There’s a new wind blowing in the economy. No one is calling the recession over yet, by any stretch of the imagination. But as vulture funds buy up “toxic” bank assets – showing that there is value in everything once everyone agrees to a price – homeowners themselves are learning to take control of their situation and their homes.

The tool emerging for homeowners in distressed mortgage situations is loan modifications. These are not loan refinancings, although they are similar. Few people in distressed situations, with loss of income or illness or divorce challenging their credit rating, are eligible for refinancing. But if the homeowner can prove some ability to pay monthly on a mortgage at a reduced rate, the bank will consider a recast of the mortgage terms.

That’s right, banks will negotiate. The problem is most homeowners don’t have the savvy to negotiate better terms on their own, if they know the option even exists. They don’t know how low a mortgage lender is willing to go to keep a customer and avoid taking possession of a home (banks don’t like owning residential property – it’s not what they are good at and they usually lose money in the process).

Enter the loan modification consultants, specialists in real estate law and lending. For an affordable fee, about one month’s mortgage payment, the loan modifiers will approach the lender with industry knowledge of what deal will work for both the borrower and the lender. Loan modification companies that know their stuff will not take a case without 90 percent certainty they will succeed in the effort. And if they fail, they should return 100% of the borrower’s fee. This makes it a no-lose proposition for the homeowner.

It’s not like it’s 2005 all over again. But it’s one of several hopeful signs that there are solutions in this economic crisis. The homeowner needs to take action by finding a loan modification specialist to do the work for them.