Behind on your mortgage payment? Need a loan modification to save your home? You should familiarize yourself with waterfalls. And not the type from the 1994 Grammy nominated song 'Waterfalls' by the American recording group TLC.
The waterfalls relevant to you as a homeowner in need of help with your mortgage are related to the federal government's Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP.
Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners, here is one of their stories.
Everybody needs help from professionals sometimes. That's especially true for people trying to save their home from foreclosure. Despite many homeowners best efforts, they're not able to get the results they want on their own because they lack the knowledge and experience needed to do so, and the consequences of failure are unacceptable. So they seek outside help.
That's the case with a recent client of ours who retained us to help them avoid foreclosure. To protect their privacy, let's call this couple the Livelys. The Livelys have a home in Bronx County, New York and they fell behind on their mortgage payments in August of 2013.
Since they wanted to keep their home, but didn't have the massive amount of cash ($91,251.00) needed to reinstate their loan, the Livelys applied for a loan modification which, if successful, would have gotten their loan back to normal and eliminated the threat of foreclosure. They submitted an RMA (Request for Modification Assistance) to Ocwen, their mortgage loan servicer.
Home values are expected to grow about 3 to 4 percent a year in the coming years according to the panelists in the most recent Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey. Their expectations, however, are less optimistic when considering a Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders presidency.
The survey asked 107 economists, real estate experts, and academics across the nation what they expected from home prices over the next four years and how the election of different candidates would affect their forecast.
45 percent of those surveyed who had an opinion said that the election of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump “would impact their expectations for future home value growth either very negatively or somewhat negatively, compared to just 16 percent who said their expectations would be impacted somewhat or very positively.”
Turn your television to a random basic cable channel and it probably won't be long before a reality show about house flipping comes on. There's Flip This House on A&E, Flip That House on Discovery, Flip or Flop on HGTV, Flip Men on Spike, Flipping Out on Bravo, and many, many others.
Even celebrities are in on the house flipping reality show craze. Snooki from Jersey Shore has a show on FYI called Nicole & Jionni's Shore Flip. And Vanilla Ice has The Vanilla Ice Project on DIY Network.
Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners, here is one of their stories.
In 2008 an Illinois couple, who we'll call the Petersons to protect their privacy, purchased a home in the Chicago suburbs with a $216,464 loan from Citi Financial. By March of 2015 they had stopped making the $1,077 monthly mortgage payment because they could no longer afford it. By September of 2015 they were justifiably concerned that they would lose their home to foreclosure and hired Amerihope Alliance Legal Services to help.
Since the Petersons wanted to keep their home, getting a loan modification was the only hope they had to accomplish their goal. When approved, a loan mod will reinstate a loan and return it to normal servicing. Modified mortgage loans usually have a lower monthly payment and sometimes reduced principal as well.
We submitted the Peterson's modification application to their lender but weeks later, and while the application was under review, they were served a complaint letting them know they were in foreclosure.
We responded to the complaint for our client, letting CitiFinancial know we intended to fight for our client to avoid foreclosure and keep their home.
The amount of debt American householdsowe on their mortgages increased in the first quarter of 2016 to its highest level in four and a half years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Quarterly report on Household Debt and Credit.
Delinquency rates, however, continued improving and remain at low levels, according to the report.
Not that many years ago, it seemed like you heard something about robosigning, foreclosure, and foreclosure fraud in the news all the time. These days, not so much. But it's not because foreclosure isn't a problem or banks aren't foreclosing on homeowners with fraudulent documents anymore.
According to a recent article on theintercept.com by journalist David Dayen “Every day in America, people continue to be kicked out of their homes based on false documents.”
Dayen is promoting his new book called Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street's Great Foreclosure Fraud, which is about victims of foreclosure who “exposed the mass production of false mortgage documents in courthouses and county records offices across the country.”
It's the latest in a long line of articles from the author telling the stories of homeowners who are being kicked out of their homes with fraudulent documents.
During the housing bubble mortgages were bundled together, carved up, and sold to investors (which is called securitization) so carelessly that it became hard to tell who the real owner of a mortgage was.
The United States is experiencing a housing crisis. Too many Americans have to spend an outsized portion of their income on their mortgage payments or are unable to pay it and are at risk of being foreclosed upon.
That might be news to people who thought the problems in housing had already been solved, but tens of millions of households are desperate to reduce the amount of money they're spending on their homes and avoid foreclosure.
There are things that can be done to reduce the amount of money people are spending on their mortgage payments. The best way is by reducing the principal balance on the loan.
If you're at the point in the loan modification process where your loan servicer is asking you to make trial modification payments, then you've almost reached your goal. But this is no time to take your foot off the gas. You still have a little ways to go before your loan is permanently modified.
Being asked to make trial modification payments is a good thing. It means that your request for modification assistance has been accepted. You're on your way to achieving your objective.
But banks don't just approve an application and return your loan to normal servicing like nothing ever happened. You have to prove that you're able to make the payments, and then you'll be offered a permanent modification.
Homeowners across the country are trying to get mortgage loan modifications that will allow them to avoid foreclosure. They're behind on their house payments, and a permanent change to the terms of their loan that reinstates it with a lower payment is their only hope of keeping their home.
But, for many people, working with their bank on their own simply isn't getting them the results they need. So they're wondering if they should continue to go it alone or get professional help. If you're trying to decide, here are some things to take into consideration.
First, it is possible to get a loan modification on your own. You don't have to pay anyone to assist you. And considering that it also doesn't cost anything to apply for or get approval for a loan mod, trying for yourself can seem like an attractive option.
Amerihope Alliance Legal Services is a leading loan modification and foreclosure defense law firm with attorneys licensed in 5 states. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners fight back and keep their homes.
Our goal is to provide valuable information to help homeowners who are trying to obtain a loan modification or to stop foreclosure. You may schedule a free consultation at any time.
