Feldman Law Center - News by Feldman Law Center — Toxic mortgages approved for borrowers that couldn’t afford them may have started the meltdown in mortgages but the current wave of foreclosures is being fueled by rampant unemployment across the country. Evidence of that is now being provided by the acceleration of defaults in mortgages granted to high credit score borrowers, commonly known as prime mortgages. The report of May’s 9.4% unemployment rate is more bad news for lenders and their investors as the biggest sector of the mortgage market is now showing a default rate greater than that of the sub-primes. The rising unemployment rate, which has increased every month since the first quarter of 2007, is threatening to reverse any of the currently small gains being made in stabilizing the housing market. In many cases, unemployment can trump any mortgage relief effort short of foreclosure due to the fact that the best terms on a home loan modification, for example, are not going to work if the homeowner can’t write a monthly mortgage check to the lender. Regardless of the type of mortgage, the current default ratios are stunning. In total a record 12 percent of homeowners with a mortgage were behind on their payments in the first quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said Thursday. The mortgages which started blowing up first, adjustable rate mortgages for sub-prime borrowers are still a significant factor in foreclosures. Today, almost half of all subprime ARMs are past due or in foreclosure. In states like New Jersey, Florida, and New York those rates exceed 55%. The riskiest tranches of the adjustable subprimes began defaulting en masse in the fourth quarter of 2006, starting a domino effect of sub-prime lender closures leading to the freeze of the credit markets in the third quarter of 2007. The general opinion at the time was that the defaults would be contained to the sub-prime market with the possibility of some spillover to the most marginal of the Alt-A loans. Instead, foreclosures and unemployment began working as mutually re-enforcing factors and defaults climbed the ladder of credit scores, reaching and accelerating defaults in the prime mortgages in the second half of 2008. Six percent of the fixed rate primes are now past due, in default, or foreclosure, an increase of 100% over this time last year. The dynamic between unemployment, foreclosures and their effect on the economy has led to the longest recession since World War II. Four states, California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida represent almost half of new foreclosures and carry the highest number of delinquencies in fixed rate prime mortgages. It’s no coincidence that these states carry some of the highest unemployment numbers in the country as well. The relationship between unemployment and foreclosures now has industry watchers wondering whether the Obama Administration is spending its energy, and funds, on the right target. Their reasoning is that if unemployment continues to grow at the current pace, the “Making Home Affordable” plan won’t matter because homeowners are not going to be able to afford even the best offers for a home loan modification if they’re not working. A better approach, they say, would be for the government to take a regulatory role on the mortgage market, develop an accreditation program for law firms doing home loan modifications, and put their main focus on boosting the economy. About Feldman Law Center The Feldman Law Center was founded for the purpose of negotiating loan modifications on behalf of their clients. These negotiations have two major goals; to reduce monthly mortgage payments to a level of affordability for the homeowner and to either stop or avoid foreclosure proceedings. The mission at The Feldman Law Center is to provide the highest level of professional service while delivering the best possible result on each loan modification we negotiate on the behalf of the families we represent. Having negotiated over 500 attorney driven mortgage loan modifications, we realize that each homeowner’s situation is unique and that each modification may require a different approach than the one before it. To that end, we can always call on our 25 years of negotiating, knowledge, and real estate experience to provide the most optimal solutions for each family’s situation. While we are negotiating your mortgage loan modification with your lenders our friendly and compassionate team will keep you updated all the way on how the process is advancing. The people at The Feldman Law Center completely understand the stress of being behind in your monthly payments and the sleepless nights that can be brought on by an impending foreclosure. Rest assured that we will stand with you all the way through the loan modification process and that we are driven to get the best outcome possible for you and your family. If you are struggling with your monthly payments and worried about the threat of foreclosure, we can help. Call The Feldman Law Center today at 800-588-0425 or visit www.feldmanlawcenter.com.
Feldman Law Center – News by Feldman Law Center — Part of Obama’s plan to overhaul regulation of the mortgage industry, unveiled last week, would create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to monitor consumer financial products and change the entire process of getting a mortgage. With a stated goal of developing a mortgage process that is as simple as signing up for a retirement plan, the President’s proposal centers on an automatic offering of a “plain vanilla loan” to potential homebuyers. These loans would offer fixed interest rates and 30 year maturities, unless the borrower opts for a loan with riskier terms such as interest only or adjustable rates. The plan has received vehement opposition from the mortgage and banking industries who say that government-approved mortgages would restrict borrowers’ options, make loans harder to get, and make them potentially more expensive. Powerful trade groups like the American Bankers Association, for example, oppose creating a consumer financial protection agency. Even lobbying groups open to the idea of a consumer-products regulator question whether the government should suggest which mortgages are best for consumers. “We don’t want to stifle innovation, and we don’t want to stifle competition,” said John Courson, president of the Mortgage Bankers Association. One thing that would definitely be restricted, and one of the main factors behind these groups’ opposition to the plan, will be the potential commissions that mortgage brokers can charge when they sell a mortgage. For example, administration officials want to curb the fees that brokers and lenders receive tied to inflated mortgage rates. Brokers argue the incorporating those fees are a way for borrowers to amortize the costs of a loan without having to come up with thousands of dollars in closing costs. Another aspect of the plan would link compensation to whether the borrower ends up defaulting on the mortgage. “There’s no reason that we should have to assume that risk,” said Marc Savitt, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. The group’s stance is that while a mortgage broker can facilitate a loan, the ultimate approval for the mortgage comes from the lender. Mortgage brokers’ fees were typically highest on the most creative and dangerous of the mortgage varieties. With those mortgages a thing of the past, volume, commissions, and their share of new business has dwindled. Mortgage brokers’ share of new loans has dropped from a high of 60% to the current 20%, on much lower volume. Fixed rate mortgages have increased from a low of 50% of the total of new loans originated in 2004-05 to 95% today. As the plan stands now, the newly created agency would approve a set of mortgages including fixed and adjustable rate mortgages. Approval for vanilla mortgages would be similar to the “prime mortgage” approval process. Potential home buyers could still get mortgages outside of the government approved versions but disclosure of risks and dire warnings will accompany them. Supporters of the new regulatory agency say that it is needed as much to protect borrowers from themselves as from predatory lending practices. Many borrowers went through the process of getting their mortgage without ever taking the time to understand exactly how the loans they were applying for worked and where the risks were. Still, previous Congressional efforts to regulate the mortgage industry have consistently broken down over the years, even on simple issues such paperwork reduction, so the fight could be long, drawn out, and years in the making. About Feldman Law Center The Feldman Law Center is one of California’s top loan modification companies, providing excellent service to our clients and is completely focused on keeping everyone one of our clients in their homes. Our loan modification experts work tirelessly to provide every homeowner we work with the information, guidance and support they need to modify their mortgages and keep the homes they’ve worked to buy. About Loan Modifications If you’re unfamiliar with what a loan modification is, a mortgage loan modification is quite possibly the most effective tool you can utilize if you are behind on your mortgage, and are in the midst of a financial hardship, in order to save your home from interesting foreclosure. A loan modification is literally is a process where the terms of a mortgage are modified outside the original terms of the contract agreed to by the lender and borrower (i.e mortgagor and mortgagee). In general, any loan can be modified. The Feldman Law Center knows every law in California (and the country) that may be able to keep you in your home. Lenders would rather renegotiate the terms of your loan, and possibly even negotiate a principle reduction, than let the house go into foreclosure. With years of experience negotiating with lenders, as well as years of experience keeping people in their homes, the Feldman Law Center is one of the most experienced loan modification firms in all of California. To learn more about loan modification programs and loan modification process visit Feldman Law Center at www.feldmanlawcenter.com or call 800-588-0425.
Feldman Law Center – News by Feldman Law Center After months vehement opposition to most of what the Obama administration has tried to push forward to help struggling homeowners, mortgage investors have thrown their support behind one of the biggest failures of the Bush Administration. The Federal Housing Administration’s Hope for Homeowners (H4H) program, estimated at its outset to be able to help 400,000 homeowners, only originated one new loan. As he Obama Administration tried to breathe life back into H4H, the mortgage investors saw some potential and started coming around. Part of what they liked was taxpayer money bailing them out of bad investments. The spin on H4H is that it aims to ease a struggling borrower’s debt burden by allowing for a principal reduction to bring a homeowner to approximately even between the size of the mortgage and the value of the home. The mortgage investors would forgive some of the borrower’s debt as part of the principle reduction and then get cashed out by receiving a check from Treasury for something less than the home’s current value. Being able to roll up to the government sponsored trough and cash out with more taxpayer dollars is, by far, the best option presented to the investors since the bubble started popping in 2006. H4H will allow them to cash out of delinquent mortgages, convert a liability into cash, get a defaulting bond off the books, lick their wounds, and move on. Under the plan, taxpayers will become the new investors in residential real estate, at a time when professional investors are either fleeing or sitting on their hands waiting for the bottom to fall out of the market. The Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable home loan modification plan has frustrated mortgage investors as they have had to take a back seat in home loan modification process, with their loan servicers in the driver’s seat. The recent passage of a safe harbor bill by Congress in May added salt to the investor’s wounds by granting loan servicers even more autonomy in their loan modification negotiations. Those negotiations basically yield one of two outcomes for the investors: either a lowered interest rate on their bond with the possibility reduced principle, and a longer maturity or a home that’s going into foreclosure. With the small percentage of sales at auctions, foreclosures are building a huge backlog as bids often come in at 60% or less of the mortgage balance. The FHA plan gives them a third option of putting cash in their pockets without having to worry about selling the property. The recently updated version of the H4H program is simplified, costs less, and has some incentives but, in its current construct, is still a dog that won’t hunt. A bunch of details need to be worked out, like profit splits with taxpayers and lenders, should a participating homeowner sell at a profit. That part is another aspect of the plan the investors love. Being able to participate in profits after cashing out is as good as it gets coming out of a situation as convoluted and costly as the current foreclosure debacle. Another issue is that H4H breaks a single refi into three mortgages under the original design of the plan, which is probably one of the reasons that it yielded only one mortgage origination the first time around. Scott Simon, from Pimco, likes the FHA plan but knows it still needs work. “Unfortunately there are still too many devils in the current details for it to be widely used,” he said. Investors are hoping that the plan will be streamlined in continued meetings between HUD officials, the Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and the White House. Under the new design of H4H, homeowners get a mortgage with a smaller balance which is then sold to investors as a 100% taxpayer-backed bond. Ideally the mortgage balance will be reduced enough to give the homeowner an equity position in the home which, combined with lower mortgage payments, would greatly reduce the chance of foreclosure. That conclusion was backed by a recent Fitch rating report which estimated that 65 to 75% of subprime mortgages that were modified will end up going back into default, a huge jump from the current default rate of 50%. When those modifications include a principle reduction the default rate decreases by about 30%, according to the report. Christopher Mayer, a vice dean and professor of real estate at Columbia University, in a recent interview said that “ …investors realize that H4H isn’t some grand solution and are championing it primarily because they see it as better alternative to the government’s modification program. They see the modifications as delay, delay, delay.” Mayer supports the safe harbor bill that protects servicers and would like to see loan modifications increase. He doubts that the government’s efforts to subsidize this push for H4H will work out as planned. Seeing the plan for the investor bailout that it is he said, “This is just going to be a morass for taxpayers. Sometimes the best thing to do is foreclose and foreclose quickly. Speed is incredibly important in this business.” About Feldman Law Center The Feldman Law Center is one of California’s top loan modification companies, providing excellent service to our clients and is completely focused on keeping everyone one of our clients in their homes. Our loan modification experts work tirelessly to provide every homeowner we work with the information, guidance and support they need to modify their mortgages and keep the homes they’ve worked to buy. About Loan Modifications If you’re unfamiliar with what a loan modification is, a mortgage loan modification is quite possibly the most effective tool you can utilize if you are behind on your mortgage, and are in the midst of a financial hardship, in order to save your home from interesting foreclosure. A loan modification is literally is a process where the terms of a mortgage are modified outside the original terms of the contract agreed to by the lender and borrower (i.e mortgagor and mortgagee). In general, any loan can be modified. The Feldman Law Center knows every law in California (and the country) that may be able to keep you in your home. Lenders would rather renegotiate the terms of your loan, and possibly even negotiate a principle reduction, than let the house go into foreclosure. With years of experience negotiating with lenders, as well as years of experience keeping people in their homes, the Feldman Law Center is one of the most experienced loan modification firms in all of California. Visit feldmanlawcenter.com for more information.
Feldman Law Center – News by Feldman Law Center — As the foreclosure backlog grows, a new class of American homeowners as described by a recent article in the Washington Post is growing by the month. These are homeowners that have fallen into a financial limbo where they are badly behind on payments, but their lenders have not yet foreclosed on the home. “I have even begged them for a foreclosure,” delinquent mortgage-holder Charlotte Jensen said. Behind on payments and not willing to wait for an eviction notice, she filed for bankruptcy, and left the home. Nearly a year later, still with no further payments, Bank of America has yet to take back the home. The total of the backlog is estimated at one million borrowers, sits on top of the one million foreclosure actions that had been taken this year through May. It presents a major obstacle for any kind of rebound or stability in the country’s hard hit real estate markets. It’s also an obstacle than can drive the market lower and then keep it there indefinitely. Banks are currently doing the best they can not to flood the market with foreclosures but each sale, when one occurs, is counted as a “comp” for appraisal purposes. Everything similar gets indexed to the comp until the next sells at a lower price. For evidence of properties being kept off of the market one need only look at one of highest foreclosure states in the country. California had 111,000 foreclosed properties which could have gone to auction in May. Of that number, only 17,000 went to auction and only 2,000 sold. If those kinds of numbers repeat for just a few months, the state will have a backlog that will take years to unwind. Properties that aren’t sold on the way down would most likely be sold as prices stabilize or start to bounce back, which would mute any recovery. “Lenders are having an immensely difficult time handling the capacity. They are torn between loan modification, short sales, foreclosures, and they are finding they can’t do all these things at once, and do them well, so we’re seeing a lot of things falling through the cracks,” said Howard Glaser, a housing industry consultant and a housing official during the Clinton administration. Mortgage lenders and investors in that scenario would be looking at more losses as a result of the mortgage crisis. “It just means foreclosure rates are going to keep rising,” said Patrick Newport, an economist for IHS Global Insight. Without an end to the downward spiral in prices any kind of meaningful recovery in the economy will be impossible. Another issue is the growing conflict of interest between mortgage investors and the companies that service the loans for them. In many cases, what is good for the servicers is bad for the investors and vice versa. For instance, in a home loan modification versus foreclosure situation, the servicer will favor the modification because it keeps payments and fees they can charge on them alive. The mortgage investors, seeing the potential for a decrease in cash flow as a result of the modification, will favor foreclosure as a means of getting their money out of the deal. The resulting stalemate can cause a house to sit in limbo while the servicers and lenders decide a course of action. For the homeowners in the situation, the stalemate can be beneficial as it allows them to stay in the house but the stress of knowing that an eviction can come at any time is tough to deal with. While some of the backlog reflects the inability of lenders to keep up with the sheer volume of delinquent properties, another reason is an intentional slowdown in the pace of foreclosures as government and industry try to work with borrowers who want to stay in their homes. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-run mortgage financing companies, put a temporary moratorium on foreclosures late last year, some states imposed moratoriums, and many of the country’s largest lenders voluntarily participated as well. The extra time gave lenders time to see how the guidelines of the Obama Administration’s “Making Home Affordable” would work and which borrowers could be helped by modifying their current mortgages under the plan. Many of those moratoriums started expiring at the end of the first quarter of this year, and foreclosures have been setting records on a monthly basis since then. With potentially millions of foreclosed homes on the market and more coming every day, Prices have been hit across the country. The prices for existing homes fell another 16% in May versus the prices one year prior. The growing backlog of homes in limbo indicates that foreclosure rates are likely to increase dramatically during the second half of this year and into 2010. Some estimates are calling for foreclosures to reach 2.4 million by year end. Bob Bellack, chairman of Zetabid, which auctions foreclosed properties, said “Prices will fall to the point where you have equilibrium, and it won’t reach that until there is no longer this foreclosure overhang.” Financial firms that carry mortgages or mortgage-backed securities on their books are scrambling to stem past and anticipated losses with any means possible. Whether a sign of desperation or not, mortgage investors have thrown their support behind the Hope for Homeowners plan, a leftover from the Bush Administration which was considered an absolute flop the first time around. Intended to help over 400,000 homeowners at its outset, the plan originated only one loan. If the economy doesn’t turn, and without some sort of government assistance, continued foreclosures will result in continuing rounds of losses for investors. Being in limbo has allowed some homeowners the time to save money while not making mortgage payments and take action through the home loan modification process to save their homes from foreclosure. In general, however, statistics don’t bode well for homeowners once they start missing payments. According to a March report from NeighborWorks America, a large housing counseling group, 60 percent of homeowners go into foreclosure after missing more than four payments. Normal protocol is for the foreclosure process to start after the third payment has been missed but now it’s common for a foreclosure process to take nine months or more to get started, said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. “No one is in a rush, lender-wise, to deal with the property,” he said. “If you have to sell at a loss, why rush?” Another protocol has lenders writing down the value of the home six months after an owner stops making payments, but the total loss is not recorded until the property is sold in foreclosure, said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com. “Some may feel that the property is worth more than the market can bear at this time, and they are willing to wait until the market improves”, he said. “They don’t want to sell it into a completely depressed market.” The typical foreclosure process varies by state and has been slowed down by the constant incoming volume. The timeline of the process is also dependent on who actually owns the mortgage and whether a bankruptcy has been filed by the homeowner. One of the biggest issues in the process now is that the phase preceding eviction, sale at auction, isn’t happening. Lenders, considering their workload and the costs of each foreclosure, aren’t eager to start a process which isn’t likely to be seen through to completion so limbo is the next best option. “During that period, where the property is in limbo, until there has been a sale of the property, the homeowner is still the owner, technically,” said John Rao of the National Consumer Law Center. Despite being seriously delinquent, homeowners can apply for a home loan modification to stay in their homes, even if they were turned down previously. Success after being turned down can be achieved if the homeowner has been hired into a new job, is generating more income, and/or by hiring legal representation to renegotiate the terms of the existing mortgage. The odds of approval are also increasing due to lenders’ reluctance toward taking more properties into foreclosure. Whatever they may have thought about home loan modifications before, at this point they’re a better option than either foreclosure or sitting in limbo. About Feldman Law Center The Feldman Law Center is one of California’s top loan modification companies, providing excellent service to our clients and is completely focused on keeping everyone one of our clients in their homes. Our loan modification experts work tirelessly to provide every homeowner we work with the information, guidance and support they need to modify their mortgages and keep the homes they’ve worked to buy. About Loan Modifications If you’re unfamiliar with what a loan modification is, a mortgage loan modification is quite possibly the most effective tool you can utilize if you are behind on your mortgage, and are in the midst of a financial hardship, in order to save your home from interesting foreclosure. A loan modification is literally is a process where the terms of a mortgage are modified outside the original terms of the contract agreed to by the lender and borrower (i.e mortgagor and mortgagee). In general, any loan can be modified. The Feldman Law Center knows every law in California (and the country) that may be able to keep you in your home. Lenders would rather renegotiate the terms of your loan, and possibly even negotiate a principle reduction, than let the house go into foreclosure. With years of experience negotiating with lenders, as well as years of experience keeping people in their homes, the Feldman Law Center is one of the most experienced loan modification firms in all of California. Visit www.feldmanlawcenter.com or call 800-527-8497 for more information about California loan modifications. Feldman Law Center: Profile – Business ExchangeFeldman Law CenterLoan Modification – Feldman Law CenterFeldman Law Center, Mission Viejo CA 92691
Feldman Law Center – News by Feldman Law Center — When facing the loss of their house, short sales are a method that some people choose to use in order to stop foreclosure from taking place. This tactic takes place when it seems likely that the bank will lose less money than it would with a foreclosure. By definition, a short sale means that the home is being sold for less than is owed on the mortgage. In evaluating the pros and cons of a short sale, some of the cons include: having to pay taxes, insurance, and mortgage payments on the property until the house is sold; competing with other bargain basement-priced homes in the area; getting a negative mark on your credit report; losing all of your investment in the property; and the possibility of still owing money towards the mortgage of a home that you no longer own or live in. After dealing with all of these problems associated with a short sale of your house, you still have to find a place for you and your family to live. While a short sale may be one of the options you have, we believe that there are better options out there for you. If you are facing a similar problem, you should consider a home loan modification. Many California companies offer loan modifications, but not all companies have the benefit of experienced, licensed attorneys. The Feldman Law Center specializes in California loan modifications, which can help you avoid a foreclosure, bankruptcy, or short sale on your home. An attorney can help secure the most advantageous deal for you, your family, and your property. Loan modifications are one of the best options to choose when facing the loss of your home. When comparing a home loan modification to a short sale, you could potentially avoid all of the cons of a short sale. You would stay in your home, keep the investment you’ve made in the home, and avoid the hassle and expense of completing a short sale and finding new accommodations. Most California loan modifications include lowering or fixing the interest rate of your mortgage, which means that monthly payments would be stabilized to an amount that is more attainable for you. It can also include reducing the principle balance that you owe or forgiving some of your mortgage payment defaults or missed payments on fees. A modification completed by one of our loan modification attorneys can include any or all of the above features. The main advantage of having an attorney complete the negotiations with a lender is that our attorneys can achieve better results than you can achieve alone, and can achieve them more quickly. The attorneys of The Feldman Law Center are experienced negotiators of home loan modifications. Our founder, Steven C. Feldman has been licensed by the State Bar of California for over 25 years. Free quotes and consultations are available for you to help you make the most of your current situation. Contact us today and let us help you with your home loan modification. Visit us at http://www.feldmanlawcenter.com or call 800-588-0425. About Feldman Law Center The Feldman Law Center is one of California’s top loan modification companies, providing excellent service to our clients and is completely focused on keeping everyone one of our clients in their homes. Our loan modification experts work tirelessly to provide every homeowner we work with the information, guidance and support they need to modify their mortgages and keep the homes they’ve worked to buy. About Loan Modifications If you’re unfamiliar with what a loan modification is, a loan modification is quite possibly the most effective tool you can utilize if you are behind on your mortgage, and are in the midst of a financial hardship, in order to save your home from interesting foreclosure. A loan modification is literally is a process where the terms of a mortgage are modified outside the original terms of the contract agreed to by the lender and borrower (i.e mortgagor and mortgagee). In general, any loan can be modified. The Feldman Law Center knows every law in California (and the country) that may be able to keep you in your home. Lenders would rather renegotiate the terms of your loan, and possibly even negotiate a principle reduction, than let the house go into foreclosure. With years of experience negotiating with lenders, as well as years of experience keeping people in their homes, the Feldman Law Center is one of the most experienced loan modification companies in all of California.
Feldman Law Center – News by Feldman Law Center — When people hear about loan modifications, they learn that one of the most common ways to lower your monthly mortgage payments is to adjust your interest rate. For example, if you have an adjustable rate mortgage, you could get your interest rate lowered for some period of time. You could also switch from an adjustable rate mortgage to a fixed rate mortgage, and this way not only would your mortgage payment be cheaper, but you could know what it will be over the long haul.
The challenge is, adjusting your interest rate, or setting your interest rate permanently may not be your best option. It may seem simple, but you could have other choices available to you that you are not aware of. One of the benefits of having a loan modification attorney working with you is that they may be aware of options you are not aware of.
For example, a loan modification does not necessarily have to involve an interest rate adjustment. Other loan modification options involve principal reduction and lengthening the term of your loan. If you get a principal reduction, it could mean that a loan for $500,000 could be lowered to $380,000, which would obviously have a huge impact on your monthly mortgage payments. You could also get the term lengthened, and go from a 30 year mortgage to a 40 year mortgage. An extra ten years would give you an extra 120 months to spread out your payments, which would also lower your monthly mortgage payments.
Interest rates were at an all time low in December, and stayed there for quite a while. However, they’ve gone up and down and recently have reached their highest point in quite a while. This sort of uncertainty is not beneficial to your current situation, especially if you’re facing foreclosure. The federal government has instituted many plans to lower interest rates, including using $600 billion to get more buyers into the market in hopes of stabilizing home prices and reviving the economy. However, the federal government’s effectiveness has gone up and down.
Loan modification attorneys can be a trusted ally in the battle to keep your home. A California loan modification attorney can give you the lowdown on your situation, as well as the many options available to you. While getting an altered interest rate may be to your benefit, it could also be that other options work better for your situation. Lowering your principal balance could be an option, and it would also be a great long term solution. Changing the length of the loan could also be a great long term option, and both of these would lower your monthly payments.
If you are facing a foreclosure, or if you are facing some other type of financial crisis, a loan modification could be your best option. These days, almost everyone is watching the economy, waiting for their own situation to worsen. Unfortunately, these are tough times, but a loan modification attorney could help out quite a bit.
Visit us at http://www.feldmanlawcenter.com/ or call 800-588-0425.
About Feldman Law Center
The Feldman Law Center is one of California’s top loan modification companies, providing excellent service to our clients and is completely focused on keeping everyone one of our clients in their homes. Our mortgage loan modification experts work tirelessly to provide every homeowner we work with the information, guidance and support they need to modify their mortgages and keep the homes they’ve worked to buy.
About Loan Modifications
If you’re unfamiliar with what a loan modification is, a home loan modification is quite possibly the most effective tool you can utilize if you are behind on your mortgage, and are in the midst of a financial hardship, in order to save your home from interesting foreclosure. A loan modification is literally is a process where the terms of a mortgage are modified outside the original terms of the contract agreed to by the lender and borrower (i.e mortgagor and mortgagee). In general, any loan can be modified. The Feldman Law Center knows every law in California (and the country) that may be able to keep you in your home. Lenders would rather renegotiate the terms of your loan, and possibly even negotiate a principle reduction, than let the house go into foreclosure.With years of experience negotiating with lenders, as well as years of experience keeping people in their homes, the Feldman Law Center is one of the most experienced loan modification firms in all of California.
Resources:
Feldman Law Center: Profile – Business Exchange
Feldman Law Center
Feldman Law Center – The New York Times gets it About Half Right
Feldmanlawcenter.com – Feldman Law Center Company News
Feldman Law Center - News by Feldman Law Center -- In today’s unpredictable economy, you can’t take anything for granted. You don’t know if you’ll have a job tomorrow, if you will be asked to take an unpaid vacation, or if the interest rate on your home mortgage will spike. What if gas prices soar? Will a trip to the grocery store for your family’s weekly necessities cost more? So much of the territory that our country, and the world, is venturing into is unchartered.
While we don’t know what the future holds, we can try to plan appropriately for it. How can you prepare yourself for future expenses, save money, or spend less in your current situation? Many wise people are considering these questions now.
In addition to planning for the future, we can also take advantage of the opportunities that we are offered today. One opportunity being offered to many troubled homeowners is a home loan modification.
President Obama’s housing plan involves offering many people a chance to modify their home loans. If a distressed homeowner lives in his or her property, falls within the requirements for the amount they owe, and meets additional criteria, they could be eligible for the government plan. The FDIC even has a “mod in a box” home loan modification program that they are hoping to enlist lenders in taking part in. Even if you don’t take advantage of the government’s specific plans, and are a homeowner in a volatile financial situation, you can still opt to modify your home loan.
With the help of the Feldman Law Center, you can have a better chance at protecting your financial future. You do not know when home loan modifications will start to taper off, how long you will be at your current job, or how your taxes could be changed in the future. If you are concerned about your adjustable rate mortgage, or a potential bankruptcy or foreclosure, you need the help of experienced attorneys on your side.
The federal government as well as many state governments, are talking about increasing taxes. What is the potential fallout of that? Given the uncertainty we are facing now, it is hard to guess what higher taxes might result in. But perhaps homeowners would have to pay higher property taxes, or perhaps additional fees and penalties could be added to home loan modifications.
Debates on the efficacy of taxes, both low and high, are inevitable. Chances are good that tax rates and structures will soon change. Will this be good for your current situation? Will you pay more, or less? Will you be a part of the population paying for the benefit of others, or will you be the beneficiary? Obviously, this depends on many factors. It doesn’t seem prudent to generalize widely about this. Every situation will end up being different.
It might not be a good idea to wait for a loan modification. They are available now. Call the Feldman Law Center today. We specialize in loan modifications and are ready to assist you today.
Visit us at http://www.feldmanlawcenter.com/ or call 800-588-0425.
About Feldman Law Center
The Feldman Law Center is one of California’s top loan modification companies, providing excellent service to our clients and is completely focused on keeping everyone one of our clients in their homes. Our loan modification experts work tirelessly to provide every homeowner we work with the information, guidance and support they need to modify their mortgages and keep the homes they’ve worked to buy.
About Loan Modifications
If you’re unfamiliar with what a loan modification is, a mortgage loan modification is quite possibly the most effective tool you can utilize if you are behind on your mortgage, and are in the midst of a financial hardship, in order to save your home from interesting foreclosure. A loan modification is literally is a process where the terms of a mortgage are modified outside the original terms of the contract agreed to by the lender and borrower (i.e mortgagor and mortgagee). In general, any loan can be modified. The Feldman Law Center knows every law in California (and the country) that may be able to keep you in your home. Lenders would rather renegotiate the terms of your loan, and possibly even negotiate a principle reduction, than let the house go into foreclosure.With years of experience negotiating with lenders, as well as years of experience keeping people in their homes, the Feldman Law Center is one of the most experienced loan modification companies in all of California.
Feldman Law Center – News by Feldman Law Center — President Obama’s historic presidency began in the midst of possibly the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The housing and real estate markets seemingly jumped off of a cliff, taking with it the financial stability of every other industry. Obama passed sweeping legislation to help homeowners make payments and deal with the financial crisis while staying in their homes. This plan in turn helps lenders who need homeowners to continue making their mortgage payments. A key part of this plan is the loan modification process, which now helps homeowners even more.
The federal government is relying heavily on loan modifications with the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009 and Making Home Affordable Program. Under these programs, current borrowers who are at imminent risk of default may qualify for a loan modification as long as the immanency of the default is tied to a specific event. By specific event, they mean a pending interest rate increase in your mortgage loan or a demonstrable change in economic situation such as your spouse losing his/her job or a severe medical condition.
Ultimately, the plan centers around the thought that struggling borrowers can stay in their homes as long as they make their monthly payments (regardless of the sharp decline in value). The plan has many backers, including billionaire Warrant Buffet. In a recent letter to shareholders, Buffet wrote “Commentary about the current housing crisis often ignores the crucial fact that more foreclosures do not occur because a house is worth less than its mortgage (so-called ‘upside-down’ loans). Rather, foreclosures take place because borrowers can’t pay the monthly payment that they agreed to pay.”
In the end, regardless of what the cause is for the foreclosures, homeowners are looking for ways to stay in their homes and everyone is hoping that Obama’s plan is the path toward that reality. For homeowners facing foreclosure, struggling to make payments, and overwhelmed by creditor and lender phone calls, having someone they can trust by their side could make a huge difference. During these difficult financial times, California loan modification attorneys are doing their best to be more than just an attorney; they are trying to be a confidante.
A California loan modification attorney can sit down with you and discuss your options and if any new options were opened up under the Obama plan. At the Feldman Law Center, our California loan modification attorney team is up to date with all federal and state laws governing loan modifications. FDIC loan modifications, California loan modifications and more all fall under our jurisdiction. We can help you find the program that’s right for you and your financial situation.
Millions of California residents are investigating California loan modifications as a possible solution to their financial troubles and as a way to avoid foreclosure. If you find yourself in this situation, you should contact a loan modification attorney and get as informed as you can about all the state and federal loan modification programs available to you.
About Feldman Law Center
The Feldman Law Center is one of California’s top loan modification companies, providing excellent service to our clients and is completely focused on keeping everyone one of our clients in their homes. Our loan modification experts work tirelessly to provide every homeowner we work with the information, guidance and support they need to modify their mortgages and keep the homes they’ve worked to buy.
About Loan Modifications
If you’re unfamiliar with what a loan modification is, a loan modification is quite possibly the most effective tool you can utilize if you are behind on your mortgage, and are in the midst of a financial hardship, in order to save your home from interesting foreclosure. A loan modification is literally is a process where the terms of a mortgage are modified outside the original terms of the contract agreed to by the lender and borrower (i.e mortgagor and mortgagee). In general, any loan can be modified. The Feldman Law Center knows every law in California (and the country) that may be able to keep you in your home. Lenders would rather renegotiate the terms of your loan, and possibly even negotiate a principle reduction, than let the house go into foreclosure.
With years of experience negotiating with lenders, as well as years of experience keeping people in their homes, the Feldman Law Center is one of the most experienced loan modification firms in all of California. Visit us at http://www.feldmanlawcenter.com or call 800-588-0425.
Feldman Law Center – News by Feldman Law Center – -If you check the stock market on Monday, people will be saying the market is up and everything is looking better financially. If you check the market on Tuesday, all economists will be in complete agreement that the world is going to end in 48 hours. What does this mean for you? No one, not even the “experts,” have any clue where the economy is going or how long it will take for the country to climb out of this “Great Recession.”
Real estate has been a nightmare for many people as well. One minute the housing markets look great, and yet with unemployment at a 25 year high and climbing, no one has any idea what the future will bring. This affects available homes, available credit, interest rates and more. There is very little sure footing in today’s market, but with a loan modification, you could be closer to security than many other people.
Five Steps
Here are five steps you can take to get a loan modification:
1. Do your homework – Read as much as you can about loan modifications. While at work, while watching the ball game, while you are eating lunch – read and learn about loan modifications. This will only enhance your understanding of the industry and give you a sense of what a loan modification can do for you.
2. Get your ducks in a row – It is important to have your financial paperwork in order to get the mortgage loan modification that is going to work for you. That means tax returns, pay stubs, bank slips and more, all from the last few years. A bank is going to want to see your financial history, as well as your current financial situation in order to make a decision.
3. Talk to your spouse – You cannot get a home loan modification without having the assistance and agreement of your spouse. While your financial situation may be dire, you must work together in order to make this happen.
4. Find a loan modification company – You can always attempt to get a loan modification on your own, but having a highly qualified loan modification attorney working with you might be the necessary help you need. Knowing how to fill the application out, how to file the paperwork, how to organize the communication between your side and the lender and much more can all be helped by a loan modification attorney. You wouldn’t go to court without an attorney, so do not try getting a loan modification without an attorney.
5. Calm yourself – It is important to be patient and understanding with yourself and your situation while trying to get a mortgage loan modification. It can be very easy to overreact and lose your calm. In fact, more marriages end because of financial troubles than for any other reason. So, giving yourself, your spouse and everyone else around you some slack will keep your relationships and your life in a good place.
Contact a loan modification attorney today, and begin the process of staying in your home.
About Feldman Law Center
The Feldman Law Center was founded for the purpose of negotiating loan modifications on behalf of their clients. These negotiations have two major goals; to reduce monthly mortgage payments to a level of affordability for the homeowner and to either stop or avoid foreclosure proceedings. The mission at The Feldman Law Center is to provide the highest level of professional service while delivering the best possible result on each loan modification we negotiate on the behalf of the families we represent.
Having negotiated over 500 attorney driven loan modifications, we realize that each homeowner’s situation is unique and that each modification may require a different approach than the one before it. To that end, we can always call on our 25 years of negotiating, knowledge, and real estate experience to provide the most optimal solutions for each family’s situation. While we are negotiating your loan modification with your lenders our friendly and compassionate team will keep you updated all the way on how the process is advancing.
The people at The Feldman Law Center completely understand the stress of being behind in your monthly payments and the sleepless nights that can be brought on by an impending foreclosure. Rest assured that we will stand with you all the way through the loan modification process and that we are driven to get the best outcome possible for you and your family. If you are struggling with your monthly payments and worried about the threat of foreclosure, we can help. Call The Feldman Law Center today at 800-588-0425 or visit www.feldmanlawcenter.com
Resources:
Feldman Law Center: Profile – Business Exchange
Press Release – The Feldman Law Center’s Code of Ethics and Practices
Loan Modification – Feldman Law Center
Feldman Law Center, Mission Viejo CA 92691
Feldman Law Center – The Cream Rises in Loan Modifications
Feldman Law Center – Ten Tips for a Successful Home Loan Modification
Feldman Law Center – Saving Thousands with a Loan Modification – Debt Settlement Combination
Feldman Law Center – Mission Viejo, CA, 92891 – Citysearch
Feldman Law Center – The New York Times gets it About Half Right
Feldmanlawcenter.com – Feldman Law Center Company News
Tags: mortgage loan modification, loan modification companies, home loan modification, loan modification agreement, loan modification company, hardship loan modification, California loan modifications, fdic loan modification, home loan modifications, loan modification programs, loan modification advice, loan modification help, loan modification process
Feldman Law Center – News by Feldman Law Center — Hope and optimism emanating from the announcement of the Obama Administration’s “Making Home Affordable” plan have been replaced by the cold reality that the program has gotten off to start deemed by industry watchers as “anemic”. After almost four months since President Obama first announced the $75 billion mortgage rescue effort, the administration continues to tweak the program in an attempt to reach its originally stated objective of saving up to 5 million homeowners from foreclosure. Standing between the anemic start and lofty goals of the program are four roadblocks:
1) Overloaded loan modification processors – While the specifics of the plan were released in the first week of March, lenders couldn’t start handling applications until systems were re-programmed and processors were brought up to speed, which took an additional four to six weeks. Processors were immediately buried with stacks of applications that had been accumulating during the conversion to the new guidelines. Participants in the process report that servicers are still digging out from the initial rush as applications continue to flood their desks. Troubled borrowers, many backed up against the possibility of foreclosure, have become increasingly frustrated to the point where they have abandoned the process to retain their own legal assistance. JP Morgan Chase spokesman Tom Kelly recently said of the ramp-up, “It’s an enormous task. We’re moving quickly, although not as quickly as an individual might wish.”
2) Investors – The massive sums of money that supported the real estate/mortgage boom came from investors on Wall Street, pensions, and other institutions. Servicers say those investors are now balking at some of the terms being presented when a loan needs to be modified. The net present value test, a little known aspect of the plan, allows for a calculation to determine whether the greater return for investors will be achieved via modification or foreclosure. In the modification versus foreclosure decision, investors have been threatening lawsuits against servicers when the servicers are deemed to not be acting in the best interests of their investors. The threatened legal action adds another layer to the mortgage loan modification process and can draw out the approval process even more. The “safe harbor” bill recently passed by Congress was intended to alleviate that logjam by protecting servicers from investor lawsuits but it’s likely that lawsuits will arrive on the servicers doorsteps anyway, safe harbor or not.
3) Lenders – Lenders are caught in a three sided bind between the above mentioned borrowers/investors and their own capital structure. No longer required to mark their loans to market, they can carry the value of the loans in their own portfolios at values they can rationalize, whether factual or not. Loan modifications could generate reviews of portfolio values, and nobody wants to go there in the current environment.
4) Unemployment – According to John Taylor, head of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, “Unemployment is becoming a bigger factor than almost anything.” When sub-prime mortgages started blowing up it was attributed to the risks inherent in lending to lower quality borrowers. Increasing unemployment, in addition to taking down the lower quality borrowers, is now hitting prime mortgages. In fact, primes are now going into default at a much faster rate than sub-primes as previously solid borrowers are now being affected by the contracting economy.
Of the four roadblocks, the toughest barrier is unemployment due to the fact that, regardless of credit scores, if a homeowner doesn’t have a job a loan modification isn’t going to help. Short sales, cash for keys, or foreclosure become the next options. At that point every side of the three sided bind ends up on the losing end.
Resources:
Feldman Law Center: Profile – Business Exchange
Press Release – The Feldman Law Center’s Code of Ethics and Practices
Loan Modification – Feldman Law Center
Feldman Law Center, Mission Viejo CA 92691
Feldman Law Center – The Cream Rises in Loan Modifications
Feldman Law Center – Ten Tips for a Successful Home Loan Modification
Feldman Law Center – Saving Thousands with a Loan Modification – Debt Settlement Combination
Feldman Law Center – Mission Viejo, CA, 92891 – Citysearch
Feldman Law Center – The New York Times gets it About Half Right
Feldmanlawcenter.com – Feldman Law Center Company News
About Feldman Law Center
The Feldman Law Center was founded for the purpose of negotiating loan modifications on behalf of their clients. These negotiations have two major goals; to reduce monthly mortgage payments to a level of affordability for the homeowner and to either stop or avoid foreclosure proceedings. The mission at The Feldman Law Center is to provide the highest level of professional service while delivering the best possible result on each loan modification we negotiate on the behalf of the families we represent.
Having negotiated over 500 attorney driven loan modifications, we realize that each homeowner’s situation is unique and that each modification may require a different approach than the one before it. To that end, we can always call on our 25 years of negotiating, knowledge, and real estate experience to provide the most optimal solutions for each family’s situation. While we are negotiating your loan modification with your lenders our friendly and compassionate team will keep you updated all the way on how the process is advancing.
The people at The Feldman Law Center completely understand the stress of being behind in your monthly payments and the sleepless nights that can be brought on by an impending foreclosure. Rest assured that we will stand with you all the way through the loan modification process and that we are driven to get the best outcome possible for you and your family. If you are struggling with your monthly payments and worried about the threat of foreclosure, we can help. Call The Feldman Law Center today at 800-588-0425 or visit www.feldmanlawcenter.com
Tags: mortgage loan modification, loan modification companies, home loan modification, loan modification agreement, loan modification company, hardship loan modification, California loan modifications, fdic loan modification, home loan modifications, loan modification attorney, loan modification programs, loan modification advice, federal loan modification law, loan modification help, Principle Reduction, loan modification process
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