2 Things come to mind immediately:
- Seek the advice of a knowledgeable attorney before executing any *new* terms on a contract
- Make sure they really own it
FELIX SALMON–
The holy grail of mortgage modification is principal reduction — the only thing which gets homeowners out of negative equity hell. And one of the big questions is why it’s not more common: it seems to make sense for all concerned, given that a sensibly modified mortgage is likely to be much more profitable for a bank than forcing a homeowner into a short sale or foreclosure and trying to sell off the home in the current market.
Last week the NYT, in a front-page story, found that Chase is actually doing principal reductions — quietly, on some of the most toxic mortgages written during the subprime bubble. But the mechanism was very mysterious — for one thing, the principal reductions were being done on many mortgages which were actually current and in good standing, rather than on mortgages which were careening towards foreclosure.
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