As I mentioned yesterday I’ve been busy and I was just going to recap the goings on of this month when someone stepped into my office with the topic de jour…….LOAN MODIFICATION.
And of course they had signed up with a “save your home, we mean it” agency that took 1,750.00 to “modify” their loan.
Now they could have used that dough to keep the mortgage current but we’ll skip that point.
Before you sign up with these agencies do yourself a favor; try this first.
Reach out to your lender, discuss your situation and see what options are available.
Reach out to your insurance company, review your policy and see if there are any savings available.
Reach out to your taxing authority, review you accessed value and see if it is correct.
Remember, loan modification is based on the concept that the “current value” is less then what you owe.
So that same concept applies to Insurance and Real Estate taxes.
When I reviewed the file that I mentioned above, I was able to reduce their payment over 350.00 just by reaching out to insurance/taxing authority.
Could not save them the 1750.00 but they left with some hope that they could keep their home.
Moral of the story; do your homework before you sign up.
(you know, one of my pet peeves “personal responsibilities”)