Butler Real Estate & Investment Group

LOAN MODIFICATION

Loan Modifications are all case by case. No home owner has the exact same problem or financial situation. As all homeowners have their different situations, so do the lien holders. Some mortgage lien holders are very easy to work with, where others want more documentation than you provided when you originally secured your mortgage.

There are many self-help, non-profit organization who offer assistance. Unfortunately, non-profit organizations are currently overwhelmed along with your lien holder. When looking for a modification specialist, take the time to interview them; you are going to be working with this person for anywhere from 1.5 to 3 months, so you want to be comfortable with the person you are working with. Ask the person you are interviewing if they are indeed the person you will be working with. Be very careful who you choose. If there are large up front fees and a guarantee..run. NO ONE CAN GUARANTEE ANYTHING! Recently, I heard of a homeowner who was interviewing a modification specialist I referred to him. The specialist called me after the interview and said, "Check this out, your referral had called another well advertised Modification Specialist before me and was told by this firm in Newport Beach to place all his cash in different banks to hide his money and gave the homeowner a list of "Non-Banks" to "Protect" his assets without the bank knowing! Don't do this! The homeowner was told that if he had money in ANY bank that the mortgage lender could find it and not grant his modification.

Another "False" rumor in the modification world is "You have to be behind" to get a modification. Not true. The truth of the matter is you have to have a Valid hardship.

There are truly tons of "Modification Specialists" out there. The rules and regulations actually prevent home owners from truly working with the best in the business. Licensed Real Estate agents can not help you unless they collect their fee after their services and for lack of better wording: too many licensed agents have been burned by home owners to continue working for free! To legally collect their fee up front a licensed agent has to have an "Advanced Fee Contract" approved by the Department of Real Estate. This contact will take you step by step through the modification process showing what the fee is for each step and will release your funds out of a Trust account only after each process has been completed. If working with a Law Firm, the attorney fee can be collected up front without the advance fee contract. Finally, there are independent contractors who are not licensed, yet get all their business is by referral only (that speaks for itself). These modification contractors are darn good at what they do and have been doing modification long enough to know what most of the lien holders will or will not do.

Butler Real Estate and Investment Group is working hard to team up with all three types of Modification Specialists, so that you, the consumer, will have a solid choice knowing that we have screened and approved each of the specialists we refer.