Who’s lead are you following??

Most homeowners I meet with are in dire need of some type of leadership to resolve their foreclosure.  I often earn their business because my ability to lead is the greatest value I bring.  However, sometimes homeowners are led in the wrong direction and their desperation or hope for leadership clouds their judgment and prevents them from seeing whats really going on.

Last week I met with an older gentleman who had several properties in Default.  I connected with this homeowner by way of his ‘Tax Guy”, who’s been doing his taxes for many years.  We finally organized a meeting where all of us came together to discuss the state of all his properties.  Keep in mind that by the time I finally got them to commit to this meeting the main property was  a week away from a Trustee Sale.

I quickly identified that his income and expenses were the main problem.  He had approximately $5k in income coming in.  Income from 4 rentals and his SS income.  His expenses for all the properties and his personal expenses was about 11k.  He stopped paying the mortgages 2 years ago and survived by not paying and slow bleeding the properties.   His “Tax Guy” introduced him to a person couple years ago who was suppose to help him with Modifying his properties.  He charged him $4k a month to help him with his modification.  He had been denied modifications on all his properties and couldn’t figure out why.   He also found out in January that one of his properties was lost to Trustee Sale.  His leader, the “Tax Guy” had got him a guy who took advantage of him and charged him $4k/month for doing nothing.  He also cost him one property that he didn’t even know was foreclosed on.   That is not leadership!!

Once I understood his entire situation I was able to create a solution to salvage what he did have.  It would require selling one property but would net him about $50k.  He also had a shot at selling another property but that would take some work.

The “Tax Guy” had already laid out another strategy that he felt would be better for him and wouldn’t require selling any properties.  He would sue the lender that sold his property for illegally selling a home that they didn’t have the original note on.  And they would file a lawsuit against the other lenders that were trying to foreclose on his properties.  This plan would require a $10k retainer for the attorney to begin working.  And he would get this money from where??  This is the same guy that cost him one property and several thousands of dollars!

I concluded that if he losses all his properties, he would be left with no sale proceeds and would have to live on his $700/month SS income.  I explained to him that there was only one way out.  The homeowner deferred to his “Tax Guy” and this guy felt it was best for them to sue the lender and go that route.

Lets see what happens!