One of the mortgage modification questions I expect to get a lot, but never do, is: How do you (or the banks) calculate a mortgage modification. The reader will notice a link in my Mortgage Modification 101 section to a page that shows how mods are calculated. The short story is that there are two methods to a calculation – and subsequent negotiation. A federally guaranteed mortgage modification is calculated along HAMP, or Home Affordable Mortgage Plan guidelines. Non-federally guaranteed mortgages are calculated using a different, but similar formula.

One of the mortgage modification companies I refer my clients to has replied to a similar question in the Market Watch section of the online Wall Street Journal. It’s worth reading because of it’s simplicity. The question centers on the ‘negative cash flow’ consideration in a mortgage modification negotiation.

The answer distinguishes between pre-modification cash flow and proposed modification cash flow. No one wants to negotiate a mortgage modification that is doomed to failure. The attorneys I represent covet their 95 percent success rate and are very concerned that the modification will succeed. I have software sanctioned and bonded by the US Dept. of Justice that tells the distressed mortgage owner immediately if they qualify for a mortgage modification or not; and what their approximate results will be.

The software may instead indicate qualifications that would indicate a short sale, or even a ’strategic default.’

Beyond that, one paragraph gives a great overall concept. Of the five listed qualifications, the NPV, or Net Present Value calculation is the most nefarious and tricky. The NPV calculation is a proprietary calculation unique to every bank. Banks do not reveal their formula or resulting bottom line. Large volume mortgage modification firms like the ones I represent have reverse-engineered these numbers and negotiate from a position of ‘knowing-it-all.’

As an aside, I almost never get this question. By the time it comes up, if ever, the potential client has already decided whether or not they’re going to use our professional assistance.

Oh. The answer was provided by David Bartels of US Home Loan Advocates in Westlake Village, Calif.

Read it here

Those of us who offer professional mortgage modifications and/or short sale negotiations are well aware of the influence that banks currently inflict on our US Congress. The very short story is that the Home Affordable Mortgage Plan as legislation would work as a tool to assist the US mortgage crisis. The fault is in the enforcement. The banks, through a crushing lobby effort in Washington, have our legislators hog-tied. This post by Mandelman illustrates that in a crystal-clear manner.

Even now, a year after the passage of HAMP, and the press that proves beyond all doubt that banks will do anything to avoid mortgage modification or short sales, because they profit more on foreclosing on your home, I still talk to people who think their bank is going to help them negotiate a beneficial, affordable mortgage modification. If Ms. Warren can’t convince the distressed mortgage owner otherwise, then you just aren’t paying attention.

Elizabeth Warren is the chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel created to investigate the U.S. banking bailout, known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP. While this pre-cursor to the Home Affordable Mortgage Plan, or HAMP; receives a great deal of qualified criticism as doomed from the start, the fact remains that the banks have insinuated themselves like a virus on the powers that be in Washington, thereby ensuring a complete failure of any redeeming features that TARP might have had (and if it continues, HAMP also).

Elizabeth Warren is also the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.  She teaches contract law, bankruptcy, and commercial law, and has devoted much of the past three decades to studying the economics of middle class families. Bottom line, Ms. Warren has devoted her career to the plight of the typical mortgage holder. The banks are in it for themselves, not you, the distressed homeowner.

She is a leading advocate for accountability and transparency. In 2007, she also advocated the policy of creating a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which President Barack Obama has supported, against the wishes of the banking lobby who is against it in a big way. The more I read, I see the faceless ‘Moderate Democrats’ as being the cheif resistors of banking reform that got us in theis mess to begin with. This comment from a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. One almost never hears names associated with this group. You have to pay close attention.

Ms. Warren starts out: “It’s Bank Lobbyists vs. American Families.” Warren then went on to say: “Six months ago, I really thought that we were on the brink of financial reform.” There is some sort of battle being waged between a well-funded special interest group representing the financial services industry… and American families. A Harvard professor who was placed in charge of overseeing a $700 billion bailout of our financial institutions and a handful of miscellaneous others, just said that the problems couldn’t be more obvious and the solutions the same.

Warren said, “The reason that we’re not changing things in Washington is that the banks have lobbyists in Washington in numbers I’ve never seen.  They’re coming not just once a month or once a week, or even once a day.  These guys are coming in two, three, four times a day.  They’ve got their position papers, and they just keep slamming in the same direction over and over and over.  And people that want to advocate for American families, that want some changes, or want to level the playing field just don’t have that kind of lobbying power.  And so what we’re really watching here is a David and Goliath story of monumental proportions.”

On the subject of the new Credit Card Reform Act Warren closed out the show making a couple of comments about the legislation, which was passed by Congress and signed by the President last year, and went into affect on Monday of this very week.

The Center for Responsible Lending published a report about a week ago saying that of the ten bad credit card practices that have been outlawed by Congress, the banks have already figured out eight new devices for getting around them.

Here are the immortal words of Simon Johnson, who was the Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”), and now teaches at M.I.T.

“The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government—a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we’re running out of time.”

I’m sure almost anyone would agree that a mortgage modification should be free. But it almost assuredly is not. If you don’t have legal representation in saving your home from foreclosure, be it mortgage modification or short sale, odss are you are doomed. If you view it as an investment in your own financial well-being, it’s the safest investment you can make.

Read Mandelman here

Yet another story of a frustrated short sale transaction. This one shows in a concise way how to deep-six a perfectly straight forward short sale that benefits seller, buyer, and lender. The foul-up? Involving a well-intentioned but hog-tied real estate agent. Here’s why:

The story comes from yet another qualified buyer. This buyer is a cash buyer, the most efficient kind. They are also paying closing costs. Perfect.

After six months of negotiations that the buyers are not privy to, the transaction still remains in the lurch. Why? Because the listing real estate agent doesn’t have the connections at the lender to complete the negotiations. Involving two agents plus lender and buyer is a true recipe for failure. If the buyer had involved an investor-negotiator, chances are this sale would have been completed three months ago.
We do it all the time.

Distressed homeowners are mistakenly told that they need a real estate agent (or two) involved to accomplish a short sale. That is the kink here.

In order to efficiently complete a short sale, the end-parties need an experienced short sale negotiator and efficient marketing. Neither of those requirements necessarily require real estate agents, no matter how well-meaning they are.

Lenders are ‘encouraged’ to respond to purchase offers in a timely manner. That means that a cash offer from anywhere should be taken seriously by the lender. Now, the missing piece here is a negotiator that has experience and a working relationship with the loss mitigators at all 83 major lenders in the US today. No real estate agent can possibly have those connections and available time. They are concerned with their local market, not the financials of a major lender concerned with national financials and loss mitigation of their employer.

As the article points out, lenders are ‘encouraged’ to timely respond to qualified offers. Now, the reader needs to put themselves in the chair of the harried loss mitigator. Who are you going to respond the fastest to? An experienced nogotiator whose phone number you recognize and very probably have dealt with before? Or some Real Estate Agent in Resume Speed, Colorado?

The author of the response here misses a huge, critical point: The actual lender and/or servicer may follow a path of as many as eight different financial institutions. The efficient short sale negotiators that exist in the country today have standardized software that automates all of the necessary submission process. No agent can possibly have that.

According to new, pending, Home Affordable Foreclosure Assistance guidelines (HAFA), once the lender determines the amount it will be willing to accept from a short sale, the borrower has 120 days in which to find a buyer for the property. That puts the marketing onus on completing the sale on the buyer’s agent. That’s where all the work is done anyway.

The distressed homeowner who needs an efficient short sale really should put their trust in the buyer’s side, not the listing side. The author here mistakenly directs the seller to a real estate agent who cannot possibly have the resources that an experienced investor/negotiator like the one I represent. That’s the way it is.

When any distressed homeowner nees to the front of the short sale line, call me. Right this way.

Read it here

Overall, this is a really good article on accomplishing a successful short sale on your property. There is one glaring mistake, but considering the source, easily understandable. Articles that feature  ‘five easy answers’ are always attractive. Here are comments and corrections.

1. Short sale negotiations typically take a long time because the negotiator is only doing one or two at a time. Typically, they are unable to gain access to the true decision-maker at the lender. An investor and negotiator that is negotiating hundreds of property short sales has unequalled direct access to those decision-makers.

Your listing agent won’t tell you this, but they are advised to use an outside negotiator to get a beneficial offer from the lender. The agent makes most of their fee by negotiating that short sale. Initially they believe that it’s worth their time.

Any distressed mortgage owner would do better to contact me and let us negotiate a much quicker short sale. We tehn utilize the talents of the agent to sell the property. It saves the distressed homeowner both time and money.

2. Banks do negotiate aggressively. Basically, the process is an auction. Us against them, both of us trying to negotiate a win-win-win situation. Since we are the buyer, we don’t disappear.We’re in it for the duration.

3. We can insert an addendum that we will negotiate away the deficiency. Ultimately however, the decision is in the hands of the lender. Yes, the deficiency is tax-free as income this year.

4. Yes, it will be two years before you can buy again. But that’s a huge improvement over the 7-10 years it will take to overcome a foreclosure. Quite brutally, if you can’t afford the payments, your credit score is the least of your concerns.

5. I disagree with the blanket statement that it is better to try to ‘ride out the storm.’ Other emotional and financial considerations enter the mix before a final decision should be made.

My financial software is bonded by the US Dept of Justice. It goes a long way in clarifying any property decision. At both ends of the spectrum, if your property has lost 5% of it’s original value, you probably should pursue mortgage modification or short sale. If you live in south Florida and your property has lost 55% of it’s value, you have no choice – give the keys back to the bank. It’s called a ’strategic default.’ The strategy was invented by the very banks that avoid your mortgage modification or short sale negotiations. Today I read that 20% loss of property value MIGHT be the tipping point.

The new guidelines referred to in this article are collectively called the Home Affordable Forclosure Assistance Act. The jury is still out on the overall benefits or consequences of this legislation. Stay tuned.

When you want to the front of the line for either a short sale or mortgage modification, call me.

Read it here

This is a copy of a letter I mailed to The Honorable Ed Perlmutter who is the only US House of Representives rep from Colorado sitting on the House Committee on Financial Services. They will hold hearings on the abject failure of the Home Affordable Mortgage Plan.                                                                                                                         

Dear Hon. Perlmutter,

Please consider this letter of experience in the HAMP law as the US House of Representatives considers the abject failure of the Home Affordable Mortgage Plan passed by Congress last March. I understand you sit on the House Committee on Financial Services that is currently considering the utter failure of HAMP.

I represent three successful mortgage modification firms. All are based on national attorneys that have a consistent 95% success rates in providing beneficial, affordable mortgage modifications; either under HAMP, or not.

One of these firms is bonded by the US Dept. of Justice.

Please hear this loud and clear: the failure of HAMP lies with the banks, not with the well-meaning and proficient attorneys that strive to comply with the well-intentioned HAMP provisions. Any statistical analysis of any endeavor would find that a published 1% success rate does not lie with the submission process. Any member of our United States government needs to face themselves in the mirror. Do not pass the buck. You need to honestly hold the US banking cartel accountable. The US public is watching.

There is no excuse for the ‘trial modification’ that banks are subjecting these distressed mortgage owners to. There was no ‘trial mortgage’ when they bought the property. There is almost no difference in the mortgage modification process. The trial modification exists solely as another excuse for the lenders to obfuscate the process and confuse these distressed applicants.

The lenders/banks do not lose supporting application documents for a new, purchase mortgage application. There simply is no excuse for banks losing, or blaming non-submission of supporting documents, on the distressed mortgage holder.

The proven fact is that mortgage loan servicers make more money on foreclosed loans than modifications or short sales. Do your research and you will see it.

The Federal Trade Commission will soon be holding hearings concerning the banning of ‘up-front fees’ in mortgage modification negotiations. If adopted, this will assure the utter doom of the less-than-meager accomplishments of HAMP. No attorney in this world can work for very long on a Pro-bono basis. Accomplished attorneys like the ones I represent know the rules and law. They are the only ones holding the banks accountable. The FTC needs to accept their responsibility in policing the miscreants in this should-be opportunity to help the US economy.

No attorney in this country is expected to work on an expected-outcome basis. But since no one in the United States, including the august US Congress, is holding the financial institutions accountable for their performance, there is no possible way to assess any responsibility for failure other than to recognize that a 1% success rate is attributable to other factors in administration of the law.

You are holding the distressed mortgage-holder public-at-large hostage for the US banks lack of good faith negotiation. The fact is the banks are resisting the administration of HAMP at every opportunity. Barring up-front fees and avoiding your responsibility as a federal elected representative ensures that HAMP will fail at 100 percent. The banks will laugh the federal government into humiliation. 

I assured your representative in your Colorado office that I’d keep this letter to one paragraph. I just couldn’t do it. I’ve seen too much.

Mr Martin Andelman has an imminent appointment to speak to the FTC. I urge you to audit that meeting for your own edification. There just is no better unbiased expert in the failure of HAMP in the country today. You may contact Mr. Martin Andelman at 714-904-2288. http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/     email at: mandelman@mac.com.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,
Christian Dix

Again we read the guilt trip that the mortgage industry places on distressed homeowners when dealing with their distressed mortgage. But it’s OK and even advisable for the corporations to walk away from their obligations. I’ve written about this before, but when the Mortgage Banker’s Association double deals, this is just too juicy to publicize.

Freely quoting from Mandelman’s post: “The CEO of the powerful Mortgage Bankers Association, John Courson, has said that underwater borrowers should keep paying on their mortgage loans and ’should not walk away from lawful debts’.  In an interview this past year, Courson appeared genuinely concerned adding: ‘What about the message they will send to their family and their kids and their friends?’

Just last year, you pointed out that defaults hurt neighborhoods by lowering property values, so borrowers would do less harm to our society were they just to repay what they owe.  You know… like the responsible homeowners.

This past week, the Co-Star Group, Inc., indicated that it had agreed to buy the MBA’s 10-story headquarters building in DC for $41.3 million.  The only problem is that $41.3 million comes up a skosh shy of the $75 million first mortgage on the building that the MBA took out from PNC Financial Group way back in 2007, when they purchased the property for $79 million.

The very same MBA also defaulted on their payments and secured a forbearance agreement, prior to the short sale.  Nicely done, Johnny-O. 

what kind of message are YOU now sending to your family, your children, and your friends by walking away from your lawful $75 million debt?  Are they being morally harmed by your decision to stick the bank with close to $25 million?  And why aren’t you simply paying your mortgage as agreed, Mr. Courson?

Again, advice to the distressed homeowner: Answer the emotional question first – do you want to keep your house? or walk away with the least damage and purchase another home in two years? Then consider the financial questions. Do you have steady, although significantly reduced employment that you can count on for the foreseeable future? Do you believe your property recover any lost value in 5 to nine years?

When you have answers to these questions, call me and I’ll get you the most beneficial result for you. My US Dept. of Justice-bonded software will qualify you for a mortgage modification or a short sale in less than 30 minutes.

If you don’t believe your property can recover value in 5 to nine years, give the keys back to the bank. It even now has a name, complimnets of firms like the Mortgage Banker’s Association. It’s called a ’strategic default’. Do not even consider for one minute any ethical responsibility to anyone but yourself. Your bank cares not one whit for your well-being. You owe them, or anyone else, not one red cent.

Read Mandelman here

I have written twice already about the incredibly ill-advised notion of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to consider the elimination of ‘Up-front fees’ of mortgage modification firms. If there is a question in any reader’s mind as to why this is a candidate for ‘Worst Idea of the Century,’ please refer to my earlier post.

Today, I had the opportunity to speak with Martin Andelman personally about this development. Again, nobody, but nobody knows more about the totality of this mortgage and economic travesty than Mr. Andelman. The FTC simply must be stopped before they do this profoundly ill-conceived action.

The Home Affordable Mortgage Plan has been spectaculary badly managed. But at least the legislation provided a path for the distressed mortgage owner to salvation. This FTC consideration will be the death-knell for HAMP, and Washington doesn’t see it coming. This is incredible insight into how such a well-meaning president can sabotage his good-will without knowing it. These people must be saved from their own stupidity. Do it today.

Here is Mandelman’s quoted email to me, followed by his blog and email address:

“I’m going to Washington D.C. to meet with the FTC and rules committee.  Or in other words, I’m going to Washington.  And Hell’s coming with me.  I’m also producing a documentary-style 22 minute program to show the committee and post on my new Loan Law Channel on YouTube.  If you know attorneys that might be willing to help support those initiatives I am actively looking for supporters and have thus far received support from roughly 20 lawyers.  That, however, puts me only half way there.  Martin Andelman, Mandelman Matters.”

Contact Mandelman at: mandelman@mac.com

Read Mandelman here

The news has been awash with reports of scammers promising distressed homeowners a mortgage modification, taking payments, and then not performing. Everyone should notice that no facts and figures about scammers vs. successful negotiators are ever forthcoming. Why? Because it is in the banks’ best interest to scuttle the Home Affordable Mortgage Plan (HAMP) and turn public opinion against it. The FTC is playing into the hands of the bankers. They are doing exactly what the bankers want.

The FTC is abdicating their lawful responsibility to investigate the bad guys – taking the easy way out. They are ‘mailing it in.’

Some background:
 
Last June the California legislature tried to solve the ‘up-front payment’ problem with a law prohibiting those same up-front fees. One week later, after talking to successful attorney firms who were negotiating successful mortgage modifications, it was discovered that nine out of ten billable items needed to negotiate a mortgage modification with these treacherous lenders were completed and billable after the first week of accepting a file anyway. They could have saved themselves an ill-advised piece of legislation if they’d done their due diligence beforehand.

Now the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has gotten it into their head to try the same trick. They’ll get the same results. Or, more likely, all of the successful mortgage modification firms will cease to do business. Why? Because no attorney can afford to pursue legal redress and wait three (or more) months while the erstwhile defendant decides they have nothing better to do but open another file that will cost them money. The banks refuse to acknowledge any responsibility for the current mortgage crisis. They exist solely to turn a profit for their investors. That doesn’t include losing money on investments that have and will show a loss.

It is impossible to blame the one percent permanent mortgage modification rate of HAMP on scammers. That is statistically impossible. The fault lies with the banks; and the FTC should know it.

The FTC needs to pursue the neglectful lenders for not negotiating in good faith with the successful modification firms that exist. As an enforcer of US law, it is their job to prosecute the bad guys, not prevent the good guys from making the intent of HAMP succeed. By eliminating those ‘up-front fees’ the FTC hopes to absolve themselves of any duty to identify the bad guys.

Getting a mortgage modification requires legal assistance. That is a fact. This has been proven since the inception of HAMP last March. The free HUD counselor are at best only ten percent successful in assisting distressed homeowners in negotiating a mortgage modification. They do not act as legal assistance. It is up to the actual homeowner to do all the work themselves.

The reader or any FTC employee should go ask any other attorney to work for free for three or more months for free. See how far you get.

There is no reason for any trial modification.
The banks use the tactic to stall, and refuse permanent mortgage modifications.

FTC is listening to the wrong whiners. Is this just a PR stunt?

Banks have had almost eleven months to get it right. Go get them to live up to HAMP requirements – not the few firms that may easily have tried to modify and didn’t get it right. Do your homework FTC.

The supporting documents to justify a mortgage modification are exactly the same as the ones required for a new purchase mortgage, or even a mortgage refinance. Banks don’t lose those documents. Why do they lose mortgage modification supporting documents?

We all know that there is no reason to require re-submission of paystubs, etc. for transferring from a trial modification to a permanent modification, but banks continue to try to require them.

When we all were in school and lost our homework, we were held responsible for our irresponsibility. But banks continue to get a pass for losing or misplacing the documents submitted for mortgage modification consideration.

In order for HAMP to succeed, FTC needs to hold lenders accountable, not throwing-out-the-baby-with-the-bath-water by punishing well-meaning and honest mortgage modification attorneys.

Every other attorney requires a retainer, why not mortgage modification attorneys? If they don’t perform, refer to state’s Attorney General or the US Attorney General. Or are they abdicating their duty also?

How about the chairman or any other FTC personnel work for 3 months to a year without pay, waiting for the bank to do their job? How about ‘No Up-front Fees’ for the federal government, including the FTC?

Readers of this blog will remember that I look to Mandelman for accurate information and commentary about this mortgage modification mess. Mandelman readers will know that his inflammatory rhetoric is common on this subject. Today I notice he has commented on this same ill-conceived proposal by the FTC. But this time, I hope the reader notices that my comments are even more inflamatory. The FTC needs to be slapped hard on the forehead. As pathetic as the Home Affordable Mortgage Plan success has been, this FTC proposal is incredibly worse.

I represent several really outstanding mortgage modification firms. This proposal is incredibly unfair and unprofessional to these well-meaning and successful firms.

Read Mandelman here

I have submitted the above article to the FTC on their public comment web link on this subject. I hope any reader does the same.

Comment to the FTC here

Increasing pressure on the Federal Government to control mortgage modification firms has encouraged the Federal Trade Commission to recommend not allowing up-front fees for professional mortgage modification negotiations. Because of the highly publicized failure of many companies to perform promised mortgage modifications, this would seem to be a great idea. As ususal, hasty and knee-jerk reactions to those few ill-prepared companies, or just plain crooks, will further hamper what is an overall well-intentioned industry.

This will assuredly apply only to mortgage modification firms that are not attorney-driven or attorney-backed. Professional mortgage modification firms are all attorney-driven. They must be to combat the banks that pull out every treacherous trick to stall, neglect, and refuse any mortgage modification. No professional attorney will ever promise a given outcome of a legal process. They cannot be held accountable for other humans (the protagonist in any legal dispute, and the arbitrator) to not use good sense. 

The banks will use their illegal ‘trial modification’ stalling techniques to ensure that mortgage modification is not a profitable endeavor. We already know that the non-profit counselors are essentially inneffective in obtaining beneficial, affordable mortgage modifications. The banks and un-informed public will then rise up and blame the President, US Dept. of Treasury, and federal government in general for the failure of the Home Affordable Mortgage Plan, or HAMP.

A little perspective might help. Imagine going to Wal-Mart and promising to pay for an item three months from now, after you were sure it would perform as promised. The similar much-publicized law passed last summer in California in June has done little to stem any crooks or other ill-prepared
mortgage modification firms. Why? Because almost all the billable negotiations are performed within a week of modification application anyway. The reason a permanent mortgage modification takes so long is directly the responsibility of the banks doing everything they can to avoid negotiating. Why should a professional organization be held hostage by a ne’er-do-well lender?

If the FTC would apply the same performance standards to banks as they propose to mortgage modification firms. it would be fair.

For full disclosure, the mortgage modification firm I represent in California and Colorado has enlisted the oversight of the U. S. Dept. of Justice. This company, with the USDoJ blessing and behest, performs a forensic mortgage audit to discover errors in the final mortgage documents originally issued by the lender. We charge $2995 for that service. It’s a good investment because there is an 85% chance there are mistakes in the original documents, called the HUD-1s. Now, we also give a free mortgage modification to go under it. Imagine a $3000 frosting with a free cake to go under it. It works. It’s professional, and it keeps us in business to continue saving qualified homes from foreclosure.

Still, the FTC would do well to take a breath and do what really benefits the hapless and abused distressed mortgage owner.

Read it here

Comment to the FTC at:
http://public.commentworks.com/ftc/MARS-NPRM

Any distressed homeowner that can’t afford their mortgage payments needs a lawyer. Assuming the reader is here for mortgage modification or short sale research, take the advice of a non-vested expert in obtaining a beneficial, affordable mortgage modification. I write this blog as a representative of two extremely successful mortgage modification firms. I guess I have a vested interest. Anything I write is likely to be viewed through the natural ’sales-resistance’ lens. Mandelman does not negotiate mortgage modifications, nor represent anyone who does. He’s been writing about the mortgage mess for years.

Ordinarily I condense the articles I research for this blog in order to save time for the reader. I’ll do that here, as well as insert a few things that Mandelman left out. But today I encourage the reader to follow the link below and read Mandelman today also. He puts it in a strong enough way that maybe his message will sink in.

The distressed homeowner needs an attorney to negotiate a mortgage modification. To trust any other strategy is folly. If a short sale is the better strategy, you need an investor that can submit a cash offer for your property and has the experience in short sale negotiations to relieve you in a expedient manner. Your chances of succeeding any other way are slim and none.

Mandelman hints at a forensic mortgage audit. I wish he had made it clearer. He almost pointed out that the banks, in their all-encompassing influencing of the general media, do not want any publicity on the successful mortgage modification attorneys. They only want to point out the ‘crooks’ and highly ineffectual free mortgage modification sites. As illegal and ill-advised as trial modifications are, they are also the least of a distressed homeowner’s considerations. After the modification becomes permanent (with the attorney’s supervision) a credit report can be rememdied with not-much effort.

Your lender is solely concerned with where their money is. If you don’t have it, they want their property back. To expect any compassion from your lender is pure folly. The law exists to assist that you don’t lose your home if at all possible. Only an attorney is going to ensure your rights. Ignorance is no excuse to lose your home.

According to the California State Bar’s own numbers, over the last year they’ve taken action against fewer than two-dozen lawyers in a state with 206,000 plus attorneys. They also add that they are investigating hundreds of others. (Personally, I welcome and encourage any investigation. It would be fantastic publicity for two 95% successful firms.)

Mandelman draws an analogy illustration of facing your local District Attorney. Would you listen to them when they tell you, you don’t need legal representation?  Too funny. Even funnier is Mandelman’s take on Officer Krupke in West Side Story.

Since both of my firms offer risk-free guarantees, much of the ensuing commentary is interesting, but of little importance to my clients. Do read it for perspective, though. Mandelman’s roast of the California State Bar is too funny. I wish Mandelman lived in Colorado. He could roast the Colorado Dept. of Regulatory Affairs. They deserve it.

The banks are responsible for stalling mortgage modifications, not the attorneys. Attorneys NEGOTIATE mortgage modifications along pre-determined guidelines that are legislated. It’s not your fault the economy tanked, it’s the banks’ fault. They need to be reminded of that with every file we negotiate. They forget. Often. Talk about a short memory.

Even if you might get a mortgage modification, an attorney will get a better one, and the fees will pay for themselves in a matter of months.

Read Mandelman here