We get calls every day from families in need of rental homes. Most are already renters and the homes they are renting have gone to foreclosure. It’s a scary time out their for all of us. If your a renter, there are no real guarantees that the rent you pay your landlord is going to the mortgage company. As horrible as it is, that’s happening more and more every day.

Good news seems to be on the horizon, according to Brian Faith, Managing Director, Communications on National Tenant Policy. Here is what he had to say on December 15th.

Fannie Mae is finalizing a new policy that will allow tenants in Fannie Mae-owned foreclosed properties to stay in their homes if they can make their rental payments. For tenants who would prefer not to enter into a lease, we will continue to offer monetary support for the transition to a new residence as an alternative option.
Fannie Mae currently has a tenant eviction and foreclosure sale suspension in place through January 9, 2009. The new tenant policy will go into effect prior to the end of the suspension period. The goal of the suspension is to ensure that no renters are put out of their homes during this period. We have notified our attorney and broker networks to cease all eviction-related communications and proceedings during the suspension period. We estimate that 7,000-10,000 families have been able to stay in their homes as a result of the foreclosure and tenant eviction suspension.
We’ve been using the suspension period to fully implement the recently announced Streamlined Modification Program and to review and revise many of our policies and procedures. We’ve announced a new Trust agreement effective January 1, 2009 and new guidelines for servicers to enable earlier intervention with delinquent and at-risk borrowers. In conjunction with our regulator, FHFA, we will continue working to fully support the market and undertake efforts aimed at keeping people in their homes.

What would really help renters of course is a drastic reduction in foreclosure filings, which rose 76% during the three months ended September 30, compared with a year earlier.

Most experts, however, expect foreclosures to continue to soar. If that happens, the number of families thrown out of rental homes is sure to rise as well.

Tragedy…this home could have been saved only if…

This is the final chapter in a painful story of a Short Sale gone bad.

The “Bankruptcy Negotiator II”, Ryan Bickerton with American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc(AHMSI), refused to accept a short sale purchase agreement offer of $264,000. AHMSI’s supporting appraisal completed 3 months prior was there basis. In our current market…3 months is a lifetime. With home prices dropping at a rate of 3-6% per month, our offer would be in-line with the market at close of escrow.

2 months later the property is back on the market advertised as a “Bank Owned Property”, MLS# i08151962, listed price is $245,000. Go figure!

Mr. Bickerton is the systemic problem with our banking industry. Mr. Bickerton is a “pulse” filling a position that requires intellect and experience to make fiscal decisions that affect investor’s fiduciary interests. His superiors should be held responsible for placing him in a role that he is clearly not fit to handle.

American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc is a small warehouse that services loans. They should be held responsible for their “contribution” to the demise of this nation’s current economic state. Place their leadership on trial for their negligence. This may seem harsh; however, they are the problem!

I am on a soapbox with this message; however, if we don’t hold these decision makers responsible, they will plague us for years to come. The government will, no doubt, come to their or their affiliates rescue at some point and our hard earned tax dollars will bail them out.

With all of the hype of “loan modifications” and “government bailouts” you can’t help but feel that there is a solution somewhere that will save you from loosing your home. I’ve been watching the news, reading everything that comes across my emails and can only say that I get a little sick to my stomach at times.

One must really think about long term when faced with an opportunity to modify an existing loan. It’s such an emotional time, the fact that your going to lose your home is beyond anything I could put into words, believe me I know first hand! The stress seems to go away when you are told that if you just “sign here” you don’t have to move and you get to keep “YOUR HOME!” Wow, those are words that you’ve prayed for.

Here’s the hard reality;what do you do in a few years when you find that your so upside down in the home that you can’t refinance to a lower payment, or worse yet need to move and have no chance of selling unless you do a short sale….and who knows if the lender will be willing then?

As I work with our clients and their lenders on loan modifications, one thing has been consistent. Lenders are not in the mindset to help their current clients. They go off of black and white paperwork, if the borrower fits their criteria they offer up some type of a loan modification. I’ve never seen one, no never, that was an advantage to the borrower. They are a bandage at best!

Lenders are not willing to take into consideration the fact the home is 30 to 50% + upside down. They will usually extend the borrower a lower payment and add all of the “accrued” interest to the end of the loan. We have seen a few lenders discuss the possibility of reducing principal balance 5%, but have not had ONE accepted as of today.

The point here is there is no magic wand, no real fix for the mess of our housing industry. Loan modifications may work for some people, if they are not seriously upside down in their home.

Having lived through the loss of a home, and of course trying anything possible to keep what was “mine”. I look back and realize the blessing of not being given the chance to keep it. Now that the emotions have died down the fact is that if we would have kept that house at it’s upside down equity, I’m not sure if we would have seen it appreciate enough in our life time to have equity….it was nearly $200,000 upside down a year ago…and still dropping.

Those four walls that seemed to mean so much to us now sit empty like hundreds of other homes in the city. I’ve realized that it’s human nature to fight for things that are ours, no one wants to be told they don’t have a choice. Here’s the thing, you do have a choice, you can choose to get out of a bad situation that will most likely get worse before it gets better.

The market is still declining, most loan modifications are going to keep you locked into a home that is going to continue to drop in value. Think about your future.…you can most likely find a wonderful home to live in while real estate continues to drop. Then buy again for half of what you owe on the four walls that you leave behind.

Short Sales were not widely accepted a year ago. In today’s market, your lender is ready to get these bad loans out of their inventory. The President has also realized that people are in need of help and signed into action the mortgage relief act, this relieves home owners of the liability of gains. When your thinking about your “choices” try to step away from the emotions. If it makes financial sense to keep the home, just be very careful to check with your lender before you pay someone to do a loan modification for you. You will be able to talk to your lender/s and find out exactly what terms they will offer.

From the heart of someone who’s been through it…

Sadly…. I am going to tell you about a family that was recently lied to and taken for a lot of money in hopes of keeping the home they were living in by doing a loan modification. The ending on this true story left the family loosing the home to foreclosure, filing for Bankruptcy and if that was not enough, served by the sheriffs department with an unlawful detainer to start eviction from their home.

About 3 months ago Kris and I sat down with Mr. and Mrs. Smith to discuss options regarding their home. You see, the payments had adjusted to nearly double what they were 2 years prior and like most people in the same situation they found themselves unable to refinance due to the home being upside down in equity. In their case, it was a little over $400,000 upside down!

We talked about many things, the couple, that had 2 teenage children wanted desperately to keep the home. After talking with their lender we discovered that the loan modification was not in reach financially for them. The lender would not decrease the principal balance, which was a real factor since the home was truly upside down over $400,000. Kris and I know this to be true because we had just closed escrow on the home across the street just a month earlier.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith decided that they would like to sell the home as a Short Sale and save their credit to buy a new home in a few years when the market was more reasonable.

One afternoon we got a call from Mr. Smith asking us if it was too late to stop the sale of his home, as it was already in escrow and the Short Sale was approved by the lender. Mr. Smith had been approached by a friend that had a friend that told him that he would be able to get him a loan modification, one that was “desirable” and would even be able to help him lower his principal balance.

Needless to say, we cautioned Mr. Smith about the legitimacy of this. Kris and I reminded him of the multiple conversations we had with his lender and the terms that they offered. It’s difficult to think without emotion when your loosing your home, we know this because we’ve experienced it. The last thing you want to hear from anyone is “You have to move” Your ears are always open to anyone…and I mean anyone, that says they can help you “keep your home”.

Well, we gladly helped Mr. and Mrs. Smith cancel their sale with the lender and let them know we would be here to help in anyway we could.

The call came about 2 weeks ago, it was a real estate agent from a well known company asking questions about the home owned by Mr. And Mrs. Smith….The home was sold at Trustee Sale.

Kris called Mr. Smith to make sure all was ok, Mr. Smith told Kris that the “loan modification company” was still working on a loan modification…? Yep, Mr. Smith had paid for services up front to save his home, and unknown to him the home was sold while he trusted this loan modification company to do what they told him they could do….! Mr. Smith called us back later that day and told us the the loan modification company had him file an emergency bankruptcy and not to worry. Again….when your loosing your home…desperation is a very familiar feeling, and Mr. Smith did what most would do, he forked out about $2500 to do the emergency BK Filing.

Less than a week after Mr. Smith filed for Bankruptcy the County Sheriff posted an eviction notice on the home. The home was sold at auction, the BK did not save his home, the loan modification company told him that the lender was unable to offer him anything other than what had been offered several months back……

Please be aware that not all loan modification companies are really helping you, the employees might just be the same group that sold you that screwed up loan a few years ago!

If you follow our blogs, one of my recent posts ” In the business to foreclose…ask Ryan” told of a loan servicing company that declined to order a bpo on a property due to the fact they had done their own appraisal months prior to the offer we had provided them. Please, go back and read the communications between Ryan, employed at American Home Mortgage (servicing company for Option One Mortgage).

I’ve been talking to anyone that will listen about this, I’m just trying to understand how an investor would benefit from taking the home back? Well, needless to say, I’ve been watching the property to find out what the sale price will be once it comes back on the market.

When I looked it up today…I had to look several times at the information, honest, were my eyes really that bad that I can’t make out the print???

The home was sold at auction. Now, let’s go back 30 days...We presented an offer that was all cash offering $264,000. This according to upper management was too low, they would not go back and order a current bpo and they decided to foreclose on the home.

Ready for this, Auctioned for $150,000. Ok, someone, anyone, please tell me what is going on here????

These servicing companies have no vested interest in these loans, Option One was taking a loss, but they now will be writing off $100,000 plus more than if their servicing company, American Home Mortgage (servicing company for Option One Mortgage) would have had half a brain!

Here are the emails that lead to the Auction Price of $150,000!

Hello Ryan,
I am sending a new offer on the property. Escrow is completing the HUD with all of the required changes resulting from our last conversation/offer. I did not send in an updated HUD on that offer due to the buyer backing out. The issue with this property has been the second lien holder, BofA as I explained to Mr. Kellty. They were not willing to release for $1000, which is your policy. We have remedied that. When I called in today, to find out if you had received this new offer I was told it was too low and I would need to counter, With a sale date set for tomorrow I don’t have time to get back to the buyers agent. This home has been discharged in a Chapter 7, we have interest in the property. When I spoke to Mr. Kelly he told me he would work with us to help the ****** family avoid foreclosure. Could I request that you order an interior BPO on this home? The offer that we are providing to you today is in line with recent sales as you will see. The property must be able to appraise for the lender to fund, according to all information, this offer is at the high end.

Hi Ryan,
I am Kim’s partner. We received your email this morning and we understand a business decision.
You mentioned that you had an appraisal done. When was the appraisal completed? The declines in this market are staggering. We are seeing declines of over 6% per month in Rancho Cucamonga.
I would be remiss in not fighting for our clients best interest. We have reviewed the recent listings both “Active” and “Closed” in this gated community. There are no recent sales and 7 active listings in this very small gated community. The average days on market is 46.8 and of the 7, 7 are distressed properties i.e. Bank owned, short sales, or pending Trustee’s.
In today’s climate of declining sales, another home on the market is a “coal on the fire.”
Rancho Cucamonga, while a lovely city, is suffering from a tremendous volume of distress properties. There are currently 761 Homes on the market. 378 are marked as “Distress” sales in MLS. That is over 50% of the homes in Rancho Cucamonga. And that is assuming that the Agent remembered to check the “Distress” category of the listing. My thoughts is that there are many more.
According to Commonwealth Title, The International Title agency, there were 408 Notices of Default and Trustee Sales filed for Rancho Cucamonga from 08/08/2008 – 09/08/2008. That is staggering and this is your competition for resale when you enter the market with another Foreclosure.
These figures, while staggering are simply a sign of the times and according to a Department of Economic Studies at UCLA recent study, they reported that Southern California has a minimum of 2 more years of decline.
Again, we appreciate your companies decision, however, with these staggering declines, your client is more than likely to suffer a great loss over the next 6 months as this property is not sold at Foreclosure and is placed back on the market in 2 months at a lower price than currently listed.
Thank you again for your consideration.
Best,
Kris Darney
714-615-7605

Ryan discussed an appraisal with me that was done at the onset of the filing of the Chapter 7. This would be at minimum a 4 month gap to time of request for the BPO. A few years ago this would not have been so significant. …but this is the Inland Empire….October 2008. Prices are declining monthly!
I’m not sure how a servicing company is paid. It would seem by this transaction that it’s not based on retention. This is one of the most disgusting business practices I’ve ever experienced! The servicing company has most likely spent more money on foreclosure costs than this home will eventually sell for by the time it’s back on market in about 3 months.

I found some great information on a blog post today from the OC Register. The story was focused on the Orange County area, but clearly shows the degree and areas that were hard hit with unsavory loans in the Inland Empire.

The loans that shook the financial world started small.

In 2004, the first year that the Fed’s Home Mortgage Disclosure Act database tracked high-priced subprime loans, subprime was a bit player in the California home market.

But a Register analysis of HMDA data shows that subprime quickly grabbed market share in lower middle-class neighborhoods up and down the state in 2005 and 2006. In 2007, as subprime giants like Orange-based Ameriquest and Irvine-based New Century downsized or shut down, subprime again became a bit player.

These maps show the spread and retreat of subprime loans in Orange County and neighboring counties from 2004 through 2007. Another set of maps below describe a similar pattern statewide.

These maps represent what we’re calling the subprime penetration rate, the percentage of total home loan volume in each census tract that was high-priced. Yellow on the map indicates that subprime accounted for 15 percent or less of total loan volume; green is for 15 percent to 25 percent; light blue for 25 percent to 35 percent; dark blue for more than 35 percent.

A caution: The industry defines subprime using credit scores; the Fed defines high-priced loans as those that cost at least 3 percentage points higher than a Treasury bill of comparable maturity. The two terms don’t match, but the Fed’s high-priced category appears to capture most subprime and some alt-A loans.

In 2004 there are just a few pockets where subprime lenders grabbed more than 15 percent of the market: most notably in central Los Angeles between the I-110 and I-710 freeways, and in the Inland Empire, especially along the I-10 corridor.

In 2005 and 2006, however, the picture changed dramatically. Suddenly the subprime guys and gals were making more than 35 percent of home loan volume in a huge swath of LA and the Inland Empire. They also started doing big business in Orange County, where many of them were headquartered. Look at the I-5 corridor and especially at Anaheim, Garden Grove and Santa Ana.

By 2007, business was cooling down almost everywhere outside central L.A. and portions of San Bernardino County.

For many Southern Californians, the desert and the San Joaquin Valley are windshield territory — places best crossed at high speed on the way to someplace else. But there’s a remarkable economic story to be told here: These regions are adding new residents by the tens and hundreds of thousands, drawn by cheap housing and new jobs.

Subprime lenders played a big role in financing the valley’s and the desert’s growth. The proof is in the maps.

Watch the spreading blue zone — the tracts where subprime accounted for at least 35 percent of total home loan volume. In 2004, it’s isolated to a few patches in the desert and the southwestern corner of Tulare County in the San Joaquin Valley.

By 2005 the entire valley from Bakersfield north to Stockton is blue. The bluest areas are along State Highway 99, which connects the valley’s urban centers. And subprime is now spreading north to Sacramento and to the farm counties above it.

In 2006 the urban parts of the San Joaquin Valley are solid subprime turf. Today cities in this zone including Merced and Stockton have some of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation. Note too how subprime spread to virtually the entire high desert, from Lancaster and Palmdale in northern L.A. County to Victorville in San Bernardino County.

That was subprime’s peak year. In 2007 the map shows far fewer blue areas, though subprime continues to be common in most of the San Joaquin Valley. The largest blue areas, by the way, are lightly populated tracts — the vicinity of Death Valley National Park in Inyo County on the state line, and the Santa Barbara County back-country.

Today I was talking to a fellow that called me to find out about how a Short Sale works.  I realized after talking with him for nearly an hour that there are a lot of people (real estate agents) that give out conflicting and incorrect information.  I don’t believe that it’s intentional in any way, but scary for the person that needs to be informed correctly regarding this very important subject.

Some of the topics that were of interest and concern to him….

The loan modification he was offered was not going to help him enough per month on his payment and he was going to have to keep all of the principal balance.  The payments he was currently making were taking nearly 3/4 of his pay per month.  So, he had basically depleted his savings and was now having to look for a new place to rent for a while, but found he was lacking the money it was going to take for deposit and first month’s rent to move…not to mention moving costs.

I assured him that as long as we had the home listed for sale, and it was able to be shown to clients, his lender  would not be ask him to leave the home even if he was not making his payments.  As I explained, it’s like an ordinary sale in most ways.  The main factor in a Short Sale is that the “bank” is really now the seller and as real estate agents now negotiate with the bank instead of him.

For some people, doing as little damage to their credit is very important.  So I would say to those of you that fit this category…if your able, stay current on all of your financial obligations.  If your like most of us that are facing mortgage payments that are increasing at the speed of light and it’s just not possible to make those payments, don’t.  But get your home listed for Short Sale as soon as possible and stay current on as many of your financial obligations as you can.

One last little tip, if you live in a home that has an HOA (Home Owners Association) do what ever you can to not let those get behind.  HOA’s hold quite a bit of power, and will slap a lien on the property in a heart beat!  And that lien will have to be paid before the sale of the home.

Hope this information is useful, as always, please email us if you have any questions!

This is for our clients…you have been wonderful to work with! Thanks for letting us share.

Like most of our clients, the ***** family were no longer able to make their mortgage payments. Their home had a sale date set in less than two weeks from them contacting us. It was a little complicated, they were also going through a chapter 7 and the lender had gone to court to get a “relief from stay” allowing the lender to foreclose even though they were protected by chapter 7.

We put the home up for sale immediately and within a few days had several very good offers. The first lender, AHMSI, American Home Mortgage (servicing company for Option One Mortgage) was quick to respond and postponed the sale date.

Three weeks into the negotiations we get a call from Ryan at AHMSI. Ryan requests the second lien holder, in this case, Bank of America accept $1000 to release their lien. Then the sale would be approved.

Unfortunately Bank of America has implemented new criteria for short sale acceptance. The criteria states that Bank of America will accept no less than a 10% payoff of a debt balance being charged off as collectible. Well, you can see the issues with this request. I was able to discuss in detail the chapter 7, and the demand from the primary mortgage holder with a Ms. Kelly, (has the pull to say yes).

Getting to Ms. Kelly and getting the approval for acceptance of $1000 took a little over 2 weeks. So, from the time we took the listing till this point has been about 45 days. Not bad for getting both approvals under the circumstances.

One thing happened along the way, we lost the buyer to the lengthy process, oh and the other few we had as back-up were still around but placed new “lower” offers to meet the declining value of the area.

From this point I will just insert the chain of emails for all to read.

Hello Ryan,
I am sending a new offer on the property. Escrow is completing the HUD with all of the required changes resulting from our last conversation/offer. I did not send in an updated HUD on that offer due to the buyer backing out. The issue with this property has been the second lien holder, BofA as I explained to Mr. Kellty. They were not willing to release for $1000, which is your policy. We have remedied that. When I called in today, to find out if you had received this new offer I was told it was too low and I would need to counter, With a sale date set for tomorrow I don’t have time to get back to the buyers agent. This home has been discharged in a Chapter 7, we have interest in the property. When I spoke to Mr. Kelly he told me he would work with us to help the ****** family avoid foreclosure. Could I request that you order an interior BPO on this home? The offer that we are providing to you today is in line with recent sales as you will see. The property must be able to appraise for the lender to fund, according to all information, this offer is at the high end.

Hi Ryan,
I am Kim’s partner. We received your email this morning and we understand a business decision.
You mentioned that you had an appraisal done. When was the appraisal completed? The declines in this market are staggering. We are seeing declines of over 6% per month in Rancho Cucamonga.
I would be remiss in not fighting for our clients best interest. We have reviewed the recent listings both “Active” and “Closed” in this gated community. There are no recent sales and 7 active listings in this very small gated community. The average days on market is 46.8 and of the 7, 7 are distressed properties i.e. Bank owned, short sales, or pending Trustee’s.
In today’s climate of declining sales, another home on the market is a “coal on the fire.”
Rancho Cucamonga, while a lovely city, is suffering from a tremendous volume of distress properties. There are currently 761 Homes on the market. 378 are marked as “Distress” sales in MLS. That is over 50% of the homes in Rancho Cucamonga. And that is assuming that the Agent remembered to check the “Distress” category of the listing. My thoughts is that there are many more.
According to Commonwealth Title, The International Title agency, there were 408 Notices of Default and Trustee Sales filed for Rancho Cucamonga from 08/08/2008 – 09/08/2008. That is staggering and this is your competition for resale when you enter the market with another Foreclosure.
These figures, while staggering are simply a sign of the times and according to a Department of Economic Studies at UCLA recent study, they reported that Southern California has a minimum of 2 more years of decline.
Again, we appreciate your companies decision, however, with these staggering declines, your client is more than likely to suffer a great loss over the next 6 months as this property is not sold at Foreclosure and is placed back on the market in 2 months at a lower price than currently listed.
Thank you again for your consideration.
Best,
Kris Darney
714-615-7605

Ryan discussed an appraisal with me that was done at the onset of the filing of the Chapter 7. This would be at minimum a 4 month gap to time of request for the BPO. A few years ago this would not have been so significant. …but this is the Inland Empire….October 2008. Prices are declining monthly!
I’m not sure how a servicing company is paid. It would seem by this transaction that it’s not based on retention. This is one of the most disgusting business practices I’ve ever experienced! The servicing company has most likely spent more money on foreclosure costs than this home will eventually sell for by the time it’s back on market in about 3 months.

Important Information about Title IV of H.R. 3221 Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 - HOPE for Homeowners

For many homeowners the dream of owning a home has become a nightmare. An option that has received a lot of attention is the FHA Housing recovery bill of 2008.

Title IV of HR 3221 This program claims to serve approximately 400,000 home owners.

HOPE for Homeowners Program - The bill establishes a new program entitled the HOPE for Homeowners Program. The program will be overseen by a Board made up of the Secretary of HUD, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and the
Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The Board will have the authority to develop standards within the framework of the legislation.

Eligible Borrowers - Only owner-occupants who are unable to afford their mortgage payments are eligible for the program. No investors or investor properties will qualify. Homeowners must
certify, under penalty of law, that they have not intentionally defaulted on their loan to qualify for the program and must have a mortgage debt to income ratio greater than 31 percent as of March 1, 2008. Lenders must document and verify borrowers’ income with the IRS.

New Loan Amount - The FHA refinancing program will let borrowers who have defaulted on their existing mortgages to refinance into FHA-guaranteed loans. Lenders must write down the principal balance of the loan to no more than 90 percent of the current value (and in some
circumstances less), and put the borrower in a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. Loans up to $550,000 are eligible. FHA is not allowed to charge insurance premiums sufficient to cover the risk of these borrowers, so it will result in a cost to the government, which will be paid for at first by funds from the Housing Trust Fund.

Equity & Appreciation Sharing -In order to avoid a windfall to the borrower created by the new 90 percent loan-to-value FHA-insured mortgage, the borrower must share the newly-created equity and future appreciation equally with FHA. This obligation will continue until the
borrower sells the home or refinances the FHA-insured mortgage. Moreover, the homeowner’s
access to the newly created equity will be phased-in over 5 years.

Existing Subordinate Liens - Before participating in this program, all subordinate liens must be extinguished. This will have to be done through negotiation with the first lien holder.

Qualified Safe Harbor - The legislation provides loan servicers with an incentive to participate in the program by offering a safe harbor against legal liability.

Program Size - The program is authorized to insure up to $300 billion in mortgages and is expected to serve approximately 400,000 homeowners.

Program Sunset - The program will begin October 1, 2008 and sunset on September 30, 2011.

The biggest challenges many folks will find with this program are the strict guidelines for qualifying. It is important that you completely understand this program when assessing your options.

In the borrower qualification guidelines issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development on July 24, 2008 you will find even more restrictions….Here are some of the highlights:

* Borrower must certify that they have not intentionally defaulted on the eligible morgage or on any other debt (false statement = fine and/or 5 years in prison)
* Current lender must voluntarily forgive balance of existing loan to 90% of current market value.
* No pre-payment penalties can exist
* No subordinate financing (2nd mortgages) can exist. Subordinate lien holders must forgive liability.
* Requires borrowers to share equity and any future appreciation in the value of the property with the Federal Government.

It does seem that this program is a viable option for those that do not plan to ever move or refinance (due to having to pay the Federal Government 50% of all future equity) and can qualify for an FHA loan using full income tax returns, pay stubs and asset documentation.

Loan modification is another option for folks that are looking for temporary to permanent payment relief and even buy some time to figure out what is best for you and your family. This can also be a confusing process due to an increase in loan modification Scams that are beginning to rear their ugly heads in these difficult times.

We have already seen the “tactics” these new loan modification companies are using. It seems that as quickly as sub-prime lenders where going out of business, new loan modification companies are opening up to prey on the folks that they took advantage of the first time! We received a call from a home owner just about ready to either have to list the home for Short Sale or face certain foreclosure asking us about this new “help”. The homeowner was approached by a loan modification program that was supposedly going to get him a loan modification and allow him to stay in his home. The cost $$$, quite expensive, and no guarantee he would qualify. They did tell him that if the loan modification was not possible they would list his home for Short Sale!