homes to foreclosure or short sold because of the dire economy, and a general inability to wait out the economic storm. That’s bad news.
The good news is that although it has been almost 6 years since the collapse, the monies that were allotted to Keep Your Home California are still out there, and the way those programs qualify applicants has become more streamlined as well as the way the program works in conjunction with your loan servicer. In plain English, ask for the help you need and deserve. It is not your fault the economy failed.
Within the KYHC program are several options. Some help with payments on a mortgage while one is on unemployment seeking a new job to secure their future in the home they want to keep. Other programs make a single payment in an effort to bring your loan current. There is even a program for Principle Reduction, which attempts to pay down the underwater amount up to 100K so as to make your payments more manageable.
These programs really do exist, and while they were the subject of massive fraud attempts by small “financial” offices claiming to assist one in obtaining this free government assistance, one should not be discouraged if you have held on long enough to stay in the game. Don’t ever pay anyone to assist you in applying for this program. The money is there because Kamala Harris the CA District Attorney fought for that money fiercely as California was hardest hit in the nation with the bubble that burst.
As with most governmental things (it took the government 6 years to say the word AIDS back in the day), the agencies that are set up to distribute this help can’t roll back the clock six years, but there is no reason not to try to get the help you need now. Like The Affordable Care Act, getting the program started has not been ideal to say the least, but help is indeed here now.
Google Keep Your Home California, and pay attention to those signs on the freeway that suggest you call for hope or help with your home if you are in trouble on your mortgage. The banks were all made whole in the first few days of this nightmare to the tune of billions and billions of dollars at taxpayer expense, so for you to get a few months mortgage assistance is merely a professional courtesy at this point.
Rather than blame government all day long for what they don’t do well, get the help you need in ways it does in fact work. I know many families that have benefitted more recently, and encourage people to apply before they throw their assets away needlessly.
Questions and comments to: JohnPaulValdez@gmail.com
