Why Loan Modifications Are Not A Good Financial Strategy
Trying to Get A Loan Modification Is Waste of Time & Energy
A lot of financially distressed homeowners and investment real estate owners who cannot pay their mortgage think that getting a loan modification from their bank or mortgage company will solve all of their financial problems. Unfortunately, as this McSweeney’s article – Could It Be That the Best Chance to Save a Young Family From Foreclosure is a 28-Year-Old Pakistani American Playright-slash-Attorney who Learned Bankruptcy Law on the Internet? depicts, the loan modification application process is generally not worth the aggravation and costs.
In this article the financially distressed homeowners waited 14+ months and spent thousands of dollars in attorney fees just to get their loan modification approved. Their loan mod actually consisted of having their mortgage loan extended by 15 years and the interest rate reduced to below current market levels for the next 5 years or so with an adjustable rate that is capped after that. While this helps the borrowers in the short term, it will hurt them badly in the long term. For starters, the borrowers are still heavily underwater (i.e. upside down) on their house and will likely remain so for over 10 years. In addition to that, the modified payments are not usually reported as normal payments on a credit report. Therefore, the borrowers will likely have their credit damaged slightly each and every month due to the reduced payment. In 10 years these borrowers will find themselves still unable to sell and due to the damaged credit probably unable to buy. If they had just accepted the reality that they cannot afford the house they could have sold their house via a short sale without paying a bunch of attorney fees and much faster than 14+ months. The end result would be that in 3-4 years their credit would be almost fully restored and they would be able to qualify for a new mortgage and buy another house at a much lower price. This is the much more financially sound strategy. While I fully understand that home ownership has it advantages and comes with strong emotions, I highly recommend that if you are facing default or a mortgage foreclosure that you put away your emotional thinking cap and put on your logical thinking cap since that is the one that will help you solve your housing and mortgage problems with a short sale rather than just push it into the future with a loan modification.
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Jim McCormack is a Nashville Real Estate Broker who provides Expert Real Estate Solutions for for Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Nolensville, Spring Hill, Thompson’s Station, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, LaVergne (La Vergne), Antioch, Columbia, Mt. Juliet (Mount Juliet), Springfield, Gallatin, Hermitage, Hendersonville, Clarksville and Middle Tennessee (Davidson, Maury, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson Counties) Homeowners and Real Estate Investors Facing Foreclosure and Needing to Short Sell Their Homes and/or Investment Properties. Jim Specializes in Short Sales and Foreclosures and Providing Sellers Short Sale Help and Foreclosure Help. Jim’s Help is Free to Nashville TN Short Sale Sellers. Jim Helps Sellers Stop Bank and Mortgage Foreclosure with a Short Sale, or a Fast Cash Offer. Avoid Foreclosure by Working Directly with a Nashville Tennessee Real Estate Expert and Investor who is Uniquely Skilled, Honest, Compassionate, Caring and Exceptionally responsive to the needs of his clients. Jim Encourages You to See What His Clients Say About Him. For Buyers, Jim understands the Various Nashville Tennessee Housing and Investment Real Estate Markets Extremely Well and is Particularly Skilled at Assisting Buyers with Determining the Market Values of Homes and Investment Properties. Due to that Real Estate Valuation Expertise, Jim can Help Nashville Home and Investment Property Buyers Get Fantastic Deals on Their Nashville Area Real Estate Purchases.
