I talk to homeowners daily about their mortgage situation. Some homeowners have questions on the home loan modification process, foreclosure, and many other topics. In the last week, a lot of the homeowners that call our company want to know if they should modify their loan now or wait until President Obama comes out with the modification plan on March 4th.

My answer is this…there are literally a million people (or more) just like yourself who are determining if they should wait to see the details of the modification plan. By waiting, you are going to be in a very long line that is getting longer every day. I can guarantee that all mortgage lenders will be swamped with calls once details of the plan come out. Right now, all of the messages on lenders phone numbers says that they will not know if you qualify under Obama’s plan until they have the details. If all of the lenders have changed their voicemail with that message now, it just gives you an idea of how many people who are already looking for answers in regard to their home loan modification.

Since refinancing is no longer an option for the majority of homeowners these days, everyone is trying to modify their mortgage. We are having tremendous success getting our clients lower payments and reduced interest rates because we know what lenders are looking for in order to approve a modification. Does everyone qualify? No, but we can tell you within the first 5-10 minutes of talking to you whether or not you would be a good candidate. Since we don’t charge up front, our clients know they have nothing to lose when it comes to trying to modify their loan. If their lender approves their modification, we charge a fee. That’s why I cannot understand why homeowners would wait to submit an application package to lenders. We do all of the work for them and we save the homeowner thousands of dollars in the process. If you think you might need a modification, chances are that you do need one, so do your research.

I realize that the modification process is very confusing to understand for homeowners because there are so many variables to getting your loan approved. At the same time, don’t wait to take action. Do all of the research you need to do, call companies, do research via the internet, and whatever else you need to do. I have one request though— get your application submitted before March 4th. If you wait until after the 4th to submit your package, you will be waiting even longer to get a modification approved. Some lenders estimate that beginning in March, modifications will take a  minimum of 4 months to complete. While some companies are taking 90-120 days, we are still taking about 6-8 weeks to get modifications approved for our clients. Regardless, there will be so many people trying to get their loan approved that you don’t want to wait behind them if you don’t have to.

It’s like going to an amusement park and they have one really popular roller coaster. You know that unless you pick a day when it’s raining, the line is going to be a mile long. So instead of going to the park on a rainy day, what’s the best option? You get to the park when it opens so you don’t have to wait in the long line. It’s that simple. Get in early so you can beat the crowd. Loan modifications are not much different in this sense…get started early before the line is in the millions.