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Phillip M. Blazawski, Broker/Owner                             10/20/09
Phillips Real Estate
2724B Boston Turnpike
Coventry, CT 06238

Re: Letter of Recommendation

Dear Phillip,

You asked us to write you a letter of recommendation and that is something I would love to do for you and your office.  You and especially Paul Mancarella really helped us through a tough time a couple of years ago.  

In January 2007, we took a look at our finances and we knew that our mortgage would adjust later that year so we tried to refinance.  Unfortunately we did not qualify, not only due to our excessive credit obligations, but because we owed more than our house was worth.  We had good credit but we were taking cash advances on our credit cards to make ends meet during that period.  We decided that our only alternative was to file for bankruptcy that way when the mortgage interest rate adjusted we may be able to handle it without our credit card debt.  The bankruptcy took a while but it was discharged in August 2007.  We were able to keep our car and our house as long as we kept paying them on time.  We kept up with the payments and we were never late.  

At the end of August 2007, we received a letter from our mortgage company that our interest rate was increasing and thus our mortgage payment would increase $500.00 per month.  We were devastated because there was no way we could afford that.  We contacted Phil and Paul from Phillips Real Estate to see what we could do.  My husband worked with Paul's brother and he recommended them because they have experience in these situations.  We met and explained our situation and we realized that we were upside down and owed more than our house was worth.  We were currant with our mortgage payments for our first and second mortgages but we had to dip into our savings to make the payments.  Our parents also had to help us with grocery money and diapers during that time.  We put our house on the market in September 2007 and within five weeks we had an offer.  The tough part was yet to come.

The offer would pay off our first mortgage, commission and attorney fees but it would not cover all of what we owed to Countrywide.  Philip and Paul then had to convince Countrywide to accept this low payoff even though we were current with our payments.  The short sale process was long and stressful but there was no way we or our attorney could handle it without our Realtor's help.  Paul spent hours on the phone with Countrywide trying to obtain paper work and gathering all of the documentation that was needed to show them.  I really think that it was to our advantage that we did file for bankruptcy because that showed that we didn't have the income or the assets to cover this loss and ultimately we would end up in foreclosure if we did not sell soon.  We had no idea where we would move to and we were also worried that the buyers would back out due to the long wait.  Phil helped ease their minds and kept things peaceful between us and the buyers.  Luckily, due to Phillips Realty's hard work for the next three months, we were finally approved for the short sale.  Once the short sale was approved, we were able to close fairly quickly.

We ended up renting a house next door to get back on our feet.  We only had one open credit card and we used it wisely and paid it off monthly.  We also kept current on our car payments and tried to pay more than the regular payment.  These factors helped our credit scores improve.  After one year of renting, in January 2009, we saw that the housing prices kept dropping and we wanted to start looking at houses.  We assumed we would not qualify because banks usually require that borrowers are two years out of bankruptcy.  Phil suggested we contact Flagstar Bank to see if there was a product for us.  Surprisingly enough our credit was on the up and up and our credit scores were in the high 600s.  We did qualify for a USDA rural loan with 102% financing and no extra monthly mortgage insurance. USDA has a minimum credit score requirement rather than the 24 months out of bankruptcy requirement.  We were so excited because we thought we would have to rent for years.  We ended up finding a house three months later and purchased a home in May 2009.  We are now happily settled and a lot more wiser.

In conclusion, I strongly recommend Phillips Real Estate.  They stayed on top of things, helped us through a difficult time and made it all happen.  

Sincerely,

Your local Coventry Resident (names withheld due to personal reasons