Newsflash!
HR Bill 1106 regarding Home Mortgage Restructuring is currently being debated on the House floor. Part of the bill has to due with changing the law to allow Bankruptcy (BK) Courts (read BK judges) to restructure mortgages for those folks in BK Court.
Now, without getting politcal, I'm just going to stick my neck out and say this - if you know someone who's filing BK - extensibly because they can no longer afford their house payment - help them avoid the BK by doing a loan modification. Don't wait for the BK judge to "restructure" the loan. MODIFY IT NOW. Help your clients avoid the extremely damaging effect that BK will have on their credit. Not to mention the stress and humiliation.
If you don't know how to do a loan modifcation - why? Have you been listening to the news lately. Even though we've been through one wave of adjustable rate mortgages blowing up and causing foreclosures, there's a whole other wave of option arm mortgages getting ready to hit us very soon.
Add to the option arm situation, the unstable and worsening job market causing layoffs and cutbacks, we're headed for situations where even more people (future clients) won't be able to afford their mortgage payments.
If you just run the numbers and count the costs, it should be obvious that the banks can't foreclose on all these people and homes. They are going to have to let some people modify their loans. Even though banks have been VERY RETICENT to modify loans in the past (I know this because I work short sales and see it every day) they really won't have any choice. Part of the Obama plan to help keep people in their homes calls for banks to let people modify their loans. And if the banks took some of the TARP money that was doled out last year - and all of the Top 300 banks did - they will be REQUIRED to do loan mods.
So, you have to ask yourself this:
1 Do you want to help your clients (and future clients)?
2. Do you want a piece of what is going to be a large market?
If the answer to these questions is yes (and you don't live in my zip code ;-), then learn how to do loan modifcations. You will be helping your clients negotiate better terms with their banks because - even though banks will be required to do loan mods - they still won't give your clients the best possible terms. So I encourage you to learn how to do loan modications.
There aren't that many places that teach loan modification. Definitely not that many that are good and reputable. I learned how to do loan mods from Time and Julie Harris and Harris Real Estate University (HREU).
If you decide to hire Time and Julie to teach you too, just tell them I sent you. This not some kind of affiliate plan, nor do I get a referral fee, I just want Tim and Julie to know that I recommended you. They might give me a free month of coaching or something! ;-)
You can find Tim and Julie and HREU on their blog at: www.TimandJulieHarris.com
Best,
Kent
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