From SFGate:
‘[Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough] drafted an amendment so that rather than being limited to whether the loan was conforming at time of origination, it will be based on (whether it’s conforming at) the time of (modification), which will take the limit up to $729,750 in high-cost areas. This should make more people in the Bay Area eligible.’
Speier’s amendment addresses an aspect of the plan that encourages mortgage services to modify loans to make them more affordable for struggling borrowers. The modifications are supposed to reduce monthly payments to 31 percent of a borrower’s income for five years; they also could include lowering the principal or refinancing the loan.
The amendment says that loan modifications must be available to loans that are “conforming,” meaning those that can be securitized or guaranteed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. The conforming loan limit was $417,000 until July 1, 2007. About 60 percent of homes purchased in the expensive Bay Area in 2005 and 2006 were bought with higher-cost “jumbo” loans above $417,000; about 30 percent of homes in California were jumbos in those years, according to MDA DataQuick. The limit is now $729,750 in high-cost regions, including most of the Bay Area.
-A central aspect of the bill, called the “Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009,” is a change to bankruptcy law. That controversial proposal, fiercely opposed by the lending industry, would allow judges to “cram down” or reduce the principal owed on mortgages to the home’s actual value.
Wish we would have bought a $1,000,000 house with zero down a few years back. And we wonder if a judge would “cram up” some stock values to be worth what they were when we bought them. Hmmmm…might be on to something there.
To learn more please visit, www.financialstability.gov