When D.M. purchased a single-family, three bedroom house in 1989, he had a long term plan in mind: rent it out as a means to generate income so that his daughters could eventually go to college. Up until 2000, things had gone fairly smoothly for D.M. He had regular tenants and was able to make his mortgage payments with little trouble. After 2000, the house was occupied on and off, with periods of six to seven months between tenants and he started having trouble with his payments. However, two years ago, a combination of events left the 24-year Navy veteran unable to make his payments and he needed to find help.

When a tornado struck the Birmingham, AL home and a tree fell through the roof, D.M. was left on the hook to make all the repairs himself. “When the tree hit the top of the house it knocked the eaves off the whole backside of the house so I had to repair all of that; I did half the roof.”

Shortly before that, during one of the periods between tenants when the property was vacant, D.M.’s property was broken into and stripped of materials. “The neighborhood was going down, it’s on the way back up now, but they went inside the place and just cleaned it out.” D.M. said. “I couldn’t repair plus pay mortgage– that was just impossible. I totally remodeled the whole house, it took me several months, probably about 8 months before I actually finished.” Said D.M. “I did a lot of work myself: I had to rewire, re-plumb; they stole all my copper out from my plumbing, and the wiring– they just ripped the wiring at the walls. They stole my air conditioning system, sink, bathtub.”

In total, D.M. estimates that he spent at least $15,000 in repairs on the home which left him unable to keep up with his monthly mortgage payments. D.M.’s lender asked him if he wanted to sign the title of the property back over, but D.M. decided to stick with it and would try to keep the home.

Then, out of the blue, D.M. received a letter from Jorge Newbery, the CEO of American Homeowner Preservation (“AHP”), stating that AHP had purchased his mortgage loan.

“I got a letter from Jorge and he was very polite. He explained to me what was going on; he asked me how I wanted to set things up and we talked about what I can do and be comfortable with it, and we worked it out.” D.M. said.

Of the options presented to him, D.M. chose to settle his delinquent payments of $5,682.22 for $2,000 and his monthly payments were reduced from $330 to $90. This modification allowed D.M. to keep the property which he lives just a few miles from and is now occupied by a woman and her two grandchildren.

“It made me feel good, it put me in a position where I can take care of business and maintain my dignity.” D.M. said.

At the age of 58 and after 24 years of military service, D.M. still works as a contractor remodeling houses and rents out one other property. He was also able to put his daughters through college. One graduated from Howard University and is now an occupational therapist. His other daughter graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and now D.M. is helping to put her through medical school at the University of Cincinnati. “That’s killing me too,” D.M. joked.

When asked what has changed the most since his experience with AHP, D.M. said, “My peace of mind. You wake up in the morning every day thinking about how you’re going to take care of this, take care of that, especially with children in college. It was a big relief, for me and my family, to put it all in a nutshell.”