Tweet This: Keep Your Home California Unveils Text Service, Redesigned Web Site and Expands Social Media Efforts to Reach Hard-Hit Homeowners
SACRAMENTO – Keep Your Home California, the $2 billion federally-funded effort to help struggling California homeowners, is now connecting with homeowners whether they call, click, text or tweet.
The state-run program announced today that it has launched a text message service, the latest effort to connect homeowners to much-needed information. Keep Your Home California also recently redesigned its English and Spanish web sites and expanded social media efforts, from Facebook to a regularly updated blog.
“We want to reach homeowners every way possible and get the word out about the programs,” said California Housing Finance Agency Executive Director, Claudia Cappio. “Families need information about the programs, and it may be easier for them to check the web site or send a text before they pick up the phone.”
The redesigned web site, text service and social media efforts greatly expand the reach of Keep Your Home California to homeowners.
Keep Your Home California’s completely redesigned web site (www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org) allows homeowners to learn more about the four programs from an easy-to-understand home page. For example, large, self-identifying links detail the four programs and direct homeowners to the best one for them: “I am currently collecting unemployment benefits” (Unemployment Mortgage Assistance) to “I can’t afford my payments” (Principal Reduction). A link to a six-minute video explaining the process is on the left side of the homepage.
Another enhancement to the web site is a collection of Success Stories from California homeowners. Web site visitors can now see some of the homeowners who have utilized one of the four programs and read their testaments about how their families are being helped through Keep Your Home California.
In addition, homeowners can check the “eligibility” section, which includes links to income limits and a list of participating mortgage servicers. Keep Your Home California also has a Spanish-language site with the same design and information at www.ConservaTuCasaCalifornia.org.
For homeowners who prefer to use their smart phones, they can text “HOME” to 55678 for information about Keep Your Home California, including the hours and phone number of the counseling center and a link to the web site. Spanish-speaking customers can text “CASA” to 55678 for the same information in Spanish.
Keep Your Home California has also increased its social media campaign. Homeowners can catch up with the latest news via Facebook, with tweets on Twitter and through a new weekly blog. Keep Your Home California also provides videos on YouTube. Links to these sites can be found on the Keep Your Home California web site.
All of theses efforts have one main goal: keep Californians in their homes, which helps improve the economy and housing market, while stabilizing communities and neighborhoods.
More than 11,000 homeowners have either received funding or are in the process of getting financial help from Keep Your Home California. The U.S. Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund approved $2 billion for the state-run program, which offers four mortgage assistance programs to help hard-hit homeowners.
The programs range from as much as $3,000 per month for out-of-work homeowners to as much as $100,000 in a principal reduction program with a dollar-per-dollar match by participating mortgage servicers. Another program allows homeowners to catch up on mortgage payments, and a fourth program offers a maximum of $5,000 to help families relocate after an approved short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.
So, whether you like to “friend”, “tweet”, “text” or “watch”, there is a social option for you. Of course, homeowners can also pick up the phone and call toll free, 888.954.KEEP (5337) to learn more about the programs. The counseling center is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.
Direct links:
Website: |
KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org |
888-954-KEEP(5337)