Archive for December, 2009
Make a Game Plan Then Take Action to Avoid Foreclosure
Posted by: | CommentsFirst, you need to understand how you got into trouble in the first place. This is something you want to have thought about before calling the lender or crafting a hardship letter. Have you had a loss of a job? Is your interest rate climbing in your adjustable rate mortgage? Have property values declined in your neighborhood making it difficult to sell. Once you put your finger on the problem, you need to face it head on. Ignoring the letters and phone calls from your lender won’t make the problem go away. In fact, it can make it much worse.Second, as soon as you realize you have a financial hardship, or problem that will prevent you from making timely mortgage payments, you need to contact your lender. If you’re in the position right now of being in trouble, contact your lender immediately. Most banks aren’t excited about having to resell your home. They’d rather work with you in most cases to keep your home.Third, determine if there’s a way for you to increase your income in order to put more money toward your mortgage payments. Can someone work a second job? Can you search for a job that’s higher paying?Fourth, it’s also important to see if you can refinance your mortgage at a fixed interest rate. This will keep your payments the same over the entire life of your mortgage. If you can refinance, you may be able to set up reasonable payments.Fifth, don’t be afraid to do a bit of thinking, “out of the box”, an option for your family, may be to rent your home if you can get enough rent to cover the cost of the mortgage. You may also want to consider allowing someone to rent a room to bring in extra income for your home.Sixth, if you can’t bring in more money and refinancing isn’t an option, you need to try to sell your home. As difficult as it may be to let go of it, it’s better to sell it than have a foreclosure. If you owe more than your property is worth, you should contact your bank. Many lenders will allow you to perform a “short sale” that will allow you to sell the house for somewhat less than its value and have the difference forgiven. Many banks allow this because in the long run it’s still less costly for them than trying to sell your home.Finally, if you’ve exhausted all of the possibilities and you can’t find a way to pay your mortgage payments and get out of trouble, you may have to walk away from your home. A foreclosure will be a dark mark on your credit for many years; however you should remember that you’re not alone. You simply have to take with you the lessons you’ve learned about home financing.K. Patrice Williams has a BA in Economics as well as a law degree. She has successfully managed both residential and commercial multi-million dollar income producing assets and budgets for more than 10 years. As a 1st year law student, Patrice established a real estate development and consulting business and acquired over 30 rental properties. As the housing market values decreased- like millions of other Americans-her properties were negatively impacted by shifting ARM’s, combined by a sluggish economy. Patrice has researched and personally implemented almost all of the pre-foreclosure techniques detailed in the book: “6 Simple Steps to Avoid Foreclosure”. http://www.avoidforeclosuremanual.com
The Foreclosure Series Part 3: What Your Lender Can Do to Help You Avoid Foreclosure
Posted by: | CommentsYou’ve got to act fast the moment you feel that you are at risk of foreclosure. One thing you must prevent from happening is the filing of a Notice of Default. This notice is basically a shout out to everyone that you are behind your mortgage payments, and if not dealt with accordingly, lenders can seize your home.
As soon as you see trouble looming ahead, call your lender and work out some home-saving methods. You don’t have to be scared or embarrassed because lenders are more than willing to help homeowners figure out a way to avoid foreclosure, as long as you let them know early. Lenders can give you options according to the kind of financial situation you’re in like:
• Forbearance – gives you more time to settle your mortgage payments. Lenders or mortgage companies will, for the meantime, allow you to pay less than the full amount of the mortgage. If you’re lucky, they may even allow you not to pay anything at all, as long as you prove to them that you will have the resources (salary bonus, tax refund, etc.) to pay them sometime in the future. • Repayment plan – you can ask your lender to allow you to carry over unpaid amounts to your monthly payments. Let’s say your monthly rate is $1,000, and you’ve been delayed for two months already, you can add $100 each month until you pay the amount in full. • Loan modifications – as the name implies, you make certain changes in the agreement. Here, lenders can freeze or adjust the interest rate to make it more manageable for you. You can extend the number of years in which you are to pay them; go from an adjustable-rate mortgage to a fixed- rate mortgage; or add neglected payments to your current loan. • Refinancing – if you meet certain requirements from your lender, they can help you increase your loan balance so that you can include back payments to it. • Partial claim – as long as you meet the specific criteria, lenders can help you get an interest-free loan from the Housing and Urban Development that you can use for delinquent payments. • Debt forgiveness –simply means that the lender waives your obligation to pay, which is something that happens very rarely. With the numbers of evicted people continually rising, more people are putting the blame on lenders, when ironically, these are the first people who can help you save your home.Next on the Foreclosure Series: Fight for Your Homes, Stop ForeclosureHousing Assistance Network ( http://new.housingassistancenetwork.com ) – is a site that aims to help those who are in the low to moderate income brackets find financial assistance for housing, help in acquiring a new home, or grant programs from both state and non-government institutions.
Freelance writer, part-time photographer and editor.
Because ‘get rich quick’ sells more books than ‘work hard and pay your bills on time’.
There probably are just as many books that will instruct you on how to make a budget, how to save from your income, how to have an emergency fund and how to decide on how much to borrow as there are on making money on foreclosures. These actions are a part of general financial acumen and require learning a lot about the basics.
There are also shows and systems dedicated to getting your overall finances under control; there’s Suze Orman and Dave Ramsay (both of them pretty much preach the same message).
I don’t think the weighting is too much towards making money on foreclosures – there is a lot out there on how to position yourself so you don’t need to worry about foreclosure!
good luck!
Short Sale To Avoid Foreclosure.?
Posted by: | CommentsIf first and second mortgage holders accept a short sale and it falls short of the amount owed can they still seek a judgement even though they choose to accept the offer, especially if the property is worth enough to pay off both loans in full?