NC homeowners to get help avoiding foreclosure

Those of you fighting foreclosure, may get a bit of a break. The Obama administration is sending $600 million in financial aid to five states. North Carolina is getting nearly $160 million of that.

The money will go to counties with the highest levels of economic stress. It will reduce some people’s mortgages and give some jobless homeowners a temporary break.

“Those people may receive a reduction in their principal on their mortgage,” said Linda Smith, executive director of AMEZ Housing Community Development in Wilmington, which helps homeowners facing foreclosure. “They may receive mitigation counseling through an agency such as ours, or even a buy-down or short-sale aid.”

So far this year, about 750 homes in our five-county region are at risk of foreclosing.