Have A Lucky Home

If you're struggling financially and you're looking for mortgage help to save your home, we're sorry but we don't have any easy answers for you. You could try doing what so many of us did earlier this decade'borrow against your home.

But that assumes you have equity to borrow against and that there's no chance your house's value won't go down and leave you underwater on your mortgage and loan.

Given the tsunami of underwater mortgages right now, with more to come, that's not a very good option.

Now, you can apply for a loan modification. But you need to know going in that only 2.8% of the homeowners who have applied thus far have gotten this kind of help with their mortgages. And some of this form of "help" isn't that helpful at all! Here are the options with mortgage modifications:

1. Extend the term of the mortgage. In effect, this lowers your monthly payments. It also means you're going to be paying that mortgage longer, and paying more on it, than you're contracted to pay now!

1. Lowering your monthly payment. This is pretty much the same help, if you want to call it that, as you're getting in number 1.

1. Reduce the interest rate on your mortgage. This option could help your bottom line, as long as you're not stuck in an ARM. An ARM is a mortgage that resets to reflect the current interest rate. If you get a mortgage modification and you're in an ARM, you may well end up screwed down the road when your ARM resets.

So let's look at these options and think about when it might make sense to take them'if you can get approved. The first 2 options might be helpful if you only have a short time left with your mortgage and you have reasonable expectations that your financial situation is going to improve. At the very least, those options will keep you from having to walk away from a mortgage after you've thrown, say, over $100,000 or so into it.

If you don't have an ARM, the third option is the only one that will actually save you money. And if the only problem you're having right now is a financial setback, this option might allow you to save your home. Again, if you can get it.

So what happens to the rest of us'the people who can't qualify for mortgage modifications? As a rule, we don't end up being able to save our homes. We go through short sales or we foreclose, and we go on to new lives without the house and the mortgage that was killing our finances.

But, there is one option that, if you plan it right and you're lucky, could help you save your home even after a short sale . . .

Hire a Realtor to negotiate a short sale with your lender, and then sell your house to someone who's willing to rent it to you! That's what Kristin and I actually did, and now we're still living in our home and we're paying half of what we used to pay on our mortgage!

Please don't stress about finding a professional, certified Realtor who specializes in short sales.  Just contact us and we'll be happy to help you find a great short sale Realtor in your area.

Now, this is tricky. Your lender might want you to sign a document saying that you're not getting any benefit out of selling your home.  It's called an Arms Length Transaction Agreement.  If that happens, you'll have to move or you'll be committing fraud.

We wish we could give you more mortgage help that will actually save your home, but the situation out there is pretty bleak right now. If you can, look on the bright side'you might have to manage your way through a short sale or a foreclosure, but you'll be able to start a new life!

About the Author:
Bud and Kristin Gragg have over thirty years of Real Estate sales, investing, and development experience combined, they have just survived liquidating over 24 million in underwater investment Real Estate and their incredible story needs to be heard by millions right now. Go To: http://www.TheUnderwaterMortgage.com where you can get a FREE Special Report "Underwater Mortgage Secrets: What the Banks Don't Want You to Know" Just for stopping by!! If you or anyone you know is Underwater in their home or any of their investment properties - the information on http://www.TheUnderwaterMortgage.com is an absolute must!

Bud and Kristin Gragg
The Underwater Mortgage
101 N Coloradro St Suite 2710
Chandler AZ 85225

480-497-5600