If you’ve received a slick flyer in the mail and thrown it away with all the other junk mail, I won’t blame you. There is just so much mail filling up our mailboxes these days. But this one might be worth another look. The Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable Program is said to target 7 to 9 million homeowners and offers you the opportunity to be able to refinance or modify your home loan. There are also possibilities for being able to request a short sale or a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure set out.

All details are at the Making Home Affordable Website. Go there with your mortgage statements ready and be prepared to do some math. The website walks you through your eligibility for the various programs as well as calculates if your payments are more than 31% of your gross pay. 31% so far seems to be the magic number.

New details also state that the latest enhancements to this program include not just help for homeowners that have not been making payments but also homeowners who have been timely and are underwater on their homes. This has been a frustrating fact for homeowners in the past and it might just be what some homeowners who feel stretched too far will need to remain in their homes and prevent further foreclosures. Now if only the banks would co-operate!

Be forewarned, however. Some of these modifications, short sales or refinances can have tax consequences and you will want to talk with your tax consultant about them.

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