Ed. Note: The following is a KHTS Feature story based on a recent radio interview with Richard Szerman of Realty One Group Solutions

A Santa Clarita realtor is offering free loan modifications to community members who are either in danger of foreclosure or whose mortgage interest rates are simply too high.

Richard Szerman of Realty One Group Solutions advises anyone who is either in danger of foreclosing on their home or paying an interest rate that is more than 4 percent to talk to him about getting the process started, free of charge.

Richard Szerman

“I think charging somebody who’s already in financial trouble is like kicking somebody when they’re down,” he said. “It’s just not right to do that, so we do it for free. We’ve done it for free for many, many years.”

To receive the loan modification, Szerman partners with the homeowner to convince their lender to renegotiate the existing loan in order to avoid foreclosure or undue financial hardship.

Related: Santa Clarita Realtor Offers Home Renovation Grants To Clients In Need

Banks typically have four options in these cases: stay the course, loan modification, short sale or foreclosure, Szerman explained.

“The bank would like to keep you staying the course– that’s where they make the most money,” he said. “If that’s not possible, their next best option– the public’s best option as well, the consumer’s best option as well –is a loan modification.”

For example, if the homeowner’s loan is currently at 6 percent and they can’t afford their payments, it is in the best financial interest of the bank itself to reduce the rate to 2 percent, according to Szerman.

“At the end of the day,” he said, “the banks know … that 2 percent of something is still better than 6 percent of nothing. A foreclosure is bad for everybody.”

Even homeowners who aren’t in danger of foreclosure are candidates for a loan modification if their interest rate is above 4 percent. Homeowners do not need to be behind on their mortgage, be in default or have a Notice of Default filed on their house to be eligible.

“You don’t have to have a massive financial hardship,” Szerman said. “All you have to do is show a hardship, and that’s not typically all that difficult to find a hardship of some sort.”

However, Szerman cautioned that there is no such thing as a “nice” loan modification, so homeowners should be prepared for a fight.

“Unfortunately every loan modification is a fight,” he said. “That’s just what they are, and we’re very good at it. We win a lot more than we lose. Our success rates are extraordinarily high.”

In fact, the national average for successful loan modifications is currently about 12 to 14 percent, but Szerman’s success rate is a whopping 80 percent. The reason?

“My wife likes to say that I found a way to take my less attractive personality traits and funnel them into something that’s popular for other people and useful for other people,” he said with a laugh. “So I think it’s her way of saying I’m a giant pain… We’re just really tenacious.”

KHTS Feature Story

Santa Clarita realtor Richard Szerman, of Realty One Group Solutions, has 24 years of experience as a realtor. After “quietly” conducting public outreach and pro bono work as a realtor in Santa Clarita for the last few years, Szerman is now raising awareness about the opportunities available to the community through Realty One Group Solutions. Programs like Rental Rebate, Free Loan Modification and Resale Renovation are designed to help make it easier to buy a house, sell a house and even save a house from foreclosure.

Richard Szerman

Realty One Group Solutions

25129 The Old Road, Suite #100

Santa Clarita, CA 91381

Cell: 661-714-1400

Office: 661-253-3000

[email protected]