We Are Off To See The Wizard – Loan Modification

Homeowners with upside-down mortgages exhibit Dorothy tendencies…hoping to find solace in the Emerald City…if they could just get an audience with the loan modification wizard.

Yes boys and girls, there is a loan modification wizard…and just like in the children’s tale…he is a fake, fraud and a phony.

As the months flew by in 2010…did alternative foreclosure experts hear from any of those distressed homeowners…not a one. Because those homeowners are all seeking the Holy Grail…the loan modification.

As my father used to say…everyone wants to get to heaven, nobody wants to die. Admittedly as I child I found this bit of wisdom way over my head…until puberty. Then it became crystal clear…you want a certain result…you better learn what works…not what you hope works…but what it is that actually, for real, in this world…works.

February rolled into view and Nebraska foreclosures piled up 1125%, New Mexico was up 680% and self reliant Montana with one of the lease population densities in the free world was up 708%. As we talked to people in the know…no one heard from a distressed homeowner. Not a one. Why…again because they, like lemmings going over a cliff…were chasing the loan modification pied piper. Or as my father used to say…you guessed it…everyone wants to get to heaven…no one wants to die.

Fast forward to October 2010, to top 10 counties of Florida: Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Orange, Lee, Pinellas, Volusai, Pasco, Duval…accounted for 40,666 active foreclosures. Did anyone of those homeowners contact someone outside their inner banking circle…no. Why…because everyone wants to get to loan modification heaven…no one wants to die. Are people ‘in the know’ upset…you betcha. Having stumbled upon a legal maneuver, steeped in contractual law, with a precedent dating back to the magna carta…who wouldn’t be upset. But like that line in the Godfather, uttered by Meyer Lansky…’some one gave the order…I didn’t ask why…because this is the business we have chosen.’ What is so wonderful, so captivating, so mesmerizing, so mentally satisfying about seeking a loan modification from an industry whose published figures show a 1% success rate?

But let’s get back to our story. Seeking a loan modification is not for the faint of heart. You must slay the dragon of the telephone q. You must speak 10,000 languages to the legions of ‘nice people’…who answer your phone from the four corners of the world. You must multitask… faxing papers and talking on the phone and answering the other phone, as you never know which person is the right person to talk to. All to reach the 1% land, the land of those do get a loan modification.

And boys and girls…you must develop courage. As a little kitten practices swatting woolen balls to someday as a full grown cat…it will snatch birds out of the air. A’hem…back to our loan modification story. You must develop courage to speak truth to power. Having done a title search, you realize the pretender-lender…aha…has no legal standing to issue a foreclosure on your home.

Harris Smith runs the home equity line of credit website. Don’t Miss Out!

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