$75 Billion Mortgage Rescue Plan Unlikely To Help Florida

Obama's plan offers protections to homeowners possibly facing foreclosure, as well as to those who are making their mortgage payments but whose home values have dropped to the point that refinancing is impossible. The rescue package could protect up to 9 million of the 52 million U.S. homeowners with a mortgage, administration officials say. To qualify for the refinancing plan, a homeowner's mortgage debt must be no more than 105 percent of the value of the home. But home values sank so fast and so low in the Tampa Bay area that many people owe much more than they own. The Tampa Bay area has seen property values drop as much as 42 percent the past two years, estimates say. A house purchased for $120,000 in 2006 might be valued at $80,000 now. The house's $100,000 mortgage (after a $20,000 down payment) would have seemed prudent in 2006, but now that homeowner owes 125 percent more than he owns, making him ineligible for help under Obama's plan.

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