Company Helps People Save Homes

Fox5 KVVU, NV

Groups Can Work With Banks To Obtain Fixed-Rate Mortgages For Homeowners

Las Vegas - For those Valley residents who have purchased a home within the past four to five years, they've seen the value of those homes depreciate substantially, including up to 30 percent in just a year.

These decreases in value make it almost impossible for these homeowners to refinance out of adjustable-rate mortgages, causing many of them to opt for foreclosure.

For those few people who are trying their hardest to keep their homes, even with their monthly mortgage payment doubling in price.

"For one year, I have begged, pleaded, cried and have literally gone insane not knowing what I'm going to do," homeowner Mary Giraud said.

Since her bank would not help her, Giraud reached out to a company promising to negotiate with her lender to modify her loan, replacing her sub-prime mortgage with a fixed-rate traditional loan.

Loan modification is becoming a huge growth industry, and some may be able to help homeowners refinance their home. But one Valley expert said that if homeowners don't chose carefully and do their research, those companies claiming to save your home might actually put you deeper in the hole.

"The best solution isn't going to be foreclosure for the borrower or the bank because it costs a lot for the bank to go through foreclosure, and it's going to be a ding on the credit of the borrower," said Chad Ruyle, co-founder of You Walk Away.

You Walk Away is a San Diego company originally set up to walk homeowners through foreclosure, but they have recently shifted their focus to help borrowers negotiate affordable mortgages with their lenders.

Ruyle said they have a 94 percent success rate.

"Banks are starting to realize that there's such a loss if they have to go foreclosure, they'd rather keep a loan on the book," Ruyle said. "(They realize that) it's good and get the homeowner to stay there and make the payments."

John Maddux, the second co-founder of You Walk Away, said several large banks are interested in their brand of re-financing, including Washington Mutual, Countrywide/Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

While the thought of paying more money to a company to play middleman to fix a potentially toxic mortgage, Ruyle said their contacts and ability to bypass the piles of pre-existing filings are worth the fee.

The Housing and Urban Development Department keeps a list of approved agencies that might be able to give homeowners who may be facing foreclosure more guidance.