There was a five percent increase in the number of foreclosure homes during the third quarter of 2009 when compared to the second quarter of the same year.  The Making Home Affordable program of the federal government was unable to stop the rise in foreclosure filings in spite of its attempts to decrease the monthly payments of the homeowners who are experiencing financial hardships by making it easier for them to qualify for a loan modification.  It appears that the government program has been overwhelmed by the large number of layoffs.

Approximately 48,000 homes were added to the number of foreclosure homes listed as of June 2009, thereby pushing up the number of foreclosed properties to 938,000 during the third quarter of 2009.  At this rate, the number of foreclosure filings is expected to reach approximately 3.5 million for the whole year of 2009, which is much higher than the 2.3 million filings in 2008.

The primary reason for the rise in the foreclosure rate, in the spite of many economists claiming that the recession is over, has been the unemployment rate, which has attained a record level of 9.8 percent for last the 26 years.  Moreover, experts have predicted that the unemployment rate will keep on rising until it will attain its highest level in the middle of 2010.  Mortgage lenders are trying to help by permitting the homeowners to be delayed by three to six months in their payments as they look for work.  However, with the record unemployment rate, it is very difficult for those who have lost their jobs to find work.

The Obama Administration had recently claimed that its program had reached a milestone when more than half a million homeowners had their loans modified and monthly payments reduced.  Unfortunately, the number of borrowers getting into default still surpassed the number of homeowners who were being given loan modifications.

Mortgage lenders have been doing their share in minimizing the effects of the housing crisis by reducing the rate at which they are filing  foreclosures.  They have been attempting to assess whether homeowners would be eligible for the Making Home Affordable program of the government.  However, analysts believe that a large number of these homeowners would not be eligible and they predict that more forecloser homes will become available in 2010.  This is expected to pull down home market values further.  It has been observed that the financial problems being experienced by some of the borrowers are so massive that banks and lenders are finding it impossible to structure a loan modification plan that would fit their current income capacity. For more foreclosure news stop by http://www.bestforeclosurenews.com


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