If you are a member of the U.S. military, here are some good news for you because President Barack Obama has approved a stimulus package bill that may help you with problems regarding your home. This bill contains a provision known as the Military Homeowners Assistance Program or HAP.
HAP was previously designed to be offered only at Base Relocation and Closure (BRAC) locations but the bill expands it to include you if your home was purchased before July 1, 2006 and if you sell it before September 30, 2012.
The primary purpose of HAP is to assist military homeowners who are sure to be having difficulties because of the credit crisis and the increasing number of foreclosures. Aside from that, HAP will also help you not only if you have been given PCS orders and you are finding it hard to sell your home for a decent price.
It will also help the surviving spouses of those who have given up their lives for their country and have to relocate for some reason. This also affects those of you who have been wounded and as a result have to move some place else because of medical reasons.
Are Your Qualified?
Originally, these benefits were only provided for personnel where there is a BRAC action that impacts your community. But don’t despair if this is not applicable for your situation. The stimulus bill signed by President Obama may include you so let’s continue.
If you are a military personnel (and that includes members of the Coast Guard) or a civilian employee of the federal government working for the Armed Forces, you may be qualified. What is important here is that you must be living in that particular home and that you own it.
These are just the common requirements for HAP so don’t assume automatically that you will surely qualify if you belong to the above groups. What you must do is fill up an application and submit the various documents that they would require you. You won’t really know if you qualify unless you apply, right?
How Do You Apply?
The application form is known as DD Form 1607 or the Application for Homeowners Assistance Program. You may get a copy of this form at the HAP Field Office that has been designated for your particular location.
Don’t know the particular location of the HAP Field Office for you? Don’t worry. Just go to this site http://hap.usace.army.mil/HowToApply.html and you will be able to see a map that when you click will show you where to go. You will also be able to download the form and the instructions. It’s just as simple as that.
What’s In It for You?
Are you trying to sell your home and there are no offers or if there are, they are offering you a ridiculously low price? With HAP, the government can be your buyer. But, there is a big “but” here. The offering price will not be more than three-fourths of your home’s market value. Or, the offering price may be equal to what you currently owe the lender in your mortgage.
However, if you are lucky and you are able to find a buyer, although at a much lower price than the home’s market value, HAP may also help you. The government may give you the difference between the selling price and 95 percent of the property’s estimated market value.
And if the foreclosure process has been started, don’t worry, too, because you may still opt for the private sale benefits. As a foreclosure benefit, the government may also reimburse the money you have been forced to spend as a result of the proceedings.
First-Time Homebuyers – You May Also Benefit
If you plan to purchase your first home, here’s something for you! The stimulus package approved by President Obama provides you with a Homebuyer Tax Credit. You will be given a tax credit that is equivalent to one-tenth of the purchase price. However, the tax credit should not exceed $8,000 so don’t buy a home that is too expensive.
In conclusion, the government wants to help those who work for the Armed Forces as housing prices drop and the number of foreclosures rise. So don’t hesitate to submit your application because you’ll never know unless you apply. If you work for the military and you bought your home before July 1, 2006, chances are that you can benefit from this offer. So, please visit the website I mentioned above and good luck!
This program doesn’t help us at all. We purchased after the 2006 cut off date. Our home is in SC and has been on the market for 6 months, no offers to date. My husband is PCSing to CT. Either we don’t ever see each other, or we go into foreclosure. We may go into foreclosure anyways.
Copy the previous submitter’s comments. We fortunately were able to sell our house prior to our PCS this year, but at a substantial loss. We will not be able to recoup any of our significant losses because of the completely arbitrary Jul 2006 purchase eligibility date. Congress really needs to amend this to truly make this a program to help out military members.
I agree with the other posts. We bought in August of 2006 and have taken a $70K hit on our home. How can we sell? Our only option beside foreclosure is to rent this house for way less than our payment and try to find someone willing to rent us a house we can afford. Good luck!!! This program needs some work to help the military.
WAAAAAY back, if you bought a house and you were in the military, you KNEW you would move, so you bought and played long distance relationship tag or you sold, took the loss, then moved on.
Now since the military NEVER moves you….WAIT…they still do. What the hell are you thinking, buying a house when you KNOW you’re going to PCS eventually? Stop whining and deal with it. You made a mistake, thinking you’d buy low, sell high and make a lot of $$$.
This Army vet and Marine Corps knew better, as all smart military families do. Save til you’re close to retirement and put a down payment on a nice, middle priced home and upgrade as you can…..you played the market and LOST. Stay put, bite the bullet and usee Vonage or Skype….