Michael Russell, founder of Hope 4 Hardship, helping those facing foreclosure and losing their homes

0:00 The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services, or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W four CY Radio or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W FOURCY Radio. Churchill said, those who failed to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Kevin helen N believes that certainly applies to business. Welcome to Winning Business Radio here at W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com and now your host, Kevin helen N.

0:52 Thanks everybody for joining in again today. I am Kevin hallan An and welcome back to Winning Business TV and radio on w CY dot com. We're streaming live on talkfotv dot com in addition to at Facebook and that's at Winning Business Radio, as well as available in podcasts after the live show. Pretty much wherever you get your podcasts, you know them all right, YouTube by our radio Spotify, Apple, et cetera, et cetera. The mission of Winning Business Radio and TV, as regular viewers and listeners know, is to offer insights and advice, to help people avoid the mistakes of others, to learn best practices, the how tos, the what tos, the what not tos, of course, and to be challenged and hopefully to be inspired by the successes of others. Who are those others consultants, coaches, advisors, authors, founders, owners and entrepreneurs, people with expertise, but you know most of those people. Virtually every successful person that I've ever had a chance to talk to has said some form of failure and their lives and careers. So while we all have to get our knee skinned once in a while, I'm driven to keep those scrapes from needing major surgery. Right.

1:59 I said every week, let's endeavor to learn from history, so to repeat it. I've spent the better part of my career equipping businesses to grow from solopreneurs to small and medium sized companies all the way up to the Fortune fifty, and I've seen a lot of those companies win, and to some degree varying degrees that is I've seen some fail and I've had the opportunity to rub elbows with some of the highest forming people around and some of those who probably should have found other jobs. And in my own businesses, I've had lots of success, but of course some failures as well, So I like to think I've learned a lot from those experiences. So, yeah, you're going to hear from me, but you're really more importantly going to hear from others who've developed their expertise over time. And today's guest is no exception. His name is Michael Russell. He is a very successful Century twenty one agency owner, but he's the founder of Hope for Hardship, a nonprofit that helps those going through foreclosure and facing bankruptcy.

2:57 Here's his bio. Michael Russell, an award win ueing Century twenty one agency owner and broker, recently launched Hope for Hardship, establish as a nonprofit organization to provide complimentary services to homeowners facing the devastating threat of being foreclosed on and losing their home. You see, years ago, Mike found himself in that very situation. Addictions got the better of him. He lost his home, file for bankruptcy and damaged relationships that took years to men. Michael says, I've been through the gauntlet of financial chaos, being foreclosed on bankruptcy and all the emotional lows that accompany them, largely the same things Hope for Hardship clients are going through, only he says, I didn't have the knowledge back then to avoid bankruptcy, and therefore I lost my property. After facing up to my relatively tragic fiscal irresponsibility and making amends with loved ones I heard along the way, I decided to help people in similar situations as part of my real estate practice.

3:52 Hope for Hardships services include consultation, representation on behalf of the homeowner and talks with banks and mortgage companies, administrative support, assistance, application services, and ongoing consultation. As a nonprofit organization, Hope for Hardship offers its extensive services free of charge. Whether it's finding a way to keep a home or exploring other options such as a sale or federal bankruptcy protection. Hope for Hardship is committed to guiding homeowners toward the best possible income. Mike has two kids, Nicole, who's twenty nine, and Garrett, who's twenty eight and he lives in Dartmouth, Math Mass with his wife Natalie. Mike, Welcome to Winning Business Radio. Thank you, glad to be here, man, appreciate it. I'm glad to have you. Let's start with family. Tell us about Nicole and Garrett.

4:38 Hey, listen, smart kids. They're off building their lives, building their families. Both entrepreneurial spirits. Both you know, family businesses are kind of like a disease, you know, it's the kids hard time escaping them. But I'm happy to say that they both did after working in it for a short period of time. What do they do? Garrett has some very successful online businesses, and Nicole is actually a real estate broker and a mother out in Colorado. Very good, very good. And tell us about Natalie. Natalie is a realtor, also sucked in by the family that Natalie has worked here in our company since two thousand and seven when we verst met, and she is also she does some staging and design, but her new favorite thing to do is she does these live shows online for Poshmart selling clothes, which she absolutely adoors.

5:41 Yeah, yeah, outstanding. Love that another entrepreneurial spirit. Right, yeah, absolutely. You know, so you live in Dartmouth, is that the area which you grew up? I grew up on the south shore, you know, south in Plymouth, Plymouth myth. Yeah, yeah, I grew up in Plymouth. Yeah, the whole home of the Plymouth Rock and those Most of us have seen it. But if you're from out of state and you haven't seen it, go check it out. You'll be underwhelmed. Even though it's pretty cool, but still you're not on anything. Yeah, exactly. I had stream shops on that street. That's sixteen twenty hotels cool too, and the every Thanksgiving they do a parade. Yes, yes, yeah, very cool.

6:23 So what was it like to grow up in Plymouth? Tell the audience about that. I love Plymouth, man, I love the south shore Massachusetts. I love the coast. I you know, out of high in high school, I started working on a fishing boat, commercial fishing boat out of Plymouth Harbor. And that's kind of where I fell in love with the water. I always told myself I'd get it back there in a in a mode of pleasure, not work. Yeah, I was. I s where I fell in love with the ocean, and then you know, I kind of realized that I wouldn't last very long in that industry. And you know, my father was a Century twenty one corporate employee. For Century twenty one, he was a franchise support corporate employee, and so he got laid off in the nineties during one of Century twenty one's corporate sales, and it was just it was kismet. Really. He knew all of the players, the franchisees in the New England region, and knew what their exit strategies were and time frames were, and he happened to know that the number one Century twenty one office in New England that they were looking to sell, and so miraculously he put that together. And once he did, I went to him and said, what do I have to do to trade my blue collar in for my white collar? And I thought it was going to be a really easy answer, but instead I go to college.

7:49 And so I went to college and just started working in the real estate business as an administrative assistant and just kind of held every position there was to hold in a real estate brokerage. Uh, you know, through my twenties. Yeah, I was gonna ask about that because I looked at the timeline and before college. You started in, uh, in that business as an admin assistant. What did you learn from that particular position? Uh, that is the that is the most educational position available in a real estate organization. You know, I was always an observant guy, and so I would observe the nature of relationships. I would observe salespeople. I observed consumers and what they said when they when they picked up the phone. I was. I was tremendously polite on the phone or a lot of top producers who preferred that I answered the phone. And I think I just took pride in the job, whatever it was, because I kind of I treated it like it was my own from the very beginning. I didn't even have to go to class.

8:57 I probably shouldn't publicized that, but hey, the Statute of Limitations has passed on this. I didn't take course. That position alone was enough to get me to pass the real estate exam. Wow. And what I learned in that position, yeah. Yeahs incredible. Yeah, and then you knew you wanted a major in business administration. Was that part of that as well? Yeah? Yeah, I think they just just fit, you know, I think it just fit. You know, I kind of knew. I kind of knew what I was doing. Probably made me not take college as seriously as perhaps I could have. I kind of you know, most of the people that you're around in college don't really know what they're going to do. Yeah, and I kind of believed from the very beginning that I knew exactly what I was going to do. You know.

9:44 Yeah, I was almost one of those. I went to school for electrical engineering, and my dad tapped me on the shoulder between well, I was in a five year program at UMass. Don't tell anybody, but that's because I didn't do well my first year. Yeah, but keep that between us, Okay, But during third and fourth years he tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to come sell. And I never looked back. Yeah, you know, absolutely I get it. No, uh no, shame there, man, Mike. My name to fame. My year was I got arrested twice in the same week by the same cop on the same man. You know, they're you know, I made it, Yeah, I made it.

10:24 Do as we do, do as we say, not as we do. All right, then you got then you became the director of marketing at the agency. Tell us about that. Role. Yep, man whole different world, right. It was uh, print media is you know, I was. There was a long time where we didn't even hire someone younger than me for probably the first twelve years I was in the business. So I was just the young guy around the office. And with the advent of the Internet. I can't believe I'm saying that, you know, back then, I just kind of I was forced to become technologically proficient and it just kind of fell into my lap. And so with you know, websites were just coming around, and and so I really focused my energies on print in the beginning, and then and then the Internet came around and we started playing around with that. It was because sometimes it feels like a simpler time back then. Sometimes it feels like a simpler time.

11:26 I hear you. Most important lesson learned probably the hardest question as a director of marketing. It's not about attracting consumers. It's about attracting talented sales people. Well that's good, yeah, yeah. You know, you can do all the work in the world to make your phone ring or make people walk into your building, but if you don't have competent people that can help steward those people into home ship or whatever they need, and you're, you know, throwing good money after bat. So you got the real estate license, an agent license I'm imagining right, the first one. Yeah, the first one, the agent license. Yeah, broke was later probably, But were you selling homes during that time period as well?

12:20 I was, Yeah, yeah, after you know, probably after I don't know, six years, probably as an administrative assistant marketing director or something like that. Right, Yeah, yeah, that was you know, that was that was an outstanding. That was the single best education in human behavior I ever received. Are greater than any formal education. And if there was a boom time, you know, four or five oh sing followed by the biggest financial tragedy over hit you know, the world. Yeah, And I think that's what it all resonated with me. You know, the experiences of selling real estate.

13:04 It's a wide spectrum and you see it all, and you see the elation and excitement of the first time home buyer or someone that's leveling up and buying their dream home and all those things. Those things never resonated with me as much as the sad stories. I always had an affinity for dealing with people who were struggling in some fashion. And you know, and the simplicity of it is death, divorced, disaster. You know, those three constants in real estate transactions that happened. You know, there are great reasons and bad reasons to sell or buy property. But and then I worked for Freddie Mack as a listing representative during the eighth nine, ten eleven twelve, during the worst time, and I began to witness things that you know, I just never thought i'd see. Is something called the lockout. I probably saw it two or three hundred times where I have to go accompany the sheriff a box truck and two movers to knock on the door once the bike were closed, and say, whatever you want to keep, they'll put in the truck. We have an hour. When we're finished, we're changing the locks, and you're on the curb. Holy cow, and the grief and shock in dismay that resonated with me, and I probably

14:36 helped something in the neighborhood of five hundred people sell properties short, which means less than the amount owed on the property. You know, values had plummeted and people were underwater on properties. And so I did a lot of short sale work too, which I really enjoyed doing. There there was a boundary. I was a buffer between the consumer and the bank. And that's a lot similar to what I'm doing with this hope for hardship. Is that's the most value that I've provide here when it's you that's going through this, finding the patience, the wherewithal, and the calmness to communicate with a bank, trying to negotiate with them some sort of assistance is very challenging, because you know, part of this process of getting assistance from a bank is arduous, to say the least. And you sent them a piece of paperwork they requested three minutes ago or three days ago, and you call them and they say they didn't get it. For the consumer to actually make those calls themselves, they throw their hands up far faster than me, who is not burdened by owning that problem. And so I just I enjoyed being that emotional buffer where I had the sufficient empathy care to help the consumer through the tough time, and the proficiency and experience to deal with the bank.

16:06 All right, let's take a pause right there. Michael will be back in just a minute. Everybody will be back with Mike Russell of Hope for Hardship. In about one minute, you're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene on W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com. Don't go away. More helpful information is coming right up right here on Winning Business Radio. Have you ever dreamt of being on the radio, Well, now it's your chance. Be a radio show guest on the number one ranked internet radio station and promote you and your business for free. Yes you heard it, free business advertising right here on W four cy dot com.

16:51 Call five six one five zero six four zero three to one now to get booked on one of our shows. That's five six one five zero six four zero three one. Get you're free advertising now. And now back to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene, presenting exciting topics and expert guests with one goal in mind to help you succeed in business. Here once again is Kevin helenet. We're back with Mike Russell. He is the founder of Hope for Hardship and Mike, you were talking a bit about being that buffer because you're not emotionally involved, you know you have the empathy because you were that You were that guy at one point, you were that family or person at one point. But before we get back into that, I want to ask you just a couple more questions about the brokerage. How big is your team?

17:53 About seventy people? Wow, seventy people? And what areas it's all southeastern Mass. Into all the state of Mass and Rhode Island. Oh okay, very good. And what was the most difficult part of either starting? Actually, it sounds like you probably took over. I did, sure. My father tells you just a little bit about that transition. Yeah, it was tumultuous. We were in financial straits. The economy had tanked tremendously. Poor decisions of my own put us in an even bigger fiscal crunch, which really splintered my relationship with my father. And my father walked away, really, he walked away from the business, and he didn't have a lot of faith that it was going to that it was going to survive. We had filed corporate bankruptcy.

18:53 I spent the better part of a year proving to the trustee at the bankruptcy court that we were we could be solvent by sharing books on a monthly basis and editorializing them to describe the efforts I was making in order to keep the business afloat, and I lived really in constant fear of them converting it to a Chapter seven and putting us out of business. Well, and while I did that, and you know, had sleepless nights, I came in and put on a face that made it look like everything was fine when it wasn't. It wasn't even close to fine. It was you know, the hardest thing I went through in my whole life was that point. And it wasn't the financial stuff, in hindsight, although I thought that was the most important thing was the easy part. It was the splintering of relationships that the collateral damage that I created with poor financial decisions over the course of my life last did the better part of a decade as it ripped through my family, and it took me the better part of ten years to resolve those issues and and make amends for the decisions I've made.

20:16 So what came first, the financial hardship, that financial stress or substance, Well, you know. The behaviors were always there, right, so yeah, you know, I I would say that the substance came first. Yeah, in large part, you know, Yeah, my father and I were gamblers. We love to gamble, you know. Yeah. Yeah, it was just the kids, you know, and we we kind of you know, there was culpability all around, but I certainly had the most of it. But you know, we we we played a little game. You know, we had the real books and then we had the books that were shown to my mother. And that's kind of the arrangement that we had. And I learned that pretty early.

21:08 And then in a relatively short amount of time, what I saw being done there I eventually did to my father. Wow. Yeah, and that was the that was the that was my tumultuous experience with a family business. And so yeah, how did you you know, it's not a flip of a switch. You said, it's a decade. I mean, how did you come through it? You clearly did better off for it. Yeah. I used to not like talking about a bankruptcy that I went through and we ours was a seven and it was a liquidation as well as a personal bankruptcy. I mean, it was awful. I would never want anybody to go through that. That was late nineties and that was a business that failed, and long story short, I won't even get into it. I used to hate to talk about it. Now I'm talking about it on the air, But then I said that it's it's made me a part who I am, so talk about how you got through that.

22:06 I got sober. I got sober. You know, for the last eight years of my life, I've been living a life of recovery. That's awesome, which is where which I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today if not for that. There are some things that work tremendously hard. I my father passed away before I was able to make a living amends with my father. Yeah, so that I was never able to solve that in the living world. But I was you know, I was pretty selfish in the beginning, if I'm being honest. You know, the way that I turned this business around is I made it all about the money and I went after that top line, ego driven dollar and I did whatever I had to do, and I said whatever I had to say to get what I wanted. And it was all monetary based. It was lucky, largely ego driven. I couldn't stand the idea of anyone thinking I failed. That's what started fixing the business.

23:12 But eventually that you know, getting sober changed that, you know, And there was a lot of true self false self stuff going on with me, and I was trying to pretend I was someone I wasn't, and you know, all the typical things that you see I think, you know, I suffered from. You know, I was an inferior I was an egomaniac with an inferiority complex, you know, and I operated that way on a daily basis. And so in the beginning, I just I did whatever I had to do to not be closed down by the bankruptcy court. And I built the largest sales team that I could to generate enough cash flow to satisfy the bankruptcy court.

23:54 After that going on for a couple of years, I got sober, and I started to change the way I lived, and I started to take care of the things and become more fiscally responsible. I stopped being the spender that I was most of my life. I stopped caring about what everyone else thinks, and stopped believing that everyone was thinking about me as much as I thought they were, and all those kinds of things, and really just began to change who I was. You know, my mother bailed me out of problems in this business fifteen times to the tune of twenty five to fifty thousand dollars a pop. Yeah, no questions asked. And so I've been making amends to her ever since, you know, two years ago, I bought her a house. And I never thought I'd be able to say that. And I am first alie that if I can turn my life around, in my circumstance around, that absolutely anybody can. And the vast majority of the people I meet who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments have many other problems in their life as well, and a lot of them I relate to. It's actually a lesser amount of people who fall behind on their mortgage, in my experience, are true victims. There is a small segment who health, you know, things that are outside of their control that put them in this situation. But I would say that the vast majority of the people that

25:25 I meet are in some phase of denial. And I see way more fingers than I do thumbs, right, and I think that's just you know, the human condition, right, it's everyone else's fault. And I relate to that, and I have a way of relating to people who are in that place in the life and part of the deal I made in sobriety was listen, just pay it forward to the next man or woman. That's the deal, that's the bargain. And so because of my unique experience being in this real estate business, it's just this stuff is so elementary to me, like and it kills me sometimes. There are so many companies and I never want a disparage or cast judgment. Everyone has a business model, right.

26:11 There are attorneys and there. You know, when you get a notice of intent to foreclose recorded, it becomes public record. And what happens from that is a whole bunch of people come out of the woodwork that are trying to capitalize on what they perceive to be somebody else's misfortune. And it's not that I don't understand it. I get it. I know what they're doing, which makes people very hesitant to trust what I'm saying. Listen, this is for me. Come into my office twenty five minutes. A lot of times for twenty five minutes, I get on the phone with a bank on a three way call, get an assistance application, help them fill it out, get the supporting documentation, and boom, they're back in the good graces with the bank, and that is not hard work for me.

26:54 One of the things you said, I don't know if it's in the bio or in the That's one of the things I read about you was the bank can be your biggest ally. Absolutely sure. We're definitely afraid of them. Yeah, and I get it. You know, there was a time in my life when I had two years of unopened mail on my dining room table. In hindsight, the answers to my problems were in that bile. Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean. But we don't. We don't think that the very entity that's coming after us is the one that can help us. We don't think that. And the average consumer has no earthly idea. They're overwhelmed in there. They're intimidated, they don't know what to say. They're they're riddled with shame, first of all unreasonable guilt, and so they don't know what to do. And you know, there seems to be a There are some really great ways to stop a foreclosure from happening. And my favorite one that I see on a regular basis is banks. Most banks are willing to do what's called a partial claim mortgage, and what that means is they take the arrearage the past, do a amount. They tack it onto a second mortgage on the back end, not doing payable until either the maturity of your original note or you sell the property. They record that note at zero percent with no payments due.

28:13 As long as the fair bargain is in about sixty days, you can resume your normal payments. That can be done seventy percent of the time if you act relatively quickly. The larger the yourrears, the longer you wait, the less willing the bank is to do that. And so the more people I can get into a program like that, especially with the interest rates tripling in the last four years. Yeah, yeah, you don't want a loan modification when you fall into this situation because a modification of the terms closes at today's current rates. So many of these people are in trouble at two and a half percent mortgage rates. Wow, if you can keep that in place, handle therrearage, and keep your normal mortgage in place, it's cheaper than rent to stay in that payment.

29:08 All right, last question before the second break. Yeah, yeah, no, I'm hearing this and it's your pat You can tell your passion. When did you decide you wanted to start this nonprofit. Two thousand nineteen, I started doing this work and I started to realize that it did something for me. It was rewarding. I was non monetary. This wasn't about going after money. This was about something that was so simple and easy to me, meant so much to people. And when I identified that, which I identified relatively quickly in twenty nineteen, I started doing it as just a guy.

29:51 I was like, hey, you know, whatever, I don't need an entity, whatever, just let's go. You know. I brought a few hostages with me here in my office like what I was doing, you know, and we started having fun and we were and we made it, you know. And really helping people. Yeah, a couple of days a week we come in here and pick up the phone and start calling these people and so. But to actually form the nonprofit, we did that this year. We're pending five oh one three C status and it is our intent to be nationwide. Well, there are two inalienable truths about this right, No bank in America wants to foreclose, no homeowner in America wants to be foreclosed on. Those are inalienable truths, no matter what state you're in and I believe that there's a place for us.

30:38 All right, we're going to take a break right here. We'll be back in one more minute. Mike Russell, you're listening to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene on W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com. Don't go away. More helpful information is coming right up right here on Winningusiness Radio. The yp dot com website is your local search engine. If you're looking for a good restaurant, it can help you find the right one nearby with ratings and reviews. Or if your car breaks down, you can use the YP app to find the closest repair shop. Or maybe you're just looking for something to do on a Friday night.

31:18 While it has great local coupons for all sorts of things in your area, no matter what, when or where. If you're looking for something, YP local search can help you find it. So go to YP dot com or download the app to search local, find local, and save local. And now back to Winning Business Radio with Kevin Helene, presenting exciting topics and expert guests with one goal in mind to help you succeed in business. Here once again is Kevin Helene. We're back with Mike Russell, who is an award winning Century twenty one broker owner and the founder of Hope for Hardship Like you and others who else provide services and you don't charge for any of these services.

32:09 We do not know, We do not charge anything for these services. Ever. I have a processor on the team and co founders who helped me do this work and it's a passion. So then the next question is what does that funding for those you know for the work self funded from self funded? You know, Yeah, at this stage of the game, it's just something that that myself and the co founder's fund that we do. It's yeah, go ahead. And to grow, you're going to need others of like mind, or you're going to need some type of of income, correct. Yeah, I think that. I think that the vast majority of the time that goes into this is the it's time. Right.

32:58 I'm fortunate, really grateful and blessed to be in the place where I have another mode of earnings. I have an outstanding gentleman that runs my real estate business for me that I can trust, which you know sometimes takes a lifetime to find. Yeah, and so I'm in an amazing position to be able to donate my time, which is essentially what I'm doing. And I asked you a quick interjection, just for the audience. I asked you pre show how much time you devote. I didn't expect the answer. I was impressed, but I did not expect you to say forty hours. Yeah, I would say definitely forty hours. Yeah, full time, Yeah, Monday through Friday. This is where I live in this space.

33:45 At nine o'clock this morning to start the week. On Monday, I was on the phone with a woman in her bank. And it really hasn't stopped. The only thing I really stopped to do here was we're getting ready for a Santa event here, so reluctantly I got involved in that for a minute. So you had to. You had to take a take a leak at one point you might have. Ye, but yeah, no, this is this is uh, this is my focus exclusively. This is what I enjoy doing and it creates it creates amazing moments, you know. So take us through the process. I'm sorry to interrupted, Please finish that thought. Then take us through the process of how it works. Yeah. So the process is pretty simple, right. We we operate off a basic service agreement, right, and the service agreement.

34:33 All it outlines is what my expectations of are you the consumer, and those are things like, please be proactive when we request supporting documentation, please provide it a timely man et cetera, et cetera. And then we just kind of describe the services that will provide. And so what what happens here is there's an intake, and in the intake we get pertinent information, who's your bank loan number, those kinds of things, we get third party authorization X. It's just gonna ask yeah, yeah, so we can communicate directly with the lender. We do a three way call up front with the lender and the consumer to kind of get give them an idea what we're doing. And you know a lot of lenders are different and just kind of navigate how they do it. We provide the creation of the assistance application, the you know, the hardship letter, all the editorialization that needs to go in, because what we're really doing is we're building a case for the consumer. Right, We're building a case that will get the bank to a place where they are comfortable in their underwriters are that this is a viable bet that we can bet on this consumer to resume their normal payments if we just give them a little help on this. And then the really the most powerful thing we do, honestly is every three business days we follow up with the bank to get a status update. I can't tell you how many times consumers I'd say fifty percent of the people I talk to say he did that. I submitted an application three months ago. I never heard anything. And it's

36:06 it's human condition stuff, you know, like we convince ourselves when we're in these downtrodden places that it's the bank's job to chase us. No, it's not. It's your job to chase the bank. I have yet, I've been doing this for a long time, and I don't think maybe once that I've ever submitted an assistance application that the bank deemed complete. There is no such thing. Every single time, there's missing documentation or further documentation. So it's really it's underwriting again, absolutely sure. No, it doesn't even get it doesn't even get to underwriting until the bank deems it certified complete. Okay. That process can take anywhere from two to six weeks to get a bank on the same page, and for all parties to say, yep, it's ready for underwriting.

36:52 Now in the meantime, are they okay with not getting a payment? Okay? Is a tough statement. Are right? But here's the important thing. They have not and will not pause any foreclosure proceedings until the file is under review, certified complete, gets it under review. During the review period, they will pause further foreclosure proceedings. It won't take one more step until the review is underway. Until the review is it spits out a results letter. Right, So what is the difference between collection efforts and foreclosure.

37:33 Well, foreclosure is you know, the worst besides bankruptcy in America as far as credit is related. Bankruptcy and foreclosure are very similar. They're public events that go onto your credit report that make you unbankable in traditional lending for extended period of time. So foreclosure is when a it's a secured debt, right, so boats, cars, homes, that's secured debt that has collateral, and they're coming back and taking that collateral because you know, we may raise families in these homes, and we may have great memories and bad memories, but in the ice bank, it's simply collateral. That's all it is.

38:13 Property Yep, that's it. It's collateralized debt and so and the collection banks kind of stop trying to collect after a while. And what really frustrates the consumer is once you fall two months behind in America mortgage, they won't take your money unless it's all of it. And so people I hear it constantly. We tried to make a payment, they won't take my money. They won't take my money. And so these people really just not in the know, and they shouldn't be. Don't understand that, Yes, the banks stop taking your money because you either have to pay it all or you have to go through some sort of program with them to flush it all out and figure out where you stand.

38:58 And I've had people send bank, send checks to the bank for five months and the bank just never cast them. They won't do it. And so once you fall behind, they really they don't tried particularly hard to collect the money. They send letters, they call, but they're you know, after two months, they're not looking for you to make a payment. They're just notifying of you of your rights. They're letting you know that the ninety day right to cure period has begun, that they're following the all the verbiage in a loan, you know, the seventy page loan doc that no one ever reads. Yeah, they're they're fulfilling their obligation in the events.

39:40 That's it. That what they are effectively doing is they're hedging their bet and they're protecting themselves to be able to foreclose on the property legally. That's really all a bank begins to do. So are they once they understand what you're doing? Are they the bank now generally happy to hear from you? I mean maybe happy is a strong word, but cooperative. It's phenomenal. And you said you were a sales consultant, And I try to explain this to these people all the day. All it takes is charm, understanding and a little salesmanship with a bank something that the person the debtor is incapable of providing. And that's that emotional barrier.

40:23 And maybe knowledge too, for sure, right of. Course, sure, right, so it's and so I have no problem being cheering. A bank doesn't piss me off, ever, because it's not my If it was my problem it was me, I'd be throwing stuff and I'd be pissed. And that's the average consumer when they are the ones up against it. Now, me coming in and being that go between, I'm able to accomplish more than a pissed off consumer can. On hold. One of the stats I wanted people to hear, and this is conditional, So just Mike, you know this, this is for the audience. Now, stat was one percent of the time, you guys are able to save the home from foreclosure if the homeowner stays in consistent contact and provides all the documentation and doesn't quite Yeah, homeowners let go of the percisions required. And that's an emotional thing too, right, They get tired, they get beat down.

41:26 Perhaps, yeah, they don't. It's like I said, I think I said that if you're behind on your mortgage payments, you have other problems in your life. Yeah, and those other problems are pressing, and they are daily, and they are incessant, and they are deeply emotional typically and that was certainly my experience. And whether that's divorce or God forbid, you lost your partner or whatever it is, there are things that make your house feel inconsequential or certainly the bank. Yeah, kids sick or God forbid. You know, dying of cancer is awful, it, you know, right. It's yes, this tragedy out there and so it's but that is absolutely true. One hundred percent of the time, you can avoid foreclosure. There is always another option. And one of the struggles that one of the hardest things that I ever faced in my life, and it was it was denial based and it was a failure to accept a truth that I was not prepared to accept.

42:28 And so many people this is a commonality, and I wish someone like me had sat down and looked me in the eye and said, I just want you to understand that at some stage of this game, you are going to have to leave this home. Yeah, and the only choice that you really have is are you going to do it on the bank's terms or are you going to do it on your terms? That's really good. Yeah, And that's the reality. And that is the hardest conversation I have with people, and the hardest reality to face because we look around and so many times people can't see the forest through the trees. And I was tremendously guilty of it mine myself. The actual cause of the problems in a lot of these people's life is the home. They can't afford it. It's not reasonable circumstances have changed, but we grow entitled because it's ours. We think it's ours, but the reality is until the bank is paid off, it's not ours. And so those feelings are very real and raw, and people do not want to face the reality that they are going to have to leave their home fact if that is in fact true, and we've exhausted every assistance opportunity. One of the crazy things that's happening right now that I've never seen, and I don't think ever in the history of the real estate market this has ever been true. I'm not recommending this, but we have sold properties this year that the people didn't pay their mortgage for three years and they walked

43:58 away with them back. Wow. And so we recently sold a home for a woman that she hadn't paid her mortgage in three years, and she got a check for one hundred and ninety six thousand dollars at the closing. And that's because of the completely unreasonable and not real appreciation in values. Values have gone up so much in America. When you fall behind on your mortgage, if you do that long enough, you're underwater. But with the ridiculous appreciation in values, people are literally going a year, two, sometimes three, not paying their mortgage at all, selling their house traditionally and they still get a bag of money. Wow. I've never seen it in my life, and I probably won't ever again. But again, I'm not recommending that it's not a sound prospect.

44:46 But so Crystal Ball, because you brought it up. Yeah, where do you see? Where do you see I was going to say rates, that's not the right question. Where do you see home values going in the next couple few years. Cm being tremendously adjusted. I I think that we have an inventory problem in America. We don't en up housing, especially in New England, Massachusetts in particularly right. Sure, it's very colonized and there's not a lot of land, and you don't see a lot of track housing and developments being you know, and so it's a building problem. But the reality is that there are a lot of people in golden handcuffs. Yeah, A lot of people out of my friends, whatever, my family are in golden handcuffs and golden handcuffs. Are I don't really love your house, but I love my two point five percent rate. Yeah, And so even if someone's famili's expanding or their their circumstances have changed, and they're they're spreading the barrier of their home. They'll sit tight because in order to level up to the five bedroom, three and a half bath colonial, your mortgage payment's going to quadruple. Wow. And so people are staying in their homes longer because even if you didn't buy in twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, you refined if you if you were in a place where you could, you refine into a very low interest, thirty year fixed mortgage. They're not going anywhere. And so I don't see until the inventory problem is solved, and I don't know what does that. And historically in real estate, if there's a job problem, it'll fix the inventory problem

46:18 because people will start selling or God forbid losing their homes. Right. But I would say that our issue in real estate today is an inventory problem. We don't have sufficient inventory still today even with rates six and a half seven percent. Yeah, there are six to eight well qualified buyers for every home on the market today. Wow. And is as long as that's the case, then demand will remain high and soul will values. All right, we need to start wrapping up. I have a few more questions here. Who in the audience both listening and viewing, and those that are going to listen to this later in podcast form. Who should they? Who?

47:00 Excuse me, who in that audience should reach out to you? Why? And the contact infos and the cross You don't have to talk about that, but who should reach out and why? Anybody struggling to make their mortgage payments. And sooner the better, right, Yeah? Absolutely, Time is the enemy in these situations. The sooner you act, the sooner you do something, the more options are available to you by the bank. You don't have to wait until it becomes public record. Here in Massachusetts, it's you know, it's hard to say exactly, but it's about six months of non payment and you will see a bank make a public recording of a notice of intent to foreclose. You don't have to wait for that to happen. The truth of the matter is ninety five percent of US households, when they fall two months behind on their mortgage, they never catch up on their own. Wow.

47:48 And so yeah, those are chunk payments. Yeah. Yeah. The story that we tell ourselves in our head that we're going to figure this out, We're gonna don't wait, don't wait. That's good Hey, last question a little more lighthearted. What do you do when you're not working? Let's see, I ski, I like the snowmobile. Travel. Travel is really my favorite thing to do. We travel a lot. Yep, same, we do that and we ski. So really a pleasure to have you here. I really appreciate your time and thanks for sharing, and people can reach out to you. Help at hopefohardship dot com is your email address the website of course help The number four Hardship all one word dot com phone number was in the crawl as well. I'll share it real quick. Five oh eight five zero one nine two one four five zero eight five zero one nine two one four Mike, thank you so much.

48:43 Thank you great to meet you. Pleasure and thanks everybody for watching and listening. This is a show about business and business. Just if you've got concerns about the sales effectiveness of your company, whether your sales team is you or small, or if it's really large, it's okay either way. Feel free to reach out to me my many email address. This is kevinat Winning Businessradio dot com. Our company is Winning Incorporated. We're part of Sandler Training. We develop sales teams into high achievers and sales leaders into true coaches and mentors. We're not a fit for everybody, but hey, if that resonates, maybe we should have a conversation. Thank you one for another job well done. He's our producer and engineer. Join us again next Monday, December sixteenth. We'll do it again. Until then, this is Kevin Helen.

49:26 In you have been listening to Winning Business Radio with your host, Kevin Helene. If you missed any part of this episode, the podcast is available on Talk for Podcasting and iHeartRadio. For more information and questions, go to Winning Business Radio dot com or check us out on social media. Tune in again next week and every Monday at four pm Eastern Time to listen live to Winning Business Radio on W four Cyradio W fourcy dot com. Until then, let's succeed where others have failed and win in business with Kevin Helena and Winning Business Radio