“under this doctrine a promisor is bound when he should reasonably expect a substantial change of position, either by act or forbearance, in reliance on his promise, if injustice can be avoided only by its enforcement.”

Take a look at this news item from Servicing Management Magazine.  We have seen that many of these are ‘failing’ because they were on a ‘trial’ and due to a flux one way or other on their income they no longer qualified.  This is very unsettling for people who are now facing foreclosure.

Lenders are cooperating with efforts on the homeowners part to do a Short Sales in place of the Loan Modification as part of the Foreclosure Alternative programs or getting some into alternate loan modifications but about 11 percent are ending up in Foreclosure and none are happy about the upheaval.

Connie Saunders

Foreclosure Freedom Network

public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be

tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should

be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to

work, instead of living on public assistance.”

-   Cicero   – 55 BC

Page 1: Request for Modification and Affidavit (RMA)
Here is all of your personal information plus a simple Hardship Affidavit

Page 2: Income/Expenses for Household.  Here you need to be sure you put all household and living expenses.  The form they have for this is very limited, so I will also include here our financial form, so that you can fill in both and add any fields with expenses from ours that are not on the HAMP form into the ‘other’ field.

Page 3: Acknowledgment and Agreement.  Read and all borrowers must sign.

- Call HOPE Line with Questions: 888-995-HOPE  – - -

Page 4: MHA Hardship Affidavit.  Put any additional points on your Hardship here on this page, which is referred to on the Hardship Affidavit on the bottom of Hamp5.

Page 5: MHA Hardship Affidavit.  This is another Affidavit form, similar to hamp1, which also requires information for Government monitoring purposes to ensure protected classes are serviced.

Page 6: This is ANOTHER Acknowledgment and Agreement Form.  Please fill this in too.

0-financialform -  You can total expenses other than debt and place in the ‘other’ in Column 2 and put ‘see attachment A’ on the line provided for description of ‘other’ then attach an attachment ‘A’ with any expenses itemized here that were totaled under ‘other’.  Or you could simply call the lender and ensure they input all ‘other’ expenses into their system for you – so that they have this.

Over to you and Good Luck!!  If you have a lender number for loan modification hotline not listed here, please feel free to send me an email at connie@ForeclosureFreedomNetwork.com and I’ll update the site.

All the best!

Connie Saunders
[Connie Saunders is a licensed California Realtor and the founder of Foreclosure Freedom Network, a Sunland company who has helped hundreds of people across the nation with their home loans to modify or Short Sell and has a weekly Radio Show every Thursday at 2PM on KCAA 1050 Radio.]

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Inspector General of Federal Reserve Bank testimony to Congress

Above is a link to a New York Times Article regarding lucrative fees being a deterrent to Mortgage Servicers doing loan modification workouts.  Well worth reading to get a better understanding of Loan Servicers.

Key to understanding your lender is first understanding WHO is your lender.  Most people think of their lender as the bank or mortgage company who sends their statement and receives their payments and who issues letters or other communication during the process of the loan.  This is a false concept.  There are two distinct industries related to mortgage banking.  First is the ‘investor’ and second is the ‘servicer’.  Each has its own ‘return on investment’ or ‘per loan exchange’ worked out to hopefully make the partnership work.  Even when the mortgage Servicer is the lender, it is a different department doing the work called “Loan Servicing” and they are given fees for each component in the servicing arena (for the most part:-)

For a couple of decades now loan servicers have come into their own realm of power and economy.  Used to be you went to your local branch and if you qualified you got a loan from B of A for example and that Branch serviced that loan until it was paid in full (property sale or full term of loan completed) or refinanced.   Today B of A loans money but most of these loans are sold to other investors once the loan files are ‘pooled together’.

Nowadays most loans are sold on what’s called the Secondary Mortgage Market.

Investopedia has a much better definition and description of this ‘Secondary Mortgage Market’ then Wikipedia (opinion) and states:

“What Does Secondary Mortgage Market Mean?
The market where mortgage loans and servicing rights are bought and sold between mortgage originators, mortgage aggregators (securitizers) and investors. The secondary mortgage market is extremely large and liquid

Investopedia explains Secondary Mortgage Market
A large percentage of newly originated mortgages are sold by their originators into the secondary market, where they are packaged into mortgage-backed securities and sold to investors such as pension funds, insurance companies and hedge funds. The secondary mortgage market
helps to make credit equally available to all borrowers across geographical locations.”  —————

What does this mean to the average home buyer/refinancer?  Basically it means that you will have NO IDEA when you take out a first mortgage loan who the heck the ‘lender’ is on this, NONE whatsoever.  Should you ever find out who this is, consider yourself VERY Lucky.  Test this, please.  Call your lender (the one you truly believe is indeed the actual lender for your first mortgage) and ask them who the “investor/lender” is on your mortgage.  Most will tell you outright that they are NOT ALLOWED TO TELL YOU.  Part of why this is – is simply a blanket of security provided by the mortgage servicer who is hired to shield the investor/lender from direct inquiries.  But believe me this lack of disclosure is, or could be, tragic for the borrower.

When doing loan modifications for people some investors are pitifully careless of laws and rules in determining eligibility for loan modifications or in deciding upon what is ‘sustainable’.  Same with Short Sales (which is when you sell your property which is now devalued below mortgage amount), some lender/investors are crazy and won’t take the best of deals, purposefully taking comparables from miles away or using their own Title or Appraiser and fixing the appraisals about 10% over market value – for instance – true story.  Other investors are reasonable.

One great example of this is the difference between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  We all know who these entities are.  Fannie Mae typically is far more easy going and allows the Loan Servicer to exercise far more of their own decision powers on whether to Short Sell or Modify a loan than Freddie Mac is.  I just had someone from Wells Fargo today remark that Freddie Mac is crazy sometimes on ridiculous requirements.  In this instance we had both the first and second mortgages serviced by Wells Fargo.  Wells (the first mortgage holder and actually investor/lender was Freddie Mac) approved the purchase amount so long as they got in hand $35,500, with the contingency that the second Mortgage Holder (who was Wells by face value – turned out to be B of A – as the actual investor/lender) get NO MORE than $2500.  Meanwhile Wells the second Mortgage Holder wanted $7,500 payoff because they “had to get at least 10% based on their rules.  The second mortgage servicer (different Wells department than the first) said it didn’t matter where these funds came from, buyer or seller were fine or a relative or whoever.  So we arranged these funds to come from the buyer.

One would think that you are giving the first mortgagee what they want and giving the second mortgagee what they want so what could possibly be the problem.

What ended up happening was the first mortgage servicer came back apologizing and appreciating my frustration but so sorry, they cannot approve this short sale unless we reduce fees to the second mortgagee to $2500.  It didn’t matter that 5,000 then of buyer funds were going back to the buyer now because neither mortgagee could use them.  OK – give it back to the purchaser – no problem – but the second mortgagee just better not get this!

Crazy, yes, very, particularly when Wells is the first and Wells is the second.  How on earth can this be?

Well in this case, when I pulled the string, I discovered the first mortgage was owned by Freddie Mac (lender/investor) and after we reached this impasse the second mortgagee said to me “Oh, yes, I guess it’s a Freddie Mac loan – They are crazy, there’s nothing we can do with this but I’ll try to put it through for you and see if we can get an approval.”

Meanwhile the extra fuss and time added caused the buyer to go get something else.  I hope and think we can eventually get this pushed through the lines, but am giving this example to you so that you can see that it really does matter who you are getting a loan from.  Too bad you’ll likely never know.

Back to the title point of why Lenders don’t want to Modify, beyond insanity I’ll outline several key reasons:

a.  They get paid for each function they do.  One of the perks LOAN SERVICERS have is that they get to keep most of the ‘late fees’ they collect in the process of collecting outstanding late payments.  These ‘late fees’ are deemed to be fair reimbursement for the actual work involved in doing this collection.  But, one can see that to fairly administer this Loan Servicers should be current and up to date on their work, not backed up by 90-120 days, like most lenders are these days.  When they back their lines up like this it generates so MUCH more loss for everyone on the line, including themselves.  No one wins – except one slight bonus.  I’ll go over this bonus in section d and e below.  So it feeds itself. Who knows the stress these departments are under financially (or would be) answering all these calls and handling all this extra work without these fees. They both must charge these fees and must collect and use them to survive – even though their lateness is causing a much bigger situation later on down the line. What else can they do?

b.  Lack of Resources.  An example of how this feeds negatively is simply to delay making a decision on a loan modification.  This can lead to and have lead to many hundreds of thousands of properties going into foreclosure instead.  By these properties going into foreclosure the lender Servicers get more money (both late fees and special investor paid fees) so they don’t mind.  What else can they do?

c.  Bureaucracy.  There are so many rules and regulations now it’s hard to know ‘who’s on first’ and one could conjure up a much more confused image than the Abbot and Costello’s skit on this just sitting at a lender negotiator’s desk for a minute or two.  We’ve got the Obama plan but there are really three /four Obama plans and hundreds of others.  There is one for Fannie and Freddie loan modifications, one for Fannie and Freddie refinances and one for non Freddie and Fannie lender/investors who are willing to ‘play ball with the loan mod guidelines – not the same guidelines used for the Fannie/Freddie loan mods, there is Senate Bill 1137′s Hope for Homeowners program (or H4H) still in bloom – with maybe a couple dozen actual loans under this plan in force so far yet billions spent for it.  Then of course there are about a hundred other investors each major loan servicer has who are in varied stages of confusion, solvency, liquidity, desire to help who have not opted into one or other of the Obama plans.  There’s 6 month trial plans, 3 month trial plans, 4 month trial plans.  There’s all manner of rules during these trial plans as well.

One example today is that I was sent (by a client) a copy of a notice from a lender – good news !:-/ that they were lowering their interest rate from 7.75 to 6.5% beginning September 1.  Of course this then prompted our client to call us, because we had just gotten them onto a trial plan at 3%.  What happened on this was that the 3% plan was in force as a trial but this other notice was some form of required notice (despite the fact of it being false for the moment – and thereby confusing).  The servicer insisted, when I suggested they reword these alarming notices, that they are sending out many thousands of such letters throwing half the people with trial plans into dismay for the silly reason that the regulations are clear that this notice must be sent out and must not be altered or added to by them.  Yes, they all agree this is silly, but they just must cause it’s the rules.  What else can they do?

d.  An important factor in this is the Madness Death Wish Game, where lender/investors get to choose how they will die.  Very similar to the MAD COW DISEASE where Abnormal proteins called prions (PRE-ons) are found in brain tissue of diseased cattle. INVESTOR MADNESS in this Death Wish game in play starts with Abnormal loans (such as  SubPrime No Doc or Negative Amortization) genesis of this to be found in the brain cells of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac long ago when they encouraged these to achieve “affordable housing” targets and Congress who approved this madness in 1994.  These SubPrime and Neg Am Toxic Loans eat away at the bank balances of investor/lenders and create tiny spongelike holes in parts of the portfolio causing slow deterioration within the investor/lenders brain and enventually symptoms affecting the entire economic system of not only the US but most of the free world who have had a hand or fist in to the used to be big pocketbook of the Secondary mortgage market.

Here’s an example: Such lender/investors do things like disapprove all Short Sales until July 1st, because it’s the day after the second quarter has ended and they didn’t want to report the losses on their books.  They have also done things like write off their losses and keep the short sale or loan modification process going for 6 months to a year just to continue not having to report this ‘officially’ making everyone wait – including poor Realtors – then just let it foreclose in the end for 80K when they ignored bids for 135K.  Bottom line here is their fear of people finding out how badly they are doing financially is sparking all manner of silly games.

Let’s not confuse things with the facts.  MOST of these large lenders are already bankrupt – truth be told – i.e. if they were forced to list out all their ‘assets’ and some non biased inspector took each of these and looked them up on ‘zillow’ to see the current market value of Assets versus Liabilities, these guys would be lucky to show half of the assets they are showing now. This is HUGE Investor Fraud on just about the largest scale there is.  Really no-one’s hands are clean on this, in fact FHFA and Congress know this, the Feds know this, all the monitoring systems know this – but no one is spelling it out with cuffs.  Why?

Remember Mel Brooks’s classic * The Producers,* starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.  Yes these guys are all saying ‘No way out” ,”No way out” ,”No way out” and know that just as soon as they approve those 300 short sales at a loss of 200K each They are going to be underwater by another 30 Million dollars and this will trigger loss of stocks, loss of Government ratings, loss, loss, loss.  Too much cope and you drown.  And so completely Mad decisions will be made like – Just foreclose – I don’t care if we only make 50% I don’t want it to go to that buyer – if I approve that one they’ll all want me to approve theirs and we’ll have an avalanche.  Next step is the loan Servicers now must call attorney or trustee firms for these 300  homes to get foreclosures done – costing 40K each (when adding in further losses due to added time) and now the losses will add on another 12 Million to the deficit, but will add on another 6 months before this needs to be disclosed and maybe more.  Meanwhile they will take a look at another offer but the market keeps going down and they keep inflating their demands by 10% over Current Market Value by silly requests like “only show them comparables for ‘non distressed assets.’ When the entire condo complex is distressed and the Condo Association is going bankrupt because the existing owners cannot afford to pay the association fees.  See how this works.  It’s a viscous cycle downhill – real fast but what else can they do?

e.  Then we have loan modifications and the insanity of allowing a Short Sale to go for half the value of the property but heaven forbid one can never shave down the principal to a point of semi reality.  Forget allowing a reduction in principal loan modification!  Forget the fact that the reduction of principal may be 10 or 20%, just enough to bring the loan payments into an affordable and sustainable range.  Forget the fact that rather than this the same loan servicer will Short sell this property over to a new speculator buyer who is going to turn around and rent it back to the property owner and the lender/investors will gain 4-50 cents on each dollar rather than the 80 cents on the dollar proposed.  Why is this?

The answer here is unfortunately easy.  FOLLOW THE MONEY.  If the lender/investor gets 50 cents today, isn’t that better than 80 cents 30 years from now, particularly when the prospect of a new loan being approved for these properties at 100 cents or even 80 cents on the dollar anytime soon is out of the question.  So if you have 50 cents to play with now, you can buy up some of these depressed properties perhaps or invest it other ways (i.e. issuing or backing up new loans for the newly depressed value homes).  Sorry to say these are just the facts.  What else can they do?

f.  Another sad fact about the loan modifications is that they are very difficult to administer.  Most of the new modifications are either failing or close to failing because the property is still so over priced that even with a lower interest rate you can’t market and sell it.  So maybe these will be good for a year or two, but what about when there is the need to downsize or move?  Also what if the market, as it is, continues to go down?  About 20% of upside down (meaning mortgage more than home value) homes have squawked so far.  What happens when they have a hardship, get fired, get ill or other?  When the loan doesn’t make it the servicer loses their commission.  So what would you do, you have the choice – get money for the accepted Short Sale and survive or try to help people with the loan modification and half the time lose money on the effort and it gets back on the auction block.  What would you do?  It’s a tough choice.  What else can you do?  Really!  Unless something is done as much as it seems the greatest good to provide home owners with sustainable loan modifications – we will need to short sell every single mortgage before the country settles down again to just flourishing and prospering.

My answer to all of this is very simple.  The fourth amendment to the Constitution protects us from Unreasonable Search and Seizure of our property.  Unreasonable Seizure is just what is and will continue to happen so long as we leave these solutions up to those who perpetrated this fraud.  Right now we should be treating this entire situation like a far more significant war than Iraq or Iran.  We’re on our home turf with this and our success or failure has an effect on the entire world.  So do what our forefathers advised to resolve this.

a. Protect fourth amendment rights of the people to stay in their homes so long as they can continue to pay at prime interest rate (5-6%) fixed for 30 years based on a today’s set rate being Current Market Value.  Make this the law. Fix this by force for every home in America.  Don’t advise this.  Martial Law it – this is a war against depression for crying out loud.  These lenders, Fannie, Freddie, the Government itself were all guilty of high treason in allowing this debacle to occur to begin with – don’t hold back on handling this – it needs a quick resolve not this slow death that’s going on.  Clearly the fault that wasn’t discovered in our ‘secured loan’ laws and procedures was the ‘exit strategy’ if the actual Current market Value or ‘secured by property’ portion of the loan uniformly across a wide area goes down below Current market value – then how do we handle?
b. Just like county assessors go forth and declare values of properties and improvements up or down and then tax you on them – a one time ENTIRE COUNTRY handle to fix this disaster by declaring each and every property mortgage to be fixed at Current Market Value and set a reasonable prime rate (5-6%) and then let people move on with their lives.  Then declare that the balance of monies owed to the lenders for any homeowner who accepts this plan, to be pulled back into an unsecured debt.  That unsecured debt to stay with the person, not the property and unless they declare bankruptcy this debt to show on their record.
c. This is a blanket pill guys.  Not really even too hard to swallow.  Think of lender resources.  It would take very little to get this project done.  I could determine Current market value of a hundred homes a day easily.  We as a team could get this rapidly wrapped up and let’s get on to more action/adventure – not this soggy drama that means agonizing years of strife for all including our grandchildren’s grandchildren.  Confront it, the Secondary mortgage market Fraud Scam perpetrated by Fannie/Freddie and Congress all these years is based on a lie.  Trying to get outside investors to invest in our mortgages while our own Congress, Government and GSE’s hide the true facts from consumers and investors is the actual crisis.  Yes, it was great to have that liquidity, but is wasn’t practical to cause market surges by lowering document requirements for Sub Prime loan candidates.  It was just silly to try to do that.  We’ve now learned that lesson – let’s reset the RAM on this computer and start it going again.  That means turn it off and then turn it back on again and reboot it with a better operating system this time.
d. Let’s look at this: Lenders who are resisting loan mods heavily anyway in favor of Short Sales.  Let’s just give them the solution.  All properties are reset to Current Market Value.  There you go.  Period.  End of story. Martial Law.  Yes, many lenders will then be ‘visibly’ insolvent.  Oh well, they are insolvent anyway – it’s just hidden and behind the scenes and manipulating our future away from us to keep from coming out of the closet.  Guys – just admit it – you’re a brokeaholic.  Take is a step at a time and get on the rails and stay on the rails.  Come on – we can do it much more easily if we all take the cold water dip together.  So that’s the lender end.
e. On the Servicer end – they will get to go on vacation again.  They can lay off all the 6 week old clerks that are telling customers silly things like they should short sell their property and would never qualify for a loan mod because they can’t afford to keep paying 7% on an interest only mortgage and would rather have a 3% full price mortgage amortized for 30 years.  We’ve all learned a lot and many strategic plans and people are in place.  Can we all be big enough to realize that the really important and really significant people are those who can let a crisis end early if a real solution exists.  Go home – let the war be over.  No need to get filthy rich on this crisis if it can otherwise go away.  So yes Home Retention and Short Sale departments will need to downsize, lawyers will be out of work but they can move over to what our real job should be – buying and selling homes and servicing the loans involved.  Having this plan in place would be easy in this regard because all homes would equalize down to Current Market Value – end of story – and then can be bought and sold just like that.  The non-secured liens would be up to the mortgage holders to collect.   That’s the truth of it.  These loans we are talking about WERE secured by the property.  Now only X portion of them are and Y portion is now.  I’m just talking about separating out X from Y and having one still secured by the property and the other unsecured – and following all rules of unsecured loans.  Hey, it could work.  Who loses in this who hasn’t already lost in reality?
f. More importantly for the innocent majority, including those of us not living in our own homes, aren’t having their country mucked up with unbearable financial burdens for the next generation.  That generation already has the burden of elderly baby boomers, a Social Security system that won’t be there and the simple burden of inflation mixed with recession.  Let’s be real.  Doing this simple plan will eliminate future debt by forcing the truth now.  By getting the truth on the line Congress can then have their eyes opened to the flaws in our existing system and we just fix that and move on.

Constance Saunders
Foreclosure Freedom Network
(877) 333-4506

ABX2 7 Assembly BILL, 2nd Extraordinary Session – CHAPTEREDBILL NUMBER: ABX2 7 CHAPTERED

BILL TEXT

CHAPTER 5

FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE FEBRUARY 20, 2009

APPROVED BY GOVERNOR FEBRUARY 20, 2009

PASSED THE SENATE FEBRUARY 19, 2009

PASSED THE ASSEMBLY FEBRUARY 19, 2009

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY FEBRUARY 14, 2009

INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Lieu

(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Carter and Price)

(Principal coauthor: Senator Corbett)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Block, Brownley, Coto, De Leon,

Feuer, Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi, Huffman, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino,

Ruskin, Saldana, Skinner, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, and Yamada)

(Coauthors: Senators DeSaulnier and Wiggins)

FEBRUARY 11, 2009

An act to amend, repeal, and add Section 2924 of, and to add and

repeal Sections 2923.52, 2923.53, 2923.54, and 2923.55 of, the Civil

Code, relating to residential mortgage loans.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 7, Lieu. Residential mortgage loans: foreclosure.

Existing law requires that, upon a breach of the obligation of a

mortgage or transfer of an interest in property, the trustee,

mortgagee, or beneficiary record a notice of default in the office of

the county recorder where the mortgaged or trust property is

situated and mail the notice of default to the mortgagor or trustor.

Existing law provides that, after not less than 3 months after the

filing of the notice of default, the parties described above may give

notice of sale, stating the time and place of the sale, as

specified.

This bill, until January 1, 2011, and only with respect to

specified loans that were recorded between January 1, 2003, to

January 1, 2008, would prohibit a mortgagee, trustee, or other person The bill

authorized to take sale from giving a notice of sale for an

additional 90 days if the loan at issue is the first mortgage or deed

of trust that the property secures, the borrower occupied the

property as his or her principal residence at the time the loan

became delinquent, and the notice of default has been filed.

would exempt certain loans from this prohibition, including, upon

order of the Commissioner of Corporations, the Commissioner of

Financial Institutions, or the Real Estate Commissioner, as

applicable, the loans of a mortgage loan servicer, as defined, if the

mortgage loan servicer applies to the commissioner for an exemption

indicating that it has implemented a loan modification program with

specified features and the commissioner concludes that the program

meets specified requirements. The bill would permit a mortgage loan

servicer to submit a revised application if its application is

denied, and would permit the commissioner to revoke an exemption

under certain circumstances. The bill would require the commissioners

to adopt regulations in this regard, as specified. The bill would

require the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing to

report to the Legislature 3 months after the first exemption is

granted regarding the details of the actions on exemption of loans

serviced by a mortgage loan servicer under a loan modification

program and to submit subsequent reports every 6 months thereafter.

The bill would require the secretary to post specified information on

the exemption program on the agency’s Internet Web site.

The bill would provide that a person who violates these provisions

is deemed to have violated his or her license law. The bill would

provide that the failure to comply with the provisions described

above does not invalidate a sale that is otherwise valid under

specified provisions. The bill would require that a notice of sale

include a declaration from the mortgage loan servicer regarding the

issuance of a temporary or final order of exemption from the

commissioner pursuant to these provisions and the timeframe

applicable to the notice of sale. The bill would make a statement of

legislative findings.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. This act shall be known as the California Foreclosure

Prevention Act.

SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) California is facing an unprecedented threat to its state and

local economies due to skyrocketing residential property foreclosure

rates in California. Those high foreclosure rates have adversely

affected property values in California, and will have even greater

adverse consequences as foreclosure rates continue to rise.

(b) It is essential to the economic health of California for the

state to ameliorate the deleterious effects that will result from the

continued high rate of foreclosure of residential properties by

modifying the foreclosure process to provide additional time for

borrowers to work out loan modifications while providing an exemption

for mortgage loan servicers that have implemented a comprehensive

loan modification program. This change in accessing the state’s

foreclosure process is essential to ensure that the process does not

exacerbate the current crisis by adding more foreclosures to the glut

of foreclosed properties already on the market if the foreclosure

may be avoided through a loan modification. Those additional

foreclosures could further destabilize the housing market with

significant, corresponding deleterious effects on the state and local

economies.

SEC. 3. Section 2923.52 is added to the Civil Code, to read:

2923.52. (a) Notwithstanding paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of

Section 2924, a mortgagee, trustee, or other person authorized to

take sale shall not give notice of sale until at least 90 days after

the lapse of three months as set forth in paragraph (2) of

subdivision (a) of Section 2924, in order to allow the parties to

pursue a loan modification to prevent foreclosure, if all of the

following conditions exist:

(1) The loan was recorded during the period of January 1, 2003, to

January 1, 2008, inclusive, and is secured by residential real

property.

(2) The loan at issue is the first mortgage or deed of trust that

the property secures.

(3) The borrower occupied the property as the borrower’s principal

residence at the time the loan became delinquent.

(4) The notice of default has been recorded on the property.

(b) This section does not apply to loans serviced by a mortgage

loan servicer if that mortgage loan servicer has obtained a temporary

or final order of exemption pursuant to Section 2923.53 that is

current and valid at the time the notice of sale is given.

(c) This section does not apply to loans made, purchased, or

serviced by:

(1) A California state or local public housing agency or

authority, including state or local housing finance agencies

established under Division 31 (commencing with Section 50000) of the

Health and Safety Code and Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 980) of

Division 4 of the Military and Veterans Code.

(2) Loans that are collateral for securities purchased by an

agency or authority described in paragraph (1).

(d) This section shall become operative 14 days after the issuance

of regulations, which shall include the form of the application for

mortgage loan servicers, by the commissioner pursuant to subdivision

(d) of Section 2923.53.

(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,

2011, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted

statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2011, deletes or extends

that date.

SEC. 4. Section 2923.53 is added to the Civil Code, to read:

2923.53. (a) A mortgage loan servicer that has implemented a

comprehensive loan modification program that meets the requirements

of this section shall have the loans that it services exempted from

the provisions of Section 2923.52, upon order of the commissioner. A

comprehensive loan modification program shall include all of the

following features:

(1) The loan modification program is intended to keep borrowers

whose principal residences are homes located in California in those

homes when the anticipated recovery under the loan modification or

workout plan exceeds the anticipated recovery through foreclosure on

a net present value basis.

(2) The loan modification program targets a ratio of the borrower’

s housing-related debt to the borrower’s gross income of 38 percent

or less, on an aggregate basis in the program.

(3) The loan modification program includes some combination of the

following features:

(A) An interest rate reduction, as needed, for a fixed term of at

least five years.

(B) An extension of the amortization period for the loan term, to

no more than 40 years from the original date of the loan.

(C) Deferral of some portion of the principal amount of the unpaid

principal balance until maturity of the loan.

(D) Reduction of principal.

(E) Compliance with a federally mandated loan modification

program.

(F) Other factors that the commissioner determines are

appropriate. In determining those factors, the commissioner may

consider efforts implemented in other jurisdictions that have

resulted in a reduction in foreclosures.

(4) When determining a loan modification solution for a borrower

under the loan modification program, the servicer seeks to achieve

long-term sustainability for the borrower.

(b) (1) A mortgage loan servicer may apply to the commissioner for

an order exempting loans that it services from Section 2923.52. If

the mortgage loan servicer elects to apply for an order, the

application shall be in the form and manner determined by the

commissioner.

(2) Upon receipt of an initial application for exemption under

this section, the commissioner shall immediately notify the applicant

of the date of receipt of the application and shall issue a

temporary order, effective from that date of receipt, exempting the

mortgage loan servicer from the provisions of subdivision (a) of

Section 2923.52. The temporary order shall remain in effect until a

final order has been issued by the commissioner pursuant to paragraph

(3). If the initial application for exemption is denied pursuant to

paragraph (3), the temporary order shall remain in effect for 30 days

after the date of denial.

(3) Within 30 days of receipt of an initial or revised

application, the commissioner shall make a final determination on

whether the application meets the criteria of subdivision (a). If,

after review of the application, the commissioner concludes that the

mortgage loan servicer has a comprehensive loan modification program

that meets the requirements of subdivision (a), the commissioner

shall issue a final order exempting the mortgage loan servicer from

the requirements of Section 2923.52. If the commissioner concludes

that the loan modification program does not meet the requirements of

subdivision (a), the application for exemption shall be denied and a

final order shall not be issued.

(4) A mortgage loan servicer may submit a revised application if

its application for exemption is denied.

(c) The commissioner may revoke a final order, upon reasonable

notice and an opportunity to be heard, if the mortgage loan servicer

has submitted a materially false or misleading application or if the

approved loan modification program has been materially altered from

the loan modification program on which the exemption was based. A

revocation by the commissioner shall not be retroactive.

(d) The commissioner shall adopt, no later than 10 days after the

date this section takes effect, emergency and final regulations to

clarify the application of this section and Section 2923.52,

including the creation of the application for mortgage loan servicers

and requirements regarding the reporting of loan modification data

by mortgage loan servicers.

(e) Three months after the first exemption is issued pursuant to

subdivision (b) by order of any commissioner specified in paragraph

(1) of subdivision (j), the Secretary of Business, Transportation and

Housing shall submit a report to the Legislature regarding the

details of the actions taken to implement this section and the

numbers of applications received and orders issued. The secretary

shall submit an additional report six months from the date of the

submission of the first report and every six months thereafter.

Within existing resources, the commissioners shall collect, from some

or all mortgage loan servicers, data regarding loan modifications

accomplished pursuant to this section and shall make the data

available on an Internet Web site at least quarterly.

(f) The Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing shall

maintain on an Internet Web site a publicly available list disclosing

the final orders granting exemptions, the date of each order, and a

link to Internet Web sites describing the loan modification programs.

(g) Until January 1, 2010, the commissioner is authorized to

contract for goods and services necessary to implement the provisions

of this section and Section 2923.52, and any such contract shall be

exempt from Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 10290) of Part 2 of

Division 2 of the Public Contract Code. Not less than 30 days prior

to awarding any contract under this section, the commissioner shall

provide the pending contract documents to the Joint Legislative

Budget Committee.

(h) Any person who violates any provision of this section or

Section 2923.52 shall be deemed to have violated his or her license

law as it relates to these provisions.

(i) Nothing in this section or Section 2923.52 shall require a

servicer to violate contractual agreements for investor-owned loans

or provide a modification to a borrower who is not willing or able to

pay under the modification.

(j) The submission of an application for an exemption under this

section, the reliance upon such an exemption, or the provision to the

commissioner of data related to the loan modification program shall

not confer on the commissioner visitorial authority over a federally

chartered financial institution. Nothing in this subdivision is

intended to affect the authority of the commissioner over a federally

chartered financial institution pursuant to federal law or

regulation.

(k) For purposes of this section and Sections 2923.52 and 2923.54:

(1) “Commissioner” means any of the following:

(A) The Commissioner of Corporations for licensed residential

mortgage lenders and servicers and licensed finance lenders and

brokers servicing mortgage loans and any other entities servicing

mortgage loans that are not described in subparagraph (B) or (C).

(B) The Commissioner of Financial Institutions for commercial and

industrial banks and savings associations and credit unions organized

in this state servicing mortgage loans.

(C) The Real Estate Commissioner for licensed real estate brokers

servicing mortgage loans.

(2) “Housing-related debt” means debt that includes loan

principal, interest, property taxes, hazard insurance, flood

insurance, mortgage insurance, and homeowner association fees.

(3) “Mortgage loan servicer” means a person or entity that

receives or has the right to receive installment payments of

principal, interest, or other amounts placed in escrow, pursuant to

the terms of a mortgage loan or deed of trust, and performs services

relating to that receipt or enforcement as the holder of the note or

on behalf of the holder of the note evidencing that loan.

(l) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,

2011, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted

statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2011, deletes or extends

that date.

SEC. 5. Section 2923.54 is added to the Civil Code, to read:

2923.54. (a) A notice of sale filed pursuant to Section 2924f

shall include a declaration from the mortgage loan servicer stating

both of the following:

(1) Whether or not the mortgage loan servicer has obtained from

the commissioner a final or temporary order of exemption pursuant to

Section 2923.53 that is current and valid on the date the notice of

sale is filed.

(2) Whether the timeframe for giving notice of sale specified in

subdivision (a) of Section 2923.52 does not apply pursuant to Section

2923.52 or 2923.55.

(b) Failure to comply with Section 2923.52 or 2923.53 shall not

invalidate any sale that would otherwise be valid under Section

2924f.

(c) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,

2011, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted

statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2011, deletes or extends

that date.

SEC. 6. Section 2923.55 is added to the Civil Code, to read:

2923.55. Section 2923.52 shall not apply if any of the following

occurs:

(a) The borrower has surrendered the property, as evidenced by

either a letter confirming the surrender or delivery of the keys to

the property to the mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized

agent.

(b) The borrower has contracted with an organization, person, or

entity whose primary business is advising people who have decided to

leave their homes regarding how to extend the foreclosure process and

avoid their contractual obligations to mortgagees or beneficiaries.

(c) A case has been filed by the borrower under Chapter 7, 11, 12,

or 13 of Title 11 of the United States Code, and the bankruptcy

court has not entered an order closing or dismissing the bankruptcy

case or granting relief from a stay of foreclosure.

(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,

2011, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted

statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2011, deletes or extends

that date.

SEC. 7. Section 2924 of the Civil Code is amended to read:

2924. (a) Every transfer of an interest in property, other than

in trust, made only as a security for the performance of another act,

is to be deemed a mortgage, except when in the case of personal

property it is accompanied by actual change of possession, in which

case it is to be deemed a pledge. Where, by a mortgage created after

July 27, 1917, of any estate in real property, other than an estate

at will or for years, less than two, or in any transfer in trust made

after July 27, 1917, of a like estate to secure the performance of

an obligation, a power of sale is conferred upon the mortgagee,

trustee, or any other person, to be exercised after a breach of the

obligation for which that mortgage or transfer is a security, the

power shall not be exercised except where the mortgage or transfer is

made pursuant to an order, judgment, or decree of a court of record,

or to secure the payment of bonds or other evidences of indebtedness

authorized or permitted to be issued by the Commissioner of

Corporations, or is made by a public utility subject to the

provisions of the Public Utilities Act, until all of the following

apply:

(1) The trustee, mortgagee, or beneficiary, or any of their

authorized agents shall first file for record, in the office of the

recorder of each county wherein the mortgaged or trust property or

some part or parcel thereof is situated, a notice of default. That

notice of default shall include all of the following:

(A) A statement identifying the mortgage or deed of trust by

stating the name or names of the trustor or trustors and giving the

book and page, or instrument number, if applicable, where the

mortgage or deed of trust is recorded or a description of the

mortgaged or trust property.

(B) A statement that a breach of the obligation for which the

mortgage or transfer in trust is security has occurred.

(C) A statement setting forth the nature of each breach actually

known to the beneficiary and of his or her election to sell or cause

to be sold the property to satisfy that obligation and any other

obligation secured by the deed of trust or mortgage that is in

default.

(D) If the default is curable pursuant to Section 2924c, the

statement specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section

2924c.

(2) Not less than three months shall elapse from the filing of the

notice of default.

(3) Except as provided in Section 2923.52, after the lapse of the

three months described in paragraph (2), the mortgagee, trustee or

other person authorized to take the sale shall give notice of sale,

stating the time and place thereof, in the manner and for a time not

less than that set forth in Section 2924f.

(b) In performing acts required by this article, the trustee shall

incur no liability for any good faith error resulting from reliance

on information provided in good faith by the beneficiary regarding

the nature and the amount of the default under the secured

obligation, deed of trust, or mortgage. In performing the acts

required by this article, a trustee shall not be subject to Title

1.6c (commencing with Section 1788) of Part 4.

(c) A recital in the deed executed pursuant to the power of sale

of compliance with all requirements of law regarding the mailing of

copies of notices or the publication of a copy of the notice of

default or the personal delivery of the copy of the notice of default

or the posting of copies of the notice of sale or the publication of

a copy thereof shall constitute prima facie evidence of compliance

with these requirements and conclusive evidence thereof in favor of

bona fide purchasers and encumbrancers for value and without notice.

(d) All of the following shall constitute privileged

communications pursuant to Section 47:

(1) The mailing, publication, and delivery of notices as required

by this section.

(2) Performance of the procedures set forth in this article.

(3) Performance of the functions and procedures set forth in this

article if those functions and procedures are necessary to carry out

the duties described in Sections 729.040, 729.050, and 729.080 of the

Code of Civil Procedure.

(e) There is a rebuttable presumption that the beneficiary

actually knew of all unpaid loan payments on the obligation owed to

the beneficiary and secured by the deed of trust or mortgage subject

to the notice of default. However, the failure to include an actually

known default shall not invalidate the notice of sale and the

beneficiary shall not be precluded from asserting a claim to this

omitted default or defaults in a separate notice of default.

(f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,

2011, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted

statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2011, deletes or extends

that date.

SEC. 8. Section 2924 is added to the Civil Code, to read:

2924. (a) Every transfer of an interest in property, other than

in trust, made only as a security for the performance of another act,

is to be deemed a mortgage, except when in the case of personal

property it is accompanied by actual change of possession, in which

case it is to be deemed a pledge. Where, by a mortgage created after

July 27, 1917, of any estate in real property, other than an estate

at will or for years, less than two, or in any transfer in trust made

after July 27, 1917, of a like estate to secure the performance of

an obligation, a power of sale is conferred upon the mortgagee,

trustee, or any other person, to be exercised after a breach of the

obligation for which that mortgage or transfer is a security, the

power shall not be exercised except where the mortgage or transfer is

made pursuant to an order, judgment, or decree of a court of record,

or to secure the payment of bonds or other evidences of indebtedness

authorized or permitted to be issued by the Commissioner of

Corporations, or is made by a public utility subject to the

provisions of the Public Utilities Act, until all of the following

apply:

(1) The trustee, mortgagee, or beneficiary, or any of their

authorized agents shall first file for record, in the office of the

recorder of each county wherein the mortgaged or trust property or

some part or parcel thereof is situated, a notice of default. That

notice of default shall include all of the following:

(A) A statement identifying the mortgage or deed of trust by

stating the name or names of the trustor or trustors and giving the

book and page, or instrument number, if applicable, where the

mortgage or deed of trust is recorded or a description of the

mortgaged or trust property.

(B) A statement that a breach of the obligation for which the

mortgage or transfer in trust is security has occurred.

(C) A statement setting forth the nature of each breach actually

known to the beneficiary and of his or her election to sell or cause

to be sold the property to satisfy that obligation and any other

obligation secured by the deed of trust or mortgage that is in

default.

(D) If the default is curable pursuant to Section 2924c, the

statement specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section

2924c.

(2) Not less than three months shall elapse from the filing of the

notice of default.

(3) After the lapse of the three months described in paragraph

(2), the mortgagee, trustee, or other person authorized to take the

sale shall give notice of sale, stating the time and place thereof,

in the manner and for a time not less than that set forth in Section

2924f.

(b) In performing acts required by this article, the trustee shall

incur no liability for any good faith error resulting from reliance

on information provided in good faith by the beneficiary regarding

the nature and the amount of the default under the secured

obligation, deed of trust, or mortgage. In performing the acts

required by this article, a trustee shall not be subject to Title

1.6c (commencing with Section 1788) of Part 4.

(c) A recital in the deed executed pursuant to the power of sale

of compliance with all requirements of law regarding the mailing of

copies of notices or the publication of a copy of the notice of

default or the personal delivery of the copy of the notice of default

or the posting of copies of the notice of sale or the publication of

a copy thereof shall constitute prima facie evidence of compliance

with these requirements and conclusive evidence thereof in favor of

bona fide purchasers and encumbrancers for value and without notice.

(d) All of the following shall constitute privileged

communications pursuant to Section 47:

(1) The mailing, publication, and delivery of notices as required

by this section.

(2) Performance of the procedures set forth in this article.

(3) Performance of the functions and procedures set forth in this

article if those functions and procedures are necessary to carry out

the duties described in Sections 729.040, 729.050, and 729.080 of the

Code of Civil Procedure.

(e) There is a rebuttable presumption that the beneficiary

actually knew of all unpaid loan payments on the obligation owed to

the beneficiary and secured by the deed of trust or mortgage subject

to the notice of default. However, the failure to include an actually

known default shall not invalidate the notice of sale and the

beneficiary shall not be precluded from asserting a claim to this

omitted default or defaults in a separate notice of default.

(f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2011.

SEC. 9. The provisions of this act are severable. If any provision

of this act or its application is held invalid, that invalidity

shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given

effect without the invalid provision or application.

Breaking News Story: California Foreclosure Halted for 90 days!!

If you’re faced with no lender cooperation and a Foreclosed home, don’t leave, Get Legal Assistance!

Connie

Here is an article from Wikipedia on this:

A Massachusetts business trust or MBT is a legal trust set up for the purposes of business in the state of Massachusetts. They may also be referred to as an unincorporated business organization or UBO.

Many businesses are formed using MBT’s to mitigate taxation, also significant numbers of mutual funds are structured as MBTs.

During the last century and through the mid years of this century the tax laws and State regulations strongly favored corporate structures, tightening of these laws in the past 10-15 years have resulted in the resurgence of the use of the UBO. For example, in 1985 the Scudder Capital Growth Fund, Inc. and Kemper Money Market Fund, Inc. changed their forms of organization from corporate to a Business Trust Organization.

History

The Business Trust made its debut in Massachusetts in 1827. As a result, a U.S. Business Trust today is often called a “Massachusetts Trust” in legal circles. The U.S. Supreme Court defined the Massachusetts Trust as a form of business organization, common in Massachusetts consisting essentially of an arrangement whereby property is conveyed to trustees: in accordance with terms of the Trust. The business is to be held and managed for the benefit of persons who hold transferable certificates issued by the trustees showing the shares into which the beneficial interest in the property is divided.

This method of transacting business in commercial enterprises originated in Massachusetts as a result of negative laws prohibiting the development of real estate without a special act of the legislature or in other words, without “permission” of the State . So, the Business Trust was created under Common-law right to contract to obtain legislatively constructed business organizations advantages but without having to gain “permission” to enter into a business activity and suffer under the burdens and restrictions that are placed on “statutorily constructed organizations”.

Taxation

The terms “business trust” is not used in the Internal Revenue Code. The regulations require that trusts operating a trade or business be treated as a corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship, if the grantor (also known as a “settlor” or “trustor”), beneficiary or fiduciary (also known as a “trustee”) materially participates in the operations or daily management of the business. If the grantor maintains control of the trust, then grantor trust rules will apply. Otherwise, the trust would be treated as a simple or complex trust, depending on the trust instrument. (Source: www.irs.gov)

Federal income tax implications

For federal income tax purposes in the United States, there are several kinds of trusts: grantor trusts whose tax consequences flow directly to the settlor’s Form 1040 (U.S. Individual Income Tax Return) and state return, simple trusts in which all the income created must be distributed to one of more beneficiaries and is therefore taxed to the non-settlor beneficiary (e.g. the widow of a trust created by the late husband), whether or not the income is actually distributed (which can occur), and complex trusts, which are, in general, all trusts that aren’t grantor trusts or simple trusts. Some trusts may alternate between simple and complex under certain conditions. Many but not all trust organizations do their own tax work. This can be highly specialized work.

All simple and complex trusts are irrevocable and in both cases any capital gains realized in the portfolios are taxed to the trust corpus or principal.

Here is a link to a person who has compiled a book of laws and Supreme Court decisions along with various forms and concepts key in understanding how to form one.  I highly recommend you get this book for reference and assistance. He may also be able to provide you with attorney referral to an attorney in your State to assist you with establishment of one, should you need it.

http://www.svpvril.com/ubo.html

I’ve set up two Business Trusts and would be willing to get you a copy of what was set up for a minimal fee: $100.  Otherwise, the URL attached has the book and most of the actions to get this up and running, however I am not an attorney and will not give any legal advice on this, you would need to find an attorney who knew of these.

Connie Saunders

Foreclosure Freedom Network
(877) 333-4506

These top 25 lenders were responsible for nearly $1 trillion of subprime loans, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of 7.2 million “high interest” loans made from 2005 through 2007. Together, the companies account for about 72 percent of high-priced loans reported to the government at the peak of the subprime market. Securities created from subprime loans have been blamed for the economic collapse from which the world’s economies have yet to recover.

1. Countrywide Financial Corp.
   Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $97.2 billion
2. Ameriquest Mortgage Co./ACC Capital Holdings Corp.
   Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $80.6 billion
3. New Century Financial Corp.
   Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $75.9 billion
4. First Franklin Corp./National City Corp./Merrill Lynch & Co.
   Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $68 billion
5. Long Beach Mortgage Co./Washington Mutual
   Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $65.2 billion
6. Option One Mortgage Corp./H&R Block Inc.
   Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $64.7 billion
7. Fremont Investment & Loan/Fremont General Corp.
   Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $61.7 billion
8. Wells Fargo Financial/Wells Fargo & Co.
   Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $51.8 billion
9. HSBC Finance Corp./HSBC Holdings plc
   Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $50.3 billion ***
10. WMC Mortgage Corp./General Electric Co.
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $49.6 billion
11. BNC Mortgage Inc./Lehman Brothers
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $47.6 billion ***
12. Chase Home Finance/JPMorgan Chase & Co.
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $30 billion
13. Accredited Home Lenders Inc./Lone Star Funds V
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $29.0 billion
14. IndyMac Bancorp, Inc.
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $26.4 billion
15. CitiFinancial / Citigroup Inc.
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $26.3 billion
16. EquiFirst Corp./Regions Financial Corp./Barclays Bank plc
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $24.4 billion
17. Encore Credit Corp./ ECC Capital Corp./Bear Stearns Cos. Inc.
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $22.3 billion
18. American General Finance Inc./American International Group Inc. (AIG)
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $21.8 billion ***
19. Wachovia Corp.
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $17.6 billion.
20. GMAC LLC/Cerberus Capital Management
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $17.2 billion ***
21. NovaStar Financial Inc.
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $16 billion
22. American Home Mortgage Investment Corp.
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $15.3 billion
23. GreenPoint Mortgage Funding Inc./Capital One Financial Corp.
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $13.1 billion
24. ResMAE Mortgage Corp./Citadel Investment Group
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $13 billion
25. Aegis Mortgage Corp./Cerberus Capital Management
    Amount of Subprime Loans: At least $11.5 billion

I would like to take a moment to let you know that if you are in that kind of stress, whatever your job (CFO of Freddie Mac, Barber, Auto worker) take a walk. Take a long walkabout if you need to, months if needed, to feel the ground again beneath your feet, see the sky and stars at night, invest in creative hobbies and don’t worry about monetary losses – because life is in you today, it really is and you make your tomorrow. Your happiness is dependent on simple steps, baby steps if you will, taken to be more honest, value others a bit more, be industrious and the like and yes, it is possible to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, no matter how shattered he seems at the moment.

Foreclosure Freedom Network has resolved to help in this Crisis with a Hotline, which you can call in to with a personal Crisis connected with this whole mess. For every caller I will mail a copy of a booklet called ‘The Way To Happiness’. This is a non religious moral code that outlines simple ways to re-discover the most prescious gem of all ~ Real Happiness! Everyone can have this, it’s free!

Call today: (877) 333-4506 and get your own booklet. And remember to create blue skies and a shining sun for your future!

Connie

Helping Katrina Victims

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Berlin. In order to increase sales she decides to allow her loyal customers – most of whom are unemployed alcoholics – to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Here’s a link to the President of the California Mortgage Bankers Association’s viewpoint of the Obama plan.  It’s an interesting middle of the road viewpoint and I think it spells the lender viewpoint out very well.  It’s important when getting a Loan Modification to really know and understand the Lender Viewpoint, so it would benefit all who are looking for this to give a listen.

Connie Saunders

DO IT YOURSELF LOAN MODIFICATION

By Connie Saunders

(a note: I plan to return to update this from time to time – to put in links to great sites where one can get your words and concepts defined [it does take time but keep revisiting to get more from this at a later date!] – so you don’t end up out to lunch while reading this – prompted by terms you don’t understand.  Meanwhile – if you run across any term you don’t understand and want a quick definition, either put it into the Search bar (top right) or just email me at connie@ForeclosureFreedomNetwork.com and I’ll go to the site and fix it within 24 hours – sound fair?

I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY, but as a licensed Realtor and having worked with Lenders for 20 years I have information in this arena that can possibly help you.  Be sure you understand that it is YOU who are responsible for the condition you are in and the condition you will be in, in the future, good or bad.  But if you are short and can’t afford an actual good Real Estate Attorney to help you out of the Mortgage Soup you are in, you can and should be your own counsel and there are things that you can do yourself to help get back on the rails; so study up on the subject and I think you have a fighting chance of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.

Before I begin with the ‘How To’ I want to clarify for many of you what you can expect to get with a loan modification.  Most lenders WON’T lower principal unless you happen to have Fannie or Freddie as the investor that your loan Servicer is servicing their loans for.  Fannie and Freddie don’t typically service their own loans, but have for decades allowed lenders to do so with no quarrel over trying to make you – homeowner – know they were even present as a lien holder.  This is still the case.

Lenders when evaluating a default situation are obligated to the loans “investor” which is most often NOT who you think of as the Lender – but they ARE in Fact – they just sign over Power of Attorney for the Servicer/Apparent Lender to be able to act on their behalf.  Let’s give an example of Bank of America.  No doubt you believe they are your lender, but often times B of a pools these loans they ORIGINATE together and either sell the entire pool to Freddie/Fannie or another investor (Deutch Bank, ING Direct,  are heavily investing in US properties – though their investors are foreign and don’t necessarily care about the rules being published by Congress and the White House.

First of all, one does need to show a hardship (typically).  It’s in the lender regulations.  I say this with the caveat that lenders do sometimes bend their own regulations when it makes more sense to them, and why not – really.  In the State of California anyone can walk away from a property and have it Foreclose with no further encumbrance, because in California and many States – they are what’s called One Action States.  So the lender can’t Foreclose and ALSO Sue you for the same piece of land.  They can go Judicial and Sue OR do a Foreclosure and because the cost of Foreclosures are so much cheaper, unless your property value has gone completely into the toilet it will be a better deal for them to Foreclose.  Another point on this is that when a property is what’s called ‘upside down’ meaning the principal balance on the mortgages exceed the Current value of the property, the amount in excess is called UNSECURED.  Rules can change for unsecured loans.  If the value is TOO low (15 cents on the dollar – perhaps – like with many Condominium conversions that never did the promised upgrades – for instance) some lenders will want to sue rather than Foreclose – particularly if they see some deep pockets on your balance sheet.

So – first of all – please check with your State on how lenders proceed with Foreclosure.  Do they sue, Foreclose or BOTH.  Florida, for instance, does both!  Make sure you’re staying ahead of the freight train as the lender marches down the aisle, in the hangman game, to put he rope around your house!

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, VA, FHA all are active on following the strategic guidelines set out over the past month for the Home Affordable Modification Program.  They can’t solicit this, but they are currently dedicated to assisting home owners at this point in getting some help on their loan – If They Need AND ASK FOR IT ! !

How need and/or hardship is determined is by Financial Form – showing all Income and Expenses.  Credit Report – which they pull – corroborating financial form – showing all income and outlay of monthly money, Bank Statements, pay stubs and/or if self employed Profit & Loss Statements, and Tax Returns are generally requested and when they are – one must turn these in.   Also – if you rent rooms, apartments or houses you will need to add this income to your Financial Form.  The only reason not to is if you filed an extension for taxes and can show the Extension Form to them.  You’ll also need to turn in your Hardship Letter.  Please see my page for this, for more detail on what is needed and wanted there.

Some lenders have geared up to justify their actions in ‘following the crowd’ of Servicers not getting on board with the Obama Plans.  The so called ‘toxic loans’ got that way In this market with unestablished – often unwritten – rules that were devised behind closed doors with the top mortgage lending institutions and those who created these are doing their best to justify the resultant slaughter (seizing unjustly the homes of homeowners who could pay more than the hard money investor – who are buying up these properties at auction.

This mess is backed up by loans currently being hard to come by now and most of the properties flooding the market today – when they do – are going to investors WITH CASH!!

When you have the combination of needing CASH with needing it FAST this is called DISTRESSED.  It’s well known in the Mortgage Industry and placed on most Real Estate Basic Course Exams that Distress causes prices to go DOWN.

Essentially ignoring a more viable offer from the homeowner in hardship who can pay more over time than one of these CASH buyers, has been found unconstitutional in the State of California.  I’ve reviewed carefully the forth amendment (as I advise all of you to do as well) and can clearly see a cause effect relationship between seizing these properties – in foreclosure, short sale, deed in lieu – forcing people out of their homes – as being a serious violation of our Constitutional Rights.  All short sales, Deeds in Lieu and Foreclosures end up on the Real Estate Market – GLUTTING it with inventory.  Another commonly known datum in Real Estate – again taught in the first grade of Real Estate – is when you glut the market – Prices Go Down.  Now when you do, prices go down for ALL properties on the block, not just the ones that the lenders sold or allowed short sales on.  This sets a new Low in many cases and once a home sells lower than the other homes in the neighborhood it DRIVES the market Down, Down, Down.

It’s easy for me to see why our forefathers didn’t like this either and put this point in as an amendment.  It is UNREASONABLE SEIZURE, isn’t it, to take a property and sell it on the RE market, just because the owner is late, their loan amount is too high now let’s say because of job loss, overtime hours cut, etc, etc, the list goes on and on – due to their hardship – BUT THEY CAN PAY – JUST LESS and meanwhile that same investor will get less money in pocket by doing this than just allowing a modification for the person to help to keep them in the home.

Here’s another Real Estate Principal that beginning Realtor’s learn – really well – is that all mortgage debt that is ABOVE the Current Market Value (CMV) of the home (look on Zillow.com to see Current Market Value estimate for yours) all mortgage debt above the CMV (all of it) IS UNSECURED – anyway – isn’t it?  So one very logical way to handle unsecured debt is to put that at the end of the loan or FORGIVE it – if and only if needed- in order to get to that magical part of the equation where youre mortgage (PITIA) are now at 31 – 34% of your Income.  The standard way to do loan modifications follow a sequence of actions called a ‘Waterfall’.  This is where first you do blah – to the full limit, then blah – fully, then blah blah and each one of these things your doing is completing up that step as much as needed up to any limits that have been placed on this.

With this understanding it can be puzzling to understand why so many lenders are ignoring and refusing to give any form of principle reduction or forbearance.  I’ll make it easier for you.  FOLLOW THE MONEY.  Fannie and Freddie have had (for decades now) the mission to accomplish what’s called ‘Affordable Housing’.  Back in the 90′s the rules were changed on ‘Affordable Housing’ requirements and lenders were required to pool up loans – a certain percentage of those they made – let’s say 8-9% off hand – and for these loans they were ‘allowed’ to turn this blind eye to the rule book and give people who in every sense of the word were simply UNQUALIFIED a mortgage.  All in the name of ‘AFFORDABLE HOUSING’ by having things like 2/28′s (2 years of forced low interest only payments – i.e. at 1 or 2% ONLY – followed by a RESET where the payments due would be adjustable now and stay at 3-4 points above Libor index in many cases, but in all cases above Libor which would not just DOUBLE the mortgage payment but could triple, quadruple or worse.

Now these ‘special – Affordable Loans’ were contrived specifically for and allowed for SUB PRIME people!  Now even if you’re bad at math, it’s not hard to understand that 4x mortgage payments occurring overnight is way out of line.  These products WERE known as TOXIC for years and nothing done to handle them BEFORE they reset, just wait till after it resets for the cries and yelps and defaults and even then in many cases deaf ears were placed between investors and home owners.  This is not only unconscionable, but deliberate and a Constitutional Violation, isn’t it unreasonable seizure?  In this case these guys were set up.  They never could afford this home.  Many of them put money down – now a wash.  While many of these poor fellows will be foreclosed on – because they still don’t qualify for a loan, it is possible – remote though it could be – to handle the lender to forgive or forbear interest and move on.  This is WHY Fannie and Freddie (in this new Obama Plan amendment issued a couple weeks ago – adding on points for streamlining the handling of second mortgages and allowing certain ‘pool’ loans to automatically qualify for the full Obama workout package.  Why, to make up the extreme damage done.  Make no mistake.  I don’t stand with a finger accusing them, I listened to the explanation of this at the latest Roundtable discussion with the Overseer of Fannie, Freddie and all Government Sponsored Enterprises, including VA and FHA and Federal Home Loan Banks.

The lower key approach to this tragedy of errors is the better approach, I agree.  Not necessary to stand up ‘aghast’ against these conspirators – the list is just too long, because really every participant in the game had some clues about this fiendish scheme to uplift Sub Prime guys with ‘Affordable Loans’ that when you looked at it weren’t really affordable at all.  True?

So again when looking at Lenders or Servicers who are essentially ignoring a more viable offer from the homeowner in hardship who can pay more over time than one of these CASH buyers BUT needs a better break on their loan terms to be able to do it, has been found unconstitutional in the State of California, in my mind and I believe when you read the Fourth Amendment you too will agree and if you do end up seeking legal counsel to get your assistance because of a lender who just won’t play ball, feel free to use my blog as a reference, lots of good stuff on it!

Oversight personnel in the past have basically put these offending lenders on the map by turning a blind eye to their deliberate breaking of the normal lending rules (look up the word ‘Zippy’ on my site – for a perfect example of this) – by knowing the automated underwriting system rules and coaching their clientele to fill their applications out in a way to ensure success, “affordable housing” goals were flying high.  So, because of this there is legal remedy – of sorts – if you can get a good lawyer to assist you (if your loan is not Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the lender/Servicer isn’t cooperating – because Fannie/Freddie are playing ball) (AND ONLY IF you have a genuine hardship – otherwise – hit the road!  The money is going to run out before everyone is assisted and the agreed upon reality is to help those with hardships FIRST, and perhaps EXCLUSIVELY) to get their first mortgage loan (Principal, Interest, Property Taxes, Homeowners and Flood/Hazard Insurance and Home Owner Association fees – if any) ( or PITIA) adjusted down to 31% – 34% of your Gross Income.

To begin educating yourself you can go to the FHA and HUD and other professional websites where proper cautions are given and guidelines outlined for you by people in the know – who have no vested interest in your going their way.  Read these cautions and don’t just run out and spend thousands of dollars to let a stranger help you (with you knowing no more than you did the day you got the bad loan you are now fighting to get out of).  If a licensed professional won’t or can’t accept payment after promised service is given, skip them or ensure their guarantee is iron clad and they have a lot to lose if they renege.

HOPE NOW consultants (888) 995-4673 are free and some will spend hours on the phone helping to educate you on what you would qualify for and help you to wade through the back lines of your mortgage servicers shops to get to the right person and get the right answers but remember, most HOPE NOW consultants are “volunteers” and most are loan officers from the banks during in their day job (their boss is sharing ‘HOPE’ as a resource pool for helping you all get through their bungling internal lines so must donate staff to the operation).  Yes, HOPE NOW is a non-profit volunteer organization but they use lending professionals to be your negotiator.  So why not study up yourself on what your State and Federal rights are first and then go in with both guns loaded and your head gear on and be alert to your rights while your hand is out for some help.  It can’t hurt. Then try going to your lender directly and if that is unsuccessful – go to HOPE with the armor you need to make it a success.

Reading and Understanding Amendment IV of the US Constitution is a good start.

“Amendment IV: Warrants and searches.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

See my videos, website and blog for more information on my opinions and data on this but the long and short of it is that some (such as the Congress of the State of California) feel that lenders [failing to help homeowners stay in their homes, opting rather to foreclose and evict them, taking a guaranteed loss in revenue for their investors (Freddie/Fannie, etc.) while depressing the market - glutting it with a seemingly endless inventory of homes  - forcing the prices (supply/demand) down and down] have demonstrated negligence in exercising their various options to clean up this crisis which ends up violating the Constitutional Rights of US (particularly California and other heavily hit States) Citizens in that it is “UNREASONABLE Seizure” of a home.  Wouldn’t it be better (more reasonable) to work with the property owner to stay in the home?  There is such a wide cash margin between the benefit of keeping the loan and property in active status rather than forcing the default to have the worst financial outcome – Foreclosure – forcing the greatest loss for investors (Freddie/Fannie etc) before stretching into the realm of PR (Principal Reduction ~ bad word ~ Shhhh!).

So here’s the basic lineup for getting a loan modification:

1.      Educate yourself, so that you don’t make a mess of things once you get on the line with your lender.

2.      Fill out a financial form. It’s very important to be honest and accurate.  Your lender will eventually get your bank statements and can see your credit information and is therefore aware of everything in your name with your social so please don’t abbreviate this to make things look better – or whatever other reason you may have – it won’t work.  If you can’t be honest, don’t work with the lender at all, or me or any professional – skip the loan mod, please.  To make sure these forms are accurate when you fill them out, pull out your bank statements and monthly bills folder and fill it out before the call. You can find a generic financial form on my blog.  Each lender is somewhat different, but most will (or should) ask for these items.  Keep in mind here that if you are giving monthly income you must break each and every expense down to monthly – including things like Property Taxes.  (Use a calculator to figure this all out)  When asked for income – Clarify it but generally what they want is NET, not GROSS and if you give them gross, be sure to itemize the expenses that come out before you get your check – whether they ask for them or not.  Be sure to include income from rents and get all rents on a lease (year is best) before the call if you are going to use this as income that will count with them.  If estimating – don’t purposefully go high or low.  Either way can eventually hurt you, the truth is your best asset here. Do not include corporate, partnership, trust or other non-related or business income or expenses as your own unless there is a lease or reimbursement agreement that does indeed link this to you.  Don’t forget child care/support/tuition/sports necessities; cable and cell, personal loans, credit card minimums, medical insurance and expenses, HOA or COA fees, Mortgage Insurance and other needed Insurance items including Health and Life, tax liens, all utilities (average out) and try to estimate other expenses accurately.

Now you can review your financial form and analyze it for several things that the lender will also be analyzing.  You may as well analyze this first and get it really ready.  Why set yourself up for a loss when a few simple fixes can handle it, right before you start?

a.             First thing to analyze the current market value of your home.  You can do this the ‘Do it yourself’ way by going to www.zillow.com and seeing what the ‘Zestimate’ is for it and just trust that, it usually isn’t that far off.  Add a percentage (i.e. 20%) to the Zestimate for good will and good measure – and later be sure to make this point with your lender – you want them to know that your proposal is clearly better than their foreclosing (because surely they can’t expect to get 20% more – for example – than current market value in a foreclosure or REO sale). VERY IMPORTANT STEP.

b.            Then analyze for discretionary income, meaning extra money to spend at your own discretion.  You’ve already filled out your Financial Form.  Save that and make a copy of it and on this copy replace your current mortgage payments (for the sake of this step) with your proposed new payments (Current Value + a percentage for good will – i.e. 10-20%) and then take a new look at all your expenses and see where you can shave things down, anywhere you can.  Anything that is discretionary (or at your option or discretion) delete from the form.  Be sure you aren’t putting more than minimum Credit Card payments.  Now see if you have a positive balance.  If you do, see if this balance exceeds $500.  I know $500 is arbitrary, but lenders don’t like you to have too much discretionary income, so if it is higher – be sure you can defend its need (i.e. I retire in a year) or make certain you have listed out all your expenses, i.e. amortize your annual taxes if you’re an independent contractor, add up annual medical extra’s and divide by 12 to get monthly, etc. and calculate it again.  Keep in mind $100/week is considered reasonable per person for food, clothing, household and other expenses.

c.             If your balance is too low of discretionary income you’ll need to figure out how to bring it up.  It’s no good if you have no money for a dentist and end up again in default because of a dental emergency. And if you’re in the minus – you may need to do some surgery to get this back in the plus!! Let’s face it you’ll know what the problem is if it’s too far upside down.  You may just need to buckle down and get a second job on the weekends or sell your boat or whatever. Don’t waste everyone’s time if its upside down and you’ve already brought the new mortgage down to a reasonable amount for all parties, handle it first, then give them a call.  You can continue to negotiate with them right on up to the day of Foreclosure, but I wouldn’t get lax about this – you could lose out just because the lender didn’t have the last minute resources to mess with this that late in the game.  I generally consider five days out the last possible minute and only when someone forces this issue by not having contacted me prior to this time.

d.            Next take a look at your Total (Front End) Debt to Income ratio.  To do this add up your proposed new mortgage debt and include Interest, Principal, Property Taxes and Mortgage Homeowners, Hazard, Flood Insurance plus HOA/COA fees and divide this by your Gross Income to see the percentage.  The desired percentage here is 31%, I believe Countrywides figure is 34%, so this is the range you want to be in.

Massage your proposed New Mortgage payment to get these items into line.

To further analyze this and see where you stand with income and expenses and your bottom line analysis, you can also do the Back End Debt to Income Ratio:  To do this add up your proposed new mortgage debt (don’t forget your second mortgage) and include Interest, Principal, Property Taxes and Mortgage Insurance and HOA/COA fees.  To this also add Credit Card debt and Auto debt along with any other tax lien or official debt (not a loan from your Mom and Dad) that will show up on your Credit statement.  Once you have the total, divide this by your income.  This ratio should not be higher than 50% and more ideally would be 38%.  This is somewhat negotiable – because some of your expenses are discretionary, Auto or Credit Card debt can expire fairly quickly if you get some overtime or a windfall, etc. but this will be looked at by the lender, so why not also look at it yourself, so that you can help explain to the lender why something is out of the normal expected and needed range for a lender and when it is expected to return to normal and what you are doing to ‘cope’.  Point is if you can show that you are prepared to sustain a loan modification given, you’ll have more cooperation than if you can’t show this.

3.   Articulate your hardship.  (look at my tab on this, to get an idea of what’s looked at here.  Put this in writing before you make any call, in case something comes in and ties up your tongue.  This is one area you don’t want to skimp on or undervalue.  Lenders do not want to help someone without a hardship, they just don’t, they are drilled on this – don’t take this part too lightly.  Be sure here to detail how and why you got into this mess, fell behind… and also be sure to tell them what you would like to have that you feel is sustainable, and why.  Why not less or more?  This is important to state.  Please don’t try to skim off more than you really need on this.  The entire Country is hurting now because of fraud and deceit, you don’t want this on your conscience.  Do your best to detail how and why you fell behind and why you are a good candidate to be able to sustain this loan modification you have set out.   NOW YOU SHOULD BE READY.

4.   Call or write your lender requesting help with your loan.  Keep in mind ~ DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.  If you can, tape the call, with informed consent.  The lender is likely taping your call.  It may be difficult for those of you with your head in the sand.  But remember ~ THINGS DON’T GROW IN SAND!  Believe me – to do nothing won’t make it all go away (if your in default and the current loan terms are unmanageable) there is a chance (if you give your lender a call) that they can help you.

5.   Ask for the ‘home retention’ department.  Be sure to use this term.  Lenders call it different things but this will clue them in that you want to retain (not short sell) your home.  Just asking for ‘loss mitigation’ will likely get you over to short sales.  Once on the phone with someone get his or her name and employee #.  Often they can’t reveal their last name but are happy to tell you their employee # so you can quote them if needed up the line.

6.   Tell them why you are a good candidate for a loan modification such as “Just 10-20% payment reduction and loan can be sustained.” or other situation or loss and data on how its now handled or what the remedy is.

Go into detail and get them involved in Human Emotion WITH YOU, don’t irritate; rather inspire and energize.

7.   Give them your financial data, when asked for.  Be sure to give them all of it; don’t abbreviate important expense.  Be sure to FILL OUT THEIR PROPRIETARY FORM if there is one shown on our site (bottom left) or on the lender web site) and also be sure to break out your Back end Debt to Income Ratio for them – and discuss this so that you and your consultant are both on the same page and agree it the proposed workout new monthly loan (interest or principle or both) does indeed need to be what you have proposed.

8.   Persevere, don’t be a wimp, know your rights.  Have a cheat sheet with your rights written out and don’t be afraid to throw one out there if someone isn’t giving you the time of day.

9.   If you  ‘blow it’, end the call before you complete their questionnaire – if you need to regroup.  Don’t tell them “yes – I accept” until you are happy with what you have told them and what they are working out with you.  If you hang up early there may be so little documentation on file that when you call back it’ll be the beginning of a new round with minimal residue from the old round to get underfoot.

10.   Remember – KEEP NOTES and if you forgot to do this during the call – immediately after the call completely debrief on what transpired.  Use the above to prompt your memory on things to note and be very specific on amounts given them and other details discussed that will help you remember them at some future need.

11.   Call back once a week until the modification is in your hand, ready to sign, then read every line carefully and don’t sign it if it won’t work, it’s a waste of time and can seriously harm your chances for a good one later.  Lenders don’t want to modify more than once, so it’s best not to test this envelope if you don’t have to.

Don’t undervalue the need to keep a cushion, reserves and some discretionary income. Keep in mind that reserves will look like a pot of gold to them, so you must identify any you have with what they are set aside for (boiler is on the brink, roof life is up in a year, spouse’s heart condition could be crippling, etc., etc. whatever it is list it out and tell them when the time is right.

The OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) at the end of ’08 revealed that 51% of new loan modifications are defaulting in less than six months, in January this figure was amended to 54%  Bottom line is that if you put yourself into the drivers seat and learn these terms and concepts you can stand up for yourself and hopefully save your home.  What’s the point if you get into a modified loan and six months later go into default again and may be closer to the chopping block than you were before!

Truly if you can’t educate yourself, get your head out of the sand, read all the terms and conditions of your new loan modification clearly and you cannot really confront how sustainable the proposed modification is for you, you should seek good legal counsel.  Also if you have done the above diligently and the lender isn’t budging, this is where a good attorney can really help you, particularly guys if you have documented everything!!  Including Employee names/numbers.  A good Attorney will likely cost you $2,500 to $4,000 and some are better than others. Call us if you need help finding one.

Connie (Constance) Saunders is a licensed California Realtor and has worked with Lenders for 20 years.  She is very familiar with California Real Estate ‘Civil Codes’ and Regulations and having worked with lenders on State specific compliance needs over the past 20 years has experience with many State Codes.  She has helped with both Short Sales and Loan Modifications since the middle of 2007 when this Mortgage Crisis began.  More information can be obtained by going to her website at www.foreclosurefreedomnetwork.com – which links to her blog.

Financial Information Form

______________________________________________   ____________________________________________

Signature                                                   Date                      Signature                                                 Date

Congressman Ron Paul speaking before the US House of Representatives November 20, 2008 PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY
Madame Speaker, many Americans are hoping the new administration will solve the economic problems we face. That’s not likely to happen, because the economic advisors to the new President have no more understanding of how to get us out of this mess than previous administrations and Congresses understood how the crisis was brought about in the first place.

Except for a rare few, Members of Congress are unaware of Austrian Free Market economics. For the last 80 years, the legislative, judiciary and executive branches of our government have been totally influenced by Keynesian economics. If they had had any understanding of the Austrian economic explanation of the business cycle, they would have never permitted the dangerous bubbles that always lead to painful corrections.

Today, a major economic crisis is unfolding. New government programs are started daily, and future plans are being made for even more.  All are based on the belief that we’re in this mess because free-market capitalism and sound money failed. The obsession is with more spending, bailouts of bad investments, more debt, and further dollar debasement. Many are saying we need an international answer to our problems with the establishment of a world central bank and a single fiat reserve currency. These suggestions are merely more of the same policies that created our mess and are doomed to fail.

At least 90% of the cause for the financial crisis can be laid at the doorstep of the Federal Reserve. It is the manipulation of credit, the money supply, and interest rates that caused the various bubbles to form. Congress added fuel to the fire by various programs and institutions like the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FDIC, and HUD mandates, which were all backed up by aggressive court rulings.

The Fed has now doled out close to $2 trillion in subsidized loans to troubled banks and other financial institutions. The Federal Reserve and Treasury constantly brag about the need for “transparency” and “oversight,” but it’s all just talk – they want none of it. They want secrecy while the privileged are rescued at the expense of the middle class.

It is unimaginable that Congress could be so derelict in its duty.  It does nothing but condone the arrogance of the Fed in its refusal to tell us where the $2 trillion has gone. All Members of Congress and all Americans should be outraged that conditions could deteriorate to this degree. It’s no wonder that a large and growing number of Americans are now demanding an end to the Fed.

The Federal Reserve created our problem, yet it manages to gain even more power in the socialization of the entire financial system. The whole bailout process this past year was characterized by no oversight, no limits, no concerns, no understanding, and no common sense.

Similar mistakes were made in the 1930s and ushered in the age of the New Deal, the Fair Deal, the Great Society and the supply-siders who convinced conservatives that deficits didn’t really matter after all, since they were anxious to finance a very expensive deficit-financed American empire.

All the programs since the Depression were meant to prevent recessions and depressions. Yet all that was done was to plant the seeds of the greatest financial bubble in all history. Because of this lack of understanding, the stage is now set for massive nationalization of the financial system and quite likely the means of production.

Although it is obvious that the Keynesians were all wrong and interventionism and central economic planning don’t work, whom are we listening to for advice on getting us out of this mess?  Unfortunately, it’s the Keynesians, the socialists, and big-government proponents.

Who’s being ignored? The Austrian free-market economists – the very ones who predicted not only the Great Depression, but the calamity we’re dealing with today. If the crisis was predictable and is explainable, why did no one listen? It’s because too many politicians believed that a free lunch was possible and a new economic paradigm had arrived. But we’ve heard that one before – like the philosopher’ s stone that could turn lead into gold.  Prosperity without work is a dream of the ages.

Over and above this are those who understand that political power is controlled by those who control the money supply. Liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats came to believe, as they were taught in our universities, that deficits don’t matter and that Federal Reserve accommodation by monetizing debt is legitimate and never harmful. The truth is otherwise. Central economic planning is always harmful. Inflating the money supply and purposely devaluing the dollar is always painful and dangerous.

The policies of big-government proponents are running out of steam.
Their policies have failed and will continue to fail. Merely doing more of what caused the crisis can hardly provide a solution.

The good news is that Austrian economists are gaining more acceptance every day and have a greater chance of influencing our future than they’ve had for a long time.

The basic problem is that proponents of big government require a central bank in order to surreptitiously pay bills without direct taxation. Printing needed money delays the payment. Raising taxes would reveal the true cost of big government, and the people would revolt. But the piper will be paid, and that’s what this crisis is all about.

There are limits. A country cannot forever depend on a central bank to keep the economy afloat and the currency functionable through constant acceleration of money supply growth. Eventually the laws of economics will overrule the politicians, the bureaucrats and the central bankers. The system will fail to respond unless the excess debt and mal-investment is liquidated. If it goes too far and the wild extravagance is not arrested, runaway inflation will result, and an entirely new currency will be required to restore growth and reasonable political stability.

The choice we face is ominous: We either accept world-wide authoritarian government holding together a flawed system, OR we restore the principles of the Constitution, limit government power, restore commodity money without a Federal Reserve system, reject world government, and promote the cause of peace by protecting liberty equally for all persons. Freedom is the answer.
Ron Paul

~IMPORTANT FOR ALL CALIFORNIANS~
FORECLOSURE YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS TO LOAN MODIFICATION

California Senate Bill 1137 asserts that the situation with foreclosures is so critical that to preserve Article IV of the Constitution: (The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated…) Lenders must modify loans for homeowners where foreclosure or short sale will bring less funds.  In other words modifications can be insisted upon where needed, so long as the principal balance isn’t reduced below what the lender will get in Foreclosure!!

Senate Bill 1137 SEC. 10.  “(a) This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:  In order to stabilize and protect the state and local economies and housing market at the earliest possible time, it is necessary for this act to take effect immediately.”

Senate Bill 1137 adds Section 2923.6 to the Civil Code to detail this further:

“2923.6.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares that any duty servicers may have to maximize net present value under their pooling and servicing agreements is owed to all parties in a loan pool, not to any particular parties, and that a servicer acts in the best interests of all parties if it agrees to or implements a loan modification or workout plan for which both of the following apply:

(1) The loan is in payment default, or payment default is reasonably foreseeable.

(2) Anticipated recovery under the loan modification or workout plan exceeds the anticipated recovery through foreclosure on a net present value basis.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the mortgagee, beneficiary, or authorized agent offer the borrower a loan modification or workout plan if such a modification or plan inconsistent with its contractual or other authority.

(c) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2013, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2013, deletes or extends that date.”

What this means is that if you find you are unable to pay your loan, the lender must see if you can qualify for a loan modification, even if this necessitates reduction in principal amount, but not more than the amount it would receive if it were to foreclose on the property.  The amount it would receive if it were to foreclose on the property is estimable by going to www.Zillow.com and putting in your address and taking that figure (rough estimate and probably a bit high for this market – of what you property is worth if sold today), then multiply that figure by 4.5% and deduct that amount (roughly the cost of foreclosure).  This is generally agreed to be compliant with this section.

To determine how much you are ABLE to pay, lenders are considered reasonable if they have a maximum of 40% of PITI/Gross Income.  Ref. Wikipedia: “In relation to a mortgage, PITI (pronounced like the word “pity”) is an acronym for a mortgage payment that is the sum of monthly principal, interest, taxes, and insurance.”

Lenders will also look at the Total Debt to Income Ratio (Total Debt/Income).  As of November 08 the maximum for this is 45% for unstable neighborhoods and 55% when neighborhood is stable, credit score is 660 or greater and value of home is no more than $417,000.

Why is this important?  Remember above, it must be consistent with the lenders authority – so must play by their rules and the best way to determine these is to look at their current underwriting guidelines.

For example:  If you have a home with a loan of $700,000, that has a current market value per Zillow of $500,000 and your monthly gross income is $5,500 then the lender would minimally have to approve a loan modification where the total Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance is $2,200.  The lender can do this by lowering the interest, increasing the mortgage to 40 year, lowering the principal or all three, but the borrower must agree to these terms and this isn’t just a one sided deal.  If the borrower feels the terms aren’t aggressive enough, i.e. the interest has been lowered for three years to 2% but he needs this to be fixed at 2% or lower the principal, this must be accommodated up to the point that the principal reduction has lowered no further than $477,500 (the Current Market Value of $500,000 less 4.5% estimate for foreclosure costs).

This law is not dependent upon the new Hope For Homeowners (H4H) program (see the separate article on this) signed into law October 1, 2008.  The intention of this legislation was to offer another alternative to foreclosure than a huge government bailout program.  This legislation makes it strictly the lenders legal obligation to ensure this happens when requested, not a voluntary program and is the most aggressive program I have heard of as it doesn’t commit the Government to funds.  The intention of this is that all people in the State who qualify for this get this rather than allow their property foreclose.  It does not require that you be in default, but does require that default is imminent.

But this Civil Code assistance isn’t available to those people in the following categories:

“(1) The borrower has surrendered the property as evidenced by either a letter confirming the surrender or delivery of the keys to the property to the mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent.

(2) The borrower has contracted with an organization, person, or entity whose primary business is advising people who have decided to leave their homes on how to extend the foreclosure process and avoid their contractual obligations to mortgagees or beneficiaries.

(3) The borrower has filed for bankruptcy, and the proceedings have not been finalized.”

Its also been reported that there is an SEC Federal (Fraud) Judgment against Cay Clubs and Dave Clark.  This hasn’t been verified, but I’ll keep you posted.

Connie

Every month 25,000 or more homeowners in Southern California are going into Foreclosure STILL, despite
many solutions being available – most can now avoid it – if they just knew how.  New homeowners can now get affordable homes which is good, but enough is enough – why keep flooding an over-saturated Real Estate market with homes for no reason?  

For those in trouble on their home loans originated prior to 2008 ~ 400,000 homeowners were expected to apply for the new H4H product (Hope 4 Homeowners – mortgage bailout program) [approved into law October 1^st 2008 by Congress] but early projections indicate only 20,000 Californians will apply – if true, what a shame.

Hope 4 Homeowners is a new loan modification program that is a voluntary program that lenders can participate in to help people stay in their homes.  It reduces the total mortgage to 90% of the Current Market Value and interest rate to 6%!  These can help reduce ones payments in half! Let’s say the home loan is for $500,000 but Current Market Value is $350,000, the new mortgage will be $315,000.

The first thing to do is to get educated.  Your best asset is yourself, be your own counsel.  The more you educate yourself in what is out there the less fooled and more proactive you will be. Most people got into this mess by ‘following the leader’, its time to be your own leader and fortify yourself with the power of knowledge.  I just spoke with a woman today who has been trying to find out what to do for months and could only find attorney ads and advice to do Chapter 13 bankruptcy and reorganize her mortgage loan (at great upfront expense), with no mention of this new loan product; but she kept at it until she found us and we then steered her to affordable solutions.

The next step is to take responsibility for how you got into this situation, so that it never happens again. This likely means ‘tighten your belt’ and start to operate on long-term survival strategies.  Give yourself the ‘credit’ you deserve to realize that YOU are responsible for your condition.  When doing this, quite often you in turn will give yourself the power you need to unravel it.  If you find you can’t pay your current mortgage, you have to re-organize your finances so that you are not spending more than you make.  This is easier said than done but is the key to getting out from under the mess that we as individuals and a nation have gotten into. Both lenders and the government have gone to great lengths to help and are often sadly misunderstood.  Of course their madhouse back lines aren’t helping; but this is where HOPE comes in.

Amazingly lending institutions have reported difficulty contacting the ‘at risk’ homeowners in order to tell them about the many options they have. Homeowners, believing there is no solution can bury their head in the sand.  One of my jobs is to bring loan modifications to homeowners from lenders.  Despite the fact that the modification will cut the homeowners mortgage in half; I have gone back several times to homes leaving my card (with non-owner residents in the home) but the homeowner still hasn’t surfaced to speak with me, and I only have good news to tell, so I can understand the frustration.  Multiply this by hundreds of thousands of troubled loans and you can well understand part of the reason for the madhouse.

H4H is not, however a free ride and has been designed to help those that have gotten in over there heads on their home loan taken out prior to 2008 but not those who have investment properties or who had falsified there income to qualify for the mortgage in the first place or who haven’t been in default for 3 months (one cannot go into default just to qualify). It is a great program but not all will qualify.  Then what?

Each lender now is encouraged to come up with alternative loan modification plans and contact Californians before they proceed with Foreclosure, seeing if there are ways to avoid it.  If you cannot get someone who WILL help you, document your efforts (being able to tell someone time and content of past calls can be an amazing help when balked by lost documents, hours on hold or customer service personnel who are indifferent to your plight)  -Your best method is to Call the Hope Line at (888) 995-4673 (HOPE) – its your back door.   Go to this URL for the checklist of what’s needed for your call: http://www.foreclosurefreedomnetwork.com/FFN-Blog/?page_id=332

Additionally there are non-profit groups who have been successful at pooling together troubled homeowners and petitioning lenders to give their members a fair workout.  Some have been able to get the attention of lenders who were shuffling these people into the wrong aisle for programs they couldn’t qualify for.  My motto is “never give up!”

Avoid fraudulent scams aimed at taking advantage of homeowners in trouble.  Work only with licensed Realtors, Loan Officers, Certified Public Accountants or Attorneys and beware of upfront fees, insist on fees once the product is achieved. Do this and the real Good News will be created by you and will mean you get to stay in your home very affordably!

Constance (Connie) Saunders
Connie is a Licensed California Realtor License# 01841211and Certified Loss Mitigation Consultant and has helped many homeowners around the country to stay in their homes.  There is now no upfront fee for her services.  You can find out more by going to www.foreclosurefreedomnetwork.com or call (877) 333-4506.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m writing to discuss something that I’ve been hearing and reading a lot about from various quarters:

Undoubtedly, you’ve heard how bad it all is from a number of different media sources. They certainly keep drumming it in. The real estate industry is in trouble, gas prices were headed out the roof, banks have bad loans, the dollar is dropping….it all spells T R O U B L E!

How do people react? What is the result of all this bad news, doom and gloom?

People tend to get nervous or just plain scared. They get concerned about the future and making ends meet, meeting payroll, paying the mortgage, putting food on the table.

And, how do a majority of people respond to this kind of scenario? They tend to get overly cautious. They pull back. They restrict spending. Some business owners tighten up the budget and even let people go.

The problem with all of this bad news is that it puts attention on the wrong thing.
The hype is about things you can’t control. If one listens to it all and shrinks back, one is letting it all affect them. It leads to becoming a “victim” to the economy.

But what can we DO about it?

We each have a choice. We can agree with all the bad news, doom and gloom, pull back, stop spending and get very, very cautions.

Or, we can take control of our future by disagreeing with those who push all the bad news and getting busy handling the things we CAN control.

We each have the power to control the product or service we deliver. We can improve the quality of the product or the service, go out of our way to please our clients, and let people know we are there and ready to service them and deliver what they need and want.

You can also invite as many people as you can to experience what you offer and to do business with you. If you don’t invite them, how will they know you’re even there?

So, one can take a defensive approach, or not.

The first choice above is defensive. We hear a lot about defense as it relates to sports. It may work well in sports but, when it comes to business, a defensive posture usually results in your business getting smaller!

Regardless of the state of the economy. No matter how slow things do or do not get, if you don’t promote your products and services, things will get a lot slower!

If you promote to people, let them know you’re there and invite them to do business with you, people will arrive. You may need to do the extra things, work harder, more efficiently, be friendlier… whatever it takes, but if you don’t, you can be sure that one or more competitors will.

Companies that promote get more business.

Through many, many years of marketing and promotion I’ve seen that businesses that increase their promotion tend to increase their market share. Businesses that cut back in hard times tend to shrink and even die.

The truth is that YOU control your future.

What’s happening in our economy right now can actually be an opportunity. If one assumes the correct attitude and takes advantage of the fact that others are fearful and are cutting back, one can seize the opportunity left open to move in and get the attention of their target market.

How to get through “tough” times.

You can come through “tough” times by taking care of your own business. Ignore the doom and gloom put out by the media and ensure you’re getting done what you need to get done.

Whether you succeed or fail in business, it will be because of what you do or do not do. You may have to work harder to beat what’s going on. But, not doing that isn’t really an option, is it?
The things to do to get through “tough” times:

Focus your message so it directly addresses the needs of your customers and not just on what you want to sell.

Ensure that everyone in your business or practice is doing what you do best. Get back to your basics. Do it well. Don’t chase off after a new fad or idea.

Remember that promotional results come from the frequency you reach your database with your message. So, get busy and get your message out in every way you can!
Sincerely,
Ray McKay
President, Media City Marketing Group and TheRazzLine.net

This new program (issued November 11, 2008) isn’t as aggressive as the new H4H (Hope 4 Homeowners) program, but may be available for a wider range of owners though one must live in the home – it may have more flexibility, less paperwork and more agreement from lenders to use this system.  Overall goal of this program is to make mortgage payments 38% of homeowners income, which is now considered the “industry standard” to evaluate home mortgage payment.

Andrew Jackson
To a delegation of bankers in 1832:

“Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time, and I am
convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in
the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits
amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell
me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I
shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but
that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty
thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers
and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will
rout you out.”

Basically what this means is that Title should have caught this and never allowed this property to be sold.  We will be looking more into this but I wanted to alert any who read this that some of these scams are selling things that never existed.  When this happens there is definitely something you can do about it.  So long as Title Insurance was obtained you should be able to get this fixed or lender get reimbursed for the oversight.  If you need help with this, give us a call at (877) 333-4506.

Connie Saunders
Foreclosure Freedom Network

Here is a summary of violations and errors found in a file that I reviewed as part of a Cay Clubs/Sunvest property transaction.

Believe me this looks like many other files I’ve seen in this and other Cay Clubs complexes. It seems it was epidemic, across the Nation, that lenders failed to do standard Loan Underwriting.  Be aware of this.

1. Loan amount on the application varies from the note by over $8,000.
2. Final loan application notes purchase price as 11 thousand higher than Settlement Statement.
3. Interest Rate varies from Final Application to that on note as do P&I figures.
4. Buyers’ assets are inflated, noting more credit available than actually existed at the time, unbeknownst to buyer at the time.
5. RESPA guidelines Section 3500.14 were violated, in that two years in leaseback fees were pre-arranged yet this was not listed on the Settlement Statement and violated RESPA as an unearned fee.

Unfortunately the New York Times didn’t really go over solutions to this very well.  One potential plan is to get the lenders to do Deed in Lieu of foreclosure with the unit owners then donate their units to a non for profit agency who can then get these units productive again and eventually sell these when the market recovers.  This could be a win for all with lender still getting 30 cents on the dollar in future tax benefits and seller getting off the hook before this Condominium Hotel goes under – which all would lose at in today’s market.

New York Times Article of 28 October 2008 re: Condominium Bankruptcies

There is an excellent Non-Profit, Community Assistance Utilization and Service Establishment, Inc. (CAUSE, Inc.), established in 2005 to facilitate property donations and turn profits from sales over to Charitable Community Assistance Programs such as Drug Prevention & Disaster Relief.  Call (800) 616-4255 or email for more information.

Connie Saunders
Foreclosure Freedom Network

By Bryan Fischer  

Uncle Sam & Congress-man

By Joy Hubbard, Bryan Fischer and Debbie Fischer, with apologies to Dr. Seuss

That Uncle Sam!
That Congress-man!
We do not like your bailout plan!
We do not like your taxing plan!

Should we pay so stocks don’t tank?
Should we pay for Barney Frank?

We should not pay so stocks won’t tank.
We should not pay for greedy banks.
We do not like your bailout plan,
We should not pay it, Congress-man.

Mr. Paulson made a call
For a plan to soak us all.

Could you, would you Mr. Bush,
Could you, would you push, push, push?

We should not pay you, Mr. Bush,
So Mae won’t fall upon her tush.

We should not pay you, AIG,
Though you ask on bended knee.
We should not pay you, Freddie Mac,
Just to lighten up your pack.
We should not pay for any bank,
Even one that’s in the tank.

We should not pay for umpteen years
Just because the market fears.
We do not like your bailout plan.
We do not like it, Uncle Sam.

We should not pay you, Mr. Raines,
You, the source of all our pains.
Franklin Raines don’t give a hoot,
He got a golden parachute.

We should not pay you, Mr. Dodd,
You should not get a big fat wad.
We should not pay you, Speaker Nan,
When you have dumped us in the can.

We should not pay this big old tax
For people who ignored the facts.
You said the rules were just a joke
And now the banks are just flat broke.

They loaned to those who cannot pay
And backed it up with Fannie Mae.
You set it up for them to fail,
Then said to us, “Your turn to bail!”

Could you, would you, Street of Wall,
Support a plan to soak us all?

Our kids will pay for ninety years
Just to calm your self-made fears.
We do not like your bailout plan,
We do not like it, Uncle Sam.

We should not pay for all those acts
When you ignored the credit facts.
The CRA made this bind
Now we get kicked in the behind.
Sub-prime loans — what a crock!
And you wonder why we balk!

You made some new accounting laws
And we got bit by shark-like jaws.
Mark to market — what a joke!
Now our banks begin to croak.
Sarbanes-Oxley gored us all
And now you make us take the fall.

We do not like your bailout plan,
We do not like it, Congress-man.
We do not like your bailout plan.
We do not like it, Uncle Sam.

You loaded it with lots of pork,
And cranked us all with lots of torque.
Arrows, rum and big fast cars
Why not add a trip to Mars?

We pay our debts with little thanks,
Now we’re paying foreign banks!
We pay our debts and you don’t care —
You make us pay — that’s hardly fair!
The Golden State is next in line,
The bucks they want are yours and mine.
You think our money grows on trees?
You have us begging on our knees.

And now we see through mire and murk
That the plan won’t even work.

Adam Smith says “Not, Not, Not!”
While Karl Marx just laughs a lot.

Could you, would you Messiah Man,
Go along with this bad plan?

Could you, would you, John McCain
Go along with all this pain?

It’s sad your votes we can’t ignore,
So what to do, November 4?

© Bryan Fischer

Thanks are given to Bryan Fisher for his permission to use this lyracal bailout comedy.

H4H Program Summary from FHA Site

by Connie Saunders
10/1/2008

We have a complex problem but the real solutions are fairly simple:

Here is my proposal:

1. Provide a New Government Loan Product (NGLP) to Sub-Prime Borrowers in ARM’s which clearly didn’t qualify for the loan products they were given and/or for those buyers who can prove Fraud was used by Loan Officers, Brokers or Developers with Attorney General Complaints filed for same.  This loan will use the Current Market Value (CMV) of the property as the basis of the loan, forgiving the deficiency with a Contingency Clause that should there be a refinance or sale within a 30 year period of time, that a prorated percentage of the profits (prorated based on percentage of time left on the 30 year loan) would be shared with the Government until the interest free outstanding balance is paid in full.
2. Require Loan Officers to pass a Certification Program and have accountability, including having Licenses, FBI background checks to ensure ethical histories with no convictions of fraud.  Or Eliminate Commissioned Loan Officer’s compensation from a HUD1.
3. Require Developers be or use Licensed Brokers to sell all property developed and follow Real Estate Broker guidelines fully or be culpable when fraud occurs with Required Development Bonds that will cover fraud and seek out and properly punish those who perpetrate Mortgage Fraud.
4. Tar and Feather Developers, Loan Officers, Brokers, Lenders and others found Guilty of Fraud by having a .gov ‘Tar and Feather’ like web site, which posts pictures of each culprit found guilty of Fraud with full list of Crimes Convicted of and other damaging details.  This Web Site must be used by any public agency when lending or hiring.  The penalties for guilt should be “too gruesome to confront”, not patty cake.

With this program lots of money will be spent, but it will be spent in the direction of clearing the problem up directly and expeditiously.  Heads of Freddie and Fannie are getting off with MILLIONS of dollars in severance packages on top of getting many MILLIONS for the very few years they were in office proposing and doing a very bad job of things.  If this is our idea of how to spend our children’s’ children’s’ money, I, for one, protest.   http://www.carolinapoliticsonline.com/2008/09/13/foxx-co-sponsors-legislation-to-ban-freddiefannie-golden-parachutes/

But I feel the above is fair, a bit elaborate but to take these to foreclosure where dollars gotten will be 60 cents of the CMV, or to Short Sell them for 88 cents of the CMV will cost the Government much more than this, with no future shared profit plan.

Also I have just come back from a National Default Servicing Convention where it was suggested by a senior analyst to simply Bulk Sell these properties to Investors.  Investors from Germany, China, Russia, Oh Yes, Don’t close your eyes Americans.  Won’t this create slums?  Plus we are talking about 50 cent dollars. What will our true cost be?

Can anyone poke valid holes in this, or can we fix up this ship so that it doesn’t sink before its’ too late.

Connie Saunders

Foreclosure Freedom Network

(800) 616-4255 Cell  (877) 333-4506 Work

Solutions To Mortgage Market Collapse

We have a complex problem but the real solutions are fairly simple:

Here is my proposal:

1. Provide a New Government Loan Product (NGLP) to Sub-Prime Borrowers in ARM’s which clearly didn’t qualify for the loan products they were given and/or for those buyers who can prove Fraud was used by Loan Officers, Brokers or Developers with Attorney General Complaints filed for same. This loan will use the Current Market Value (CMV) of the property as the basis of the loan, forgiving the deficiency with a Contingency Clause that should there be a refinance or sale within a 30 year period of time, that a prorated percentage of the profits (prorated based on percentage of time left on the 30 year loan) would be shared with the Government on a scale with a range of 100% down to 0% with 100% being when refinanced or sold within 0 days and 0% being when refinanced or sold within 30 years; up to the point of paying off the deficiency balance forgiven with interest set at prime. NGLP to be retracted should Borrower be found guilty of Mortgage Fraud in Mortgage Sales; for the duration of this loan.
2. Standardized BPO’s to be used, with one set of rules defined by Current Appraisal Guidelines.
3. Require Loan Officers to pass a Certification Program and have accountability, including having Licenses, FBI background checks to ensure ethical histories with no convictions of fraud. Or Eliminate Commissioned Loan Officer’s compensation from a HUD1.
4. Require Developers be or use Licensed Brokers to sell all property developed and follow Real Estate Broker guidelines fully or be culpable when fraud occurs with Required Development Bonds that will cover fraud and seek out and properly punish those who perpetrate Mortgage Fraud.
5. Tar and Feather Developers, Loan Officers, Brokers, Lenders and others found Guilty of Fraud by having a .gov ‘Tar and Feather’ like web site, which posts pictures of each culprit found guilty of Fraud with full list of Crimes Convicted of and other damaging details. This Web Site must be used by any public agency when lending or hiring. The penalties for guilt should be “too gruesome to confront”, not patty cake.

With this program lots of money will be spent, but it will be spent in the direction of clearing the problem up directly and expeditiously. Heads of Freddie and Fannie are getting off with MILLIONS of dollars in severance packages on top of getting many MILLIONS for the very few years they were in office proposing and doing a very bad job of things. If this is our idea of how to spend our children’s’ children’s’ money, I, for one, protest. http://www.carolinapoliticsonline.com/2008/09/13/foxx-co-sponsors-legislation-to-ban-freddiefannie-golden-parachutes/

But I feel the above is fair, a bit elaborate but MUCH MUCH LESS THAN OTHER PROPOSED ALTERNATIVES and to take these to foreclosure where dollars gotten will be 60 cents of the CMV, or to Short Sell them for 88 cents of the CMV will cost the Government much more than this, with no future shared profit plan and little or no stability.  

Also I have just come back from a National Default Servicing Convention where it was suggested by a senior analyst to simply Bulk Sell these properties to Investors. Investors from Germany, China, Russia, Oh Yes, Don’t close your eyes Americans. Won’t this create slums? Plus we are talking about 50 cent dollars. What will our true cost be?

Can anyone poke valid holes in this, or can we fix up this ship so that it doesn’t sink before its’ too late.

Connie Saunders

Foreclosure Freedom Network

(877) 333-4506

DOWNFALL of CAPITALISM 101

By Connie Saunders September 21, 2008

How we got into this mess is complex only because there are so many players, each 100% responsible while pointing fingers elsewhere.  Just realize we were and are responsible and let us all point in one direction toward saving America and solving this mess we got ourselves into. Open our eyes to solutions, not just bubble gum patches or future problem costly bailouts that our children’s children need to pay for. Right now the Government is getting loans from China and Russia to bail us out!! Who are we owing to remedy this? What will it cost? Will it end up being TRILLIONS of dollars?

Government Sponsored Enterprises: Fannie, Freddie, Ginnie. Why did you allow ‘ARM’s for the poor??’ What up with ‘Stated Income’ on High Yield Loan Products? What were you thinking?

Lenders: Why did you deviate from your 80/20 Model using 5x Gross Annual Income as your maximum loan ceiling; requiring some investment sharing from your borrower? Those have always been tried and true.

Hedge Fund Managers: What are you doing with little old ladies retirement funds investing in sub prime securities?

Little old ladies: What are you doing trying to be an investor, listening to developers’ pitches of the Land of Oz? What will you do now when your retirement fund is gone?

Developers: What are you doing scamming half the countries little old ladies and gentlemen alike that the “gold at the end of the rainbow was in the palm of your hand?”

Mortgage Brokers: Didn’t you think about your children’s children when you were setting up these bad loan deals?

Loan Officers: Who encouraged you cheat your own internal underwriting systems, or were you just doing it for the money? Don’t you know second home means #2, not 20?

Didn’t we learn anything from the roaring 20’s bubble? Doesn’t this sound familiar?

I don’t know how much worse it can get, but I know that there is a way out of this mess, but it will take each and every one of us dedicating ourselves to save the boat!!!

10/17/2008 Update:

I’ve heard ideas of simply eliminating the Federal Reserve Bank system and re-establish Congress with its role to coin money.  Of course with that is the argument that all manner of vested interests will now have plenty of money to spend, as congress lines the walls with paper and could never work.  Look at my Mid October posting on this which summarizes Money, what it is, and has some very valuable ideas for change.

I’d like to see and welcome more commentary on this.  It’s a steep and long road uphill to dry ground at this point.  We’re deep in the mud and need to realize some may be quicksand.  I completely disagree with the open check bailout of Capitalism as has been illegally done.  Congress is supposed to technically initiate such bailout and in fact this one was initiated by the Senate.  So there is a loophole – if we want to stick our fingers in it – to try to unravel this and get them to do up a better plan.

Connie Saunders

Foreclosure Freedom Network

(800) 616-4255 Cell (877) 333-4506 Work

Welcome to Foreclosure Freedom Network

Hi, I’m Connie Saunders, Managing Director for Foreclosure Freedom Network and have worked in the Banking industry for 20 years and am a licensed California Realtor.

Foreclosure Freedom Network is our answer to the current Home Crisis.  We can help to keep most people in their homes – if desired, or help facilitate the Short Sale process, which has many twists and turns and without experienced guidance can easily seem hopeless.

Have you tried to reason with your bank to keep your home?

Have you tried unsuccessfully to refinance your home?

Has your credit worsened with defaulting properties?

Can’t you get the interest rates or mortgage terms you need?

Have your ARM payments kicked in now with rates rising far beyond your ability to pay?

Record percentages of homeowners are facing foreclosure today and many more are falling behind on monthly house payments. On top of this there is a 20-50% drop in home values.  What’s the best approach for you?

Yes, the situation is nearly hopeless but there is a light.

We’re on your side and want to help you to stay in your home or help you to clear your books of defaulting income property that is crippling your bottom line.

We can help you resolve this before it has a chance to permanently damage your credit or put you out on the street.

We represent you, so you don’t have to call and battle with collections officers and court officials and 98% of the time we can resolve it – NO MATTER HOW BAD IT IS!!

Our professionals lead all others in handling hopeless cases!!

Our Slogan is NO FORECLOSURE WITHOUT REPRESENTATION! and

Our Motto is HOW HARD CAN IT BE!!??!!

Don’t be too late!!

Connie Saunders

By Connie Saunders dated 4/28/08

How did we get such a serious problem? No one wanted the bubble to burst. Stalls (to this bursting bubble) were interjected with tricks such as ‘creative financing’ or ‘cash back at closing’ to entice buyers; new developers falsely ‘purchased’ the first Condo in a new development to set the ‘Comparables’ higher along with other both innocent and devious schemes (to falsely inflate values.)

Mixed up in this were loan officers who ‘fooled’ their internal underwriting systems with false information such as showing ‘second home’ when it was just an investment property, or ‘married’ when single or that 600sf, when 360sf. These seemingly innocent ‘attempts’ to get the customer “the best interest rates” resulted in loans given which would never have been otherwise and in fact constitutes mortgage fraud. The tremendous losses created by this and other similar schemes set the stage for the next avalanche.

Other people got caught up in 2/28’s or 3/27’s (LOW RATE ARM’S – Adjustable Rate Mortgage’s 2-3 years at low interest ‘teaser rate’ and 28 refers to 28-27 additional years at an Adjustable Rate a certain number of points above prime). The target public was Sub-Prime but many took advantage of the low rates for the first 2-3 years hoping to refinance before they would ‘reset’ to a set percentage interest over prime for the remainder of the 30 year mortgage, often the interest nearly doubled.

Regardless of how someone got into the situation, THERE IS A WAY OUT!!

February 7, 2008 the House and Senate passed HR 5140, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. This bill increases conforming loan limits for a single-family home for Fannie* and Freddie** up to $729,750 covering qualifying loans issued from July 1, 2007 through the programs end, December 31, 2008. FHA*** will help to guarantee these loans, making it again possible for Sub-Prime borrowers to get into a better loan product. Through this same bill nearly every taxpayer will get a rebate this year, or other economic assistance. But keep your eyes open.

What happens when more money is infused into the economy? You got it, inflation. Unfortunately, while inflation is occurring with selective products now, by 2009 it’s scheduled to be epidemic. Borrowers beware, unless you get a fixed rate low interest mortgage framed in such a way to allow you to breath while you are reducing the principle balance (not increasing it with negative amortization products), this epidemic may become completely overwhelming.

Truth is that the Government cannot keep infusing cash because it is devaluating the dollar at such a rate that it could collapse. So my advice is if you need this assistance, get it now; it likely will not last.

Loss Mitigation means the effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters. Most Real Estate agents are NOT good at this, so please be cautious. Ideally you should ensure you get a “Certified Loss Mitigation Consultant” to negotiate with lenders.

If you want to stay in your home there are many resources. The HOPE line, (888) 995-4673 (Home Ownership Preservation Education), is a good resource to find out the best strategies for your particular situation. Here you can get information on the basics of managing your money to how to contact your lender and negotiate a lower interest rate loan modification on your own. Most lenders will go overboard to help a person stay in their home.

If you really cannot afford to stay in your home or keep your investment property; the sooner you discover this the better. There are many options open to you. One is the Short Sale. A ‘short sale’ is when a lender agrees to discount a loan balance due to an economic hardship on the part of the owner. The homeowner sells the mortgaged property for less than the outstanding balance of the loan and turns over the proceeds of the sale to the lender in full satisfaction of the debt. Often the lender will accept short sale offers where they would likely get less money from a foreclosure. Be certain that your Loss Mitigator/Realtor team are well coordinated and that they are ensuring that the lender doesn’t seek a deficiency judgment later for the balance forgiven. You don’t want to end up hounded by collection agencies or have your credit ruined.

If you want the custom deluxe route, contact a firm with Licensed Loss Mitigation Consultants partnered with local Realtors to guide you through every step in the process on a daily basis until your situation is fully resolved. If you’re lucky enough to get a real professional, they will likely obtain for you much more than you would for yourself. It will likely cost a bit of money, but it’s well spent if you get a real professional. They can often eliminate COA or HOA fees, penalties and other hard costs that a homeowner may not know was even possible. Sometimes you can eliminate the second mortgage altogether. Often they can get loans modified, where the home owner can somehow keep their loan out of default status, making it possible to lower the payments down to an affordable level and frequently most fees and penalties can be tacked on to the tail end of the loan, sometimes without interest accruing on it, keeping payments within reason. .

Another option is a “Deed in Lieu” of Foreclosure, where the property owner deeds the property back to the lender instead of having the lender have to foreclose on it. This is typically not considered in a market such as this, as lenders don’t want to build up too high of a real estate portfolio, becoming property managers versus portfolio managers. Generally this could be insisted upon where blatant loan officer fraud existed in the lending process, and a short sale buyer could not be found.

Many of these solutions can help the homeowner recover from negative credit or avoid it altogether.

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*Fannie: A nickname for FNMA: Federal National Mortgage Association, a Government Sponsored Entity (GSE), which buys pools of mortgages from lenders, to keep the money wheels turning.

**Freddie: A nickname for FHLMC: Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Also a GSE with the main difference that it can allow prepayment penalties on prepayments that exceed 20 percent in the first five years if the borrower prepaid with money borrowed from another lender.

*** FHA: Federal Housing Administration, an agency of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which insures private loans issued for housing and home repairs. It’s set up to assist lenders by reducing their risk, by insuring qualified loans.

Connie Saunders, 55, has been in management since 1973. She transferred to Title and Loan sub-servicing in 1991 and started her own company the same year, working closely with lenders ever since. She’s been commended by the governor of California for her many contributions to its residents in 1992. Her company, NRC, has sponsored many community assistance programs over the years and Connie is an advisory committee member of a Los Angeles local college and is on the Board of Directors of a non-profit community assistance organization. In keeping with this, in 2007, when foreclosures began their steep rise, she added a department to her company ‘Foreclosure Freedom Network’ to assist with the growing needs for assistance with lenders by homeowners. She is a Certified Loss Mitigation consultant and a California Realtor. Her company has helped hundreds of people from coast to coast to resolve their difficulties with properties in trouble in the current market. She can be contacted by email at conniesaunders@mac.com or by phone at (800) 616-4255 cell.