Here Comes the Loan Modification Boom

The refinance boom is over and the real estate bubble has popped. More than 30 million Americans' are upside down in their homes with negative equity.

Formerly hot markets in New York City, Arizona, Washington, D.C., California and Florida are now suffering without buyers or even prospects. Many previously booming markets are seeing double-digit declines in sales. In Florida the drop in home prices is staggering, and this has become ground zero for the real estate bust.

When prices fall, and they certainly have, that's a problem. Nationwide real estate property values have fallen. So properties that people bought at the peak of the market might be 75% of the value they paid, and unless they put at least a 25% down payment into the property, they're "upside down", and owe more than the property is currently worth. Being upside-down is not a big deal if you have a sustainable loan. You just hang on, and eventually things will go back to normal. You simply make payments until the balance goes down, values will go back to at least where they were, and all will be right with the world. When interest rates drop while you're upside down, you're in no position to take advantage of them. After all what lender is going to lend you money if your home is worth less than you owe?

The longest-running home loan refinance boom in the history of the mortgage industry has come to an abrupt end. The dramatic and sudden collapse of the mortgage refinance boom has sent shock waves throughout the mortgage and real estate segment of the Nations' economy. Loan officers are being laid off en mass. Lenders are rethinking their loan product offerings and credit criteria.

The prospects in the housing and mortgage markets for the immediate future are bleak. However, while the outlook for mortgage brokers is expected to decline over the next year or so, people involved in working out loans with loan modifications will definitely hear their phones ring more often.

Bring on the "Loan Modification Boom".

With little chance of refinancing, borrowers and lenders alike have to find a way to make corrections to the millions of bad loans that are on the books. It's the latest craze in the mortgage business. Basically, lenders are undoing everything they did. The mortgage crisis has borrowers and lenders alike trying to renegotiate new terms to correct the problems with these bad loans.

This time you don't need an appraisal, good credit, or equity. You simply need to have a situation in which your current mortgage is unmanageable. Whether it's a hardship that has you behind in payments, or a skyrocketing ARM adjustment that has you behind the 8 ball, all you need is a little bit of knowledge and some persistence and you too can jump onto the loan modification bandwagon.

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