New Jersey HomeKeeper Program Helps Struggling Homeowners
Pay Their Mortgage
TRENTON, N.J. – May 9, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — The Christie Administration announced today the launch of the New Jersey HomeKeeper Program, a foreclosure prevention initiative that will assist New Jersey homeowners who have a track record of making their mortgage payments on time but are now at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure as a direct result of unemployment or underemployment.
“The New Jersey HomeKeeper Program is here to assist homeowners who are struggling to make their mortgage payments because they lost a job or have seen their paychecks reduced,” said New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Lori Grifa. “We understand that New Jersey families – like households around the country – continue to face difficult economic realities, and we want to help them keep their homes as they look for work.”
The HomeKeeper Program provides 0 percent interest rate, deferred payment mortgage loans to unemployed and underemployed homeowners who, through no fault of their own, are financially unable to make their mortgage payments and are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. The program allows time for the homeowner to seek reemployment or to complete an approved job training program. Qualified homeowners may be eligible for up to $48,000 in assistance for up to 24 months. The assistance loan is repayable should the homeowner sell, refinance, transfer or cease to occupy the property within 10 years from the date of the HomeKeeper loan and there is sufficient equity to repay the loan.
The HomeKeeper Program is administered by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA), a DCA affiliate, with funding from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Hardest Hit Fund, a federal initiative that provided funds to 18 states and the District of Columbia hardest hit by the economic downturn.
“For the homeowners who qualify, the HomeKeeper Program will allow them to focus on becoming reemployed at a level that they can resume making payments on their own,” said HMFA Executive Director Anthony Marchetta.
A link to the HomeKeeper online application is now available at http://www.njhomekeeper.gov. All applicants will be required to apply online.
The HMFA was created by the New Jersey State Legislature in 1983 to advocate for the production and financing of homeownership and rental housing that is affordable to lower income residents of the State of New Jersey. As part of its mission, the HMFA provides a variety of fixed interest rate mortgages and down payment and closing cost assistance programs to assist homebuyers and homeowners.
For information on other HMFA foreclosure prevention programs, as well as all other HMFA services, log on to http://www.nj-hmfa.com.
Contact:
Hollie Gilroy
Lisa Ryan, Office of Communications
(609) 292-6055
