Jason, as others have said talk to your J.A.G. Ask your C.O. for help if you do not know how. The financial act that was passed for our military who have enough problems just being in iraq or afghanistan should help you.

On a side note, be careful be safe, and come home in one piece. You have the hardest job there is, thank you for taking it.

First step is to get a local short sale specialist to help with the process, there is no cost involved at all Jason!! Check out

Federal law : provides military personnel important rights and protection.

Resolve, speak with your Attorney (provided by the military), have Him/Her resolve your issue(s); while you are "ACTIVE".

Further resolve, New Jersey (USA) would like to take this time in thanking you for all that you have done or will do to protect and serve our country.

THANK YOU SIR.
Make it home
God Bless you and yours

Most mortgage companies are willing to work with deployed military members and either stop some of the payments until you return or reduce your payment amounts of course each mortgage company is different so you will need to get in touch with them. They will need a copy of your orders and usually a letter from you r commanding officer. I am pretty sure it is called Service Members' Civil Relief Act. (signed Dec 19th of 2003 ??)

Thank you for taking care of our country and assisting those in need.

Melissa
Wife of military member

Another thing that you may not be aware of is the "Soldier, Sailor Relief Act". It may not help with your mortgage. I am not sure. However, it will help with small loans and credit cards. The military has free legal advice. You should definately talk to them before doing anything.

Hi Jason,

If you are unable to afford your home any longer, and you are "upside down" on your equity than a short-sale may be your best option. One of the situations where a person can achieve a quick short-sale without even missing a payment is if the hardship is caused by military deployment or relocation. Are you deployed now? If you are deployed then your lender is actually not allowed to report late payments to your credit. I can give you information to help you make the decision that you will feel the most comfortable with. Feel free to contact me if you would like.

bettina.riesgo@pruaz.com

Option one is to negotiate with lender on your mortgage terms, second is deed in lieu of foreclosure, the bank will take the deed and not foreclose. Or finally foreclose on the property, now being that you are in the service there might be programs available to you by the VA that might be worth looking into

Hi Jason, Depending on the type of loan you have, you may qualify for a loan workout called a "special forebearance". If your loan is delinquent, you may be entitled to a longer repayment plan than is usually available. Because of your active military status, you will easily be able to document your hardship circumstances and your lender will be willing to work with you to quickly remedy this situation. They can give you an affordable repayment plan so you can get caught up. Active military are receiving preferential treatment to find loan solutions and foreclosure alternatives. You should definitely contact your lender asap to let them know your circumstances and start the loan workout process. I highly recommend this route instead of allowing your home to go to foreclosure. I am including a link to my website where you can get alot more information, or feel free to email me if want to ask me any specific questions. Good luck!
http://www.myloanmodificationcenter.com
Susan Gregory
yourfinancialfuture@cox.net

Jason, I could only include one website link in my previous answer, so here is the other one. Hope these are helpful!

Linda Niehuus
Heritage Texas Country Properties
Brenham, TX
979-277-5391

Hello, Jason. I am truly sorry about your situation. My son served 15 months in Iraq...God bless you for your service.

I am giving you a link to some helpful information. There are protections in place, but with so many unknown variables in your situation, I think it best if you read through this information. Once you have a good understanding what your options are, you should speak with your mortgage company. If you don't get a good result, try contacting your local representative and ask to speak to their military liason. Our local one works wonders on behalf of soldiers. If you still need some ideas, please feel free to call me and I can brainstorm with you.

Best of luck, warrior!

Linda Niehuus
Heritage Texas Country Properties
Brenham, TX
979-277-5391

Jason
You have two great answers so far.
You have three options:
1. If you want to keep your home, then you might be able to re-negotiate your mortgage. This is called a "loan modification". Your challenge might be if you obtained the loan with "stated" income and assets, you will now have to apply with "full documentation". If you explain how it came to be that you can no longer afford the mortgage, the lender might work with you.

2. If it appears that you are not going to be able to bring your income up to the point where you can afford payments, then you need to see if you can qualify for a short sale. In this case, perhaps due to your deployment, you need to work quickly. Talk with a Realtor regarding your home's current market value. Your Realtor can then approach the lender and explain your hardship (the reason that you can no longer afford the payments) and persuade the lender that the best thing for them to do is to let you sell the home.

3. The worst option is foreclosure. A short sale will ding your credit, but a foreclosure is worse.

So the best thing to do is talk with a Realtor and start assessing you options NOW. Time is of the essence. Most of this can be done via phone and email, so do not wait.

Jason,

As Jeremy stated, you do have some options but that depends on a number of factors. Are you current on your mortgage? Is your house upside down - do you owe more than its worth at this time or do you have equity in the property? Were you in an ARM and your rate adjusted? If so, you can definitely call your loan modification department to see if they will reset the rate to make the house affordable. There any different options to explore before you make any real decisions and many that can save the impact of a default of your loan on your credit report. If you are interested, please contact me and we can speak directly.

Good luck to you.

Gina Chirico, Sales Associate
Prudential New Jersey Properties
973-715-1158
973-992-6363 ext 116
GinaChirico@PruNewJersey.com

Jason,

If your interest rate is high you can possibly get a loan modification. You may rent your property to help cover the expenses. And you can sell the home. Every situation is unique. But it sounds like you are doing the right thing and exploring your options early instead of later.