Ideas and resources for preventing Las Vegas foreclosures

I’ve received more phone calls than I can count from people asking for help in refinancing their homes. The typical scenario is a family who took out an adjustable rate mortgage two or three years ago, some of them with no money down, and it is now cycling to adjust. When they took the loan out, it was foreseeable that they could refinance the home in the future into a fixed rate or into another adjustable but the values of the home are so low now that the house is no longer worth what the family owes on the home.

In response to these phone calls, I’m writing some information about what I’ve been reading and hopefully lend a helping hand for those still in need.

My first recommendation is to get prepared to contact your lender and ask for a loan modification. This website has a lender contact list for most lenders. You will need to bypass the first level customer service rep and reach out to the loss mitigation department, workout department or asset management department. You will also need to prepare some documents before you call.

Jon Daurio, chairman of Kondaur Capital Corp. recommends that the home owner start a ledger or financial statement demonstrating assets and liabilities on one side and their income and savings on the other side. A popular website promoting home ownership advocacy LoanSafe.org has a sample “income and expense sheet” that you can use as well as a “hardship letter” to accompany this.

In addition, Mr. Daurio directs the homeowner to speak with a few local agents to determine what the current value of the home is by looking at comparison sales in the area. The goal here is to convince your lender that you cannot afford the mortgage and it makes sense for the lender to perform the loan modification. Otherwise they risk foreclosing on the home and having more costs involved, more time spent, no mortgage coming in at all, and in the end, the likelihood of the home not selling for what they need to recoup their initial investment.

Don’t expect this to be taken care of overnight. These lenders are being hammered right now with homeowners calling in and needing help. Be persistent. Take a look at what some creative homeowners have done and see if maybe you can implement it with your own mortgage.