Posts Tagged ‘rate’
Tax on 1099C, Cancellation of Debt Income; Short Sale, Loan Modification & Foreclosure. Exception; Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, Bankruptcy & Insolvency. Go To http://RealEstateMarketingThisWeek.com
Part 5 (Excerpt)
Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, one exception to paying cancellation of debt income
Welcome back to the Velocity of Money I am Michael J. Barnes Arizona’s and I’m with Velocity Financial and were here every week talking about all matters financial, regarding real estate as well as finances. Brett Fallon is back on the air with us again along with Mike Patenella who is a certified public accountant for the last 20 years and amazing brain, were glad he’s back on.
Mike we were talking before the break about loan modifications, my point before going off the air was that people think they’re going to get this huge amount of money waived on a loan that they have, realistically what most loan modifications are going to look like is extended term, significantly lower interest rate, generally a fixed interest rate for the entire time, and in some cases they will do some principal reduction, and there is some exclusions for people having to pay tax on that, is that correct?
Yes, there is, before I get into that keep in mind that with taxes normally not one rule applies to everybody, were going to talk general but everyone’s going to have their own specific situation, that they’re going to have to really check with somebody and make sure they’re doing the right thing. In 2007 in response to the economic situation, they passed a mortgage forgiveness debt relief act which essentially allows people to not pay tax on $2 million dollars debt forgiven on their principal residence. Thats in regard to be principal reduction, loan modification.
Right, so in your example if $50,000 of your loan is being reduced, if your situation fits, under this new law, we might be able get you to avoid the tax on that.
Once again a very good reason for you to go to a professional CPA like yourself for that help, not something the average person is going to be able to figure out on their own. You have to keep up on the tax law and that’s almost a full-time job.
Hey how many pages is that tax code now? On last count I heard you say it was something like 9000 pages.
I don’t know the exact number of pages I know it’s in the several thousand and as Mike knows quite well, and I am aware of also is the tax code has been morphing and changing more than I have ever seen in my entire career here recently. Going back to the tax act of 2003 to the present there have been literally hundreds of changes. So for the average person whos listening to this broadcast who is considering a loan modification, trying to take care of a portfolio, and take care of their taxes at the same time, WOW! Good luck to you
So exclusions to the income, can we talk about a few different ones?
Sure bankruptcy is one exclusion, if you’re filing bankruptcy; the other one is if the taxpayer is insolvent which essentially means that their liabilities exceed their ets. When you factor in ets you factor in retirement accounts and all that, its not that easy to fall under that one.
Oh so the value of my 401(k) goes into that on the other side of the balance sheet. So for the most part if you dont fall into one of these two youre going to try to rely on this new tax law to exclude some of the debt forgiven.
How long ago was that past? I am sorry I don’t remember, was that August of 2007? It’s called the mortgage forgiveness debt relief act of 2007 and it only applies to qualified principal residences. Is that ongoing? Is there a cap on the time?
Well originally it was set to expire at the end of 09. Then in 2008, since the economy kept getting worse they extended that another three years or so through 2012
Well we hope were all well through of this mess sooner and we won’t have to need this any longer after 2009. Actually I want it gone now.
Duration : 0:6:20
Tax on 1099C, Cancellation of Debt Income; Short Sale, Loan Modification & Foreclosure. Exception; Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, Bankruptcy & Insolvency. Go To http://RealEstateMarketingThisWeek.com
Part 6 (Excerpts)
Arizona is not a recourse state, so chances are you will not owe 1099 C Income
In Arizona, typically its not a recourse state, so if they are telling you that theyre going to garnish your wages because you didnt pay back your entire mortgage, there is a local bank ,that was threatening a very good colleague of ours about a small second mortgage that person had taken out. Threatening to send it to collections and garnish her wages. It simply isn’t going to happen.
But nevertheless, there is still the tax implications that apply, if you need to navigate through this maze. There is a lot to it, you need to protect yourself. You talked about bankruptcy is one of those exclusions, right? One of the problems with bankruptcy is people dont understand the bankruptcy laws. They are so tight now and your feet are really held to the fire from the federal government right now. It’s not like you just didn’t make your mortgage payment, so you go file bankruptcy, it’s just not realistic. uming bankruptcy is the last resort option for everybody. And we certainly want to avoid that, it would not be sound financial advice from any credible source that I can think of.
Let’s walk through a case scenario, somebody who is listening to this broadcast, their head is spinning right now, they’re thinking, oh my gosh. I should have known about the tax implications, a short sale versus loan modification. Let’s start at the top and work through a quick scenario. And then we’ll point out the specifics of what they should be considering right now.
For example, we talk about this all the time and to your credit Michael Barnes and to Velocity Financials credit, you were early in bringing out the loan modification for people who were in a distress situation regarding a mortgage, maintaining or keeping up with the mortgage payment. So you started going down the path where the refinance started to become a much more difficult option, with new constraints and all the other factors that led to part of this economic crisis, a loan modification has become a buzz topic today. Driving to the station today, driving down Camelback Road, I see a sign on the corner. You know, one of those stick in the ground, homemade jobs, that says don’t refi a Loan, modify, with some success rate and the phone number.
Hang on there I want you to say the success rate. The sign literally said, 99% success rate, and it goes back to the point that you made when they say that they can reduce your mortgage principal by tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars, thats the absolute last resort for any lending institution. Thats not what this is about, so let’s start with that, then we will work on the tax ramifications of how that might work in the overall financial strategy.
I am familiar with the loan modification industry here in Arizona. There is no regulation, unfortunately. We at Velocity Financial work with a national network of attorneys, so if you’re the guy in El Centro California, or youre in Phoenix, or youre in Alaska it doesn’t matter where you’re at. We have someone who is an expert in that field in that state because the laws are different. But without the regulations some person with the ugly yellow sign on the side of the road says he has a 99% success rate, I don’t believe him it’s probably not using an attorney, who knows, dont buy into that garbage. Were going to tell you the truth, if we cant do a loan modification, we will tell you that we cant do it. And if a loan modification is not the best thing for you, you can find the some of these other options.
Duration : 0:5:19
home loan modifications Negotiated by Licensed Attorneys. Real Estate & Mortgage Laws and Guidelines are Complex. Beware of the Banks Loss Mitigation Department. Go To http://RealEstateMarketingThisWeek.com
Part 7 (Excerpt)
Attorney negotiated loan modification process Going thru the Legal Door
We have Dan Havey with us talking about loan modifications. This segment we want to talk about the specifics of the actual mechanics of, how does it actually work for the homeowner? Let me just start it off and if you would then explain the back end of how it works. Our job is to determine where you’re at now, be very specific about where you’re at with your mortgage now, what the rate is, what it’s done, those specifics. How much you make? We have to help the lender with one thing which is to establish a hardship which is crucial to this. You can’t be making half $1 million a year paying $5000 a month in a mortgage, they are not just going to lower your interest rate because you want it. There actually has to be some sort of change, financial change, hardship.
We determined that and then there is a significant amount of paperwork involved, Velocity Financial takes care of that for you. We fill out the paperwork along with your help, review all of the documentation, we then recommend be right loan modification, whether it be an interest rate reduction, or extending the term of your loan, waiving some of the balance that you owe which is very very rare. To make sure that once we’re done with this whole process you can sustain and live in that house and be happy forever.
So the process itself really is not that much different than what people went through when they got their loan in the first place. That is correct and it’s kind of funny, this has to be exactly the reverse. There is paperwork that we need to collect on your mortgages, we check the value of the property to see where you’re at and in most cases youre underwater with the value. We dont do an appraisal though, there is no credit analysis, we do review your finances, and these sorts of things but essentially it’s just like doing a loan. What we’re trying to determine is exactly what is sustainable for you.
So what we do at the modification hotline at Velocity Financial is to put together the entire package, just like we do for a loan package because we basically send this to a underwriter, theyre not known as an underwriter they’re known as a loan modification coordinator but at modification hotline we are the first set of eyes. We work with you directly, getting all the paperwork in, getting it put together because we know exactly what has to be in that file, how it has to be stacked, how it has to be presented, before it goes to the loan modification coordinator who works for the attorney.
Then once it is at the attorneys office with their modification coordinator, they take a look at it, they make sure that everything is in there, they make sure that it is a doable modification. This all happens before it is ever presented to an attorney.
There are a whole lot of steps and there is a lot of paperwork. The process like you said is very similar to a loan with the exception that there are no costs of the title company and all that other stuff. Those dont exist, we dont charge an upfront fee, and we do collect a retainer for the attorney. At some point during our process we make our recommendations and we turn it in. Then the attorney does their due diligence and thats where I really want you to explain what happens, what are these attorneys looking for?
Well this is where it completely goes off track, versus what a homeowner would do if they were doing their own modification, because they would do everything we just talked about, they would fill out the paperwork, get together tax returns, pay stubs, whatever the lender wanted and they would present all of it to the lender. Now they probably wouldn’t know exactly how to stack some of the paperwork, and how to calculate some of the things that we know how to calculate, but they would put all that they work together.
Where the difference comes in is once it gets to the attorney because the attorney ultimately wants to get you a loan modification but they can’t just call up the bank and say hey I want loan modification, because he is going to get the same result you did. So what he has to do is he has to go through the file, and he has to look for things like, I am going to use a bunch of acronyms here, he’s looking for things like TILA, RESPA, HOEPA, HUD violations, all these different guidelines that the lender was required to meet while giving you the loan.
Duration : 0:6:47
Attorney Negotiated mortgage loan modification for Home Owners. Expert Advice on Real Estate and Finance. Avoid Foreclosure Scams and Fraud. Prevent Bankruptcy. Go To http://RealEstateMarketingThisWeek.com
Part 3 (Excerpt)
Beware of phishing schemes and bank scams GMACs clients hit hard
As promised just before the break, I told you to, listen in if you know anyone who has a GMAC Mortgage, this is one of those too good to be true things. Heres the thing, I have no issues what-so-ever with GMAC, thats not what Im saying, what Im saying is there is a scam of sorts that is going around. A client of ours received a letter, we did a second mortgage for this person a few years ago, they received a letter from GMAC, it looked like GMAC, it sounded like GMAC, and it said that we are willing to forgive your second mortgage of 200 and some thousand dollars in lieu of a one time payment, payable within the next 30 days, of say 20 thousand dollars.
I dont recall the exact amount or what it was. There is a phone number on there, it says loss mitigation department on it, a person igned to this case. They called the phone number, they answered the phone as if you were calling into the loss mitigation department, and verified if you just send us this amount they will release the lien. Well it is completely false. It is absolutely not true.
These people are not going to seek you out on their own, now whether it be GMAC, today we have actually seen that one, there may be other ones out there. Folks, if you are getting stuff like this you need to verify it and you need to verify it by sources other than the information on the letter that you have received. If you get an email that says your bank account has been tapped into you need to check, chances are it is some kind of a phishing scam and this is no different.
We have gone back to identity theft through the mail and if you have been a party to this you need to verify and check into it, and you need to contact the authorities immediately for more information, if you need help with this sort of situation you are welcome to give us a call at 480 Velocity.
It is pretty amazing that that kind of thing still exists, and with the announcement by Paulson today that the fact is they are no longer willing to buy bad mortgages off the books of the banks. When you come across a phishing scam such as this one there is not a bank out there, I dont care what kind of trouble they are in, that is going to take $0.10 on the dollar to forgive a loan.
In a situation where things are going well, you are right in a situation where things are going well, and the status quo, they are going to be pursued by an attorney, that is entirely different, they are not just going to volunteer up and give you the money, its not going to happen.
Absolutely not and thats where we get back into what a loan modification is, who it benefits, and how it works and so forth, you are starting to see these wheels in motion amongst all of these banks. One of those wheels is certainly not well forgive $200,000 in debt if you write us a check for $20, 000.
And when we have talked about this Brett you and I have had many conversations in regard to what does it take? Can a person do this on their own, we will get to that a little later, but the answer is Yes. A consumer can actually do it on their own, up until very recently with the new announcements made from some of these major servicers and investors, up until then, a person trying to do it on their own would take days upon days and hours and hours on the phone not getting calls back trying to find time during the day while working to get this done and in many cases they are going to get a temporary fix.
The loss mitigation department for the bank that you have your mortgage with, their job is not to mitigate your loss its to mitigate their loss. They are out to protect the bank, thats why we use the national network of attorneys that we do, that are specialists, that have done thousands of these loan modifications, that go to bat for you. By the way folks, they are not going through the loss mitigation door that you would have to go through they are going right to the legal department, they are going to threaten suit if necessary, they are going to do discovery work, they are going to find out if there was anything that was misrepresented either by the bank or the broker and take that angle…
Duration : 0:5:36
home loan modifications Negotiated by Licensed Attorneys. Real Estate & Mortgage Laws and Guidelines are Complex. Beware of the Banks Loss Mitigation Department. Go To http://RealEstateMarketingThisWeek.com
Part 4 (Excerpt)
The pitfalls for trusting your bank one more time; Beware The Foreclosure Sharks
This whole loan modification thing reminds me a lot of the old Peanuts comics where every fall Lucy would get out with the football and she would set it down on the ground, and she would coerce Charlie Brown into coming along and kicking the football. Well of course as we all know Charlie never got to kick the ball, Lucy always pulled it out from underneath him and I kind of look at the mortgage industry, the servicing end of it in particular that way.
You have to think about it, in many cases the loan that you were put into was not a good loan in the first place. The person who gave you that loan knew it was not a good loan, the Wall Street banks that came up with these crazy ideas should have known better. Now admittedly they didnt otherwise they would not be out of business today, but they should have known that these were not good products.
Yet when you are faced with an issue regarding your house so many people go back to the bank, like Charlie Brown going back to Lucy and believing that THIS time Lucy is not going to pull the ball away. Well what is going to keep the bank from not pulling the ball away from you this time? Absolutely nothing.
I love that analogy; everyone remembers the Charlie Brown show and the comic books like you said. Another thing I want to point out too, going back just a little bit, you mentioned the lenders who put these home owners into these loans knew that they were not good loans. My thoughts after some of the mods that Ive seen, that you and I have seen doing the forensic audits, the home owner could have qualified for an FHA loan in those times, but it was so much easier for banks to put them into these sub prime loans because the documentation was easier, and it was just easier.
It is not just that they are easier; I know that your firm, Velocity Financial is FHA approved but what percentage of lenders today when, we probably have maybe 30% as many lenders as we had two years ago, what percentage today is FHA approved?
In the state of Arizona, of all the lending institution, less than 15% of all mortgage firm, banks, credit unions, less than 15% are licensed by the federal Housing Administration. Velocity Financial is proud to be one of those firms.
What I saw back in the peak of the market is of course everybody thought that real estate was going to go up for ever. Every body wanted to jump on board and buy 3,4,5,6 properties and I always tell the story that I knew we were in trouble, I knew we were hitting the top of the market long before I developed any of the models for Real Estates Future when I walked into our bank one day and I saw that they had a loan that was 100% financing for someone to buy an investment property and they didnt have to prove their income and they only needed a 620 FICO score.
Which considering everything now, I mean, to get a Fannie Mae loan today what kind of a FICO score do you need? If youre an investor? If youre an investor you need 720 and probably 20% down, at least 20% down and certainly it is not stated income anymore. No that doesnt exist, and significant cash reserves, the whole nine yards.
So these banks knew the kind of garbage that they were giving to people and yet we are supposed to trust them to get us good loan modifications. I think that in one of the later segments we are going to talk about the newest guidelines that just came out from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac regarding their new fancy-schmancy loan mod program and to be honest with you I dont think it really does much for people at all. We will talk about that in the next segment and to the people who are in the mortgage or real estate industry or who have been in the real estate or mortgage industry it is going to sound a little bit like a comic bit because this might as well be bath tissue, I dont even know why they came out with it.
We are going to talk about that along with a few other things, so real quick I know we havent had too much of a chance to talk about The Foreclosure Sharks, Dan but we will touch on that a little bit later. How do people get a copy of this white paper, The Foreclosure Sharks these are things that people need to be looking out for?
Yes, for The Foreclosure Sharks you can go to my website, http://mortgageanswerman.com. There will be a link there you just click on it and pick yourself up a copy and it will help if you are in a foreclosure situation if people come knocking on your door it will help you to at least know what to look out for. So mortgageanswerman.com for The Foreclosure Sharks…
Duration : 0:6:54
Mortgage Expert Dan ‘the mortgageman’ Foster explains the risks of Negative Amoritization Loans and why the 1% Interest Rate offers that fill your mailbox are not what they seem - BUYER BEWARE - Originally broadcast live on Good Day Sacramento
Duration : 0:6:22
Tax on 1099C, Cancellation of Debt Income; Short Sale, Loan Modification & Foreclosure. Exception; Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, Bankruptcy & Insolvency. Go To http://RealEstateMarketingThisWeek.com
Part 7 (Excerpt)
Beware of grandiose claims when dealing with a loan modification firm.
You know I am glad that were back, when we went to the break we were talking amongst ourselves about some of these concepts, I really want to bring this back down to the listeners. So they really understand what this means to them. You have three strategic partners, each of them experts in their field, sitting around these microphones in the studio talking about how these factors have an impact on the listening public, the people listening to this station right now.
Velocity Financial is an expert in all things mortgage related. It represents the largest et many people have in terms of their home. What were talking about is, we know the economic pain that exists, you probably read that Arizona has the dubious distinction according to the Case-Schiller index of having the highest property value declines in the country. People are feeling some pressure here and for those people who want to consider what a loan modification might do for them, should call you and talk about what that represents.
Then from there, you can refer them to people like Mike Patenella to talk about the tax ramifications, Mike can speak to some of those items and I can talk about their overall financial planning. But to start with let’s talk about what the loan modification process really represents and who can benefit from.
We have talked about all the different things you can do with your home as a home owner, there is the loan modification and there’s several different types of loan modifications, there is the option of a short sale, which can have huge tax implications that people may not be aware of. There is the option of foreclosure, which is almost the last thing you want to do and there is also bankruptcy.
Loan modification is essentially for the person who is unable to make your payment, because there was a material change, and the change that I am talking about is your not making as much money. You may have lost your job. You have one of these mortgages that are toxic, where the interest rate has gone up significantly.
I would not buy the story from some guy with an ugly little yellow sign on the side of the road that says, hey I can help you and I have a 99% success rate with my loan modifications. That is essentially a guarantee and there is nobody in their right mind that would buy the guarantee. There are so many different types of mortgage servicers out there, literally thousands of mortgage companies out there and you cannot predict what any one of these mortgage companies is going to do.
Certainly not guarantee anyone any result. Were definitely going to try our best, thats why we use a national network of attorneys, 45 out of the 50 states have some kind of recourse involved with short sales and foreclosures, loan modifications. This is not something you can just figure out on your own and certainly dont buy into some story that there is somebody who can reduce your mortgage by 50%. Thats not going to happen, or that they have a 99% success rate, things are just not realistic.
You should know better and I know I am putting it bluntly, lets be honest. You should know better. It sounds too good to be true folks, it is. These no cost loans, these goofballs are selling on the radio, saying they don’t cost anything, let me say this, someones got to pay for it. Try walking to one of these big banks right now thats trying so hard right now to make up for some of their losses, so if anyone is offering you something that sounds too good to be true. It probably is, call an expert, call someone who knows what they’re doing, and our team has 16 years of loan modification experience. Our national network of attorneys are dedicated to getting loan modifications and work with almost every major lender, use a pro.
Now Mike, I wanted to throw it over to you to reiterate a few of these things to talk about the different options that people are looking at. The reality of it is that a loan modification, if it works is the absolute best.
That would appear to be the case. You dont want to file bankruptcy, which would be your last choice. Trying to say youre insolvent might be difficult when you factor in all of your ets, so the foreclosures and the short sales, I think those just destroy your credit. Am I right on that?
Duration : 0:6:21
Tax on 1099C, Cancellation of Debt Income; Short Sale, Loan Modification & Foreclosure. Exception; Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, Bankruptcy & Insolvency. Go To http://RealEstateMarketingThisWeek.com
Part 2 (Excerpt)
A team approach is best when dealing with all issues regarding taxes, real estate and investments
Brett, wow what an exciting four days
Yes the last four days in the stock market have been a really wild, you know the doom and gloom. I will give you an example, the year to date low closing of the S&P 500 at 752 was the value for that index. And that occurred last Thursday, November 20 the last four days in the stock market has virtually gone straight up, as a matter-of-fact, reporting a yearly 15% gain in those four trading sessions.
What people fail to realize is that level of gain, coming off a loss in your portfolio is really important to get you back on the right track, so those who are wondering if its time to buy or should I have sold. I say November 20 you can’t afford to miss a 15% rally. I can’t tell you what the market will do come Friday, which is a half day or next week, but I can tell you there is a growing consensus among multiple economists, and experts say were in for the mother of all rallies in an otherwise bear market economy.
And one other thing that I want to point out really quickly, thats so important to the listeners out there in regard to this show specifically. We spent a lot of time talking about strategic partnerships, and today is a perfect example of what Velocity Financial and the Velocity of Money Radio Show are all about.
We have strategic partnerships to work towards the best possible outcome for the listeners that are tuned into the broadcast. They are looking for a ray of hope, theyre looking for education, theyre looking for information. And when you put those factors together and introduce tax experts like Mike Patenella, the certified professional mortgage strategies such as you, registered financial consultants like I. Thats how people, when we have these experts and strategic partners working towards the best possible outcome.
Thats a really good point. And I like the way you illustrated that, one of the things that so many people like to do today, is to do so much on their own and that’s okay. When you do things on your own, typically people learn more about it. The problem is, now is not the time to try to figure out what to do with your money in the stock market. Now is certainly not the time.
If youre facing foreclosure, or youre considering a short sale, youre possibly losing your house, you can’t make your mortgage payments or you need a loan modification, its not something you should try on your own, its one of those things where you just don’t know the ins and the outs. More importantly, talking about doing these types of things on your own, do you really have the time to dedicate to what it is youre trying to do.
For instance there is a silly commercial on the tv, Mike where the guy is getting audited and the lady says oh, let’s talk to the box. Thats a classic example of somebody who wants to go buy a box of software at a warehouse store to do their own taxes, and Mike I know for example that you have still have people who have tried to do it on their own. And in most cases you find many things that are missed.
Yes thats why were in business. It’s worth it to have us help you out, you’ll save money and you will pay us less than you will the government. Our goal is to work for you, work with the mortgage guys and financial planners and coordinate an effort to help you out.
Brett Fallon and I have been working together for years, we share most all of our financial sense or ideals are parallel. I have learned a lot about finances from Brett that I never knew. And Brett and Mike have been working together also for many years, it has only been a year or so since you and I have met.
But having said that you could do your own taxes, you could do your own investing. You can get one of those online accounts. Well, you could do your own loan modification, but in any case, that I have ever been involved in, in regard to loan modification, doing your own taxes, or doing your own finances, you will inevitably miss something. It’s just worth paying a little bit more to hire a professional, versus trying to do something like that on your own.
Especially the impact the situation where there is substantial, job loss, loan modification or any of these potential types of situations.
Duration : 0:6:51
Tax on 1099C, Cancellation of Debt Income; Short Sale, Loan Modification & Foreclosure. Exception; Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, Bankruptcy & Insolvency. Go To http://RealEstateMarketingThisWeek.com
Part 8 (Excerpt)
If facing financial issues make sure you hire qualified help, mortgage broker, financial planner, CPA and attorney
So with the real estate market, we know here in Arizona, there are literally hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people that are confronted with a very difficult decision, declining home values, upside down in the home, the home value is worth much less than they actually owe, we need to give them options. If the option is foreclosure, short sale or loan modification, I would take the modification approach, most likely we would have to look at a person’s situation a little bit closely, but as I am going down some of the things that we have prepared for the show today, it looks like there are four main issues that people should know they need to consider, the cancellation of debt income, capital gains tax issue, the deficiency judgments side, and the credit report side and Mike, I know you can talk to some of these things.
But we brought up in the first segment what I think this might represent and then I think we started to talk about how Mike can help people minimize the impact of what that would look like on the tax return or eliminate based on the situation, so let’s make sure that the people know these four concerns are something they should consider as they seek advice.
Absolutely, and it’s really important that you talk to each arm of the team. You’re not going to be able to make all of these decisions just by talking to your tax guy, or your mortgage guy. They all need to be on the same page, because one of the decisions by one of the three is going to impact the other two aspects of the situation.
Mike, that’s a really good point. And thats one of the reasons why we work together, Brett and I are working together and you and Brett have been working together for years and the three of us have like ideals and also know for the most part what the ramifications are from any one of our decisions. And we make sure were able to do the very best for the homeowner every single time, whether it be tax, financial advice, or loan modification, or even refinance.
People forget that we talk so much about loan modifications. It’s kind of nice because youre listening to all these lying ads about refinancing and other crap that’s gone on out there But the reality of it is there is still money out there to lent. Were still helping people out with refinancing and refinance is the first thing people should try to do with a bank thats licensed by the federal government to do these types of high loan to value FHA type loans.
You cant muddle through the tax issues without Mike Patenella working with you, and you sure should not be making huge financial decisions without Brett Fallon and his team. So we all work hard to make sure that your ultimate goal is in your best interest.
I know were getting up to the end of the hour the show is about to draw to a close, but to just give people a sense that what were talking about today is the ability to have your personal financial situation accessed. Were going to take a look at modification options or refinance options. If your mortgage is distressed were no longer suits your needs. You’re looking to move whatever it is. We will look at your tax ramifications and Mike Patenella will be happy to go through those issues with you step by step basis. And I would be happy to take a look at your overall financial picture and give you some guidance or suggestions on things that will improve the financial situations.
Duration : 0:6:50
Loan Modification 8 - Home Mortgage & Real Estate Marketing Nov08 Avoid Deceptive Mortgage Practices
Attorney Negotiated mortgage loanloan modification for Home Owners. Expert Advice on Real Estate and Finance. Avoid Foreclosure Scams and Fraud. Prevent Bankruptcy. Go To http://RealEstateMarketingThisWeek.com
Part 8 (Excerpt)
B of A and Countrywide pay $150M fine for deceptive mortgage practices
I have here in my hand something from the office of the attorney general Terry Goddard, this is in regard to B of A and Countrywide. The state has alleged that prior to 2008 that Countrywide used unfair and deceptive tactics in its loan originating and servicing activity and placed borrowers in structurally unfair and unaffordable loans. These are not my words folks this is from the office of Terry Goddard the Attorney General of Arizona
They are talking about lowering peoples rates for the first year only. Look a good loan modification, you dont need a 12 month reprieve if you are 2, 3, or 4 months behind on your mortgage, it is going to take a little bit more than 12 months to get back on your feet.
I was going to say what an important point that you are making is because the announcement today by Paulson regarding the money not being used to buy these bad mortgages any longer, because of Barney Franks comments about how banks need to do more to help avoid foreclosures for mortgagees, what that really is amounting to for me as someone who studies the financial marketplace every single day as part of my profession, what that really amounts to is banks being able to set terms, and the short term reprieves, and the importance of what you are doing right now is critical for people to understand.
You are ahead of the curve, you go to the bank for these modification purposes, you take the proactive steps to make the terms suitable for you, my point is if the bank, by Terry Goddards letter, already has erted that they have made some type of poor judgment in the way that they treated their mortgagees or the people that they gave loans to, why would you then go back to that bank as the owner of that mortgage and try to negotiate with them on your own? Why then would you have the trust in them that it was going to work to your best possible out come? I find that to be absurd.
You are absolutely right; they have essentially admitted to it, they have a $150,000,000 settlement. I just want to throw one more thing out there, they have a $150,000,000 bill that they have to pay because, according to the Attorney General, deceptive business practices, a hundred and fifty million dollar check that they have to write, somebody is going to have to make that up.
And that is a good point, the point of this would be to take this action yourself prior to these banking institutions making the decisions on your behalf, theyve already done this, they have already made those decisions on your behalf, whether or not you knew exactly what type of loan program you were getting involved with when you took out the loan and all of that.
If you find yourself in a position of not being able to maintain your existing mortgage payment under the terms that you have been issued by the bank, modification is something you should consider, you make the terms going forward, you should use the professional expertise and the negotiating abilities of these attorneys that specialize in this area and make this work for you before the rules are placed at your feet yet again.
We talk about people doing this on there own, what I see being the problem is they are going to send you out a packet of paperwork, maybe email it to you or fax it. I have seen the paperwork that they send out, it is more than 36 pages of legalese, once it goes back it is going to sit in front of the loss mitigation department in a stack, Ive seen the stacks, literally thousands of cases sitting there waiting to be reviewed by someone who may very well not be qualified to make a real decision, in my opinion using the loss mitigation department at the bank you may be dealing with a clerk that was answering sales calls for someone else two months ago.
Versus going to the legal department and dealing with those individuals directly. There is no doubt you absolutely have to use professionals, you need to put your head on the pillow and turn this over to somebody who knows what they are doing, an expert negotiator, a paid attorney that does this for a living, put your head on your pillow and keep your family safe in your home…
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