President Obama rolled out his mortgage relief program on Wednesday. It is designed to keep people in their homes.
The plan includes a incentive of $1000 to lenders to modify loans and an incentive to home owners to stay current with their payments.
The plan also sets guidelines on how lenders can modify loans.
"It all makes sense," says Professor Norm Miller of the USD Burnmham Moores Center for Real Estate. "It's a great idea to pay lenders to restructure loans."
But he cautions that the unemployed and many others won't qualify for the program, "We are only looking at perhaps 15% of the market being benefited from the current plan."
So will the Obama plan prevent homes from falling into foreclosure? Experts disagree.
"It's kind of '30-months too late' and the magnitude of the problem is bigger then government can solve," worries real estate investment banker Burland East. "It's a little bit like we have a bubonic plague here and I'm going to give you Tylenol."
The new administration says stemming the tide of foreclosures is key to saving the economy, but East believes the problem is bigger than a $1000 stipend can solve.
