Netflix on Sony Bravia Internet Connected TV

So I got a welcome suprise today when the Netflix icon on my internet ready Sony Bravia TV went from saying, “Coming in November” to “Streaming Instantly”.  Whoopee!   After activating Netflix I was able to browse my queue right through my TV.   Hell yeah!

This first release reminds of how Netflix used to be on the Xbox before the latest Xbox Live update.  Currently you can only browse through your Netflix Queue.  In other words you can’t browse the Netflix library…yet.  You still have to do that on your computer.  That sucks, but I imagine this will change with the next release, just like it did on Xbox.

The good thing is the speed seems there.  It definitely loaded up faster than the Amazon.com streaming service that’s also built into this TV.   I did get a Netflix DRM error on the first movie I tested, but the next one worked fine.  Not sure if that’s going to be a problem or not.

I no longer have Directv so as you can imagine I use Netflix quite a bit.  I truly see Netflix and the solutions that deliver them (ala, Boxee) as the wave of the future.

Anyhow, now that Netflix is finally available on my Sony Bravia I can cancel my Xbox Live Gold membership, saving me a whooping $7.99 a month.  Hey, that’s almost $100 bucks a year.   Not much, but it just about offsets my Netflix members ship now.

I just love Netflix.

P.S. Netflix, if you’re listening, please don’t give into the movie companies and delay new movie releases for 30 days.  That will lead to dropped memberships and more piracy.  Keep doing it right!

The honest answer to that is, “sometimes, but not very often”.  That doesn’t mean it’s not worth a shot though.  I will do my best to outline the process, as well as some of the pros and cons as I know them to be.

First, you must realize that the process can be long and tedious. The typical process works like this:

1. Typically the process will initiate with you inquiring about a loan modification or some other type of workout (e.g. short sale).  This is typically done through your lender’s loss mitigation department.   Short refinances are still fairly new and relatively uncommon, so you may want to ask for them by name.  Regardless, the process typically starts the same, which is outlined next.  If you have a proactive lender or investor they may actually contact you first, but don’t count on it.  Remember, the old saying, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”, just be sure that you’re cordial.
2. If you agree to proceed you will have to submit a bunch of financial information, which will likely include some or all of the following: a financial analysis worksheet, hardship letter, pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements and more. Sometimes they ask for gross income, other times they look at net (I will never understand why they look at gross income).
3. Your house will be reappraised and your credit ran.
4. Now that you’ve submitted your information your lender will typically work with the investor who owns your mortgage. It’s important that you understand what this really means. Basically, when an investor agrees to a short re-fi they are willing to take a loss now on some of their investment. This may be a difficult pill for some investors to swallow. That said, if you have a proactive investor they may want to take the loss now.   One reason may be so they can into an FHA backed mortgage.
5. If the investor approves the short re-fi you’ll now move to the next phase, which in most cases is qualifying for a new FHA mortgage.  There are certain guidelines for qualifying for an FHA backed mortgage, but I won’t go into those in detail here.  You can find out more on, http://www.fha.com/debt_to_income_ratios.cfm.  Whoever you’re working with at your lender should run all these numbers for you.
6. If your FHA mortgage is approved and you only have the one mortgage you will now likely sign your loan papers and have a closing date set.  If you have a second mortgage that will not be paid off then your lender will submit a subordination request.   Once approved you will move to closing.

The pros:

• A short re-fi is basically a short sale to you, which means you get to stay in your home.
• Since a short re-fi is a principle reduction your home’s value is now likely much closer to the actual market value.  Obviously if you still have a second mortgage or a home equity line you have to add those to the LTV (loan-to-value).
• Most of the time a short re-fi WILL negatively impact your credit since the lender will typically report to the credit bureaus that you’ve, “Settled for less than amount owed”.   The total impact this may have depends on your situation.  It typically has less impact than a foreclosure, but again this depends on your situation.

The cons:

• Since your credit will be negatively impacted future loans may be at higher rates or even difficult to obtain.
• For the same reason a new mortgage may be difficult or impossible to obtain.

Q&A

Q. My mortgage is upside down by more than 5% can I still qualify?
A. The short refinance explained here are not part of any government bailout, but rather a workout between you, your lender, and the investor who owns your loan.  Therefore, they are going to set the guidelines.  I would presume that short refi’s are more common the more upside you are.

Disclaimer: This is by no means a complete article, nor should it be construed as personal advice.  Everyone’s situation is unique and you must evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Now before you get all gung-ho about this, be sure to have a plan (more on this below).  Also, if you’re currently under a contract then there probably isn’t much you can do, though you may still want to ask if you can buyout your contract.   If the dollar amount to get out of your contract is low enough and there is still a substantial amount of time left it may make financial sense, assuming you can lower your monthly fee.  This is a bit of a gamble though as there are no guarantees, so be sure to think it through and run the numbers.

If you’re not under contract and you haven’t already lowered your bill you’re in business.  I actually lowered my bill twice before I finally canceled my Directv in September of 2009.  That’s right – I actually watch TV using an antenna that I mounted on my roof.  I’ll leave that story for future blog post though.

Below is what I did to lower my Directv bill the first time.  I’m pretty sure this strategy would work for cable bills as well..

I had received some junk mail promoting the new AT&T U-verse service (TV, Phone, and Internet).  The price for the low end monthly service was about $13 less than what I was currently paying for the standard Directv package, which was about $63.  The AT&T package was similar to the Directv package I had at the time — two receivers, one standard and one with a 40 hour DVR.   I really didn’t have any desire to switch to U-verse, but at the same time I felt like I was paying too much for Directv, so I called customer service and pressed the appropriate numbers to talk with someone who handles service cancellations.  When the guy finally picked up I just told him that I wanted to terminate my service.  He ask, “Why”?  I said I felt like I was paying too much and had just received and offer from AT&T that was $13 cheaper per month.  He was very quick to say, “Well, if we knocked $13 off your bill would you stay with us?”.  As I said, I had no real intention of canceling, so I said, “I guess so” and it was done.

You may be asking yourself, would I have canceled if it came to that and I absolutely would have.  I think if you’re going to attempt this you have to be willing to follow through, but that is up to you.   You also need to be cordial and informed.  Being rude, even if you’ve sat on hold for 30 minutes isn’t going to get your very far.

This dropped my Directv bill to about $50 a month, saving me $156 a year. Not life changing, but not bad for 20 minutes worth of work.

The second time they offered to lower my bill I basically did the exact same thing, thought it was about two months after the first time.  The difference was this time I was really going to cancel because I had installed an antenna on my roof (so attractive).  I wanted to cut this expense right out of my budget.  That said, Directv did offer to lower my bill by another $10 a month, which would have brought it down to $40, saving another $120 a year.   Not bad, but I cancelled anyhow.    Scratch one!

Assuming your situation is similar here is what you might expect:

$63 /mo
-$13 – First reduction
-$10 – Second reduction
————————————-
$40 /mo = Savings: $276 /yr

Obviously, your situation may be different, but I think mine is pretty common, so you might want to give it a go.

Have a different strategy, saved more money, less, etc.?  Share it via comments.

Brody