Foreclosure and Loan Modification Blog

Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners. Here are a some of their stories.

Every week we obtain loan modifications for our clients with a variety of loan servicers. You can see these results as they are announced on Twitter (#loanmodwow) or Facebook. Here are some of our results from this week with Seterus, Carrington, SLS, Penny Mac:

Seterus

Our Seterus clients were an unbelievable 91 months and $265,701 past due on their mortgage. We helped them get a final in-house loan modification with 3% lower interest rate, $471.53 lower monthly mortgage payment, and $149,666.01 interest-free deferment!

A recent client of our law firm, who I'll call Mrs. McMillan to protect her privacy, hired us to help her elderly mother save her Florida condo from foreclosure.

Mrs. McMillan had power of attorney for her mother, who owned a beautiful condominium, worth more than $800,000, located on the water on the northern gulf coast of Florida. It has almost a half a million dollars in equity.

Usually our clients are being foreclosed on by the bank because they've missed mortgage payments, but our client's mother was facing foreclosure due to missed homeowner's association (HOA) payments.

Mrs. McMillan hired us in January of 2017, and shortly thereafter her mother passed away. Now she had to deal with the property for herself since she was the sole heir to her mother's estate.

Though she and her husband lived in Georgia, they did not want to lose the property. Their goal was to avoid foreclosure and keep the condo in the family if at all possible. 

Mrs. McMillan and her husband, a doctor, were doing pretty well financially, and were able to pay the mortgage on the property. That kept the bank from trying to foreclose. But they didn't have full rights to the property and weren't able to pay all the past-due HOA fees to get out of foreclosure. It was going to take some work to fix that.

Many people who want out of their timeshare get an unpleasant surprise when they try to sell it: they find that their timeshare is worthless. Despite what they were told before buying it, most timeshares just don't have a very good resale value. Why is that?

1. Timeshares are not a good investment.

Remember, with a timeshare, you don't own any physical property. You just own the right to use a unit in a building for typically one week a year. The average cost of buying that week from the resort developer is around $14,000 to $20,000, which is probably a lot more than it's worth. You likely won't be able to get anywhere near that much if you try to sell it on the secondary market.

2. There are other costs and fees.

The cost of the timeshare isn't the whole story. All timeshares also have maintenance fees that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars per year. And the fees increase annualy!

In 2012, the CEO and president of the American Resort Developer's Association, a trade organization that represents the timeshare industry, said that the average yearly maintenance fees for a one-week timeshare was $660. 

There is a wild beast lurking outside the door of many homes in America. Its name is foreclosure. For some homeowners it's not the first time they have encountered it. It came snarling and threatening to take their home from them once before, but they were able to drive it off with a loan modification.

Now the beast is back at the door, as dangerous and close as ever, and homeowners are wondering if a loan modification could be used to defeat it again.

Fortunately for distressed homeowners, loan modifications are not strictly one-time use. Having saved your home from foreclosure with a modification once does not automatically disqualify you from getting another.

Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners. Here are a some of their stories.

Every week we obtain loan modifications for our clients with a variety of loan servicers. You can see these results as they are announced on Twitter (#loanmodwow) or Facebook. Here are some of our results from this week with Rushmore, Penny Mac, and BB&T:

Rushmore

Our Rushmore clients were 62 months (5 years) and $120,007.45 past due on their mortgage payments and had been served foreclosure. We got them a three-month in-house trial loan modification plan with a fresh start and opportunity for a permanent loan modification!

If you've been fantasizing about canceling your timeshare, it's time to stop fantasizing and start making it happen. There are ways out of a timeshare, and Amerihope Alliance Legal Services may be able to help you.

Timeshares, also called “vacation ownership”, are sold to you as a good investment, but they really aren't. They don't appreciate in value like the salesperson claimed, and maintenance costs can rise considerably over time.

Many people feel that they were the victim of a timeshare salesperson's high-pressure sales tactics that coerced them into buying something they didn't want.

After purchasing a timeshare and experiencing what it's actually like to own, many people are disappointed and want a way out.

The good news is that owning a timeshare doesn't have to be a life sentence! You can get out and move on with life. Let's look at how that can be done:

Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners. Here are a some of their stories.

Every week we obtain loan modifications for our clients with a variety of loan servicers. You can see these results as they are announced on Twitter (#loanmodwow) or Facebook. Here are some of our results from this week with Ocwen, Penny Mac, SPS, Wells Fargo, and Carrington:

Carrington

Yes! Our Carrington client was $12,525 past due on his mortgage with a $1,201.72 monthly payment and 6.25% interest rate, now he has a final loan modification with $910.31 payment and 4.125% interest rate for monthly savings of $291.41.

Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners. Here are a few of their stories.

Every week we obtain loan modifications for our clients with a variety of loan servicers. You can see these results as they are announced on Twitter (#loanmodwow) or Facebook. Here are some of our results from this week with Wells Fargo, SPS, Cenlar, Carrington, and Roundpoint:

Wells Fargo

Our Wells Fargo clients were $165,030.89 past due on their mortgage with a high 7.95% interest rate, now they have a three-month in-house trial loan modification plan with the opportunity for a permanent modification with a lower interest rate!

A short sale, which is when a home is sold for less than what is required to pay off the mortgage, is more complex than a regular sale and takes longer to complete. How long it takes depends on many factors, but about six months is a common rough estimate from professionals with short sale experience.

When someone takes out a loan for a home and its value drops to less than what they owe on the mortgage, that's called having negative equity or being underwater. As long as the monthly mortgage payment is affordable, negative equity is not the end of the world. You can just keep making payments and eventually you should have equity from paying down the loan and/or appreciation of the property.

But when a hardship such as a loss of income has left a homeowner unable to pay their mortgage, they don't have the option of waiting. In situations like that, getting rid of the home in a short sale can be better than going through foreclosure, as it keeps them in control of the process, can be less damaging to their credit, and may allow them to become a homeowner again in less time.

Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners. Here are a few of their stories.

Every week we obtain loan modifications for our clients with a variety of loan servicers. You can see these results as they are announced on Twitter (#loanmodwow) or Facebook. Here are some of our results from this week with Carrington:

Carrington

Our Carrington client was an astounding 98 months and $200,000+ past due on his mortgage. He was in an active foreclosure case and facing summary judgment. Now he has an in-house trial loan modification plan with lower interest rate, $969 lower monthly mortgage payment, and $323,930.01 principal forgiveness!