Nothing on this page constitutes a guarantee, warranty or prediction regarding the outcome of the services we render to you.  We can only guarantee that we will do our very best for you.  

Loan Modification, Loan Settlement, Forensic Audit & Short Sale Flat Fees

1.Loan Modification including Property Valuation. $2450, one loan; $3150, two loans

We obtain a professional valuation of your property to show its current value, and negotiate with your lender to modify your loan to an interest rate and loan term that you can afford and to reduce or forebear the principal in some circumstances: 

1. Ascertain your lender(s)' guidelines and determine whether a loan modification conforms to your lender’s specific requirements.
   
   
2. Analyze your financial status to ensure that it conforms to your lender's loan modification requirements.
   
   
3. Obtain a professional valuation of your property to determine its value and whether we should seek a principal forbearance or reduction to your loan. [We also petition to reduce your property taxes for an additional fee of $575, see below.]
   
   
4. Analyze your current loan terms, your financial ability and hardship and pre-qualify you for a loan modification acceptable to you and your lender.
   
   
5. Prepare the Loan Modification Proposal which consists of a multide of documents including your financial documents, your hardship letter, a violation notice documenting predatory lender practices if identified in the forensic audit, and the Broker Price Opinion Valuation.
   
   
6. Negotiate the Loan Modification with the lender and facilitate your signing of the Loan Modification documents.

With Forensic Audit: Add $700

If you are ready: E-mail Marilyn and she will e-mail you a Pre-Qualification Interview and Financial Statement. You complete these documents, and if she feels she will be able to get your loan modified, she will accept your matter. If not, she will provide you with an in-depth analysis and recommendations as to where to go from here. i.e., stay with foreclosure, sell short, consider bankruptcy, lease out your house. This pre-qualification step involves 3 hours of Marilyn's time for which she charges $335.00. This fee is credited to your account if she accepts your matter.

2. Forensic Audit of your Loan Documents. $995

Many loans between 2003 and the end of 2007 are susceptible to unfair lender practices which may give you rights to modify your loan.  If your loan is a home refinance loan originated in the last three years, we recommend a forensic audit of your loan documents. Our Forensic Audit is a comprehensive review of the loan documents to identify predatory lending practices in order to increase your bargaining position in your loan workout or short sale. Our audit consists of the following services performed by Marilyn personally:

• We interview you regarding the loan process both before we receive the documents and after.
• We scrutinize and cross-reference the loan documents, purchase agreement, title report and appraisal.
• We reverse engineer your loan terms to confirm mathematical correctness and compliance with federal and state law.
• We perform a 64 point check to ascertain violations of the federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA), Real Estate Settlement & Procedures Act (RESPA), HOEPA (Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act) and state law.
• We analyze each fee paid to ascertain hidden costs, duplicative costs, lender products sold, disguised commissions, and fees exceeding maximum thresholds.
• We analyze whether lender flipping has occurred via multiple loans in a short period of time.
• We report outcomes of our testing with ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ indicators and describe the specific law violated and the document in which the violation occurs.
• We search for fraudulent practices aside from the above such as misrepresentation, document altering.
• For violations found, we issue a Violation Notice to your Lender under RESPA Section 6 demanding rescission of the loan which must be responded to by the lender on a priority basis. Violations are identified a majority of the time.
• Our violation letter gives your file priority review by the lender’s legal department and a negotiating advantage in the course of loan modification or short sale.

If you are ready: E-mail Marilyn and she will e-mail you a Pre-Qualification Interview. You complete this document, and if she feels the chances of finding predatory lending practices in your transaction documents, she will accept your matter. This pre-qualification step involves 2 hours of Marilyn's time for which she charges $295.00. This fee is credited to your account if she accepts your matter.

3.  Settling a Junior Loan for Less than the amount owed.        $995                        

If your property is worth significantly less than the junior loan and you are close to a foreclosure sale, there is a good chance the junior lender will settle for less than the amount owed, sometimes for significantly less (5 to 15%) depending on how under water the property is and your financial predicament. [This fee is if we are handling the loan modification of your first loan.  If not, we charge $1995.]

If you are ready: E-mail Marilyn and she will e-mail you a Pre-Qualification Interview and Financial Statement. You complete these documents, and if she feels she will be able to get your loan settled, she will accept your matter. If not, she will provide you with with recommendations as to where to go from here. This pre-qualification step involves 3 hours of Marilyn's time for which she charges $335.00. This fee is credited to your account if she accepts your matter.

4. Comprehensive Analysis of Short Sale/Foreclosure Ramifications. $795 California; $895 other states

Suggested for owner-occupied home loan(s) where you are more than 25% underwater [unless you do not want to consider letting of the property] and all non-owner occupied loan

This analysis answerse these issues:

1. Whether it makes financial sense to keep the property; 
2.  Loan modification feasibility,
3. Should you short sell, deed in lieu or allow the lender to foreclose?
4.  Will your financial status cause the lender to require you to pay beyond the sale price?
4.  If you let go of the property, can your lender obtain a deficiency judgment against you?
5.  If so, how long do they have after sale to obtain a judgment.
6.  If you let go of the property, whether a 1099-C for Cancellation of Debt will issue and in what amount.
7.  How will these options affect your credit. 
8.  Although you have to make the decision what to do, we will help you arrive at this decision through this in depth analysis.
 
We will provide this analysis in writing for a fee of $195 more. The written analysis will be approximately five pages. These concepts are not easy to grasp. We find that clients need the written format to best understand these issues.

If you are ready: E-mail Marilyn and she will e-mail you a Client Interview which will give her all the information she needs to anlayze your situation. You complete this document, and when Marilyn is done with her research, she will set up a time to speak with you or she will email you her written analysis, depending on your choice.

5. Proactively Experiencing Foreclosure. $450 California; $575 other states

If you have decided foreclosure is the best option for you, we can coach you through proactively experiencing the process. If the property is a rental, continue receiving rent (to which you are legally entitled) for as long as possible and work with your tenant so they can plan to vacate at the right time. Know how long you have before the sale, the lender's notice and posting requirements so you can make sure they are followed, what happens at the sale, how long you or your tenants will be able to stay after the sale, whether you or your tenants may be able to rent the property after sale. If you have not analyzed the legal and tax ramifications of foreclosure, you should consider obtaining the analysis immediately above.

If you are ready: E-mail Marilyn and she will e-mail you a Client Interview which will give her all the information she needs to anlayze your situation. You complete this document, and when Marilyn is done with her review, she will set up a time to speak with you. She can also perform her analysis in writing for an extra fee so may have the benefit of reflection.

6. Short Sale Facilitation. $6500 usually paid from closing costs.

As a real estate broker and developer, Marilyn knows how to short sell so lenders will accept the offer and negotite deficiency judgment rights.   Coupled with forensic audit findings, lenders are more motivated to accept short sale offers more quickly and on better terms. Her services also include debt relief and deficiency judgment prevention.

Her fee is paid as follows: 1.5% of the agent's commission (typically paid by the listing agent but can be shared by both the listing and selling agent). If that amount is less than $6500, the remainder is paid as attorneys fees on the closing statement. (A minority of the time the lender will not approve this attorney fee, in whic case the seller is responsible for the difference between the 1.5% commission and $6500.) No payment is due until closing. If the transaction does not close, no fee is due. These are the services Marilyn provides in a short sale:

1. Ascertain your lender(s)' guidelines and determine whether your short sale conforms to your lender’s specific requirements.
   
   
2. Analyze your financial status to ensure that it conforms to short sale requirements.
   
   
3. If you do not have one, locate a real estate agent specializing in short sales and facilitate the listing terms to conform to your lender's requirements. Comparable sales will be reviewed to set a list price that will have the best chance of bringing a fast sale but also conform to lender requirements for the highest possible sale price. A marketing plan will be implemented to expeditiously and proactively service the listing.
   
   
4. Monitor the real estate agent throughout the listing to make sure the listing is diligently serviced and pre-set price reductions are implemented.
   
   
5. Review offers and prepare addenda to insure that they conform to your lender’s short sale requirements and coordinate with you and your listing agent.
   
   
6. If warranted, conduct a forensic review of your underlying loan to identify predatory lending practices and utilize these allegations to your advantage in negotiating with your lender. (See a description of our forensic review, above, under our single service Forensic review.)
   
   
7. Supervise preparation of the initial Broker Price Opinion Valuation of your property at listing and when an offer is received to support the short sale price.
   
   
8. Prepare the Short Sale package (often in excess of 100 pages) and submit it your lender along with a legal memorandum documenting any lending violations identified.
   
   
9. Identify non-recourse and deficiency judgment rights for use in negotiations with the lender(s).
   
   
10. Negotiate the Short Sale Offer with the lender(s) as well as resulting tax and deficiency liability and credit reporting determinations subject to your approval.
    
    
11. Provide you with a Short Sale Certification (see our FAQs Page) for bolstering your credit. This document certifies that you earnestly undertook proactive steps which resulted in minimized loss to your lender.  This certification goes a long way toward obtaining new credit sooner.
    
    
12. Facilitate your claiming exclusions from 1099 cancellation of debt income reporting, if applicable.
    

If you are ready: E-mail Marilyn and she will e-mail you a Pre-Qualification Interview and a Pre-Qualification Financial Package. You complete these documents, and if she feels you will be able to sell your property short, she will accept your matter. If not, she will provide you with with an in-depth analysis and recommendations as to where to go from here. i.e., stay with foreclosure, modify your loan, consider bankruptcy. This pre-qualification step involves 3 hours of Marilyn's time for which she charges $335.00. This fee is credited to your account if she accepts your matter.

7. Coaching you through any of the above loan workouts.      $29 per 6 minutes.

Want to do it yourself? Marilyn will coach you through the process. She will:

1. Pre-qualify you.
   
   
2. Provide you with a Workout Roadmap including lender contact information.
   
   
3. Guide you to prepare your workout package including financials and hardship letter.
   
   
4. Explain the options of supporting your offer with a Broker Price Opinion if your property is underwater and a forensic audit (particularly if your loan is a primary residence refinance).
   
   
5. Coach you about commuicating with the lender and getting the best results.
   
   
6. Review the lender’s response with you

If you are ready: E-mail Marilyn with your request.

8. Property tax Modification.                 $575.00              

If we are providing a Property Valuation as part of our service, we will also petition to have your property taxes reduced in line with the valuation for this additional fee.

If you are ready: E-mail Marilyn

The majority of Marilyn’s services after the initial consultation are performed by e-mail and fax.  So, please have an e-mail address and a scanner that produces pdf files to attach to e-mails or a fax machine available. 

Marilyn also consults at an hourly rate of $290 for e-mail and $335 for phone or in person, prorated to the time spent. Please e-mail Marilyn if you desire a consultation with her.  Marilyn has rolled her rates back from $450 an hour to assist fellow real estate owners in trouble.