FOLEY, Ala. — Effected by the sluggish economy and lost work due to the BP Oil Spill and in danger of losing your house ?

Relocating for a job and need to find a realtor and mortgage lender?

Wish you could go to one place for all the answers and press the “Easy” button?

You can…and it’s possible through the efforts of Bob Pitts (National Director/Founder) and Jay Jennings (Alabama Director) and the Workforce Housing Alliance.US.

Formed last summer in the aftermath of the oil spill by Pitts, who was himself displaced after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when his Shreveport, La. real estate business suffered, saw the need for a “one stop shop” for workers and employers to find answers to housing questions and concerns.

“There were so many unknowns after Katrina and the confidence of the consumer was affected as well as the real estate market. And after the oil spill, consumers were the same way and put off buying anything because they didn’t know about the state of the economy. This is why we formed the WHA to educate the homebuyer and owner as to their options,” said Pitts.

When he moved to Baldwin County, Pitts became involved in the Baldwin Housing Alliance from 2007-2009 and volunteered to be a team leader. He realized that although the organization was good and doing its part in Baldwin County, he felt it needed to reach more people and wanted to expand the coverage area and resources available to the consumer.

That’s when he formed the WHA.US in August 2009 in Gulf Shores. As a nonprofit agency, they can receive funding from public and private donors and eventually receive federal funding through grants. With four chapters in Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile and Dothan and about 50 volunteers throughout the state, Pitts is hopeful they will be able to eventually have chapters all over the Southeast and help people in those states as well.

As part of their free services, the WHA.US:

- Provides housing education to the public

- Services for employers and employees to assist workers in locating, buying, building or renting houses.

- Networks with builders, developers, planning commissions, city, county and state governments to promote dependable, sustainable and affordable housing.

-Identities lenders that can originate down payment assistance, grant, FHA, USDA and affordable home loan programs.

- Identifies realtors that are dedicated to the WHA.

- Identifies companies that assist with the purchase of a home

-Identifies professionals and companies that wish to offer their services to local or relocating home buyers

-Establishes area chapters to be responsive and accessible to local needs

-Maintains a one-stop website that provides education for first time and repeat home buyers plus plus information on available down payment assistance, grant and other home loan programs and contact information for members.

As with Hurrincane Katrina and the oil spill, many homeowners had homes completely destroyed or in need or major repair and they themselves were out of jobs so the mortgages were not getting paid.

“There are so many foreclosures because the homeowner gets behind in mortgagee payments and once they miss three payments, the mortgage company begins foreclosure proceedings and the homeowner’s credit is ruined because of that. They don’t know to call the bank or mortgage lender and tell them about the situation and they can’t buy a house or get a loan because of bad credit,” Pitts said.

There is a way to avoid foreclosure and bad credit in the wake of natural disasters, Pitts said, called a “forbearance agreement” which is “made between a mortgage lender and delinquent borrower in which the lender agrees not to exercise its legal right to foreclose on a mortgage and the borrower agrees to a mortgage plan that will, over a certain time period, bring the borrower current on his or her payments. A forbearance agreement is not a long-term solution for delinquent borrowers; it is designed for borrowers who have temporary financial problems caused by unforeseen problems such as temporary unemployment or health problems.”

There are also many mortgage programs WHA offer to its members including:

- USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Guaranteed Rural Housing Loan

-Fannie Mae HomePath Foreclosure Purchase Program: designed to help potential buyers get a home currently owned by Fannie Mae by giving them a deal on a HomePath finance package

-FHA (Federal Housing Authority) Financing

-Reverse Mortgage Purchase Loan Program-Primary Home Buyers (maximum loan $625,250, 30 year term) Payments are made from equity and when equity is used up, payments continue as long as the borrower remains in the home. Borrower must maintain the home and continue paying taxes and insurance

-USDA Direct Lending

-FHA Streamline 203K Loan Program: Lenders can provide a way to finance minor rehabilitation repairs from $5,000 to $35,000 with your home purchase

For those with less than stellar credit, Pitts also offers a Mortgage Credit Counseling service through WHA that helps consumers put their credit back together so they can qualify for a loan over a period of time.

“Because WHA is a nonprofit organization, we have been able to provide information to the Baldwin County Board of Education, Riviera Utilities, Waffle House Fokker Aircraft and other HR (Human Resource) directors and companies so they can provide employees and prospective employees options and information for home buying or renting,” Pitts said.

WHA also partners with Project Rebound (organization designed to help with emotional, financial and personal issues) to provide a comprehensive Health and Housing Fair in different parts of the county. On June 21, at Foley Civic Center from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., residents can learn about how to better their health and financial situation with the help of WHA members. Some of the options available for those attending are:

- Homebuyer education for first time homebuyers and senior citizens

-Available homes to purchase

-Foreclosed homes to buy

-Foreclosure prevention

-Home insurance and home warranties

-Mortgage credit counseling

-Financial Planning

-Reverse Mortgage refinance and reverse mortgage purchase information

-Information about diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, asthma and more

-Diabetes screening tests

-Blood pressure checks

-Vision and hearing screenings

-Cholesterol screening

-Diet and nutritional information

-Health Supplement Information

“We offer continuing education classes also to realtors to train them in WHA practices and give them all the tools they need to help the consumer and the business owner with housing and mortgage needs,” Pitts said.

For detailed information about WHA.US, visit www.WHA-US,org or call (251) 494-8565 or (251) 233-3356 (Bob Pitts) or (251) 233-1243 (jay Jennings) or email WHA.US@gulftel.com