Foreclosures

Home owners typically avoid facing the fact that they could lose their home. When they purchased the home, they certainly didn’t have any plans of going into foreclosure.

There are extenuating circumstances that force home owners to stop making timely mortgage payments. A few examples:

Job loss
Sudden illness or medical emergency
Death in the family
Divorce
Excessive debt obligations
Unexpected major home maintenance expense

These are just a few examples.

But how can you avoid going into foreclosure? Lenders prefer not to foreclose, but will file a Notice of Default to protect their interests. The first thing you should do when you are having a problem meeting your payments is to call the lender. Many home owners are embarrassed and would rather ignore it! Sooner is better!

A couple suggestions….Talk to your lender and ask to have some time to make up your payments – possibly spread them out over a longer term. Talk to your lender about changing the terms particularly if your current mortgage is an adjustable rate, the lender may consider freezing the interest rate. Add back payments to the loan balance.

Talk to a Realtor about selling your home to avoid the foreclosure. The realtor can give you an opinion of market value and an approximate time frame for selling your home. Some people in this situation may be tempted to hire a discount broker, but realize that you need the exposure and marketing that a full service broker offers.

For more information, please contact our team.