Navigating the Mortgage Modification Mess ¡V A Cautionary Tale

About the Book

Navigating the Mortgage Modification Mess – A Cautionary Tale takes the reader on a serious, yet sarcastically humorous, trip through Federal and internal bank programs for modifying home mortgages. It represents a 3-year timeline of the author’s attempt to save part of the American Dream of home ownership. The process involved submitting, and often resubmitting, a large amount of paperwork to answer underwriter questions and justify a hardship request for mortgage modification. During the process, the author saved notes from phone conversations and copies of correspondence from financial institutions. This Cautionary Tale is a compilation of these communications that underlines the gross inefficiencies inherent to HAMP, HAFA, and other mortgage modification programs

With the current housing market, there are other people facing foreclosure and the need to modify existing mortgages. The author hopes the experiences described in this Cautionary Tale will help others avoid pitfalls as they try to navigate through the many available mortgage modification programs.

About the Author

Charles G. Smith was born in Vermont in 1940. He grew up in an era when college graduation, marriage, family, and home ownership were considered normal parts of life. Real estate was considered to be a good, safe long-term investment. After receiving a B.S. Degree at Allegheny College and the M.S. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Michigan, Charles worked 32 years as an industrial analytical chemist. The home ownership part of his family’s American Dream fell apart after 13 happy retirement years. The ensuing mortgage modification ordeal transformed the mild-mannered chemist, family-man, and part-time golfer into an author. This is his first literary work.