HOUSES IN UNUSUAL PLACES!

GOVERNMENT PROGRAM HELPS FAMILIES STAY IN THEIR HOMES

WASHINGTON - More than 36,500 families have been able to stay in their homes and avoid foreclosure this year thanks to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Federal Housing Administration (FHA) comprehensive lending relief measures. The FHA's Loss Mitigation Program gives lenders who provide FHA-insured mortgages the authority and responsibility to assist homeowners who have fallen into financial difficulties with their home mortgages.

"Owning a home is the American Dream, and the last thing we want is for families to see their dream turned into a nightmare. FHA lending relief measures continues to help families around the nation work through difficult times, stay in their homes and avoid foreclosure," said HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson.

Since last October, the FHA Loss Mitigation Program has helped 36,512 families, who are behind on their mortgage payments, keep their homes. In Fiscal Year 2006, this program helped 75,000 families with FHA-insured loans continue to enjoy the benefits of homeownership. In total, there are currently nearly 4 million homeowners in FHA homes.

The potential loss of a home, due to unexpected events such as unemployment or illness, can be financially and personally devastating. But it can be avoided by taking the right steps. Under the FHA Loss Mitigation Program, lenders have the ability to offer borrowers a number of HUD-approved options for avoiding foreclosure, including:

• Special Forbearance: This option can include a temporary reduction or suspension of a mortgage payment until the borrower can reestablish financial stability, or a permanent revision in the payment amount to reflect a borrower's new and reduced financial status.
• Modifications: The lender can rewrite the mortgage note in order to roll delinquent amounts into the principal or extend the term of the loan to reduce monthly payments.
• Partial Claim: FHA's insurance fund makes a one-time payment to bring the mortgage current, which becomes an interest-free subordinate mortgage due when the insurance is terminated.
• Pre-Foreclosure Sale: The borrower avoids foreclosure by selling the property for its appraised value even if the proceeds are not enough to pay off the mortgage.
• Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure: This option is a negotiated settlement where the borrower deeds the house back to the lender, saving the borrower all of the credit ramifications of a foreclosure while also saving the government some legal costs.
  

For more information on how families with FHA-insured mortgages can avoid foreclosure, visit www.hud.gov/foreclosure/ or call 1-800-CALL-FHA.

Article courtesy of the Santa Cruz Association of Realtors.

THE DRAWBACKS OF MULTITASKING REVEALED

Although checking email while listening to your iPod and trying to study or talking on you cellphone with a hands-free headset and driving at the same time might seem save you valuable minutes throughout the day, New York Times columnist Steve Lohr says that recent studies reveal the opposite effect.

Vanderbilt University published findings last December that show the brain's ultimate loss of efficiency when trying to handle two tasks at once. Though the delays may be only seconds long, the difference is crucial when considering response time while driving at high speeds.

Oxford University recently completed a study demonstrating that young people have equal difficulty to older adults when it comes to remaining efficient while multitasking.

While there is a point at which multitasking creates an optimum work efficiency, more intense multitasking--constantly checking emails, answering every phone call--will ultimately lead to a loss in productivity.

To read the article in its entirety, please go to Slow Down, Brave Multitasker.