Shirley Bertholf

Recently, I’ve encountered two persons who are in the loan modification process.  One, I’m happy to say, is now, after a grueling 7-8 months, in the second month of paying his modified house payment.  At the end of three months, if he has handled that new payment well, the modification will become permanent.  I’m so thrilled for him.

The second, however, was not so fortunate.  This person is an elderly widow who has lived in her house for over 35 years.  At some point before her husband died, they refinanced the house, but, in my opinion, someone took advantage of them.

I don’t know all the details, but when I met her, this dear woman was in danger of losing her home.  She had applied for a loan modification and was told that in order to qualify, she must be in arrears in her monthly mortgage payments.  They advised her to quit making her payments, so they could secure the modification for her.

After about 6 months, she was informed that her chances of being granted the loan modification were favorable.  That was less than two months ago.  Last week, she was informed that the modification has been denied, that her house has been sold, and that she has 10 days to vacate the property!  What on earth happened?  Why is there so much confusion surrounding this process?

When I went digging for answers, I found that many loans are packaged or securitized and then sold to groups of investors.  What homeowner hasn’t gotten at least one of those letters informing us that our loan is now owned by someone other than our original lender.

In my business, when I ask people who their lender is, they often aren’t sure, because the bank that is actually servicing their loan is usually no longer the one who actually owns it.  In fact, in many cases the loan has changed hands multiple times.

Ordinarily, that shouldn’t pose a problem, but when it comes to loan modification, lenders who actually hold the mortgages are now threatening to sue service providers who modify or change the loan contracts in their effort to bring relief to their borrowers.

There is a difference of opinion as to whether or not these loans can legally be changed, even in specific, appropriate situations, but Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank, says that those attempting modifications are running into problems that are not easily resolved.

In seeking financial relief, one should proceed cautiously through this maze called “loan modification.” You may be one of the lucky ones, like the first client I mentioned.

But if you’re going to pursue such a course, do your homework.  Stay in constant touch with the modification providers.   Seek advice from mortgage and financial professionals.

Investigate other alternatives to accelerating your equity and lowering your debt.  Don’t get caught, as my second friend did — after months of waiting — “out in the cold.”

The last time we went camping, we stopped for gas at a local filling station and the attendant asked if we were moving!  That’s because, even though we love to go tent camping, we take as many conveniences with us as we can.

We load a trailer with lots of wood, several tables, a porta potty, a three burner propane stove, a gearbox turned into camp kitchen cabinet, our sleeping tent, a canopy tent for over the table and cooking area, and an Aero bed.

Yes, an Aero bed.  We like to be comfortable.  We don’t usually have electricity, so we bought a converter and always take along a lengthy extension cord so we can connect to our car battery.  That has extra benefits as well, since, as a self-employed business person with United First Financial,I can work from anywhere.   If I can power my laptop computer, we are then free to stay an extra day or two if the fancy strikes.

Well, last tent camping trip, my husband blew up our air mattress, but a few minutes later when he went to spread our Coleman sleeping bags over the top of it, it was totally flat!  Okay…try again, he thought.  Perhaps he didn’t quite get the cap closed properly.

Alas!  This time he heard the hissing sound…not a hole, mind you, but apparently one of the baffles had separated from the rest and couldn’t hold up its end of the bargain.  What to do?  We had paid for three nights at this camp site but, at our age, the hard ground was just not an option!

Well, we thought, let’s try duct tape!  It works for everything else.  We began applying pieces of duct tape over the offending baffle.  For a moment there, it looked like it might work.

Then we noticed an air bubble under the duct tape, growing larger and snaking toward the tape’s edge.  Okay then…let’s add another piece of duct tape to better seal the edge.  The bubble kept moving outward in its desperate attempt to escape.  No matter how many pieces of duct tape we used, the bubble managed to find its way to freedom.

It was obvious that our fancy-dancy bed was done for.  There was no hole to patch.  The entire infrastructure of the bed had given way.  Thankfully, some family members hauled cushions out of their camper, and we managed to finish the camping trip without too many aches and pains.  But we knew that before we could go tent camping again, another air mattress would be required.

After hours talking with friends, searching online, and reading reviews, we decided on a raised air mattress with a bit of memory foam on top and its own built-in pump.

It was delivered last weekend, and we have slept on it a couple of times to try it out.  We’ve added an old egg-crate foam topper we had in the attic and a mattress pad.  It’s not bad!

And now, we are very anxious to go camping again!  So, Sunday afternoon, we will be heading out to our favorite campsite upriver about twenty miles.  You just can’t keep a good tent camper down for long!

By the way, the reason we can go camping on Sunday afternoons when everyone else is returning home,  can have our pick of camp sites, and miss all the traffic and noise of the weekend is because I am my own boss!  With my United First Financial business, I can set my own schedule.   And that’s nice!

Today, in the Pacific Northwest, it was just about perfect!  The sun shone brilliantly all day, the breeze was slightly cool and gentle, and trees and bushes have begun spreading color everywhere.  Unfortunately, I had to work today, so I couldn’t just “go outside and play,” but , because I work my own U-First business from my home, I have a huge window at my desk that allows me to observe the flowering crab, the lilac bush, the azaelea, and the rhododendron awakening to the spring warmth right in my own front yard.  Ummm!  How my heart stirs at so much beauty all around me.  And I feel sorry for people who seriously don’t believe in God, because it’s in such exquisite moments as these that one just simply must give thanks.   So, on their behalf, and with all of my heart, I offer praise to the God of the Universe for making such a glorious world!

Supporters of Proposition 8 in California upholding the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman are now the targets of hate.  Death threats, property damage, defamation of character, targeted boycotts are a few of the reprisals those folks have received just simply for voting their conscience and supporting their vote with their pocketbook.

Listening to pundits on talk shows, the typical response that the gay community gives in justification of their hateful activity towards Christians is that anybody who voted for Proposition 8 is homophobic and hates gays.  A case in point is the controversy centered around the fact that Pastor Rick Warren has been asked to pray at President Elect Obama’s inauguration.  Though Rick Warren has spent huge sums of his own personal money and a great deal of time fighting aids and trying to help those suffering with it, the gay community is outraged and insists that because he believes that the homosexual lifestyle is wrong,  that makes him a hatemonger and disqualifies him from being able to love gay and lesbian people.

I just want to ask them if their parents ever said “no” to them while they were growing up, or whether they themselves have ever said “no” to their children.  If so, does that mean they don’t love their children?  Did their parents not love them?  Of course not!  Part of loving is denying anything that will be harmful for the one loved, even if it is something they want very badly.

A young child snooping in Grandma’s purse may want to taste the pretty looking pills, but it would be very dangerous if she did.  A baby might throw a fit if he/she isn’t allowed to put his hand on the hot stove, but a loving parent will still insist that he not touch.  Children love to play in the street, but there are few neighborhoods where that would be safe and a loving parent would insist they find a safer place for their activity.  We understand that so well in human relationships and we applaud love like that.

But when God, the Creator of the Universe, who designed us and knows how we are made to function best and what kinds of things destroy us physically, emotionally and spiritually, tells us in His Word that the sexual relationship is to be reserved for one man and one woman in a committed, marriage relationship, we act like spoiled children, demanding our own way and insisting that if God really loved us, He would not say “no.”  And His followers, who are merely communicating His standards, are tagged as homophobes and hatemongers when they support His commands.

Admittedly, some folks who call themselves “Christians” don’t really know Christ.  Their words and actions are motivated by their own pride and prejudices and they do a lot of damage in the name of Jesus.  But those whose lives have been sincerely changed by Christ take seriously His command to love people, even, or perhaps especially,  those whose lifestyles are being lived apart from God’s standard of righteousness. We do NOT hate gays and lesbians.  We love them.  But loving someone doesn’t always mean you give them exactly what they want.  And because, even though we love them as individuals, we must still stand in opposition to their chosen lifestyle, they hate us and claim the feeling is mutual.

That breaks my heart.