Mortgage rates have been pretty steady the past few months, but recently since the market being so volatile, money was moving from stocks to bonds. The effects of that was the 10 year Treasury bonds dipped below 3% as low as 2.95%. Which has a direct effect on our mortgage rates, now the 30 years mortgage rates dropped to 4.25%, all time low. I have been in the business going on 23 years and i have never seen rates this low. Now, qualifying for these rates is another thing or getting these rates would require for the homeowners to be in a certain credit status and debt to income ratio to qualify.
Here are what is typically a qualified customer for these low rates:
* Property to be owner occupied.
* Loan amount under $417,000.00.
* Credit Score minimum @ 740 unless the loan to value ratio is less than 70%.
* Debt to income ratio needs to be below 45%, meaning all your debts ( Revolving & Installmend + PITI ) added up and if you divide it with your groos income, it should not exceed 45%.
* Employment history has to be in line with Fannie and Freddie guidelines.
* Cash out transactions will depend on the loan to value ratios to qualify for these rates.
If you happen to fall into these qualifications and guidelines, you should get these rates with no hassle. However, being in the loan business this long, every loan is different and there are no two loan that are similar.
Please CAll to see if you qualify for these rates and for free consultation, call anytime : 800-508-7048.
Here are some other great rates i would like to share with you :
15 years fixed rates : 3.75 %
5/1 ARM (Initial rates fixed for 5 years then this will turn into a adjustable) : 3.125%
7/1 ARM : (Same as above adjustments) : 3.5%
10/1 ARM (Same as above adjustments) : 3.77%
LOANS OVER $417,000.00
30 YEARS FIXED RATES : 4.625%
15 YEARS FIXED RATES: 4.125%
7/1 ARM ( Initial rates fixed for the first 7 years then will turn into an adjustable ) : 3.875%
10/1 ARM : 4.25%
These rates are all carrying .75% for conforming loans and .50% for jumbo loans.
Guaranteed fees: $ 695.00 processing and $ 780.00 underwriting ( in writing ).
Appraisal Fees : $ 340 or $ 390 depending on the loan amount. CAll for appraisal specials.
YOU HAVE TO CALL NOW, RATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE AND THESE RATES ARE POSTED TODAY 7/1/2010. DRE LICENSE 01021223.
CALL KEN -800-508-7048
WE WILL MATCH ANY LENDERS RATES AND GUARANTEE ALL THE RATES AND FEES IN WRITING.
THANKS.
.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Emotional Stress of a Short Sale
What a seller is to expect in a Short sale
I started talking about Short Sales about a year ago. The Short Sale transaction can be frustrating for everyone involved. I think most of the frustration comes from expectations not being met. The short sale is not your every day real estate transaction. This is relatively new territory for most real estate agents and definitely a new venture for the seller. This should be one of your last resorts. Talk to your bank. You might be able to renegotiate your mortgage. Again, back to my point banks don’t want to own real estate, they just don’t realize it yet. They are going to fight you tooth and nail to keep the current condition and hope you find a way to pay. A well trained real estate agent in foreclosures and short sales will be able to assist you in this process.
There are a few things that you should be prepared to do before venturing into a short sale transaction. The bank has to qualify you for a short sale. Remember, they are going to ultimately take a loss on this. Therefore, you have to establish a hardship, if they approve, they will pass this short fall onto you as a 1099 at closing. The IRS sees this as income to you and expect you to pay taxes on it. (Tax laws are changing on this regularly, check with your Tax preparer) You might not have to anymore.
Your agent will be needing a copy of a few things from you to help streamline the whole process.
Authorization to talk to you lender(s)
Most recent mortgage statement.
Most recent tax return.
Two most recent pay stubs.
Bank Account Statement(s)
A Hardship letter written in your own words.
The banks will want to see these items in order to consider your request. If there’s a second mortgage, most likely both will have to agree on a settlement before approving the short sale. Remember you agent will do their best to get the approval, but there’s no guarantees that they will accept it. It is not uncommon for one or the other lender to force it to foreclosure. The loss mitigation department sometimes have a mind of their own. They have secret formulas that they use to determine which route is more beneficial to the bank.
Your sellers agent will submit this again with another pile of documents when an offer comes through. It makes it easier on the Loss Mitigation Officer to see everything at one time (again or maybe for the first time) They have hundreds of these request coming across their desk monthly. The more your agent is organized, the quicker the response time to the sale approval. I say quicker with a little tongue and cheek. The approval process could take anywhere from 30-60 days. You don’t need any more delays than that. Especially if the foreclosure process is closing in on you. Buyers and Buyer’s agent need to be aware of this. We’ll talk about their expectations next week.
This is an emotional process, your agent should be able to help keep things in perspective and work through the hiccups of the transaction. Ultimately, you want to get someone who understand your situation, very patient and has your interest.
Watching out for your deficiency waiver and credit are both very important issues that an agent has to address. I just ran a credit on a short sale that I closed, this client had about a 720 Fico prior to the short sale, once we had closed the short sale. Their credit dropped to around 650, and both 1st and second loan showed “Account Settled”, which is what I negotiated for and got. I am very happy with the turn out of this clients credit. However, any foreclosure or short sale they will have to wait three years to be able to get another home loan.
Please call me for your inquires or concern, Call Ken Go (Short Sale Expert) of 1st Innovative Finance Group at (562) 697-7028 or write to: Kennethgo@verizon.net. Thanks for your inquiries.
I started talking about Short Sales about a year ago. The Short Sale transaction can be frustrating for everyone involved. I think most of the frustration comes from expectations not being met. The short sale is not your every day real estate transaction. This is relatively new territory for most real estate agents and definitely a new venture for the seller. This should be one of your last resorts. Talk to your bank. You might be able to renegotiate your mortgage. Again, back to my point banks don’t want to own real estate, they just don’t realize it yet. They are going to fight you tooth and nail to keep the current condition and hope you find a way to pay. A well trained real estate agent in foreclosures and short sales will be able to assist you in this process.
There are a few things that you should be prepared to do before venturing into a short sale transaction. The bank has to qualify you for a short sale. Remember, they are going to ultimately take a loss on this. Therefore, you have to establish a hardship, if they approve, they will pass this short fall onto you as a 1099 at closing. The IRS sees this as income to you and expect you to pay taxes on it. (Tax laws are changing on this regularly, check with your Tax preparer) You might not have to anymore.
Your agent will be needing a copy of a few things from you to help streamline the whole process.
Authorization to talk to you lender(s)
Most recent mortgage statement.
Most recent tax return.
Two most recent pay stubs.
Bank Account Statement(s)
A Hardship letter written in your own words.
The banks will want to see these items in order to consider your request. If there’s a second mortgage, most likely both will have to agree on a settlement before approving the short sale. Remember you agent will do their best to get the approval, but there’s no guarantees that they will accept it. It is not uncommon for one or the other lender to force it to foreclosure. The loss mitigation department sometimes have a mind of their own. They have secret formulas that they use to determine which route is more beneficial to the bank.
Your sellers agent will submit this again with another pile of documents when an offer comes through. It makes it easier on the Loss Mitigation Officer to see everything at one time (again or maybe for the first time) They have hundreds of these request coming across their desk monthly. The more your agent is organized, the quicker the response time to the sale approval. I say quicker with a little tongue and cheek. The approval process could take anywhere from 30-60 days. You don’t need any more delays than that. Especially if the foreclosure process is closing in on you. Buyers and Buyer’s agent need to be aware of this. We’ll talk about their expectations next week.
This is an emotional process, your agent should be able to help keep things in perspective and work through the hiccups of the transaction. Ultimately, you want to get someone who understand your situation, very patient and has your interest.
Watching out for your deficiency waiver and credit are both very important issues that an agent has to address. I just ran a credit on a short sale that I closed, this client had about a 720 Fico prior to the short sale, once we had closed the short sale. Their credit dropped to around 650, and both 1st and second loan showed “Account Settled”, which is what I negotiated for and got. I am very happy with the turn out of this clients credit. However, any foreclosure or short sale they will have to wait three years to be able to get another home loan.
Please call me for your inquires or concern, Call Ken Go (Short Sale Expert) of 1st Innovative Finance Group at (562) 697-7028 or write to: Kennethgo@verizon.net. Thanks for your inquiries.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Loan Modification Frustrations
Frustrated with all the people I am talking to about “LOAN MODIFICATION”!
Caller: I am trying to find a way to lower my payments, our loan currently is going to adjust by 25% come November 08’. At this point I am already having a hard time paying the mortgage, what should I do. I heard about “Loan Modification” and have been trying to do that for two months but am not getting anywhere? I also talked to someone wanting to charge me $3000.00 for doing this for me.
Ken Go: First of all, I am repeatedly telling everyone that you should not pay anyone to help you deal with your lender or do a “Loan Modification”. There are government agencies and non-profit organizations that will help you do it for FREE. The key question here is whether you are currently late on your mortgage when you are calling your lender for a “Loan Modification”. If you are still paying them, they will more than likely not agree to help you, because currently there are about 7-8 thousand people going into foreclosure everyday nationwide. So, they will prioritize the customers that are already late, but don’t get discourage because you should still try and see if they will agree. Another thing to consider is if you can qualify for your own loan, meaning if you add up all your mortgage payments including taxes and insurance, revolving debts and installment debts, is your family income double that amount? If not, they are again most likely going to decline your request. They will tell you that you cannot qualify for your own loan, if they help you; they are thinking that it will be temporary and you will be back in the same situation 6 months down the line. So, be honest and explain to your lender how you are able to afford the payments, if you have relatives living with you helping pay the mortgage, disclose all your part time jobs. Lastly, remember to try and complete the financial package with a hardship letter explaining all your problems. Remember, these lenders are overloaded with call all day long and try to be nice to get your way. If will get frustrating that is why you have to keep trying. Also, if you put yourself in their position, they can tell you that you have signed a legal and binding contract when you took that loan out, when you cashed out money to buy your new car, when you did your home improvements or paid off your other debts that you agreed to pay them back. So, they really don’t have to help you but might. So, we are at their mercy and have to do things their way and hope for the best.
Caller: I can’t refinance my house and my loan payments are going up to a point that I cannot afford it anymore. What should I do?
Ken Go: This is a growing epidemic that is out of proportion and I get calls like this all day long. My suggestion: get your finances together be honest with yourself and see what your actual monthly expenses are, include everything even your snacks, your small vices everything. Then put down how much you are netting from your pay stubs and you will be surprise to know that you are just living on the edge every month with your paycheck. If you cannot afford the house, then you have to really decide on other options to keep yourself afloat. See yourself six month to one year from now, even if you have a fixed rate loan, can you really afford the payments? If not, then be honest and sort out options. Treat this home buying experience as a business, its not personal definitely not sentimental.
Caller: Mr. Ken Go, you are claiming that you don’t charge anything for the advice and the appointment. Right there I might have to be cautious because you said yourself nothing is free in this world?
Ken Go: Great question! I spend about 15-30 minutes explaining to a customer all these things about loan modification. I have been in the business for over 20 years and fortunately have many loyal customers that continue to refer me with clients who might want to buy,sell or refinance a house. If you are following my articles, about two years ago, I have been writing articles about “NO DOWN PAYMENT LOANS’ that the borrowers should not do that because its too risky, I have telling my callers not to buy homes since close to two years ago. Why do I do that, because I honestly find satisfaction and a sense of pride doing that? I feel that I want to do that to sort of give back to the world the blessings I get. Do I need to make money, of course I do. Let me ask you something, if I give you a good advice and honest one, later if you need some financial or real estate services who would you think about calling? Hopefully Ken Go, right? That is pretty much what I asked for are referrals on people you know that might need my services. I think that is more than fair, my business is a referral business. I do get a lot of thanks and promises of referral from my callers and basically being in this business this long; I can wait and will continue to give free and honest advises to whoever might seek for it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Countrywide and Bank of America is current workingout a Rescue plan for their customers only. This program will allow them to lower the balance and payments, if you qualify. Currently I am studying this program and will inform you of the details as soon as I gather them. It wont be in effect till December 08.
Thanks so much for your inquiry, again this is my way of helping my kababayan’s. Call Ken Go of 1st Innovative Finance if you have any questions; remember no such thing as a stupid question. (562)697-7028 or write to kennethgo@verizon.net
Caller: I am trying to find a way to lower my payments, our loan currently is going to adjust by 25% come November 08’. At this point I am already having a hard time paying the mortgage, what should I do. I heard about “Loan Modification” and have been trying to do that for two months but am not getting anywhere? I also talked to someone wanting to charge me $3000.00 for doing this for me.
Ken Go: First of all, I am repeatedly telling everyone that you should not pay anyone to help you deal with your lender or do a “Loan Modification”. There are government agencies and non-profit organizations that will help you do it for FREE. The key question here is whether you are currently late on your mortgage when you are calling your lender for a “Loan Modification”. If you are still paying them, they will more than likely not agree to help you, because currently there are about 7-8 thousand people going into foreclosure everyday nationwide. So, they will prioritize the customers that are already late, but don’t get discourage because you should still try and see if they will agree. Another thing to consider is if you can qualify for your own loan, meaning if you add up all your mortgage payments including taxes and insurance, revolving debts and installment debts, is your family income double that amount? If not, they are again most likely going to decline your request. They will tell you that you cannot qualify for your own loan, if they help you; they are thinking that it will be temporary and you will be back in the same situation 6 months down the line. So, be honest and explain to your lender how you are able to afford the payments, if you have relatives living with you helping pay the mortgage, disclose all your part time jobs. Lastly, remember to try and complete the financial package with a hardship letter explaining all your problems. Remember, these lenders are overloaded with call all day long and try to be nice to get your way. If will get frustrating that is why you have to keep trying. Also, if you put yourself in their position, they can tell you that you have signed a legal and binding contract when you took that loan out, when you cashed out money to buy your new car, when you did your home improvements or paid off your other debts that you agreed to pay them back. So, they really don’t have to help you but might. So, we are at their mercy and have to do things their way and hope for the best.
Caller: I can’t refinance my house and my loan payments are going up to a point that I cannot afford it anymore. What should I do?
Ken Go: This is a growing epidemic that is out of proportion and I get calls like this all day long. My suggestion: get your finances together be honest with yourself and see what your actual monthly expenses are, include everything even your snacks, your small vices everything. Then put down how much you are netting from your pay stubs and you will be surprise to know that you are just living on the edge every month with your paycheck. If you cannot afford the house, then you have to really decide on other options to keep yourself afloat. See yourself six month to one year from now, even if you have a fixed rate loan, can you really afford the payments? If not, then be honest and sort out options. Treat this home buying experience as a business, its not personal definitely not sentimental.
Caller: Mr. Ken Go, you are claiming that you don’t charge anything for the advice and the appointment. Right there I might have to be cautious because you said yourself nothing is free in this world?
Ken Go: Great question! I spend about 15-30 minutes explaining to a customer all these things about loan modification. I have been in the business for over 20 years and fortunately have many loyal customers that continue to refer me with clients who might want to buy,sell or refinance a house. If you are following my articles, about two years ago, I have been writing articles about “NO DOWN PAYMENT LOANS’ that the borrowers should not do that because its too risky, I have telling my callers not to buy homes since close to two years ago. Why do I do that, because I honestly find satisfaction and a sense of pride doing that? I feel that I want to do that to sort of give back to the world the blessings I get. Do I need to make money, of course I do. Let me ask you something, if I give you a good advice and honest one, later if you need some financial or real estate services who would you think about calling? Hopefully Ken Go, right? That is pretty much what I asked for are referrals on people you know that might need my services. I think that is more than fair, my business is a referral business. I do get a lot of thanks and promises of referral from my callers and basically being in this business this long; I can wait and will continue to give free and honest advises to whoever might seek for it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Countrywide and Bank of America is current workingout a Rescue plan for their customers only. This program will allow them to lower the balance and payments, if you qualify. Currently I am studying this program and will inform you of the details as soon as I gather them. It wont be in effect till December 08.
Thanks so much for your inquiry, again this is my way of helping my kababayan’s. Call Ken Go of 1st Innovative Finance if you have any questions; remember no such thing as a stupid question. (562)697-7028 or write to kennethgo@verizon.net
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Short Sale Deficiency Judgements
Will I be liable for the deficiency balance on my defaulted mortgage balance?
Caller: My property was foreclosed 6 months ago and I am still getting a bill for the mortgage balance of my property. What can I do about the debt? The bank already sold the house to another buyer.
Ken Go: That is what happens if you let your property go to foreclosure, you did not request for debt forgiveness and the lender is after you for the deficiency judgment. Meaning, if you owe $500K on your property and the lender after paying all the fees, interest, legal and agent fees net about $400K only, you will owe them $100K. I am advising my readers to consider a short sale after failing to modify their loans and rates, and letting the property go into foreclosure as a last resort. Think about it, if you let go of the property just like that, the bank will have to wait for the legal process to kick in before taking over the property, that means you would have incurred legal fees, let alone the wait time that is wasted due to the process of bank take over. Then, the bank will also hire an agent and pay their commission to sell the house, all those cost of the bank selling will also go on your bill. So, you basically just increased your debt balance and hopefully your property is not damaged or vandalized where there will be again incurred cost, because again you will have to pick up those cost. Therefore, do I make sense when I say lets short sell it and ask the bank to accept a smaller payoff? What to do then, maybe talk to the lender to discount the balance if you have money to settle, or talk to a lawyer as far as how to avoid the debt.
Caller: I wrote about this caller a few weeks ago, who wanted me to help her request for a loan modification, she is $18K behind and have no way to pay the debt off to be current. I assisted in calling and providing the lender with the necessary documents to have her loan modified. Just recently the lender approved her modification package. What they did was they put the loan balance of 18K on top of her loan and kept her rate and increased her payments by about $100.00. I her case, she wanted to keep the house and has the ability to pay her mortgage but not to bring the loan current, so this will work out for her and now she wont have to worry about the 18K debt.
She got an advice from someone saying that don’t pay your mortgage for 2 months before calling the lender and asking for a loan modification. Problem is the 2 months quickly became 6 months and now she can’t keep up. So, before you get an advice make sure that person is qualified to make comments.
Caller: I was defrauded by a countryman, I was behind on my home that I owned for 18 years and was lead to believe that this person was going to use a straw buyer (fake buyer) to buy that property back for the caller. The Agent requested for $10K as an escrow deposit for the supposedly straw buyer. After a few months of communication with the agent, he suddenly stops calling. When chased after, the office has no record of the escrow ever being opened. What should I do? My home was foreclosed because I have a notice to move already and the bank won’t talk to me any more.
Ken Go: At this point, you have to report that agent to Federal Trade Commission, www.ftc.gov or call 1-877-ftc-help. I can’t even tell you if you will ever get your money back. I would report them to the local authorities too. Unfortunately, as far as your house, since the Trustee sale occurred you are out of options. Best is to report this person to avoid other people to fall for their scams. This is by the way a Federal offense for those who are getting ideas about scamming other homeowners.
Caller: I was approach by a lawyer’s office to who wanted to help me do a loan modification with my houses that I have. I own a vacation that is still ok but due to my interest rates being high, I might not be able to afford it anymore. I refinanced my home to be able to buy the vacation home and my current residence also has a high interest rate that I am paying.
Ken Go: Before paying someone $2-4K to help you do loan modification, take note of these things. There are non profit agencies out there that will help you negotiate with your lender for free. You can also do that yourself, of course when you have to do it yourself you have to be patient and much disciplined to follow up on those calls and documents the lender might require. But for you that could save you $5K, don’t you think it’s worth it, having a Law Office behind you doesn’t always mean success? My suggestion is for you to try to sell the home and at the same time request for a loan modification, vacation home you can’t afford is not a vacation home. If you sell see how much money you will have saved not having to pay the mortgage on that property, truthfully how often to visit your vacation home? Be frugal, now is not the time to spend carelessly. There was an article about a Law firm that targeted Filipino homeowners in distress and they were soliciting for Loan Modifications. I believe they are knee deep in trouble with the Law and I am curious to see how they get out of this mess.
If you have a Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae loan there is a Making Home Affordable program that you might qualify for, please inquire with us. I have seen rates as low as 2% approved for 5 years from this program.
Please call me for your inquiries; I am waiting to write more success stories than distressed once. So, if you are able to do a work out plan with your lender thru an agent, office or lawyer that you are happy about, send me a message this way we can refer them more people in need of good citizens. Call me at (562) 697-7028 or write to kennethgo@verizon.net
Caller: My property was foreclosed 6 months ago and I am still getting a bill for the mortgage balance of my property. What can I do about the debt? The bank already sold the house to another buyer.
Ken Go: That is what happens if you let your property go to foreclosure, you did not request for debt forgiveness and the lender is after you for the deficiency judgment. Meaning, if you owe $500K on your property and the lender after paying all the fees, interest, legal and agent fees net about $400K only, you will owe them $100K. I am advising my readers to consider a short sale after failing to modify their loans and rates, and letting the property go into foreclosure as a last resort. Think about it, if you let go of the property just like that, the bank will have to wait for the legal process to kick in before taking over the property, that means you would have incurred legal fees, let alone the wait time that is wasted due to the process of bank take over. Then, the bank will also hire an agent and pay their commission to sell the house, all those cost of the bank selling will also go on your bill. So, you basically just increased your debt balance and hopefully your property is not damaged or vandalized where there will be again incurred cost, because again you will have to pick up those cost. Therefore, do I make sense when I say lets short sell it and ask the bank to accept a smaller payoff? What to do then, maybe talk to the lender to discount the balance if you have money to settle, or talk to a lawyer as far as how to avoid the debt.
Caller: I wrote about this caller a few weeks ago, who wanted me to help her request for a loan modification, she is $18K behind and have no way to pay the debt off to be current. I assisted in calling and providing the lender with the necessary documents to have her loan modified. Just recently the lender approved her modification package. What they did was they put the loan balance of 18K on top of her loan and kept her rate and increased her payments by about $100.00. I her case, she wanted to keep the house and has the ability to pay her mortgage but not to bring the loan current, so this will work out for her and now she wont have to worry about the 18K debt.
She got an advice from someone saying that don’t pay your mortgage for 2 months before calling the lender and asking for a loan modification. Problem is the 2 months quickly became 6 months and now she can’t keep up. So, before you get an advice make sure that person is qualified to make comments.
Caller: I was defrauded by a countryman, I was behind on my home that I owned for 18 years and was lead to believe that this person was going to use a straw buyer (fake buyer) to buy that property back for the caller. The Agent requested for $10K as an escrow deposit for the supposedly straw buyer. After a few months of communication with the agent, he suddenly stops calling. When chased after, the office has no record of the escrow ever being opened. What should I do? My home was foreclosed because I have a notice to move already and the bank won’t talk to me any more.
Ken Go: At this point, you have to report that agent to Federal Trade Commission, www.ftc.gov or call 1-877-ftc-help. I can’t even tell you if you will ever get your money back. I would report them to the local authorities too. Unfortunately, as far as your house, since the Trustee sale occurred you are out of options. Best is to report this person to avoid other people to fall for their scams. This is by the way a Federal offense for those who are getting ideas about scamming other homeowners.
Caller: I was approach by a lawyer’s office to who wanted to help me do a loan modification with my houses that I have. I own a vacation that is still ok but due to my interest rates being high, I might not be able to afford it anymore. I refinanced my home to be able to buy the vacation home and my current residence also has a high interest rate that I am paying.
Ken Go: Before paying someone $2-4K to help you do loan modification, take note of these things. There are non profit agencies out there that will help you negotiate with your lender for free. You can also do that yourself, of course when you have to do it yourself you have to be patient and much disciplined to follow up on those calls and documents the lender might require. But for you that could save you $5K, don’t you think it’s worth it, having a Law Office behind you doesn’t always mean success? My suggestion is for you to try to sell the home and at the same time request for a loan modification, vacation home you can’t afford is not a vacation home. If you sell see how much money you will have saved not having to pay the mortgage on that property, truthfully how often to visit your vacation home? Be frugal, now is not the time to spend carelessly. There was an article about a Law firm that targeted Filipino homeowners in distress and they were soliciting for Loan Modifications. I believe they are knee deep in trouble with the Law and I am curious to see how they get out of this mess.
If you have a Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae loan there is a Making Home Affordable program that you might qualify for, please inquire with us. I have seen rates as low as 2% approved for 5 years from this program.
Please call me for your inquiries; I am waiting to write more success stories than distressed once. So, if you are able to do a work out plan with your lender thru an agent, office or lawyer that you are happy about, send me a message this way we can refer them more people in need of good citizens. Call me at (562) 697-7028 or write to kennethgo@verizon.net
Monday, March 15, 2010
Loan Mod Scams and New Incentives for Short Sale
Another falls for A Loan Modification scam and see how the Obama Administration is trying to keep defaulting owners in their homes.
Caller: Dear Ken, I just recently read your article about loans being in a Negative Amortization Adjustable Mortgage. I am so depress and don’t know what to do, my husband passed on and I am handling our finances by myself with two children in college. I went to a Loan Mod Company and paid them $ 3000.00 to modify my loan. I was told specifically to stop my mortgage payments and now I am 6 months behind my payments. I then was told to Short Sale my property thru the same company, because they claim that I don’t qualify for the Loan Mod. I cant sleep at night and I really am very depress and don’t know what to do.
Ken Go: For my readers, this is the first time I have had a caller sound like this, from the time I heard her voice I knew she was completely devastated. I was having diner and immediately move to another room to speak with her. This is her situation, she has a “Pick-A-Payment” Loan with a minimum payment of about $800.00 a month payment, her property is not upside down but has very little equity. She lives in a descent area that I am sure will recover faster than other cities. She is currently still working but has concerns about her mortgage recasting (adjusting) to a higher payment next year. She is also worried about her job security now. I told her that if she would have called me last year, I would have told her to keep her money and keep paying the $ 800.00 a month for now. Per advise of the Loan Modification Company, they wanted her to list the property for sale with them ( to line up more money in their own pocket if you ask me ) and if she listened to the Loan Mod company and short sales her property, she still has to pay around 1200-1400 for a two bedroom apartment. So, why sell right? My take on this is that the Loan Modification Company wants to short sale to make another commission. Not caring about what happens to the homeowners. I told her not to talk to the Loan Mod Company and gave her the name, number and address to :
Call State consumer protection agency 800-952-5225 –
You have to call FTC – to complain by phone or internet and then call Ca. State consumer protection to take action.
File a complain in writing detailing your situation with all name and company names to :
Office of the attorney general – public inquiry unit
PO Box 944255
Sacramento CA 94244 –
Shortcut to: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
To file a complain and I gave her the number to her lenders Presidents Office to complain and ask for help.
Her two children will be graduating this year and I told her to sit them down and tell her about the financial trouble she is in. I told her to continue to payments and make arrangement with her lender to continue the loan. Because she has till next year before the loan will actually recast or adjust, for now that payment is affordable. By next year her children are both graduating and hopefully will be able to help make the mortgage payments.
Even if the adjusted Mortgage payments will be around $ 1600 a month, that should be affordable for a three income family. With the market condition now a days, she will have a nice size equity in 5-7 years and then hopefully can sell and retire.
This is a case of real abuse where as the Loan Mod company saw an opportunity to take money from this person who might not be too sophisticated or familiar with their own financial situation. Mainly due to her husband passing who was the main financial person of the household.
The crooks in this situation probably wants the property for themselves and will have no mercy or conscience in kicking these hardworking family from their home for many years, which is not underwater and has a minimum payment of $ 800.00.
Lesson learned, don’t stop paying your mortgage unless you are certain that by doing that it actually helps and not puts you in a worse situation
The Obama Administration in an effort to end the foreclosure crisis has a new approach: “Paying some of the them to leave”. This is latest program, which will allow owners to sells for less than what they owe and will them a little incentive to speed up the process. Now, there are more than five Million households behind on their mortgages and risk foreclosure. Come this April 15th, a program could encourage hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers who have not been rescued by the loan modification program to sell their houses through a process called Short Sale. Lenders will be compelled to accept the arrangement, forgiving the difference between market price and amount owed. “We want to streamline and standardize the short sale process to make it much easier on the borrower and much easier on the lender,” said Seth Wheeler, a Treasury Senior Advisor.
This process will allow the borrowers to suffer less damaging credit remarks and ratings. And as part of the transaction, they will get the lender’s assurance that they will not later be sued for the unpaid mortgage balance.
I will look into this new program and will be discussing about Mortgage Deficiency next week. Seems like there is a new fear amongs homeowners being foreclosed on. Which is will the lenders have the right to go after the deficiency balance even after Foreclosures? Some experts says yes and I will discuss that next week.
Thanks so much for your support, please call Ken Go of 1st Innovative Finance for your loan questions or modification or short Sale inquiries. Call Ken at 562-697-7028 or write to: kennethgo@verizon.net.
Caller: Dear Ken, I just recently read your article about loans being in a Negative Amortization Adjustable Mortgage. I am so depress and don’t know what to do, my husband passed on and I am handling our finances by myself with two children in college. I went to a Loan Mod Company and paid them $ 3000.00 to modify my loan. I was told specifically to stop my mortgage payments and now I am 6 months behind my payments. I then was told to Short Sale my property thru the same company, because they claim that I don’t qualify for the Loan Mod. I cant sleep at night and I really am very depress and don’t know what to do.
Ken Go: For my readers, this is the first time I have had a caller sound like this, from the time I heard her voice I knew she was completely devastated. I was having diner and immediately move to another room to speak with her. This is her situation, she has a “Pick-A-Payment” Loan with a minimum payment of about $800.00 a month payment, her property is not upside down but has very little equity. She lives in a descent area that I am sure will recover faster than other cities. She is currently still working but has concerns about her mortgage recasting (adjusting) to a higher payment next year. She is also worried about her job security now. I told her that if she would have called me last year, I would have told her to keep her money and keep paying the $ 800.00 a month for now. Per advise of the Loan Modification Company, they wanted her to list the property for sale with them ( to line up more money in their own pocket if you ask me ) and if she listened to the Loan Mod company and short sales her property, she still has to pay around 1200-1400 for a two bedroom apartment. So, why sell right? My take on this is that the Loan Modification Company wants to short sale to make another commission. Not caring about what happens to the homeowners. I told her not to talk to the Loan Mod Company and gave her the name, number and address to :
Call State consumer protection agency 800-952-5225 –
You have to call FTC – to complain by phone or internet and then call Ca. State consumer protection to take action.
File a complain in writing detailing your situation with all name and company names to :
Office of the attorney general – public inquiry unit
PO Box 944255
Sacramento CA 94244 –
Shortcut to: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
To file a complain and I gave her the number to her lenders Presidents Office to complain and ask for help.
Her two children will be graduating this year and I told her to sit them down and tell her about the financial trouble she is in. I told her to continue to payments and make arrangement with her lender to continue the loan. Because she has till next year before the loan will actually recast or adjust, for now that payment is affordable. By next year her children are both graduating and hopefully will be able to help make the mortgage payments.
Even if the adjusted Mortgage payments will be around $ 1600 a month, that should be affordable for a three income family. With the market condition now a days, she will have a nice size equity in 5-7 years and then hopefully can sell and retire.
This is a case of real abuse where as the Loan Mod company saw an opportunity to take money from this person who might not be too sophisticated or familiar with their own financial situation. Mainly due to her husband passing who was the main financial person of the household.
The crooks in this situation probably wants the property for themselves and will have no mercy or conscience in kicking these hardworking family from their home for many years, which is not underwater and has a minimum payment of $ 800.00.
Lesson learned, don’t stop paying your mortgage unless you are certain that by doing that it actually helps and not puts you in a worse situation
The Obama Administration in an effort to end the foreclosure crisis has a new approach: “Paying some of the them to leave”. This is latest program, which will allow owners to sells for less than what they owe and will them a little incentive to speed up the process. Now, there are more than five Million households behind on their mortgages and risk foreclosure. Come this April 15th, a program could encourage hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers who have not been rescued by the loan modification program to sell their houses through a process called Short Sale. Lenders will be compelled to accept the arrangement, forgiving the difference between market price and amount owed. “We want to streamline and standardize the short sale process to make it much easier on the borrower and much easier on the lender,” said Seth Wheeler, a Treasury Senior Advisor.
This process will allow the borrowers to suffer less damaging credit remarks and ratings. And as part of the transaction, they will get the lender’s assurance that they will not later be sued for the unpaid mortgage balance.
I will look into this new program and will be discussing about Mortgage Deficiency next week. Seems like there is a new fear amongs homeowners being foreclosed on. Which is will the lenders have the right to go after the deficiency balance even after Foreclosures? Some experts says yes and I will discuss that next week.
Thanks so much for your support, please call Ken Go of 1st Innovative Finance for your loan questions or modification or short Sale inquiries. Call Ken at 562-697-7028 or write to: kennethgo@verizon.net.
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