Wah......Obama isn't helping me.....Classic IDIOT!

[JupiterSunsation]

Homeowner: 'I don't see any hope'

By MARK HAYWARD
New Hampshire Union Leader
17 hours, 17 minutes ago

LAST YEAR, Jessica Dery found time between her job and caring for her three children to pass out brochures and put up lawn signs for presidential candidate Barack Obama.

If she's putting up any lawn signs this year, however, it will be a for-sale sign in front of the Manchester house she has owned for four years. Behind 2 1/2 months on her mortgage and short $1,500 in her escrow account, Dery has received a notice of default from St. Mary's Bank. She figures she will have to sell or face foreclosure.

"I don't see any hope. I've lost all hope," said Dery, who does not qualify for the mortgage relief programs established this year by President Obama and Congress. "His passion and desire, it seemed to be a help to real people who were legitimately trying. I don't see any of that. All I see is cutbacks."

As it turns out, federal programs designed to help financially troubled homeowners are not reaching people such as Dery

Affordable program, which writes down mortgage interest rates to 2 percent for qualified participants -- is designed to rescue troubled home buyers who used the sub-prime market, said Dean J. Christon, executive director of the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority.

There is little solid help for moderate-income people such as Dery, who avoided no-doc loans and so-called "liar loans" and opted for home-ownership classes and conventional mortgages.

"There are a lot of people hurt by this economy who did everything right," Christon said.

'It's not working'

Robert Tourigny, executive director of NeighborWorks Greater Manchester, said the biggest problem he sees is homeowners whose mortgages aren't owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the mortgage companies the government took over last year.

Only mortgages owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are eligible for modifications that could lower mortgage rates to as little as 2 percent. Earlier this month, the Treasury Department reported that only 9 percent of eligible borrowers had seen their mortgages modified and payments reduced.

"It's not working," said Tourigny, whose agency holds the second mortgage on Dery's property.

He said organizations such as his and New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority didn't write risky loans, as did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But risky loans collapsed the market, which hurt everyone.

$1,500 monthly payment
Dery, who is 32, is the mother of three children, 13, 11 and 8. Her long-term partner lives with her, but is on disability. Although she has a master's degree in social work, she earns only $36,000 a year.

In 2005, she bought the house at 733 Mammoth Road for $190,000. Both Dery and her mother signed the mortgage.

They used an 80-20 loan, which allowed them to avoid paying mortgage insurance. St. Mary's Bank holds the primary mortgage, NeighborWorks Greater Manchester holds the second mortgage.


Jessica Dery spends some time in her Manchester backyard as her children play basketball. (BRUCE PRESTON)
For two years, they made their payments, she said. But her mother moved out in 2007, and Dery had to change jobs and take a pay cut. Car and medical bills ate into her budget. And her tax bill rose $2,200 when she lost some of the disability exemption for her property.

Dery said St. Mary's modified her loan once: pushing two missed payments to the end of the 30-year term. Her mother moved back two months ago, but only contributes $300 a month. Her partner's disability amounts to $600 a month, and he spends that on a car payment, cell phone and credit card bills.

With the new tax bill, her monthly payment is about $1,500, she said; Dery said she can't afford it.

Last year, Dery said, she was told to wait until Obama was in office, and she would be a prime candidate for help. But now hotline operators tell her she's at the mercy of her lender because her mortgage is not with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

"These programs aren't helping families. These programs aren't helping children from being homeless," she said.

No Band-Aids
St. Mary's Bank officials said they cannot speak about a member's situation. But the credit union did answer questions about loan modifications in general.

It has modified six loans whose borrowers are eligible for the Making Home Affordable program, reducing payments by $100 to $300 a month for borrowers. The bank is also modifying other mortgages that fall outside the program by reducing interest rates, extending terms and capitalizing interest payments, the credit union said in response to submitted questions.

The modifications have been "very successful" in general, the bank said.

But at times, a modification won't work, the bank said. A member's income may have dropped, utilities or taxes may have increased, substantial repairs may be needed or a tenant may have moved out.

Some people just need to come to the realization that they can't afford their home, said Barbara Cunningham, vice president and mortgage origination manager for St. Mary's Bank.

"Like anything else, it has to be a modification that works for the long term," she said. "It can't be a Band-Aid where surgery is needed."

Who's getting help?
It's uncertain how many New Hampshire homeowners are benefiting from the Making Home Affordable program.

Christon said he's heard anecdotally that some New Hampshire mortgages are being modified with the 2 percent interest rate. But he said a bank can decline a qualifying homeowner if the bank believes a modification would cost more than a foreclosure.

He said the modification would be more helpful in states such as California and Florida, which have seen significant drops in home values, than in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority does not participate in the program because it would harm the organization's ability to make payments it owes to lenders, Christon said.

This month, the Treasury Department said of the 2.7 million mortgages deemed eligible for modification, only 9 percent have signed up for it. A spokesman for the Making Home Affordable program said state-by-state breakdowns were not available

[JupiterSunsation]

I love that she had her kids out promoting Obama with her thinking the gift train was going to make a stop in her front yard..............

[clayinaustin]

"I don't see any hope. I've lost all hope," said Dery, who does not qualify for the mortgage relief programs established this year by President Obama and Congress. "His passion and desire, it seemed to be a help to real people who were legitimately trying. I don't see any of that. All I see is cutbacks."

Only now (when it's too late) do they learn the truth of their actions!

Just one more liberal coming to grips with the "real world".

[Ratickle]

I love that she had her kids out promoting Obama with her thinking the gift train was going to make a stop in her front yard..............

He created an entire new group of people who actually believe the government will supply them everything they need and they won't have to worry.

Makes you wonder what we teach in our schools anymore about communism and socialism. Probably that everyone in East Germany was happier before the fall of the iron curtain.

[Ratickle]

Plus, instead of sending everyone who made less than $150,000 a check for $1000, he gave the money to his buddies in the big banks and institutions that got him elected.

[clayinaustin]

He created an entire new group of people who actually believe the government will supply them everything they need and they won't have to worry.

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.

Gerald Ford

[Ratickle]

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.

Gerald Ford

Finally somebody who got the quoter correct. I'm impressed.

[clayinaustin]

Finally somebody who got the quoter correct. I'm impressed.

Ha Ha! I Googled it.

[Ratickle]

Ha Ha! I Googled it.

I see Adams, Franklin, etc. Nobody ever gets it right. I've even seen it given to Jefferson in the newspaper.....

[Wrinkleface]

He created an entire new group of people who actually believe the government will supply them everything they need and they won't have to worry.

I remember that 1 video of some chick after a speech or something all pumped up say'n how she was gunna get everything paid 4!!

[Ratickle]

I remember that 1 video of some chick after a speech or something all pumped up say'n how she was gunna get everything paid 4!!

She probably did. It's the middle class who's hurting more, not the ones already on government subsistence..

[Trim'd Up]

She probably did. It's the middle class who's hurting more, not the ones already on government subsistence..

I guess I am part of the middle class then.

[Big Time]

I really do feel bad for this lady but it is a classic case of what went on during this election. People bought into all the hype, all the bringing change crap without really looking onto the facts before placing that check on the ballot. If the middle class this Obama is their savior they have another thing coming.

[Expensive Date]

How did she ever think she could afford that house in the first place.

[sledge]

Gotta love the live-in sperm donor is on $600/month disability, but he blows that on a car, cell phone, and credit card bills?
TPT at its finest...and then they bought a house...

[glassdave]

I remember that 1 video of some chick after a speech or something all pumped up say'n how she was gunna get everything paid 4!!

i remember that to, i think she said something like now i dont have to worry about my mortgage blah blah blah. I remember thinking "an this person is allowed to vote?". Hell this might actually have been her, what a joke. ya know ordinarily i'd feel pretty smug about throwing this back in the face of the people that put him there but we have three more years of this guy

[Ratickle]

i remember that to, i think she said something like now i dont have to worry about my mortgage blah blah blah. I remember thinking "an this person is allowed to vote?". Hell this might actually have been her, what a joke. ya know ordinarily i'd feel pretty smug about throwing this back in the face of the people that put him there but we have three more years of this guy

Damn scary.

[Wrinkleface]

i remember that to, i think she said something like now i dont have to worry about my mortgage blah blah blah. I remember thinking "an this person is allowed to vote?". Hell this might actually have been her, what a joke. ya know ordinarily i'd feel pretty smug about throwing this back in the face of the people that put him there but we have three more years of this guy

Yeah, something as U say about get'n her mortgage, car etc paid 4!! Sick!!

[JupiterSunsation]

Gotta love the live-in sperm donor is on $600/month disability, but he blows that on a car, cell phone, and credit card bills?
TPT at its finest...and then they bought a house...

Not to defend the guy but $600 is only $20 a day which tells me he isn't that disabled! In addition to the car, phone, cc bills you probably need to add in the booze, cigarettes and lottery tickets!

[Wobble]

The fact of the matter is that she never could afford the house, her and her mother fraudulently obtained a loan. Now they're crying.