LETTER FROM S. LAUDERDALE
NEWARK, NJ
My husband and I raised our children in our 4-family home located in downtown Newark NJ.
Through the years we have had our share of ups and downs dealing with tenants. My husband handled all the finances and tenant issues. In 2015, my husband suddenly passed away. I suddenly found myself ill-equipped to handle my finances and these tenant issues. We had a severe storm and a large limb of a tree damaged the roof of my building and I was suddenly dealing with my insurance company and angry tenants. With the additional loss of my husband’s income plus two tenants who were not paying their rent, I found myself falling behind on my mortgage payments. I was served with a foreclosure notice, so I decided to hire an attorney to help me save my home.
At the attorney’s office, I was introduced to a paralegal, Angela, who supposedly had experience saving homes from foreclosure. I sat with her and explained my circumstances and she asked me to reach out to my children for financial assistance. She also advised me on how to best handle these tenants. We evicted one of these tenants and renegotiated with the remaining two Section 8 tenants. My two daughters moved into the one apartment, that we evicted a non-paying tenant. Now my income was enough to support a loan modification with my daughters now agreeing to pay $800 in rent and an additional $2,000.00 per month toward the household bills. Angela helped me with advice and support while we had the roof repaired, through the eviction process, section 8 renegotiations and through helping my daughters get settled into their new apartment. Angela even provided the blank forms for us to set up our wills, living wills and medical proxy and she referred me to an insurance agent who could provide me with life insurance, so I could leave my daughters with some money after my passing. Angela even helped my daughters create new budgets and to start a 401K savings plan.
I want my daughters to be in a better financial place than I found myself in after my husband passed. Angela was instrumental in helping me to remain calm while she patiently explained things to me and advised me on all my open issues. She really opened my eyes. I never realized how much my husband handled until he was gone, and I had no idea how to take care of myself. I am grateful to Angela for her patience and understanding and she made herself available after hours and on weekends. The loan modification was very stressful and Carrington Home Loans hired a third party to handle the modification process and this third party offered me a 9 month trial period because their analysis determined the probability of my re-defaulting on this loan modification was over 60%, so they wanted a long trial period to ensure that I could support this new mortgage. I agreed, since I had no intention of re-defaulting on this modification – I am planning on passing this home down to my two daughters. My trial plan began in March of 2017 and ended in September of 2017 and by the end of October, I had a modified mortgage and I was relieved to have the foreclosure lawsuit dismissed. Carrington refused to dismiss the foreclosure until the trial had been completed and they continued to schedule sheriff sales, which they would postpone if my trial payments were made on time. My daughters and I were very stressed during this trial as the local newspaper kept printing the sheriff sale dates, which caused my Section 8 tenants to freak out.
Angela was able to calm down both my tenants and their Section 8 agents by explaining that even in foreclosure, existing leases must be honored. These 9 months during this trial were the most stressful time of my life, but thanks to Angela and her unwavering support, we survived, and we are now very happy with our loan modification and my family is closer now than we were before my husband passed away.
I recommend Angela to any homeowner facing foreclosure or just behind on their payments. She is a wealth of information and even when she did not have an answer for me, she would research and find an answer.