Strengthen America, find a way to keep homeowners in THEIR homes.

Think about it...taxpayers are paying paying paying...banks get bailed bailed - bailed and nothing helps the majority of folks keep their homes.  Homeowners are treated as if they did the big wrong when in fact they were the recipients of an approved loan with bank underwriting.  Most of the high risk loans went out the first two years of the mortgage crisis.  Now with the combined economic crisis and reduced income of many Americans, folks are not qualifying to keep their homes.  Many lost their jobs that originally qualified them for the loan and/or had their pay reduced, used up all their savings, some their retirement and finally ran out of ways to keep paying their high mortgage as the nations economic crisis continues.  This crisis is way bigger than the American Homeowner and in no way under their control.  So why do the banks get bailed out and the homeowners that pay the taxes are homeownerless (a new word to add to the American dictionary), becoming renters, told their loan balance cannot be reduced to keep their home and ultimately they must sell.  So how does this make sense?
Maybe in the beginning of this crisis you could convince a homeowner they did something wrong and needed to cooperate with the sale of their home to avoid foreclosure.  Today many are questioning who is really to blame and why there is "no hope for homeowners".   Once a homeowner is told they cannot keep their home, what compels them to continue paying their mortgage or cooperate with a short sale?  Some lenders are offering incentives for homeowner cooperation while other lenders are so overwhelmed with foreclosures they only file the foreclosure but forgo moving forward with the action until a future date.  For many homeowners this creates an incredible emotional trauma when they realize there is no hope left but to sell or be foreclosed.  Programs like HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative) offer a small incentive (like cash for keys in a foreclosure) for owners to cooperate with the short sale.  Lenders save money by doing a short sale in lieu of foreclosure which can be quite expensive.  Homeowners typically are allowed to stay in their homes and save money by participating in the program.
Now the reality check, homeowners realize they don't qualify to keep their homes and the lenders will reduce the mortgage for a new buyer but not them.  Many homeowners want to know why they can't keep their homes and qualify based on today's market values and their current income.   If banks need bail outs why not make it contingent upon them helping homeowners keep their homes?  Change the underwriting to make it work.

Strengthen America, find a way to keep homeowners in THEIR homes.