Here ye' oh mighty 914World brain trust.

I am in the situation where I must immediately attempt to restructure my mortgage.
One family friend has suggested using a couple of lawyers to negotiate with my lender. They offer no guarantee.

I don't want to make a quick decision on something so important but there seems to be few options in my situation and I know next to nothing besides what Google was pulled up.

Has anyone had personal experience with this and what was the outcome, if I may ask?


Roger

Sorry to read this. The cards are supposed to be stacked in your favor now after the bank bailout. If your working and just need to refie I think you golden. I you have no job and no ability to repay, the refie is not really realistic. Keep a positive attitude Rog. You'll be fine. Donald Trump was on "The Factor" tonight chatting with Bill O'Rielly. He suggested dealing with your local banker. That's all I have to add.

i actually saw that episode last night. my first thought was the bank will only have their best interest in the restructure and not mine.

apparently some folks have restructured using profession representation and seen excellent results with an outcome like this.

lets say i have a $250K mortgage and pay $1675/mo.

the restructured payment plan might look like this:

years 1 and 2 make interest only payments of $275/mo.
years 3 and 4 interest only payments of $750/mo.
and year 5 payments of $1550/mo.
years 6-30 stays amortized and fixed.

*EDIT
the bank does not foreclose.
the bank get paid.
i keep my good credit.
I keep my house.

We have actually helped a few clients do just this. It works but is a lot of work and, yes, you are going to have a headache dealing with some of these people.

One client retructured and the payments that he was behind on we had them wrapped around so they ended up at the rear of his loan. Because of this he is all caught up and his payments are able to be made for now. It works just like you said. I would say go for it. You're in the industry so I am guessing you know the right questions to ask. If you need any advice let me know. I can pass you along to my dad and he would be happy to help if he can. He knows how to work magic with banks sometimes .

Thanks Jon,

Yes, I think I'll go for it. The lawyers in question have zero issues on bar.org so they are credible. Realtors are monitored the same way.

Thank you for your input.

Roger

Are the initial 4 years really interest only or is it actually paying a fraction
of the interest and letting the principal increase?

In other words are you getting a new ARM with
around 1% for the first 2 years and then around 3.5% for the next two
years or are you increasing your principal those early years which
is essentially borrowing more money every month to subsidize the payments?

Just curious how those initial years of low payments really work.

--- bill

Depending on the transaction, and the lawyers, if you are in situation where
the bank is threatening to foreclose, the attorneys are typically demanding the original signed deed of trust. Most lenders, cannot produce the original deed in 30 days, as required by law, especially if your loan has changed hands more than twice. At that point they are between a rock and a hard place...

That's about all I know, as I have never participated in one of these transactions.
I would also ask a escrow title agent that you trust, and have a relationship with, to recommend any attorneys with whom they have had this type of successfull transaction.
Normally the attorney fees are 1-2% -

Best -
TE

A lot of it has to do with the banks really not wanting to foreclose. They lower the payments cover their costs and giving you a break. You have a lot of costs in a foreclosure that banks have to pay. Plus right now they have the economy working against them. They may lose many thousandsup to 100s of thousands foreclosing on a home that if they restrusture everyting works out. So, many times they are willing to do this. You have to jump through a few hoops but it is worth it to you and the bank to do so.

[quote name='Phoenix 914-6GT' date='Mar 1 2009, 09:43 AM' post='1139911']
[quote name='bperry' post='1139546' date='Feb 28 2009, 01:07 PM']

A lot of it has to do with the banks really not wanting to foreclose.
[/quote]

I wish that were really true. The banks have heretofore shown very little interest in preventing foreclosures. They know it costs them more money to foreclose than to make "deals", but in most cases, it's just not in their culture to actually work with consumers.

I expect we will see a major shift in banking and mortgage relief only when the persons in charge at the banks are replaced with new blood.

Just in case anyone might benefit from this. Here is a non-profit advocacy group that will restructure for free....


https://www.naca.com/index_main.jsp

as a realtor, i did 3 short sales last year. one was a townhome the owner owed $400k ( $350 first mort and $50 second mortgage ). i got the listing at $325k and worked it as a short sale which no previous realtor did. the bank ordered a bpo - (brokers price opinion) aka: a cheap appraisal - and it came back at $330k - higher than what we had it listed at. i told the bank this is rediculous and a new bpo is needed. in the meanwhile we kept getting low balls offers in the low $200s. finally the bank ordered a new bpo and it came in at at $272k. i adjusted the asking price prior to $290k despite the $330 bpo but ater this last bpo i adjusted the price to $275 and we then got an offer for $268k and it sold.

what is my point - do you really want to refinance a property that is worth alot less than the loan? if you can get it listed as a short sale and find a way to buy it back - you might get it for dimes on the dollar.

that said - i look forward to you working out a restructure - but this should be based on today's price, not what you owe!

jim