MYRTLE BEACH, SC --
"Everything was just flowing right along," recalled Gregory Blythe, "I was just doing what everyone else was doing, living a little bit better than I should - I thought I could," admitted the former Grand Strand homeowner whose house was foreclosed on two years ago.
"Then, when everyone else was affected, I still didn't think I would be," he said. But the fate of foreclosure proved differently.
"Literally in a moments notice, it was behind and it was behind a lot... The next thing you know you're drowning," said Blythe, a hairdresser by trade.
Blythe was hardly alone. In 2009, the Horry County Master-In-Equity Office sold 1,451 foreclosed properties. In 2010, the number jumped to 2,517 properties.
Proving nearly as difficult as the mortgage payments, can be the willingness to seek help when homeowners fall behind.
"It wasn't something that I thought I needed," said Blythe. "When I was really behind, I suddenly didn't know where to go. And that was the panic mode. It's like looking for a lifeguard when you're already drowning - you should have already known where it was."
Struggling homeowners today have many more options than Blythe and his peers did two years ago. In South Carolina, a new lending program is offering $300 million in mortgage assistance.
Federal funds are being funneled through the South Carolina Homeownership and Employment Lending Program (SC HELP) to help "responsible but struggling homeowners" in the Palmetto State.
The SC HELP program offers the following:
-Monthly Payment Assistance-assisting homeowners with monthly payments for a defined period of time while they seek employment and a return to self sustainability.
-Direct Loan Assistance-for borrowers who have experienced a hardship but have regained the ability to pay. Funds can be used to pay overdue payments in order to bring the loan current.
-Property Disposition Assistance-in cases where the mortgage cannot be salvaged, funds may be provided to incentivize short sales, deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure and to help transition families from homeownership to rental housing.
"People need help," stressed John Winzenried, with 843Realtor.com, a real estate agency on the Grand Strand. "If the funds are not used, they go back to the federal government. Let's use them for people who need them," he pushed.
"This is a forgivable debt, if you qualify," noted Winzenried. Notice, "qualifying" is the key.
The program is not for just anyone struggling to make their monthly mortgage payments. Officials say the program is geared towards borrowers facing circumstances beyond their control - unemployment, death of a spouse, catastrophic medical expenses and/or divorce.
Certain criteria must be met in order to receive assistance through the program:
-Borrower or co-borrower must be able to document that the delinquency was a result of a hardship event beyond his/her control (i.e. unemployment, death of a spouse, catastrophic medical expenses, etc.)
-Mortgage payments must have been made on time for 12 months preceding the hardship event with no more than two 30-day late occurrences
-The property securing the mortgage must be owner-occupied as a full-time residence
-Borrower must provide a financial hardship affidavit
-Mortgage can be no more than 120 days delinquent
-Loan servicer/investor must be willing to accept payments and provide required data and reporting
Homeowners wishing to make an application should apply online at www.SCMortgageHelp.com or by calling 855-HELP-4-SC (855 435-7472) to begin the process.
SC Housing Corp. is a nonprofit division of the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority (SC State Housing).
