Archive for Avoiding Foreclosure
There are few things more stressful than finding out that you’re about to lose your house. Cash flow is tight, bill collectors are blowing up your phone, unhappy family members might be pointing fingers, and you’re in enough hot water without having to find a new place to live, too. All you can think about is making the problem go away.
Maybe you already have an idea of what might happen in foreclosure, especially if you know someone who has already been there. Most people don’t realize they have more options than to stay or leave. Moving away might be a temporary solution, but there’s more to it than just giving the house back to the bank. How will the foreclosure affect your credit? Will you even be able to buy a car after this is over?
No matter whether you’re the homeowner or someone who works with homeowners in foreclosure, you should be aware of all the options in this situation. If you’re the homeowner, it is best to understand everything you can about the foreclosure process. If you’re someone who works with homeowners, it’s your job to help that homeowner understand their options during this difficult time. It helps if everyone has a realistic view of what could happen and why.
Two of the options have been covered frequently in the media lately: deed-in-lieu and loan modifications.
When homeowners agree to a deed-in-lieu, they voluntarily give up their home. The bank is spared the time and cost of going through with the foreclosure, but the homeowner’s credit is damaged just the same.
What about loan modifications? The government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) promotes mortgage loan modifications as being a viable way to deal with the foreclosure crisis. Yet the current rate of success for those loans to go from trial to permanent modification is 4 percent. Using California as an example, roughly 140,000 trial loans have entered into the modification process; however, only 5,600 loans will be modified based on their current success rate (4 percent). California filed over 450,000 notices of default for 2009. Those being helped are few and far between given the current numbers.
There are four more successful options.
1) Live in the house until eviction, and let the bankruptcy system hold off the foreclosure until the auction date. It won’t make the foreclosure go away, but it will help the homeowner save money temporarily.
2) List the house for the amount of the debt and hope someone comes along who loves the house so much that they will pay your asking price before the auction date. You can dream all you want, but the odds are that nobody will pay more than the house is worth, and you’ll end up going back to option one.
3) The homeowner can list the property with a real estate agent who is willing to wait out the short sale process and encourage buyers to do the same in order to get a discount on the property. The buyer may get a great deal on the house, and the real estate agent may still get credit for the sale, but it doesn’t always work that way.
The agent can run into a roadblock when the buyer says they need a home right away. Most short sales can’t be completed in less than 60 days.
If the real estate agent or the seller isn’t familiar with negotiating a short sale, other problems can arise during the negotiation process. Banks have entire loss mitigation departments staffed with people who are trained in collecting mortgage debt, and they have no problem taking advantage of homeowners who don’t understand the system.
I’ll give you an example. Did you know that deficiency judgments and post-sale promissory notes can be avoided in some cases? You can know the basics of how the process is supposed to work, but shouldn’t you learn how to work the process? Wouldn’t that alone be worth it?
4) The fourth option is to put the home up for sale with a real estate agent who is willing to work with an investor as the buyer. A well-educated investor would use the right contracts and the lender’s forms to obtain approval for a short sale while still guaranteeing the real estate agent’s commission. The investor would then own the house to keep, rent, or sell, and the homeowners could move on with their lives.
Why should the homeowner work with an independent short sale investor? People who negotiate short sales every day know the best ways to get the best deal for the homeowner. For instance, the BPO process is more than just having an appraiser stop by. An experienced investor will know how to handle the situation to the homeowner’s benefit.
Every real estate agent who works with homeowners who are threatened with foreclosure should know these four options. Homeowners can file bankruptcy and stay until the auction, sell the property for the amount due on the mortgage, ask the lender to approve a short sale and hope a buyer will wait for that to happen with them, or apply for a short sale with an investor waiting to become the buyer.
My partners at Strategic Real Estate Coach specialize in educating people about short sale solutions for homeowners in trouble. We offer a free Silver Membership in the coaching program, and the benefits include several reports to help you learn everything you need to succeed!
To get more in-depth coverage of the legal issues you might face, take a look at the blog on topshortsalelawyer.com. Attorney Jeff Watson is great at explaining the issues for short sale investors.
When you help people learn the truth about foreclosure and how to avoid it, you give them a chance to overcome one of the most difficult times in their lives. Educate each homeowner about their options, and watch them turn a bad situation into a fresh start.
Need to know more about foreclosure options? Get free information from our real estate coaching website! You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.
Especially in today’s economy, thousands of people are struggling to pay the bills. This, unfortunately, includes dealing with the threat of foreclosure on their homes. It is possible; however, to avoid foreclosure. Follow these few guidelines to avoid having your home taken away from you.
First off, contact your mortgage company. Most, if not all, mortgage companies have a Mitigation or Loss Mitigation department. This is the department you need to contact. Let them know everything that is going on. You, likely, will need to show proof of financial stability or instability.
The mortgage industry is well backed, enough that they can help in rough situations. After all, they can still take and sell your home. One of the most common approaches that mortgage companies take is offering forbearance. Forbearance allows you to payback what you have missed over a certain period of time.
However, there are many other options available. Dependent upon your history and particular situation mortgage companies will allow you to do anything from take out another loan to adding the existing past due amount onto your existing loan. In certain situations you may find they are even willing to waive a missed payment. Remember, you do not get to pick. This is all based off of predetermined criteria.
As crazy as this may sound, some people up and leave a home that they are in fear of losing. This is one of the worst things you can do. Unless you are forced out of your home, do not leave. Your physical presence, in your house, just might save your home. It is much easier to qualify for assistance when you actually live at the property in question. Assistance is offered by different counseling agencies; look into the ones around you.
If you have gotten to the point where your mortgage company has already filed a Notice of Default you have lost some of your options. Calling them, at this point, probably will not do any good. You could consider selling your house to pay off the loan. You will have to sell at a low price, but sometimes that is what it takes to save your credit.
If your situation has gotten this far, there are a couple other options. However, other options will harm your credit just as bad as a foreclosure will. Just keep in mind that there are different roads to take. The more proactive you are with your mortgage company, the better chance you have. If you want to avoid foreclosure, call your mortgage company as soon as you see you might be facing a late payment. This proactive action will save you a ton of grief in the end.
Learn how to avoid foreclosure by using short sales. Head online today and you can learn how a short sale will help you out.
When homeowners are facing foreclosure, the mortgage lenders often become referred to as evil, heartless people. While this anger in understandable, it could be in the way of you keeping your home. Unless you foresee having financial problems for years to come, you will want to make nice with your financial lender. After all, they may be able to provide you with an alternative. This alternative can keep your home out of foreclosure or stop the current process right in its tracks.
The first step in getting your lender to work with you, to avoid foreclosure, is speaking with them. You will get nowhere by avoiding them. Whenever you receive a warning or an intent of foreclosure notice or a phone call, start making plans to contact your lender. While you may want to head straight to your local bank branch, you may want to take a few hours or a day to reflect on the situation. This will allow you to develop a plan of action, a plan of action that will be successful.
Before meeting with an official at your bank, it is important to know what you will say and how you will say it. This is key to keeping your home out of foreclosure. Although financial lenders want to avoid foreclosures at all costs, they don’t want to keep on losing money. Lenders are usually unwilling to work with those who don’t show true interest in rectifying the situation. That is why a plan of action is required.
As for that plan of action, collect as much information as you can about your current financial situation and the cause of it. For example, are you currently laid off, but looking for a new job? Take your updated resume to with you. It can help to show that you are actively looking for a job and trying to save your home. Let them know of any upcoming interviews you may have scheduled as well.
If you are out of work due to an injury and that injury is only temporary, get notices from your doctor and your place of employment. This will prove to your lender that you still have a job waiting for you and will be able to return to work soon. Proving that you do intend to make your mortgage payment in full and as soon is possible is key to avoiding foreclosure or stopping it.
Next, it is important to consider your appearance and your attitude. Starting with your appearance, it is important to walk into the bank with your head held high. You will also want to dress professionally. Women should wear dresses or pantsuits. For men, pantsuits are also recommended. Avoid casual clothing. For many financial lenders, a borrower who carries himself or herself in a professional manner shows responsibility. Responsibility is another important key to getting your lender to work with you.
As for your attitude, make sure that you don’t have one. As previously stated, financial lenders often become the bad guys when foreclosure is threatened or when the process gets started. No matter how angry you are with your lender, do not let your anger show.
If you learn that your financial lender is willing to work with you, to help you avoid foreclosure, they may offer their own suggestions. You can take these suggestions, but don’t get in over your head. Reduced mortgage payments are nice, even if they are only temporary, but make sure that you can pay them. If a strict deadline is set for the return of the originally agreed upon payments, make sure you can make those payments too. If not, the whole foreclosure warning process will start again.
In short, always approach your financial lender if you suspect foreclosure is on the horizon or as soon as the proceedings start. Since lenders lose money on foreclosed properties, they want to avoid foreclosure just as much as you do.
Learn more at my website: www.centerforforeclosure.com
Want to find out more about how to avoid foreclosureforeclosure, then visit NANCY GEILS’s site on how to choose the best strategies and tipsmodify your mortgage for more help on working with your lender.
Have you a been ignoring the warning letters and telephone calls from your bank? If you are, you may find yourself in the middle of a foreclosure crisis. What will you do? Where you will live? Can you afford to move? Before you let fear take over, it is important to know that foreclosures can be stopped. Although this process is not easy, it can be done.
It is advised that you speak with your financial lender as soon as you find yourself experiencing financial difficulties. For example, when you get laid off or fired from your job, schedule an appointment to meet with your lender and develop a plan, before any problems arise. At the very least, communication should be made when you start receive intent to foreclosure notices. Even if you have a sign on your home stating that the foreclosure process has officially begun, you can still talk to your financial lender. In this instance, the sooner you do so the better.
As for why you should talk to your financial lender, even at the last minute, they want to avoid foreclosure as much as you do. Often times, lenders lose a considerable amount of money on the sale of foreclosure homes. If you can prove that your financial troubles are only temporary, your lender may give you a reprieve. They may stop the foreclosure proceedings for you. As for what can lead to this, you or your spouse getting a second job can help.
If you are dealing with a locally owned and operated bank, which you have been a loyal customer of, it is important to outright ask what can be done. Offer suggestions yourself, if you do not receive them. Could you continue making all future mortgage payments on time, but develop a payment plan for your past due amount? Can you only pay interest for the time being? Can you be given time to sell your home, as opposed to simply just losing it? These are all important questions that you should ask.
Another way that foreclosures can be stopped, in most states, is with a declaration of bankruptcy. However, this step is one that should not be made on a whim. It is first important to meet with an attorney specializing in bankruptcy. If you file for bankruptcy will the foreclosure proceedings stop? Can you make it so that your home is not considered an asset in bankruptcy proceedings? If so, this is the avenue that you may want to take. However, since bankruptcy can negatively influence your credit, it should only be used as a last resort.
Before you take any action with the hopes of stopping foreclosure, you need to closely examine the situation at hand. For starters, would you like to get out from under your property? If it is a money-pit that needs constant repairs, it might just be easier to go the route of foreclosure or even outright allow your bank to sell the property. If you want to keep your home, make sure that you can honestly do so. It is recommended that you take forty percent of your income and apply that towards your living expenses, this includes mortgages and taxes. If this isn’t possible for you to do, the avoidance of foreclosure now may result in the process starting again in a few months.
Learn more on my site at: www.centerforforeclosure.com
Want to find out more about foreclosures and how to avoid them? avoid foreclosure, then visit NANCY GEILS’s site on how to choose the best strategies on how to avoid a foreclosureforeclosures .
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Avoid Foreclosure San Diego
Most available information on stopping foreclosures includes refinancing your mortgage as an option. Well, how true is that?
Let’s face it. Most people going through foreclosure do not contact their lender until it’s too late. For some reason, they believe the problem will somehow disappear. Unfortunately, by the time the homeowner responds to the foreclosure notices, they are several months behind in mortgage payments. Most banks will not refinance the homeowner if they are not current on their existing mortgage, which doesn’t make refinancing a viable solution. Or, so one would think.
There is no magical solution to stopping foreclosure. It is a difficult thing to do especially if the homeowner does not have the money to bring their mortgage current. Unfortunately, when it comes to stopping a foreclosure, mortgage brokers will say exactly what the homeowner wants to hear. The end result is typically wasted time, which is something the homeowner does not need. Depending on state laws and the lender, the homeowner has approximately 6 to 8 months from their last payment until they lose their home in a foreclosure sale.
One may ask, why would a mortgage broker waste a homeowner’s time if they know they are not current on mortgage payments? Isn’t their payment history reported to the credit bureaus? And, don’t they request a copy of their credit report? The answer is yes to both. However, the simple truth is that a lot of mortgage companies are only looking to collect applications. Some, not all, are graded based on the number of leads they generate within a given month. Regardless of the final outcome, the homeowner is still considered a lead, which looks favorable to management. Unfortunately for the homeowner, by the time they are done, a month or two has been lost wishing for something that would never happen.
In some cases, these same mortgage companies will collect upfront fees, knowing the homeowner won’t be approved. They will pretend to work on the file once the fee is collected only to reject the application soon afterwards. Again, they will say whatever the homeowner wants to hear; thus, taking advantage of their desperate situation while profiting at the same time.
Well then, who can refinance as a way to avoid foreclosure? Generally speaking, no one unless the homeowner acts fast before they are several months behind in mortgage payments and have sufficient income to pay the new loan. The closer the homeowner gets to the foreclosure date, the less likely the lender will work with them, and the chances of refinancing diminish greatly.
Don’t be disappointed because all hope is not lost. the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has a program that will make a one-time loan equal to the homeowner’s past due mortgage payments. It’s a special program only for homeowners who have an FHA-insured loan. These loans are zero-interest loans with no monthly payments. They are paid in full when the homeowner refinances or sells their home. Please check HUD’s website. Search “Foreclosure” for more information. Their guidelines and programs often change depending on current need.
There are other types of lenders called hard money lenders, who are private investors that will loan money without any underwriting guidelines. These loans are for short periods and cost considerably more than traditional loans. However, it may help in the interim by stopping the foreclosure. If a homeowner goes this route, make sure they completely understand the terms especially the new monthly mortgage payment, interest rate, and the amount of points that will be paid upfront or on the backend. Also, the new payment could be more than the current one.
Perhaps, a better option to refinancing is to have a friend or a relative purchase the home and lease it back to the homeowner. This way they will not have the expensive fees associated with a hard money lender and the friend or relative will be more forgiving and sympathetic to their situation than a bank or an investor. A variation to the above is to include the homeowner’s name on the deed as well.
In summary, act quickly, consider your refinance options, and don’t waste time with mortgage lenders who will give you the runaround. Also, whatever the refinancing option, the homeowner must have sufficient income to pay the new mortgage payment or the lender will deny the application.
Avoid Foreclosure Hell eBook is for immediate download at http://www.HelpStopTheForeclosure.com. It is an excellent resource for solutions to stopping foreclosures.
CP Howard is the co-founder of MaxCap Realty, which is a real estate company assisting buyers and sellers with brokerage, consulting, and investment services. He is a licensed real estate broker, consultant, mentor, and teacher in real estate and finance, as well as an REO Broker in the St. Louis metro area.
Blog site: http://blog.MaxCapLLC.com
Website: http://www.MaxCapLLC.com
How To Avoid Foreclosure San Diego
