I have been researching Principal Reduction/Short Refinance Programs since the middle of last year. I am a mortgage planner and continuously seek alternative strategies to help my clients with their situation.in theory, the idea of a short refinance makes sense. Heck, the Hope 4 Homeowners program was launched in Oct through FHA. Unfortunately, with that program the government soon realized that the lenders weren't just going to write someones note down to 90% of their current value. Additionally, investors had a problem with the homeowner sharing current and future equity with the FHA. What is crazy is that in the last 6 months, I found a lender who offers the FHA Hope 4 Homeowners loan... The problem is its next to impossible to get a write down to 90% of the current value. Enough on that... This is why you SHOULD NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, do business with M3 Strategy. 1. They are not a licensed mortgage broker or banker. They originally got setup with the Steltmen Group which is a glorified processing, daisy chain-of-brokers group. Their relationship with the Steltmen Group did not make their operation legit. 2. They do not have attorney's on staff that do anything. They advertise Wilbur Hudson as their attorney but your payments go only to M3 Strategy. Well my friends, M3 Strategy (and this is # 3.) is a sole proprietor through Chris Ellis! It's not and never has been, a registered corporation, llc or partnership with the Secretary of State in AZ. As a licensed mortgage broker in the state of Arizona, my suggestion to those of you who seek a principal reduction/short refi, whatever you want to call it... IT DOES NOT EXIST ON A LARGE SCALE!!! You are kidding yourself if it does. I have finally come to terms with the fact that I too was duped along with my clients. Our company never again will refer our clients to third party companies no matter how much research we do on them in advance of. I spent several months checking out M3 Strategy and found nothing derogatory about them... I know now that I just didn't give it enough time. This is NOT a proven concept and if you want ANY chance of getting something like this done, you can ONLY get it done through a licensed mortgage broker/banker. Keep in mind it's just like a normal loan process where the upfront fee is limited to third party fees, i.E. The credit report and appraisal. If the LO succeeds in negotiating a write down, then they will receive their compensation through escrow. Lastly I want to offer to anyone who reads this post, a FREE and NO OBLIGATION consultation with our company. We prepare a Strategic Action Plan that outlines for a homeowner what they qualify for (loan mod, HARP refi, etc) and how that would or would not benefit them. We also outline the alternatives to these programs in the event they don't qualify for any type of modification or refinance. We discuss things like the pros and cons of a deed in lieu, deed for lease, short sale, sale/leaseback and how to use bankruptcy to prevent potential deficiencies. I pray that no one else gets scammed by these scum bags and that the Attorney General steps in real soon to shut them down... If anyone does have M3S's new address, please post it because I need to pay them a visit. Thank you to all that have stepped up to the plate to post their experiences.
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