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Will the federal government become the biggest landlord in Pinellas County?

Q: Who is the biggest single family home landlord in the nation?

A: According to the Wall Street Journal, it could soon be the federal government.

Word has it that the Obama administration is thinking about developing a plan that would allow foreclosed single family homes to be rented out, thereby taking some of those foreclosed properties off the market and generating some income.

At the end of April, HUD owned about 69,000 homes; at the end of March, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac owned another 218,000 properties.

There’s nothing definite on this idea at this point. But Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress last week that the idea “is worth looking at.” He and others say that renting out the foreclosed homes could help cover the cost of holding the properties until markets stabilize; it might even provide some profits for HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

One downside is that those agencies would have to become giant rental agencies, a business that they don’t understand very well. A better solution might be to sell the foreclosed properties en masse to private investors who would agree to rent them out, and who would agree to contract with property management companies, who would handle the day-to-day management and tenant issues.

Tags: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, homes for rent, pinellas county, rental homes

Federal government offers mortgage help

Okay, so you’ve been living in your home in Pinellas County and faithfully making your mortgage payments, but your home’s value has been steadily slipping and now you owe more than the place is worth. You keep reading about new government programs that are supposed to help, but you need to find out more.

Fear not – there’s a place you can go to find the help you need.

That place is www.MakingHomeAffordable.gov. It’s a website designed to describe the benefits of a federal program called, well, Making Home Affordable. It offers homeowners a number of opportunities to either refinance their mortgages, or modify the mortgages they already have.

The Making Home Affordable program is financed with $75 billion for loan servicers and borrowers. Its designers say that it should be able to offer mortgage help to four million homeowners who need to modify their loans to make them more affordable, or who need to negotiate short sales of their properties with their mortgage providers.

Officials say that the money will allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance up to five million loans they own (or guarantee). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have set up web sites and toll-free hotlines for borrowers who need to determine if their mortgages fall under Fannie or Freddie. Fannie Mae’s is www.fanniemae.com/homeaffordable (phone number (800) 732-6643); Freddie Mac’s is www.freddiemac.com/avoidforeclosure (phone number (800) 373-3343).

Some borrowers might prefer to get information first from their own mortgage servicer. To do that, go to www.HopeNow.com and fill out an application. That web site is operated by an alliance of mortgage servicers and nonprofit counselors. You can talk to them on the phone at (888) 995-4673.

No matter where you live in North Pinellas County – Tarpon Springs, Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Clearwater, Safety Harbor, or anywhere else, for that matter – the information offered applies to you.

Tags: Add new tag, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Mortgage, North Pinellas County