LETTER FROM F. MONDESTINE
EAST ORANGE NJ
I came to the USA from Africa as a married man with one son. I purchased a very large home in East Orange and in 2008 I applied to the Hardest Hit Fund for money to repair my home, which had been severely damaged in a terrible storm. Unfortunately, this fund ran out of money before my claim was processed. My wife and I tried to pay for the repairs, but progress was very slow. This was very stressful on us and the stress eventually ended our marriage
In July of 2016, my wife returned to Africa taking my son with her and all my savings. She left me with this damaged home and no savings. I continued to work and to try to make the needed repairs, but I fell behind in my mortgage payments while filing for a divorce and trying to regain custody of my son.
In March of 2017, I discovered that my mortgage payment was increasing from $1,495.05 to $2,751.50 and I could not understand why the payment had increased so much. I was served with a foreclosure notice around the same time, so I hired an attorney.
At the law office, I met Angela Thomas, a paralegal who was able to explain to me why my mortgage payment had increased so much. Turns out that my wife had agreed to a 10-year interest-only mortgage with a variable interest rate that changed every 3 months and the 10 years had just ended, so the new mortgage payment was for principal and interest plus escrow. I could not believe that for the past 10 years I had paid nothing towards my mortgage balance. Angela spoke with the mortgage lender and she inquired about my old 2008 application for the Hardest Hit Fund and she was able to secure payment of $32,434.17 payable to me after this Hardest Hit program paid all my arrearages including my escrow shortage. The Hardest Hit Fund spent a total of $128K toward my mortgage with the $32,434.17 being sent to me. Angela advised me that I would receive a 1099 for the entire $128K and that I needed to discuss this with my tax professional. I could now afford to make the balance of the needed repairs to my home. Angela then applied for a loan modification on my behalf, and I was denied for not having enough income.
Angela then asked me to consider turning my home into a boarding house since I had 9 bedrooms in my very large home. She explained that under the banner of a boarding house I could charge a daily rate for the bedroom and then charge additional fees for the use of the kitchen and or the laundry machines and or for storage in my garage, basement and or attic and I could also charge for parking on my property. Angela devised a schedule that proved as a boarding house I was generating additional income between $2,500 up to $4K per month, in addition to my salary. Now I had enough income to support a loan modification. The lender required proof of this boarder income, by showing the weekly deposits into my bank account so they insisted that I show this new income over a 3-month period before they would consider my loan modification application.
All during this time, Angela kept advising me and supporting me. Angela even researched and found me a contact in the US Embassy in Africa that was helping me get my divorce processed while also helping me obtain shared custody of my son. I really believe that if Angela had not followed up with that organization, I would have never received those funds.
I could not have saved my home without Angela’s help and without her determination to find a solution that would allow me to save my home. Angela always took the time to explain things to me and she always answered my questions and she went above and beyond to help me with all my issues. I would have never thought of turning my home into a boarding home to generate so much additional income.
Angela is an amazing paralegal whose tenacity was a god send for me. I would suggest any homeowner who is behind on their mortgage payments should go sit down with Angela – if she can’t help you, I don’t think anyone can.