Help for Ft. Hood area Home Owners - US DOD HAP Program

I've been getting a lot of questions lately about the HAP program. There's a lot of talk floating around about it, and sellers are are wondering if they even qualify for any of the program benefits.

The Home Owners Assistance Program may be of help to certain Ft. Hood home owners who need to sell and need some financial assistance to do so, but figuring out of you qualify for help takes a bit of analysis.

One of the best features of HAP is that it is NOT a short sale, and it does not affect your VA loan eligibility nor your credit report!

The main issue with the program is that they have recently instituted a date limitation for PCS orders, which keeps a large group of deserving PCS sellers from getting help.

The restrictions come into play if you are making a PCS at least 50 miles from Ft. Hood. To qualify to sell your Ft. Hood real estate under the HAP program, you must have received orders PRIOR to 30 September 2010 but no earlier than 1 February 2006, AND have purchased your home PRIOR to 1 July 2006.

These restrictions mean that the program can't help you if your orders were issued after 30 September 2010. BUT, if your orders were prior to 30 Sept 2010, and you did purchase your house prior to 1 July 2006, it's worth exploring this program.

If you are a Wounded Warrior with at least a 30% disability, and you are being transferred to another location for more medical treatment, you qualify for this program with no limitation on dates.

A surviving spouse of a Wounded Warrior also qualifies for this program.

Certain civilians also qualify to use this program

The Homeowners Assistance Program worked very well for my clients, who included sellers who received orders prior to the September cut off, and sellers who were Wounded Warriors. I've closed several transactions using HAP, and all went very well! One homeowner even received an excess benefit refund after closing.

So what should you do if you think you may qualify? Contact a Killeen Ft. Hood real estate professional who has experience with the ins and outs of the HAP program! Reading all the requirements online is helpful, but having the advice of someone who has actually worked through several transactions with the government will be even more valuable. You'll get your home priced right, sold quickly and be on your way soon.

Read more about the HAP program at http://hap.usace.army.mil/EP_PCS.html.