a few general questions re loan mod

[Mike]

Hi,I'm a home owner and also have a few rentals, over the past year my income has declined a significant amount to the point where it is a struggle to keep up with all of my payments. It is also a difficult time to sell, so, I'm looking at loan modifications to help keep things going and had a few questions for those more experienced:1. For a rate reduction, does the lender need to feel that I can still pay my bills after the loan mod, i.e. would they be more likely to do the rate decrease if I show I'm short $300/m vs $1500/m.2. For a short sale, would they rather see that I'm having trouble in general keeping up with the bills, does that make it make more sense to them.3. I have a rental that has a loan of $140k and the value is currentl about 85k due to declining market conditions. Would a lender consider a principal reduction in a case like this, as the market is so weak a short sale might even be difficult at the 40% reduced price.4. Will a loan mod affect my credit if all my payments are still on-time, i.e. if my rate changes from 8% to 6%, will my credit be affected?Thanks for your help! This is a tricky situation, but I'm trying to be creative and try to come up with a win win situation for myself and the lenders.:)