Loan Modification as last resort if I cant refinance

[Anonymous]

I am looking for help, hope, and maybe several answers. 

My  2/28 loan  begins adjusting this month/August to 9%. I have been trying to clean up my reports for several months now and my scores are still not enough (573 598 606) to get a refi.  Hubby (640 643 643).  His are higher even though he is disabled and i am the breadwinner of the family.

1st ? : Has the housing market really fell in FL more than 55%?

I finally found a lender to refin me to 6.87% on a 30 yr fixed,  but the independent "pool" appraiser killed the whole deal.   I am not sure what recourse on this as she comp'd my home to foreclosures in the area.  dropping my home from$435k to $190. Everyone is telling me to fight it including the old appraising company who said foreclosure comps should only be used when appraising a foreclosure.  She even argued with me about my counter tops not being real granite because they weren't cool to the touch!!!   Also, on this appraisal she decided to delete my attached garage, cement drive, 4th bedroom & shrunk the total square footage of my home as a whole and my land by almost 1/2 acre and more. 

2nd ?: where, how, and who do you file a complaint about an appraiser?

This new independent pool appraiser stuff is for the birds. It almost seems like a scam. they take $400 from you then tell they can't write the mortgage. Just think if they did this a 1000x in a week. why bother writing mortgages!

3rd ?:  should i request modification of current mtg and what is best strategy doing this?

I am sick over this right now.  I own my home for 16yrs and only went into the ridiculous  mtg  to discharge my chap 13 bk and here 2yrs later without any lates on payments and not even $1100 in cc debt ($400 of it was for appraisal) and now  i cannot refinance.  Someone else suggested contact current lender for a loan modification to stabilize things while i continue to work on my scores and try for a refi down the road.  Will a modification be considered a forebearance and negatively affect my scores also?  As you can tell i want to have my cards right before going into another nightmare.

thanks for any help

[DallasLoanGuy]

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dtrics wrote:

I am looking for help, hope, and maybe several answers. 

My  2/28 loan  begins adjusting this month/August to 9%. I have been trying to clean up my reports for several months now and my scores are still not enough (573 598 606) to get a refi.  Hubby (640 643 643).  His are higher even though he is disabled and i am the breadwinner of the family.

1st ? : Has the housing market really fell in FL more than 55%?

I finally found a lender to refin me to 6.87% on a 30 yr fixed,  but the independent "pool" appraiser killed the whole deal. some lenders dont use the independant pool. who was your lender?.  I am not sure what recourse on this as she comp'd my home to foreclosures in the area.  dropping my home from$435k to $190. Everyone is telling me to fight it including the old appraising company who said foreclosure comps should only be used when appraising a foreclosure.  what do YOU think it is worth? are there any comps there that arent foreclosure sales? She even argued with me about my counter tops not being real granite because they weren't cool to the touch!!!   Also, on this appraisal she decided to delete my attached garage, cement drive, 4th bedroom & shrunk the total square footage of my home as a whole and my land by almost 1/2 acre and more. 

2nd ?: where, how, and who do you file a complaint about an appraiser?

This new independent pool appraiser stuff is for the birds. It almost seems like a scam. they take $400 from you then tell they can't write the mortgage. Just think if they did this a 1000x in a week. why bother writing mortgages! because the $400 is paid to the appraiser...not a profit center for the lender.

3rd ?:  should i request modification of current mtg and what is best strategy doing this?

I am sick over this right now.  I own my home for 16yrs and only went into the ridiculous  mtg  to discharge my chap 13 bk and here 2yrs later without any lates on payments and not even $1100 in cc debt ($400 of it was for appraisal) and now  i cannot refinance.  Someone else suggested contact current lender for a loan modification to stabilize things while i continue to work on my scores and try for a refi down the road.  Will a modification be considered a forebearance and negatively affect my scores also?  As you can tell i want to have my cards right before going into another nightmare.

thanks for any help

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i would contact the bank and let them know about the situation. maybe they will modify

[BrianB_The_Loan_Professor]

Most lenders wil not talk toyou about a forebearance until you are behind on the mortgage. I am not sure what your options are? Foreclosures are considered by many lenders to be true market comps. Appraisal issues are common everywhere.

I do not think a modification will hurt your score but I am not 100% on that. I would call and try talking to them. Explain thjat you are good now, you did the loan with the intent to fix credit (which you have) and that you were going to refi. Once it goes up you are going to be in trouble. They may lock the rate where it is?

It cannot hurt to try.

Good Luck

Brian

[Anonymous]

thanks for responses.

I just spoke to my lender yesterday, and they now are licensed to refi in FL, so they are going to see what they can do for me.   Also, I was advised that the modification would report possibly as negative.

ref: bad appraisal

Several local appraisers in my area, agree that I am in one of those pocket neighbors that are not as affected due to the acreage factor of my neighborhood.  "Acreage tends to hold value"???

They also believe she comp'd me at the 2 foreclosures, not the 3 other comps.  She also stated in the appraisal that she could not find any MLS listings.  I, myself, found 5 MLS listings last night on the 1st site found searching google.  1 home down my street, other 4 w/i 1/8 -1/2 mile.  Only one listed for 199k, but its older, smaller, & w/no pool or garage compared to my home.  The other 4 range from $299-$530k (all same acreage).   Acreage only listings ranged 125-175k.  County clerks site of all 2008 home sales(specifically my area) show 2 of 9 sold as foreclosures/short sales (both were 225+k.)  All others sales were 340-599k with most in june and july 2008.

I firmly believe my home is still worth at the absolute lowest 300k.  More realistically 325-350k.  I've been in this home for 16 yrs before this crazy boom and fall.  It was expensive then, because of the undividable multi acreage parcels, ag zoning and horse park amenities.

I still am not sure if i have any recourse for the $400 I paid for an appraisal that was incorrect. Errors like leaving off my 4th bedroom,  attached garage,  no cement drive and couple of hundred sq ft of my home due grossly incorrect measurements of 8-10ft in some spots and my actual land by 1/2 acre+.  There has to be some help out there for consumers who go thru this. This is more than the market dropping.  She shrunk my house and its value. 

My credit card info was taken by the lender/loan officer to pay for this.  I have not spoken to her since the morning after receiving the appraisal.  I have left numerous messages and don't even know where I stand with this mtg.  I have not sent her back the signed contract docs but I did fax many personal docs such as W2's, Social Security doc's for my husb, bank statements, etc.   Its been a week without a callback. ??????????  Is there anything that I would need to be concerned about with this part of the mess?

Message Edited by dtrics on 08-02-2008 02:44 PM

Message Edited by dtrics on 08-02-2008 02:45 PM

[Anonymous]

(like there’s any other kind) Here in California, our Department of Real Estate website (dub dub dub dot dre dot ca dot gov) lists the companies that have DRE "permission" to modify loans... add to this list any licensed California attorney, and that is where you should begin your due diligence search when you seek help in California. Other states probably have similar laws, so check with your own state DRE and state bar. My law firm has been getting more and more calls recently from homeowners that were victims of predatory lenders who put them into an unaffordable loan and now fell into the hands of those same people who sold the toxic loans but profess to be saviors... DON’T BE A VICTIM TWICE! What’s that they say, “Fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice, and I’ll sue your butt!” Do your homework and THOROUGHLY investigate any firm before hiring them to save your biggest asset and the place you call “home.” Scammers are popping up like dandelions on a freshly mowed lawn in April. They advertise on the Internet, freeway billboards, radio, television, and print media everywhere, not to mention spamming your email box with those third-world widows needing someone to receive three million dollars for them. Make no mistake, in many cases, these “loan modification experts” are the exact same loan officers and mortgage brokers who fleeced homeowners the first time around. After losing their jobs with the crash of the mortgage industry, they have found a new way to make ill-gotten profits from hard-working homeowners through loan modifications. In California, with very few exceptions (and attorneys are one exception… no coincidence there… attorneys make the laws), it is against the law for anyone to take money up front for helping a homeowner who is in default. Don’t trust a company that begins its relationship with you by breaking the law. HERE’S THE BOTTOM LINE! Hire an attorney – and not just any attorney either - one with experience in mortgage law, not just one with real estate law experience but one with experience in both FEDERAL and STATE litigation against mortgage companies, one who doesn’t also do family law, criminal law, admiralty law, and immigration law as well, one who limits the practice to mortgage law (or at least a great majority of it), one who has the experienced staff, training, and know how to take on the big lenders and their top notch lawyers (lenders have attorneys – and darn good ones – check out their counsel on the web – big names top schools, shouldn’t you have a lawyer too?). We are not talking about a refund on your broken television here, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars and your HOME – if you don’t think this is the time to hire a highly educated and experienced professional instead of a weekend schooled, almost out of work, broker slash loan officer slash “expensive water in a wine bottle with alleged magical curative powers” salesperson, I don’t know what would make you take things seriously. Of course, this is one obnoxious lawyer's totally biased opinion, but one based on many many distressing calls to my office every day. And, yes, my firm loves taking cases against loan modification companies who have violated laws. This field is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing sections for our mortgage law firm.
- Paul J. Molinaro, Esq.