Information and acronym overload is just one of many ways to describe all the home-saving programs currently huddled under the federal government’s Making Home Affordable umbrella.

Finding out which program may be best for you, as well as whether or not you qualify for it, can be an overwhelming experience. And if you’re in a tight spot like many of your other neighbors, struggling to meet your monthly mortgage obligations, you’re already probably way past the point of being overwhelmed.

MarketWatch.com has compiled a very helpful list of the various foreclosure, loan modification and short sale programs that are available today.

We’ve shared the most important information below, as well as direct links to the various websites where you can gather more information and request/download all the information you need to remedy your situation as quickly as possible.

Check it out:

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Our fearless Foreclosure.com leader, Brad Geisen, was recently interviewed for an extensive article on short sales for NPR.org.

Brad, who has more than 25 years of experience in the real estate trenches, is often called on for his take on the latest real estate trends and issues.

Here’s the excerpt:

“‘The No. 1 biggest factor as to why short sales aren’t going through is flat-out disorganization,’” says Brad Geisen, CEO of Foreclosure.com, a Florida company that specializes in providing statistics on distressed property and software for lenders.

It’s almost impossible to pin down the percentage of initiated short sales that are completed, Geisen says, but the national average probably hovers at 10 percent to 15 percent.

Bank staff and real estate agents have been staggered by the mountain of mortgages gone bad — the scope of which few people anticipated before the housing bubble burst in 2006, Geisen says.”

Brad actually spoke in great detail about how organization is the key to moving inventory quickly and getting short sales approved as quickly as possible.

Banks just weren’t prepared for the avalanche when it came sliding down the mountain, which is what he meant with the “disorganization” remark. The situation has since improved drastically and continues to do so as new technologies emerge and more people are brought in and trained to handle the workload effectively.

In fact, Brad is even leading the charge on the “organization” front, developing a robust back office platform that simplifies the complex HAFA short sale and deed-in-lieu processes. It’s offered through QuickSale.com. And you can learn more about its awesomeness right here.

Learn how to properly prepare and close successful short sale offers in record time with help and direction from investing pro, Sharon Restrepo.

Sharon will demonstrate how you can put the “short” back in short sale, leveraging the recently-introduced Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program, which provides incentives for lenders to close these types of deals fast.

Register for “Short Sale Intensive Training” before it’s too late. Click here. The educational session is available to watch LIVE online during an information-packed presentation scheduled for Thursday, May 13, at 7 p.m. ET.

Here are just some of the many invaluable nuggets you will take away:

• How to make more money on short sale transactions
• How to put together the best short sale package
• When to avoid a short sale
• How to short sale as an investor or agent
• What banks are looking for when short selling

Expect more short sales (and great deals) to flood the market now and well into the future. So you need to know exactly what you’re getting into with short sales today and how to purchase them for pennies on the dollar as soon as tomorrow!

Register for “Short Sale Intensive Training” before it’s too late. Spots are limited and filling up FAST! CLICK HERE.

Webinars are LIVE educational sessions that let participants see, hear and interact with real estate experts right from their personal computer screens. In fact, Webinars are driven in part by visitor feedback and questions that are posed during the sessions. For more information and course offerings click here.

It all depends, of course, on “who” you are.

That’s because the new Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) guidelines that went into effect today (April 5, 2010) mean different things to different audiences (buyers, sellers and lenders).

The overarching concept of the program is to help distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure through a streamlined, incentive-laden short sale process.

NJ.com does a good job of outlining several HAFA key points:

• Every potentially eligible homeowner must be considered for HAFA by a participating lender before the loan is referred to foreclosure.
• The lender can’t require a cash contribution from the homeowner, nor can the lender require that the owner sign a promissory note at the closing.
• The lender can’t go after a borrower for a “deficiency judgment,” or the difference between how much a home sold for and the amount owed.
• Under the guidelines, the borrower can receive up to $1,500 to help with relocation costs.

To read the rest of the program highlights click here. Agents who want to learn about HAFA guidelines inside-out (as well as cash-in on the commissions) should click here.

Distressed real estate, which include foreclosure, preforeclosure and short sale homes, accounted for 48.1 percent of all sales nationwide in Feb. 2010, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance Monthly Survey of Real Estate Market Conditions (via DSNews.com).

Thomas Popik, research director for Campbell Surveys, provides some context:

“Short sales now account for the No. 1 category of distressed property. Losses on short sales are typically lower than for REO, and both lenders and the government are pushing programs to facilitate short sales. But as more and more people default or simply want to walk away from their properties, mortgage servicers are having trouble expeditiously processing these complicated transactions.”

Popkick is referring to the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program, which the U.S. Treasury Department recently released to simplify and streamline use of short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure.

HAFA guidelines go into effect on April 5, 2010 (agents reading this might want to check out our training and certification course right here), meaning that short sales will only likely become more popular in the weeks, months and years ahead.

Foreclosures, of course, have always been popular because of their perceived value — buyers and investors are always looking to land the best deals possible.

To check out short sales (preforeclosures) and foreclosures in your area click here.

Hurry … these listings fly off our site fast because they are so desirable.