Mortgage Modification - Benefits of Retaining a Professional
Homeowners in default on their mortgage payment obligations can represent themselves in connection with the filing of their own home mortgage modification application (hereinafter "mod application"), however Mr. Alster, strongly suggests, for both important substantive and procedural reasons, if it is financially possible, homeowners should seek to retain a professional who handles the mortgage modification applications (hereinafter "mod app") on a daily basis to represent them.
On a substantive level, there are many factors that go into a mortgage underwriter's decision as to whether or not to grant a Loan Modification app as well as upon what terms to offer the homeowner in the modified mortgage, i.e. The new interest rate, whether the mortgage arrears will be capitalized into the modified mortgage and in some cases, whether the part of original principal balanced will be forgiven. For obvious reasons an attorney such as Mr. Alster, who has been filing mortgage modification applications for clients since they first became popular several years ago, is in a much better position to be aware of all of the substantive factors underwriters will likely consider in making their decision on a homeowners' mod application then a homeowner. In addition a seasoned professional is obviously in a much better position of knowing how to best present the pertinent financial information to the lender, and how this pertinent financial information is likely to be considered by the lenders' underwriters who make the ultimate decisions on all mod apps.
In addition to the pertinent financial information, from a procedural stand point applying for mortgage modification is an art as well a science. The application process itself presents a procedural morass to most homeowners and sometimes to even the seasoned professional, depending on the lender and whether the subject mortgage is sold. Huge lenders such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo have a particularly notorious reputation in this area. A homeowner's financial information, once provided, can easily become stale. Sometimes the original documents submitted to the lender may have benefited to the applicant but, they no longer interplay in a positive manner with more recent the documents the lender requires the homeowner to submit. This can be due to the lenders losing/misplacing the original documents or lenders simple failure to make a timely decision on a complete and accurate set of documents submitted by the homeowner, as this is just one example of many potential procedural pit falls that can cause lender to make a negative decision on homeowners applicant due to no fault of the homeowner.
Focusing on the big picture the fee for a mortgage modification is likely going to amount to one or two mortgage payments, while the financial gain the homeowner stands to benefit from begin granted a modification usually amounts to greater than $50,000 and often amounts to somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000 when compared to the payment terms of the original mortgage. For these reasons, more often than not, the fee paid to a professional such as Mr. Alster to handle the Modification App will likely amount to the best investment most homeowners, who are in need of a modified mortgage will never make.
From his office in Hackensack, New Jersey, Attorney Alster's services extend throughout the state of New Jersey, as well as New York. Some areas he serves in New Jersey are Passaic County, Bergen County, Hudson County, Essex County, and more; in New York, he serves Rockland County, Queens, and the Bronx.