“Dear Andy,

We are one of the many Americans who has a mortgage loan that is much higher than our home value. If we were to sell our home today, we would take about a $100,000 loss.

I would like to know where I can go to find out if we qualify for any of the home loan modification programs and what kind of loan modification it would be?

Linda”

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The Answer

Linda,

The best place to learn more about your loan modification options will be directly from your lender. Call them and ask about the modification programs they offer and what is required to qualify. A loan modification shouldn’t cost you anything if you’re qualified, so you should avoid any offers to help you with the process for a fee in advance.

A loan modification may help you to reduce your interest rate, extend the length of your loan, or roll missed payments to the back of the loan. Keep in mind though, a loan modification will not help with the value of your home, will remain underwater. In fact, depending on how many payments you’ve missed the amount owed will likely go up, even with the best modification possible.

If you find that you don’t qualify for a modification or that it won’t help you much, you will want to explore the option of short sale. This will allow you to sell the home for less than you owe and move on with your life without the lasting damage of a foreclosure. For more information on short sale you should contact a local real estate broker that has a good working knowledge of short sales.

Good luck and please keep us posted on your progress in the comment section below.

Best Regards,

Andy is a licensed real estate broker in Massachusetts and is the founder of Northeast Properties in Norton, Massachusetts. His brokerage is designed to help homeowners in today’s difficult real estate market, specializing in short sales. Andy speaks with Massachusetts homeowners every day, helping them to address their questions or issues with short sale or loan modification. He enjoys helping consumers arrive at the correct solution to their problem, and believes that the only way to correctly do that is by presenting them with all of their options in an un-biased manner.

If you have a mortgage, short sale, real estate, or loan modification question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.