William Negron, in his mid-70s, lost his job in car sales two years ago. The possibility of losing their home put “so much stress on him,” said son Carlos Negron. “My mother has been to the hospital twice because of this.”

Relief turned to shock when the Negrons saw the new loan terms: the monthly payment fell to $1,280 from $2,000, but the loan would be extended to 40 years from 30, with a $25,000 balloon payment in 15 years. William Negron would turn 90 about the same time.

“That was a major slap in the face,” said Carlos Negron. The couple gave up their Orlando home.

The Negrons’ story is a sign that trouble in mortgage loan modifications is reaching a new stage.

For months, troubled borrowers have struggled to get mortgage modifications. Only 14.3 percent of South Floridians who get a temporary mortgage modification secure a permanent new loan. Now, a growing number of homeowners who are offered permanent mortgage modifications are finding the terms unacceptable.

Among the problems: surprising balloon payments – one-time lump-sum payments that cover any principal that may have been deferred – and interest rates that can rise again.

Many borrowers spend months in limbo, from the time a temporary loan modification is offered by their lender to when a permanent modification is made. Terms of the permanent loan may not be the same as the temporary modification.

“It’s been a long, tedious, painful time of uncertainty,” said Steven Carroll, a Lighthouse Point resident who has spent more than a year trying to modify his mortgage.

A brief period of unemployment for Carroll and his wife threw their finances into turmoil. Now they are both working and they have a temporary modification, but he doesn’t know what the terms of the permanent loan will be. “I’m hopeful that they’ll finally fulfill their end of the bargain,” he said. A Bank of America spokeswoman said the lender is working with Carroll.

A year ago, the Obama administration launched the Making Home Affordable program, putting $75 billion toward modifying mortgages and helping millions of borrowers through the worst housing crisis in decades.

So far, the results are slim. About 100,000 Florida loans have been modified on a trial basis. A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department says it is difficult to estimate how many borrowers are eligible.

Fewer than 15,000 trial loan modifications in Florida have become permanent. Nationwide, 116,297 modifications have become permanent out of almost 1.3 million trial modifications begun under the Obama program.

Despite the odds, thousands of South Floridians are trying to modify their loans in a desperate effort to save their homes. Recently, they jammed an event in West Palm Beach that promised face-to-face meetings with bank representatives and loan counselors. “Good news!” shouted homeowner Cleore Gauvin, of Wellington, when she learned, on the spot, that Bank of America would cut her interest rate in half to 3 percent for a trial modification.

Bankers point out that a mortgage modification is only a temporary break that gives borrowers an affordable payment while they stay in the home. Borrowers, they say, should make plans for the day when that period of lowered payments will end and decide whether they can really afford the house.

A cut in the interest rate, for example, could end in a few years, which would mean the monthly payments would increase and the loan potentially becomes unaffordable again.

Under the Making Home Affordable program, interest rates can be lowered for up to five years. Then they start rising again, 1 percentage point per year until the rate reaches the market rate at the time of the modification. Loans modified outside the federal program can have different provisions.

Another emerging issue is balloon payments, such as the one the Negrons faced.

Not all loan modifications have them. But some permanent loan modifications defer payment on a portion of the loan until years later.

When the mortgage’s term ends – in 30 or 40 years – or when the house is sold or the loan is refinanced, some borrowers will owe a one-time, lump-sum payment that could amount to tens of thousands of dollars. The balloon payment covers the portion of the principal that was deferred.

“There’s no question the principal-deferred balloon payment is, in fact, very, very common,” said David Berenbaum, of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a group of hundreds of lenders, loan servicers and community groups that offer foreclosure counseling. The organization wants banks to reduce or forgive some of the loan rather than to defer a portion of it.

The concept of deferring principal and having a balloon payment is widely misunderstood.

Says Alexander Fernandez, director of Homeownership Preservation for Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida. “A lot of people have that confused. They think (the principal that they’re not paying) is going to be forgiven and it’s not.”

Homeowners may be unaware of the terms of their new deals – for a good reason. Terms such as balloon payments are not spelled out in their loan papers, said Terry Schmitz, senior underwriter at AmeriFirst in Fort Lauderdale.

“It doesn’t say you have to make a balloon payment [in the future]. Unless you know how to work a real estate calculator, you don’t know what you’re signing,” she said.

For borrowers trying to hold on to their homes the difficulties continue even after the new loan begins.

About 20 percent of modified loans, through last June, ended up in default only three months later, according to federal statistics.

Copyright © 2010 Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Harriet Johnson Brackey. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. Mary Shanklin of the Orlando Sentinel contributed to this report.

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“The UnderwaterEvaluator”! Whether you are currently working on a loan modification, purchase, sale or short sale this software will determine the Current and Future Value of a Property. It is a tool that gives You Insight and Power while Negotiating with Banks, Lenders and Servicers for You, your Seller or Buyer!

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You should tell others your follow up information is More Valuable than only knowing what their home’s worth.

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“I wish we had found your site before my client spent the spent $425.00 for an appraisal to refinance their mortgage. Your evaluator really helped, and although they have good credit, this quickly showed there’s no way I could help with their refinance. Instead they are now doing a loan modification. You saved all of us time, heartache, and more importantly money. The evaluator report showed all the options, and guided us. It was easy to understand and very helpful. Thank you for your clever little home evaluator tool.”

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FACT
More than 11.3 million
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24% of all residential properties are UPSIDE DOWN
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$801 billion underwater to be ‘exact’

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN IF YOU’RE IN THIS GROUP?

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This offer is exclusive to the UNDERWATER CALCULATOR® and is a licensed product of LoanResolve™ Technologies. All inquires are strictly confidential using industry standard encryption.

ARE YOU ONE OF THEM?

“The UnderwaterEvaluator”! Whether you are currently working on a loan modification, purchase, sale or short sale this software will determine the Current and Future Value of a Property.  It is a tool that gives You Insight and Power while Negotiating with Banks, Lenders and Servicers for You, your Seller or Buyer!

Let’s See How it Works:

Homeowners: Where the Heck do you stand? Are you underwater?  Is any equity still alive?  Discover the value of your home.  “The UnderwaterEvaluator” will determine your current Home Value in a comprehensive report that is easy to read!

Buyers: Buying a new home this year?  What is the REAL Value? How much should you really pay?  “The UnderwaterEvaluator” will determine the current Home Value in a comprehensive report that is easy to read!

Mortgage Professionals: Helping a client with a Mortgage Modification, Workout, Forbearance Program or Principal Reduction?  Help by supplying them the opportunity to utilize “The UnderwaterEvaluator” to determine the current Value and negotiate with the lender with the comprehensive report that is easy to read!

Real Estate Professionals: Working on a Short Sale for a Buyer or Seller?  Order “The UnderwaterEvaluator” Today to see the Current REAL Property Value.  Give yourself the Power of Negotiation with this comprehensive report that is easy to read!  Your Buyers or Sellers will Thank you!

Attorneys: What is your practices’ area of expertise? Foreclosures?  Loan Modifications?  Title Work?  Protecting the people in essence is what you are after.  Give yourself and client the Power of Negotiation with this comprehensive report from “The UnderwaterEvaluator” that is easy to read!

CPA’s / Accountants: Write Off’s, Tax Credits, Tax Breaks, Depreciation – Your Clients count on YOU to steer them in the right direction.  Now you can Help by supplying them the opportunity to utilize “The UnderwaterEvaluator” to determine their current Property Value and offer all of the opportunities for tax deductions to save from paying in for erroneous debts that should be a benefit to them….

Financial Planners: What is your client’s Next investment? Mutual Funds – Life Insurance or maybe a New Home or Investment Property!  Discover their REAL Net Worth and advise them of their REAL Vision and Outlook for the future.  “The UnderwaterEvaluator” will determine their current Property Value and allow YOU to offer all of the opportunities for future investments….

As you see we can all benefit from “The UnderwaterEvaluator”!  Each and every one of us fits in somewhere!  Who are you?  A Homeowner?  Buyer?  Mortgage Professional? A Real Estate Professional? Attorney? CPA or Financial Planner?  With the comprehensive report “The UnderwaterEvaluator” provides will guide you through making the Right Decisions for Your and/or Your Clients future.

Not knowing the TRUE Value of your or a prospects home could COST YOU TIME & MONEY whether you act or not. “The UnderwaterEvaluator” technology will provide you with the lender version of a property value and guide you through available options to make the correct decisions.

NOW ~ Let’s Get Started, before It’s Too Late!

It takes 3 minutes and a few bucks –

And in the long run can save you or your client Thousands!

Hear What Our Recent  Customers  are Saying:

“We were SHOCKED at the value our bank showed us for our refinance. We were very ticked off. Our lender offered no assistance. Our neighbor recommended this site. Your info was exactly what our bank told us. Your book was a great help to motivate us to a Short Sale to get out from under this mess. Your little book, videos and evaluation guided us through stressful times. Amazing Value. This is a bargain. I recommended your site to many co-workers who are in the same boat we were.”

Robert F. Detroit, Michigan

“THIS SITE IS FANTASTIC!
You should tell others your follow up information is More Valuable than only knowing what their home’s worth.

Your Underwater Evaluator Report is like gold and worth every penny!  I am so happy I found it before I bought my second home in Florida.  Nobody else “tells you like it is” and provides the step by step procedures to fix these expensive problems.”

Alicia D. Fort Lauderdale, Florida

“I wish we had found your site before my client spent the  spent $425.00 for an appraisal to refinance their mortgage. Your evaluator really helped, and although they have good credit, this quickly showed there’s no way I could help with their refinance. Instead they are now doing a loan modification. You saved all of us time, heartache, and more importantly money.  The evaluator report showed all the options, and guided us. It was easy to understand and very helpful. Thank you for your clever little home evaluator tool.”

Peter B. Phoenix, Arizona

• All past due monies forgiven (9 months worth)
• Reduced principal amount (over 10%)
• Reduced interest rate (from negative amortization to fixed 5.75%!!)
• Extended loan term to 40 years (fully amortized)
• Interest only payments for first 10 years to keep payments low

“Wow” you may be saying, “That’s just what I want. If it’s so easy for them, then I should be able to get that too.”

And yes, you should – or maybe get something even better suited to your particular circumstances.

So, how do you get a modification? Simple. You keep working at it and never, never, never give up.

Our lender closed our file no less than three times. We were told repeatedly that we didn’t qualify for a modification. Mostly this was because the loan was in the name of our LLC, and the modification department just could NOT seem to understand that fact. They kept telling us they wanted our personal financial information, but an LLC does not have personal financial info. “It is a business” we kept telling them. “It does not have living expenses.”

Finally today we received the modification paperwork (after we received a letter just days before saying the principal amount would not be reduced and the monthly payment would be higher.) We have signed and returned it, and now have one less mortgage file to work on.

Of course, there are multiple mortgages to go, and we will keep working on them, one by one, until they are all resolved. Because if we don’t, we could lose out on a terrific deal, and we certainly don’t want that to happen!