“Dear Steve,
I recently lost a family member this February who’s name was on the mortgage also. I am not able to pay the current mortgage amount because there is only one income now. I received a Mortgage Relief Advisory flyer in the mail also. I called and gave a little information and the advice I received was to get 2 to 3 months behind so that I could qualify for the program. Since we were approved for a modification loan Oct 2011, the other option I have is to try to make the payments until Oct 2012, because by law I have to wait one year before I could inquire about another modification. I have borrowed from friends and relatives for February & March. I can’t continue to borrow, can you give me some advice.
Can you give me some advice on how to handle this matter.
Thank You Steve”
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I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your family member. I lost my mother recently and know how tough those events can be.
I’m struck by the painfully obvious answer that it might just be that you simply can not afford the mortgage payment anymore and that no modification will qualify you for a reduction based on the loss of an income that was used to qualify you for the mortgage in the first place.
I would be very reluctant to suggest you respond to any mailer. Obviously the mailer is sent in an effort to solicit business and it’s an advertisement to sell you something. The chances are very significant that when you contact whoever it is they will be more focused on selling you their widget than really providing you with fair and balanced free advice.
It might be time to consider selling the property and downsizing your living expense to fit within your income. It is unreasonable to keep asking people to pitch in for a situation that has no reasonable expectation of success.
You can talk to a HUD Housing Counselor for free to see if they have any other suggestions but from what you’ve shared it sounds like the loss of the family member and their contributory income has simply made the mortgage unaffordable.
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
