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Today I saw a friend whom I haven’t see for three months and with whom we last discussed his dismal mortgage situation and trying for loan modification. And today, he said:”Guess Who's Got His Loan Modified!?"

I could not be happier when he told me yes, he got his loan modified!!! And with Bank of America no less (BofA has a not so great reputation when we negotiate short sales for our clients although I have seen a lot of improvements lately)!

This is a very nice young man who bought his house at the top of the market two years ago, got a 100% interest only loan and his interest adjusted to 7+ and 8+% respectively. Due to the decreaes in equity, he was not able to refinance. His mortgage was $4,000 a month when we talked last time, and he could hardly get by.

He bought this house to make a home for his young family and he wants to keep it, he does not want to short sale the home! He was quite worried.

He told me triumphantly that his new mortgage now has an interest rate of 3% for five years and then adjusts to 4% for the rest of the loan (25 years). His new mortgage is $2,000 a month!!!   The amount is less than what he would have paid in rent!

I asked if he had to pay somebody for this service, and he said that the good fellows at Marin Family Action helped in with all that and they did not charge him anything.

Marin Family Action is a volunteer organization with a new HOME SAVE PROJECT to help residents saving their homes. They also work closely with Marin Housing Authority, HUD; and their goals is to help prospective or current homeowners in housing related issues. 

Note that the service is FREE for low-income families and some fee might be charged depending on the income level to help subsidize the volunteer program. NEVER PAY UPFRONT for these kind of services without any guarantee from the service providers -there are just to many scams out there - we, the Realtors, being in the frontline, hear a lot of stories!

MAKE SURE YOU LOOK FOR HELP ON LOAN MODIFICATION FIRST before you short sale your home; contact organizations such as Marin Family Action or myself for help if needed.

I will be very glad to help you keep your house!