Jes,
What are saying about what income, the second being counted as income? That would be an expense to the IRS as it is interest. Maybe I am not understanding your comment, please explain.
Christine

Charita,
Have a real estate attorney review the loan docs, possibly the I.R.S. can count that as income if the loan mod is not possible.
Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks,
Jes Sierra, B.Sc., Realtor®

Charita,

A loan modification does not have a time frame connected to it unless you are qualifying for Home Affordable Modification Program which only allows for modification of a first loan and also must be for a primary residence only. As far as a second is concerned, modifying those are of course dependant on the hardship, income, and type of second that you have. In general, with the many modifications our Attorneys do negotiate each month, the fixed rate seconds are by far the easier modifications that are negotiated. If you have a home equity line that has a low interest rate, those tend to be very difficult. What we do is assess a full client package to see what we can do first based on the experience of currently negotiated loan modifications as our Attorneys are closing over 500 modifications on a nationwide basis. Once they evaluate the full package, which is free, we can give you an idea of what can and can't be done.

Hi,

the fact the they took out an equity line two years ago doesnt matter.

I work on files like this all of the time. Actually when a loan is less than 3 years old you may have recourse if there are violations.

Lenders look at a lot of different things. What is their hardship, what changed? What id their total financial obligations, value of home etc.

I just got an approval for the Making Home Affordable Plan, the homeowenrs just bought Jan 08. their home has dropped in value and their income has dropped by half. I was able to get them approved and they are very happy..

So, if you have a client that is in a hardship the main things to ask are: Do you have enough income to pay a modified mortgage if you get approved?

Really the best thing is to have someone who knows how to get these approved do the modification. But to answer your question yes they can still qualify but other things come into place.

JoAnna Jensen
Volo Law Group
Realtor Paralegal
925 699 5041