We may negotiate on your behalf to modify an existing loan.
If that’s not an answer, we may negotiate the short sale of your property.
If a short sale isn’t practicle, your debt may be settled by turning the property over to the lender without formal foreclosure proceedings. This is called a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure.

Loan Modification
Loan modifications can consist of any or all of the following;

1. Locking in a fixed rate (e.g., a 3 yr-. 5 yr-, or 30 yr fixed)
2. Reducing your interest rate (e.g., 7.25% down to 5.5%)
3. Extending the term of your loan (e.g., 15 year term to 30 year term)
4. Reducing the amount of the principal you owe (e.g., decreasing a balance of $330,000 to $315,000)

Get Loan Modification Help Now!

Short Refinance
This is where a lender reduces principal and issues a short payoff amount in order to let the home owner refinance elsewhere.  The goal here is to negotiate a payment the homeowner can afford. This would allow the homeowner to keep their home and preserve their credit profile.

Although the short refinance is a good way for a lender to help the home owner, it’s not the most popular choice for the lender as they would lose an income-producing asset.  That’s why, in most cases the lender would rather offer some form of loan modification so they can retain the asset.

If the customer can’t afford any reasonable modified payment, then a short sale or Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure would be their best loan modification option.

Short Sale

If no loan modification proposed by Green Credit is acceptable to the lender, the homeowner faces foreclosure.  To avoid this and limit their financial loss (and its affect on their credit rating) the owner may agree to sell the home. At this point, Green Credit attorneys change tactics on behalf of the client and negotiate the approval of a short sale with the lender. 

The customer can choose any licensed real estate agent they want to list their home.  Because Green Credit has done the groundwork for them, the agent will not have to do any of the lender negotiations or gain short sale approval from the lender. A listing agent needs to only:

1. List the property
2. Show the property
3. Submit all offers to the attorney

This, we believe, is the optimum short sale solution and provides a homeowner with negative equity the fastest sale with the least amount of damage to their credit and finances. 

Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure

If a short sale takes too long—if, for example, the home is in poor condition or offers are too low—and the foreclosure process has not been stopped by the lender, the next step may be a way to resolve the situation.

Under a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure, the homeowner avoids foreclosure by deeding the home back to the lender in exchange for the release of all obligations under the mortgage.  In some cases, if the home is delivered to the lender in good condition the homeowner may receive a cash sum from the lender. 

By avoiding time-consuming and costly foreclosure proceedings, both the homeowner and a lender benefit.  In addition, the borrower avoids the impact on their credit rating. And often the borrower has the option to lease the home back from the lender for a short amount of time.

Why 1st American works so hard for you

Nobody really wins in a foreclosure. The homeowner suffers the loss of their home and their credit rating is damaged.  The lender ends up holding an asset that may sit vacant for a long period of time and may not recoup the money they have loaned.

At 1st American, we understand the impact of these penalties on all parties.  That’s why mitigating the losses is very important to us and, using every technique we’ve mastered in our years of experience, we work as hard as possible to help avoid them.

While 1st American consultants, are experts and work as hard as possible to win the most positive outcomes possible for our clients, because of the variability and complexity of each situation, we are unable to guarantee any specific result.

ATTENTION HOMEOWNERS:

The Facts About President Obama’s
Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan

President Obama’s Homeowner Affordability & Stability Plan…
IS a starting place…
IS NOT a magic bullet…
WILL help some people…
WON’T help others.

Here are the FACTS you need to know…

WHO IS IT FOR?
A. The program is designed to help homeowners—over the next three years only—that have adjustable rate mortgages move into fixed rate mortgages without prepayment penalties, so if you’ve got a mortgage with an interest rate of 7% or 8%, and you’ve been having a hard time refinancing… this may help.  But, it also means that if your mortgage payment is currently based on a low adjustable rate… then a fixed rate loan could very well increase your monthly payment amount significantly.

B. You must have a mortgage that is held or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, and it MUST be “conforming,” meaning it is less than $417,000 for most areas of the United States, and $625,500 for what are called "high cost" areas.

C. Your house can't be worth too much less than the amount you owe. According to the Treasury Department: "Eligible loans will now include those where the new first mortgage (including costs of refinancing) will not exceed 105% of the current market value of the property."   So… if your house appraises for $300,000, and you more than $315,000… you don’t qualify to participate in the program.

D. This program will not reduce the amount you owe on your mortgage, in fact because of refinancing costs you’ll probably end up owing a few thousand dollars more.

E. This program applies to primary residences only, although multiple-unit homes with up to four units may qualify for the program, assuming you live in one of the units as your primary residence, and lenders are required to verify that this is the case before the modification is finalized.  Some may send a certified letter… others may show up at your door. 

F.  This program may require you or your lender to purchase some form of mortgage insurance, thereby increasing the monthly/annual costs.

WHAT IF YOU’RE BEHIND ON YOUR PAYMENTS?
If you're behind on your primary residence’s mortgage payments you may qualify for a payment reduction if your monthly mortgage payment is more than 31% of your monthly pre-tax income.

WHAT IF YOU’RE CURRENT ON YOUR MONTHLY PAYMENTS?
If you’re current on your monthly payments, you don't qualify for a principal reduction, but borrowers that remain current throughout the time it takes to process their loan modification will receive a $1500 “incentive payment,” for having done so.  These borrowers also receive an annual bonus of $1,000 for the first five years, assuming payments are made as agreed. 

DO ALL LENDERS HAVE TO PARTICIPATE?
No, it is a voluntary program, but mortgage lenders that do participate are supposed to lower interest rates so a borrower’s monthly payment does not exceed 38% of pretax monthly income.  Once a lender agrees to that, then the U.S. Treasury Department will contribute taxpayer dollars to bring the payments down to 31% of income, but that interest rate will only last for five years, after which time Treasury has only said that the "mortgage payment will adjust upward at a moderate, phased-in level."

WHAT IT DOESN’T DO:
A.  You DO NOT qualify for this program if your mortgage payment is less than 31% of your pretax monthly income, and/or you owe quite a bit more than the house is worth today.  But, if you’re behind on payments or can prove that your default is imminent, you may qualify by checking with your lender this coming April.

B.  If your mortgage payment is greater than 31%, but you’re behind on your payments, your lender may choose to lower interest rates or even the amount owed, but they are NOT legally obligated to do either.

If you decide to wait until April, and are told that you do in fact qualify for the program, you'll need to provide your lender with recent pay stubs that show your household pretax monthly gross income and documentation of any income you receive from other sources, if applicable, your most recent income tax return, information about any second or third mortgages, the payment amounts for each of your open credit card accounts, and payment information on any other outstanding loans including student or car loans.

So, if the value of your home has fallen by more than the approved amount…
Or, if you live in a more expensive area therefore don't have a “conforming” mortgage…
Or, if you are with a lender that is not Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac...
Or, if your lender chooses not to participate in the program...
Or, if you bought an investment property that has reduced in value…

Then the new Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan may/probably not benefit you.  Contact your 1st American  representative if you have additional questio