Disaster Help For Homeowners in Presidentially Declared Disaster Areas

If your home has been damaged or your ability to make your monthly mortgage payments has been affected by a flood, hurricane, tornado, or other event that the President declared a disaster, you may qualify for relief to help you keep your home. When a disaster affects the lives and livelihood of borrowers, the FHA is standing by to assist you.

In order to participate in FHA disaster relief, you must be in one of three basic groups:

• If you or your family live within the geographic boundaries of a Presidentially-declared disaster area, you are automatically covered by a 90 day foreclosure moratorium.
• If someone in your household is deceased, injured, or missing directly due to the disaster, you automatically qualify for a moratorium.
• If your financial ability to repay your mortgage debt was directly or significantly affected by a disaster, you qualify for a moratorium.

Disaster Relief For Homeowners

If you live in an area declared as a disaster by the President and you residence was destroyed or damaged so much that it needs to be rebuilt (whether or not you own it), you may be eligible for 100% financing for the purchase of a new home. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides a list of the specific counties and cities affected and corresponding declaration dates at www.fema.gov/disasters .

Disaster victims may be eligible for 100% financing with some limitations:

• Closing costs not paid by the seller must be paid by the borrower in cash or by the lender utilizing premium pricing.
• The program allows only one unit detached homes or a condo in an approved project.
• Your loan application must be submitted within one year of the date that the President declared the disaster.

You may also be eligible for an FHA rehabilitation loan.