We do have some help on the way. With the foreclosure rate at an all time high, President Bush has proposed two new ideas to congress that will help remedy the nationwide foreclosure problem. President George Bush is asking congress to pass two new bills that should help release some of the pressures that the American home owner is facing at this time.
The first bill is asking for lower down payment requirements on the purchase of a new home. This will essentially make it easier for Americans that make less money or have bad credit to get into a new home. It will allow the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) more pricing flexibility. The second bill calls for the change in the current tax law. As of right now, if you sell a home for less than it is worth the government counts the money lost on the sale as taxable income. So for home owners that are already hurting for money, this is a big relief with the tax season here. These proposed changes would give the FHA the power needed to reach more families in desperate need of help.
One way the government has already started this, is that they are currently working with six of the largest financial institutes putting together what has been dubbed as Project Life Line. What they are doing is contacting home owners that are in the 90 day foreclosure period and asking them to put a 30 day pause on the process while their team tries to find away to get them out of foreclosure and keep them in their home.
I am happy to see that the country is getting the help it needs from the government. I suspect that more help is needed but I am sure that more is on the way.