Do It Yourself?
Most of my clients tell me that they tried to do a modification on their own. They tell me that after getting nowhere, they decided to hire me.
With most modification firms there is either no attorney on staff or you never get to talk with the attorney. Mine is a small firm. My wife and I are the only employees. You work directly with us. I talk directly with your lender.
Even if modification can be done without a lawyer’s assistance, there are a lot of legal issues which come up at this time. Can you reinstate? How would foreclosure, short sale, or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure work? How are second mortgages handled? Can rates be reduced? Is it possible to settle them for less? What is likely to happen if you don’t pay your credit cards? Is it possible to settle them for less?
Can you handle your own modification? Yes. Your bank might ignore you for long periods of time. You might have trouble finding someone to talk with. You might not understand how to fill out the forms and generally speaking how the game is played. And there are rules to this wierd game. I have spent thousands of hours studying them.
Your bank might actually give you some concessions. Your lender might give you a glorified forbearance agreement. It might give you a temporary interest rate reduction. It will probably not give you permanent reduction or the 30- or 40-year fixed rate you should want.
The reasons why most borrowers who receive modifications later end up in foreclosure is because their modifications have not dropped the borrower’s payments enough.
Lenders will discourage you from “wasting your money” by hiring a “third-party modification firm.” They make no differentiation between attorney modification and non-attorney modification.
For example, the Chase website disparages outside assistance and includes attorneys in its disparagement. With other lenders it is not clear whether they are discouraging borrowers from hiring attorney modifiers as well as non-attorney modifiers.
Maybe such lenders are disparaging any kind of representation. It is the same way insurance adjusters discourage you from hiring an attorney to negotiate your personal injury case. The lenders want to be free to take advantage of you. I believe that lenders who discourage borrowers from seeking counsel are setting themselves up for a class action suit.
My fee is typically one percent of the loan balance, with a minimum fee of $3,500. You spend more than this anytime you do a refinance. This is not a lot of money in relation to the potential savings possible.
If I can get you an interest rate that is even a quarter percent better than what you could have gotten on your own, this will more than pay for my fee over the long term.
It is always better to have someone who knows the lay of the land negotiating for you. Even attorneys hire attorneys. When I am in a legal bind, I hire an attorney who specializes in the appropriate field. Attorneys have a saying: “One who acts as his own attorney has a fool for a client.” It is hard for you to be objective about your own case. It is hard for you not to be over-eager regarding your own case and give away too much information or settle for less than you could have gotten if represented or to get your feelings hurt and damage the negotiation process.
Most important, lenders know that I know how to sue them. They will take me more seriously than they will a non-attorney modification firm or you if you represent yourself.
You have a right to be represented in a crucial matter such as saving your home.
You may call me at 425-771-1110. You may fax me at 425-776-8081. You may click here to send me an e-mail.