It’s our understanding that any modifications being made — and they are minimal — are being made on primary residences that the homeowner is actually living in. Banks will not loan if an individual owns more than one property — they just tell you to sell the other properties.

They will not modify if you don’t live in your own property, i.e. if you rent it out. They will ask for PG&E bills to prove residence and they will do credit checks to prove residence.

Basically, they do not want to modifiy, so will look for any way out.

Regarding companies that will buy at, basically, short-sale rates and sell the home back to you, well we found a couple, but when our called them, they backed down. Apparently these lenders take over your home loan; if they are not ethical, they do not have to sell it back to you.

Another one that has seemed to work in some cases is to have a solvent family member purchase the home through the bank at the short-sale rate, hold onto it for six months or so, then sell it back to you. Everything is risky, i.e. if your family member gets mad at for you for some reason . . .

The people who provide the above services generally want $1,000 to $5,000 up front for this “service.” That seems questionable.

We’ll keep digging.

In the meantime, you might want to dig through Marin Family Action’s Home Save information: Home Save Program

and write a letter to your lender requesting the note AS IT IS NOW HELD. (lenders repeatedly send the original note they have, not the one that was sold and who it is held by now.): http://www.marinfamilyaction.org/homeSave.html

Here are all the documents that are required by a forensic audit (which does seem to work to win homes): Documents for a Forensic Audit

And it’s worth sending copies of everything you write to officials: State and Federal Officials

If those people receive enough of this correspondence, they might actually develop a program that works.

Lastly, Obama’s new money is purportedly for people in foreclosure in the much-neglected Western States.

We do know if you put your head down, you stand to lose your home.

We hope this helps. And good luck to you.