Many of us were hurt by the fallout from failed banks, failed mortgage companies, and failed financial strategies.  First home prices fell, then salaries fell – and shortly thereafter we realized that we were :

1. In the best real estate buyers market ever with no way to take advantage of it – OR-
2. Carrying a mortgage payment that we could no longer afford

Before we go any further let me make one thing clear – millions of people across America didn’t just wake up one day and each make the same bad financial decision to get into a mortgage they could not afford. I know that this is what some of you believe (and very strongly at that)  because it’s what the media tells you, it’s what your favorite talk radio guy tells you – but that don’t make it true people.

The fact of the matter is that you can have a low interest rate mortgage with a low monthly payment – but if you do not have  the same income that you did 3 years ago (or you have no income at all) no one and I mean absolutely nobody is going to help you when you’ve fallen 3 months behind, five months behind or even 6 months behind. The mortgage companies’ idea of  “a workout” is  often laughable; to you an dI it would make sense for them to look at your current income/debt and give you a payment that you could actually afford so that you and your neighbors can stay in their homes. But, nooooo, instead tey will attach the six months sans interest to your existing monthly payment and give you a payment that is basically double the amount that you couldn’t pay in the first place!

In some parallel universe this strategy makes total sense, unfortunately we do not live there, we are ere in tis universe where we end up losing tat home to foreclosure and then the bank sells your $100,000 home for $20,000. That’s right twenty thousand dollars! Now why couldn’t they just give you an affordable payment instead? If one of  you, my dear  readers , understands why this is please tell me so that I can explain it to my cousin who lost her home in just this way.

To add insult to injury, we also have companies who will take what little you have left in your savings account to assist you in getting a “loan modification” . I like to call this something for nothing, they take your money and promise you salvation, and you end up with the same deal that I mentioned earlier – that wonderful “workout” thing.

Well thank God for “The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America” and founder Bruce Marks who believe that neighborhood stabilization means getting people into home ownership and keeping existing homeowners in their homes.  NACA is a non-profit group that advocates for homeowners and would be homeowners. Their Home Save program can help you to get into an affordable mortgage situation if:

1. You live in your home
2. You only have one property in your name

To get help from NACA you must :

• Visit NACA.com and find a Workshop near you
• Fill out the forms on the NACA website and get an appointment with a counselor
• I suggest filling out the forms after you have attended a workshop as the workshop will teach you how to fill the forms out correctly
• Become a part of the solution. NACA is all about giving back, so don’t just take your new low mortgage payment and walk away. Volunteer to help out at workshops, help the advocacy effort by  advocating for economic justice to politicians at the  local , state, and national levels.

NACA is not a  government handout and no one gets something for nothing.  It is the kind of program this country desperately needs, so tell all of your friends and families – no one should lose their home when help is so close at hand.