Florida Realtors: HAMP not working

GSIG LLC
According to a new poll of Realtors, President Obama’s program to help decrease the number of foreclosures is not doing much for homeowners.
Just 10% of the 5,800 Realtors polled in a national survey said they thought the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) had reduced the rate of foreclosures in their market.

Last month, the U.S. Treasury reported that only 116,000 American homeowners had modified their mortgages through the HAMP program.

In Florida, which has consistently ranked among the five states with the highest number of foreclosures, there have been 101,971 active trial loan modifications through January. Of them, 14,598 have been permanently modified.
The survey concluded that in states such as Florida, where foreclosure rates have been highest, buying is up, driven by distressed home sales.

When asked “How would you describe consumer interest in purchasing a home in your area over the past three months,” 58% of agents in the U.S. said, “increasing.”

In Florida, 67% said they were seeing more interest. Only 14% of agents reported that the majority (50% or more) of their sales over the last 12 months came from distressed properties.