BillB;112408]Hello... I finally found a real estate lawyer in Massachusetts that is up to speed on this type of stuff and met with him this week. Without even doing a full forensic audit they were able to point out and actually highlight at least 7 violations ranging from my interest only period being 6.65% and the finance charge being 9.7%, several "junk" closing fees totaling roughly 10k when they should usually be 3-4k for the 80/20 loan I signed, and several others. That's without doing a complete comb over.
They are putting together the entire package for me including financials, diti numbers, hardship letter, the violations explanations for leverage, and everything else you would present for any modification and when I have my follow up meeting with him next week I have a choice to either pay them $500 for the entire package, etc. so that I can present them to the lender myself or retain the lawyer to do all the negotiating for an additional $1500 making the total $2000 for the attorney to do everything. That sounds about what folks here have said the going rate is for this type of thing.
My question is I signed these original docs almost 4 years ago (it will be exactly 4 next month) so is there any statutes preventing me from using these violations as leverage for a good mod with the 80 and a possible settlement for the 20 since my mortgage is worth about what the 80 principle is and whether or not I should pay the attorney the additional $1500 to do the negotiating for me or just present the packet they would present on my own. My thinking is that they'd try jerking me around where they can't really do that to a lawyer but if it's 100% clear violations in black and white do I even need the attorney to finish this? Also could I have a non-profit such as NACA take it from here to do the negotiating taking the "grunt work" out of their services and saving me some money? I know this isn't a law center but any guidance would be greatly appreciated so if nothing else I can be a bit more educated when I go to meet with the lawyer next week to tell him how I'd like to pursue going forward.[/quote]
Hello and welcome to this forum,
Before you hire your lawyer make sure to check if he is license to practice law in Massachusetts. I think NACA can help you with your situation and it's free.
Please click the link provided and read it carefully, it will help you understand the process of QWR, and help find if the lawyer is license in Massachusetts.
Scare Mail: Beware of ?QWR?s The BBOWEB database lookup by Last+F* name. http://www.massbar.org/for-the-public/need-a-lawyer/tips-on-choosing-a-lawyer https://www.naca.com/index_main.jsp Hope this helps.