loan mod with Indymac and Central Mortgage

[Mike]

We own 2 homes....big mistake!! We leased out our one home and bought a spec home in 2004 with the thought that it would go up, we would sell it and then pay off our main home and live happily ever after...right!! Well, our spec house has been on the market for over a year. We live in the Palm Springs area where it is very seasonal and has a very small window to get a buyer. This years window is closing fast as the snowbirds are all leaving until next Oct. We ended up evicting our tenant last Oct. for non-payment and have not been able to lease our other home. So we have been paying 2 mort. with adjustable rates that are now sky high. We are not late on any payments yet, but my husband lost his job and we cannot go much longer without loosing everything, unless we renegotiate and modify our loans. Everyone is telling us that we need to miss a payment in order to modify any loans, but it seems that would only make our credit worse. Our other option is to short sale the home we are trying to sell, but then that is on our credit and not good. Our spec home is barely worth what we have into it now. We would like to know if anyone has dealt with Indymac or Central Mortgage to renegotiate their mortgage. Any advice would be great. This is my first time on a log like this. Thanks in advance for any advice and help. Thanks most of all to Moe for putting this together.