I’ve written about www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.com a couple of times, but looks like I’ll need to do it one more time... The US Treasury came out with the “Hardest Hit Fund” a few years ago to help those states hit the hardest by the mortgage crisis. They earmarked almost $2 billion for California. As of the end of last year only about $40 million had been spent helping California homeowners. That means that less than 5,000 California homeowners have received any help under this program.

70% of Keep Your Home California funds are to be used to help unemployed borrowers stay current on their payments, or to helping working homeowners who are struggling to catch up on missed payments. The remaining 30% of the funds is for principal reductions and relocation costs to move to a new home.

One of the main reason for the lack of success is that at first many lenders weren’t participating, but more are on board now. So if you tried in the past, try again and see if your lender is now involved. And of course, it could also be that Keep Your Home California is a government bureaucracy, so they tend to move pretty slowly. But I think the biggest reason is lack of awareness with homeowners. It seems like there is always a new “New Program of the Week” with some new acronym and fine print a mile long.

I have heard from people who say they called Keep Your Home California and didn’t qualify for whatever reason. BUT I’ve also had people call me and report they ARE getting some benefits from it. So check out their website at www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.com, or call them at 888-954-5337. They are open 7 am to 7 pm weekdays and 9 am to 3 pm Saturdays.

If you have questions on this or any other real estate topic, call me at (925) 240-MOVE (6683). To search the MLS for free and view virtual tours of homes for sale, go to: www.SharpHomesOnline.com. Sharp Realty