DS News - U.S. Bank

» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 23 FAMILIES AIDING IN HOMEOWNERSHIP Most renters intend to purchase a home someday, but according to research by Fannie Mae, the down payment could keep them from that dream. According to the survey, nearly half of respondents see the down payment as the biggest obstacle to getting a mortgage. ough 73 percent of current or past homeowners surveyed said they could have afforded a home without their families' help, one-fifth reported receiving financial assistance from family when they bought their first home. Additionally, they also tend to be the group that has the highest homeownership rates. Among millennials, almost two in three reported their families helping them with at least half of the upfront costs of homeownership. "Hispanics and noncollege graduates, whose homeownership rates tend to be lower than the general population's, are less likely to say they received financial assistance when buying a home, even when controlling for other factors," the report stated. e two primary reasons for renting now were financially preparing to own a home (28 percent) and the fact that renting is more affordable (25 percent). Following affording the down payment (45 percent), respondents believed the biggest obstacles for getting a mortgage included an insufficient credit score or credit history (43 percent), too much existing debt (18 percent), and the process being too complicated (16 percent). ough minorities were hopeful they would be able to provide financial assistance to family in the future, they were no more likely to have reported providing financial support in the past. In the general population, 38 percent expect to give aid in the future, and 16 percent already have assisted. For Caucasian: 31 percent and 18 percent, Hispanic: 51 percent and 16 percent, and African-American: 53 percent and 12 percent. FHFA, GSEs Continue Keeping Homeowners From Foreclosure e Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its Q2 2017 Foreclosure Prevention Report outlining results of the continued efforts the agency and the GSEs are implementing to prevent homeowners from going into foreclosure. According to the report, Q2 2017 brought an additional 48,760 foreclosure-prevention actions to keep struggling homeowners in their home, bringing the total foreclosure preventions to 3,931,224 since the GSEs first came under the FHFA's conservatorship toward the end of 2008. e report notes that to date permanent loan modifications have accounted for 2 million of the 3.2 million homeowners that have been able to retain their homes. In addition, the GSEs' combined serious delinquency rate stood at 0.9 percent, the lowest it's been since January 2008, according to the report. In comparison, Federal Housing Administration serious delinquencies fell 3.8, percent and Veteran Affairs loans fell by 2.0 percent. Industry average decline was 2.5 percent. e number of 60-plus day delinquencies has also declined at a rate of 6 percent, falling to a total number of 354,178, from 377,622 at the end of the first quarter. Real estate owned was also down to 40,392, a 9 percent decrease. Foreclosure starts by the GSEs also fell in the second quarter by 11 percent to a total of 44,989, and third-party foreclosure fell to 17,542, a drop of 9.0 percent. Of all completed foreclosure, prevention actions that led to home retention, which amounted to 88,171, repayment plans accounted for 18,076 of those actions, forbearance plans 3,750, and charge-offs-in-lieu, 736. Standard loan modifications accounted for 65,709. Home forfeiture, nonforeclosure actions totaled 9,693, of which 6,626 of those were short sales and 3,067 were deeds-in-lieu.

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