This week I talked to more than one person who wants to refinance their loan because they are in an adjustable rate that is going to adjust or has adjusted recently — but they owe more than their house is worth.  According to today’s Arizona Republic, the ARM Resets are peaking in July.

Are you in this boat?

If you are currently in an FHA loan, you may be able to do a no-appraisal FHA Streamline and it won’t matter that you owe more than your house is worth.  That is good news for the small number of people who are currently in an FHA loan!  For the rest of the people who are currently NOT in an FHA loan, there is still hope — recently, lenders have become more and more willing to work with people to do a “loan workout” or a “loan modification”.

This is a new area for lenders — previous to a few months ago, lenders generally were only interested in “getting their money back”, but with the record number of people who are facing serious difficulty paying their mortgage, lenders are becoming more and more willing to be flexible so that you can stay in your home and that the lender doesn’t incur the costs of foreclosure.

Loan modifications can take a number of different roads — from extending the initial interest rate for another X years (5 seems to be common), to reducing the amount that you owe (called a principal reduction), to getting you into a completely new fixed-rate loan, to… well, there are any number of possibilities.

The key part to beginning the loan modification process is to PICK UP THE PHONE AND CALL YOUR LENDER.  Some lenders are easier to work with than others — so if you run into a lender who is not willing to work with you, there are still people who can help you.

This week, Justin was in Corona, California meeting with a couple of different organizations who have attorneys on staff and whose mission is to help homeowners who are facing serious trouble regarding their mortgage.  They have helped hundreds of people and will help thousands more over the next few months.  They are the best in the industry and take pride in working with lenders to get people into affordable mortgage programs by going through the loan modification process.

Have you tried to refinance but been told that you can’t because you owe more than your house is worth?

Contact me and I will be happy to put you in touch with the right people who can work with your lender on your behalf to help you get out from under your current toxic mortgage!