Archive for avoid foreclosure
The 5 Best Ways To Stop Foreclosure Fast – Don’t Wait
Posted by: | CommentsWhen you receive the dreaded notice that your home is going into foreclosure, don’t wait to take action. Even at this point there are things you can do to stop foreclosure fast. Here are the 5 best ways.
Even though you may be feeling fear or panic at the prospect of losing your home, you need to force yourself to act right away. Every day that passes once you receive the foreclosure notice is a day closer to losing your home, so take action right away.
Because you only have limited time, here’s what to do.
1. The first thing you should do is to contact the financial institution that holds your mortgage to setup a meeting. Insist on a face to face meeting as soon as possible with a person who has authority to make decisions. Refuse to discuss your situation over the phone. Come to the meeting prepared to answer questions about your current employment status, your wages, your assets, and current expenses.
The lender should at least be willing to discuss options with you. If you are able to show that you have at least some resources at your disposal, you could qualify for a modified loan. Options could include an interest only loan for a set period of time, an extension on the term of your mortgage, or a reduction in the interest rate. The goal of these or other alternatives is to lower your payments so they are affordable for you.
2. If you have some equity in your house, you could try to arrange a loan equal to the equity value and then use this to pay down your arrears. This will get you out of your current situation but you will also need to renegotiate the terms of your mortgage so you are able to afford your payments.
3. You might qualify for a one-time payment from the FHA Insurance fund in order to pay off any arrears. In order to qualify, you must be between 4 and 12 months delinquent on payments. But you must be able to show that your current financial situation will allow you to resume making regular payments on time.
This fund is for those who may have fallen behind due to a temporary situation, are now able to make current payments but can’t afford to pay off arrears.
4. Apply for assistance with the various government agencies. There are many people dealing with foreclosure. All levels of government recognize the immense problem, so a number of programs have been put in place to assist.
These programs include Project Lifeline and the Obama Mortgage Modification Program. Some of these government sponsored programs are for use over a short period of time. Other programs are designed for longer term assistance. Also check out the HUB website for where to get help.
5. As a last resort, you may be able to file a suit against your creditors at your local court. Because of the backlog of cases needing to be heard, this will give you a lot of extra time to get your finances in order. Contact a real estate savvy lawyer for advice about this before you spend any money filing a suit.
It’s possible to stop foreclosure fast, but you need to act fast. Whether you do anything or not, the foreclosure is going to go ahead. And if you wait too long to act, it may well be too late.
If you are facing foreclosure, you may need help. Get free foreclosure information and find out how to stop a foreclosure.
Ten Keys To Getting A Short Sale Approved
Posted by: | CommentsShort sale gurus say a lot of wild things sometimes, but some of their methods they use to get their short sales approved are really nuts. I hear about secret spreadsheets, magic phrases to speed up the approvals, and inside contacts who guarantee to put your files on the fast track. Most of it is just ridiculous.
After surviving hundreds of short sale negotiations, my colleagues and I have found that there are several components to getting a short sale approved – and none of them involve immediate acceptance. It’s about knowing what challenges to expect and implementing a few strategies to make it easier to meet them.
If you want to be successful at negotiating short sales, it’s really all about understanding what lenders are thinking during those negotiations. They’re thinking about which course of action will cost them the least amount of money. If they see any way to collect that debt, they will do it. If they see any need to avoid a long-term bad debt, they will generally move in that direction. Lenders know how much it costs to continue to collect debts and maintain REOs. They know exactly how much money they lose when they have to take possession of a foreclosed property.
So, without offering any wacky secrets, these are my real-life, straightforward tips for successfully negotiating a short sale.
1) After you submit a complete short sale package, confirm that it was assigned to one of the loss mitigators and find out who that is. Do this right away, because it’s not unusual to find that lenders misplace those packages upon receipt. They are overwhelmed with foreclosure paperwork, so a call or two from you may help your package avoid getting lost in the shuffle.
2) Be persistent. Lenders are swamped with foreclosures. They have trouble keeping up with all the short sale cases they are working. The only way to push things forward is to make sure you are pleasantly persistent. Don’t call every day. Call every other day or every third day. When you call, don’t leave a message every single time and make your first impression as a pest. Just hang up and call back.
3) When you find out who is handling your short sale package, ask them who owns the loan. I guarantee this will make your negotiations go more smoothly. Once you know whether the loan is a VA, FHA, Fannie, or Freddie loan, you can know exactly what their negotiation limits are.
4) Summarize your offer for the loss mitigator and ask them to get an interior appraisal or BPO as soon as possible.
5) Conduct an effective BPO.
6) Pull a title report after the BPO is done so you can resolve any outstanding issues before the closing.
7) Ask the bank about the number for the BPO. This is self-explanatory. Just ask. Sometimes they won’t tell you, but sometimes they will. And then you know you’ll pay about 90 percent of that number.
If the lender refuses to disclose the BPO, you need to ask for a counteroffer. (When they make their counteroffer, this is usually equal to the amount of the BPO anyway.)
9) Submit your own counteroffers with additional proof to validate your offer (days on market from the MLS listing, repair estimates, low comps, negative articles on the area or city).
10) Make sure the lender knows you’re a cash buyer and can close quickly.
We’re not selling any magic potions, and we’re not selling any hyped-up baloney. The truth is much more powerful. Lenders don’t normally view short sales as their best option, but short sales aren’t their worst option either. All you have to do is convince the loss mitigator that your solution makes the best financial sense for them. If you’re ready to educate yourself, develop a good attitude, and be persistent, you can successfully negotiate a short sale.
Want to learn more about managing a short sale negotiation? Check out the Strategic Real Estate Coach website and gain access to everything you need to know about loss mitigation in America!
Understanding HAFA In Phoenix Real Estate Transactions
Posted by: | CommentsMy first thought is that of hope. I sincerely hope the majority of homeowners who currently allow their homes to go to foreclosure without ever exploring their options to avoid foreclosure will educate themselves and take advantage of the many viable alternatives available to them.
It’s easy to just walk away and give up – the path of least resistance, for certain. However, the foreclosure haunt continues for years affecting credit, employment and even security clearances. With the advent of HAFA as an additional alternative, foreclosure can be avoided.
Obviously, foreclosure can’t always be avoided, but knowing your options before going into “ostrich mode” would well be worth the time invested. In light of HAFA, which even provides relocation assistance money and eliminates the hovering concern of a deficiency judgment when a short payoff has been accepted, there should be no reason for distressed homeowners not to explore their options versus throwing thousands away.
Personally, I’m so adamant about informing the public about their options, I’ve setup a “Home Rescue Network” to provide homeowners who owe more on their homes than they are worth or are behind on their payments a comprehensive list of options to avoid foreclosure and a quick questionnaire to help them determine if they are eligible for the new government programs available.
I have a National network of experienced brokers and agents around the country I’m able to refer homeowners to. These are experts in their area who can help further educate and help homeowners rescue their homes from the throes of foreclosure. If you’re interested in more no-obligation information about this, you can contact me directly.
I believe HAFA will help simplify and streamline the use of short sales and the deed in lieu of foreclosure (DIL) options with the use of the top features HAFA provides including:
1. Providing incentives (financial) to borrowers, servicers AND investors
2. NO deficiency judgments – Servicers are required to release borrowers from future liability for the debt
3. The normally daunting short sale process will be standardized and streamlined by using standard processes, documents and timeframes
4. HAMP eligible borrowers will have workable alternatives complementing HAMP
5. Eliminating the need for additional analysis on eligibility by utilizing financial and hardship information collected in conjunction with HAMP
6. Pre-approved short payoff terms prior to listing the property will be allowed
Homeowners with negative equity positions in their mortgages are at all time highs – over 11,000,000 (that’s about 24% of all properties with a mortgage) are upside down. HAFA results in providing borrowers a great option to avoid foreclosure through standardizing the process flow, minimizing the performance timelines and standardizing documentation of short sales will be anxiously awaited by me and countless others.
Looking to know your options to Avoiding Foreclosure, then visit www.AzSPO.com to find the best advice on HAFA and Foreclosure Avoidance.
Foreclosure Options For Homeowners
Posted by: | CommentsLosing your house is an unbelievably stressful experience. The money won’t cover the bills, the creditors won’t stop calling, the family won’t stop arguing about who’s to blame, and you have enough to worry about without having to arrange for somewhere else to live. You wish you could snap your fingers and make it all go away.
If you know someone who has been through foreclosure, you might already know what could happen. Did you know there are several options available when you get a notice of default? It might seem easier to just move out, but you have to think about your financial future. For instance, when you move out, will you be losing your ability to ever own another home?
Whether you’re a homeowner, a real estate agent, or an investor, you need to know all the options for someone facing foreclosure. As a homeowner, your best bet is to get enough information to make an informed decision. As someone who helps homeowners, you need to make sure they understand that information. You need to set realistic expectations for the loss of their home.
Let’s look at the deed-in-lieu option and loan modifications first.
A deed-in-lieu means that the homeowner agrees to simply hand over the property to the bank. It helps the bank make the repossession easier, but it still hurts the homeowner’s credit as if the foreclosure had actually taken place.
Are mortgage loan modifications the answer? We have all heard about the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) initiated by the government to make more loan modifications a reality for homeowners in default. Unfortunately, only 4 percent of all homeowners that apply for modification actually result in their loan’s permanent modification. For instance, in one recent quarter, California had about 140,000 mortgage loans begin the trial modification process. Based on the current success rate, only 5,600 of those loans will actually be modified to avoid foreclosure. At that rate, modification programs are simply not helping enough people.
There are four more successful options.
1) The homeowner can stay in the house and file for bankruptcy, allowing the courts to stall the foreclosure as long as possible. It doesn’t mean the foreclosure won’t happen, but it does mean that the homeowner can refuse to pay for a place to live until the auction date.
2) The real estate agent can list the property for the amount due on the mortgage and try to convince the buyer that the house is worth it before the foreclosure auction date arrives. Since most buyers wouldn’t fall for that, the homeowner may choose to revert to the first option.
3) List the house as a short sale, find a buyer, and make the buyer wait out the short sale process in order to buy the house at a discount. Many real estate agents recommend this solution because it sounds like the easiest thing to do while still earning their commission, but it’s a little more complicated than that.
For instance, the buyer usually has to agree to wait two or three months before they can close on the house and move in. Most buyers need to purchase a property that is ready to close in less than a month.
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 real estate agent could list the house as a short sale, while arranging the purchase by a short sale investor who doesn’t mind handling the paperwork, negotiating a successful short sale on the seller’s behalf, and waiting for the lender’s approval before closing on the house. The homeowner would avoid a foreclosure, the agent would still get the commission, and the buyer would get the home as an investment property to sell or rent.
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.
The four main options for homeowners in default should be made evident to everyone involved. They can stay in the home and use the bankruptcy process, they can sell the home for what they owe the bank, they can ask a potential buyer to wait out the short sale negotiation process, or they can outsource the negotiations to a short sale investor who will buy the house from them.
If you’re interested in finding out how the short sale approval process really works, sign up for free downloadable reports on the Silver Membership page of the Strategic Real Estate Coach website. You’ll also learn about the foreclosure process, and you can gain access to networking opportunities with other people who are interested in helping homeowners avoid foreclosure.
Attorney Jeff Watson has some great commentary on the legal side of real estate investing. You can find that and more on his blog. Just visit topshortsalelawyer.com.
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.
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Dealing With Foreclosure When It’s Your Choice
Posted by: | CommentsMany homeowners throughout the U.S. are seeing the value of their homes plummet. Few places have managed to escape this drop. Some people have been able to continue to make their payments and remain in their homes. However, not everybody has been so lucky. The number of homeowners dealing with foreclosure is on the rise.
If you are someone who has lived in and been making payments on your home for a number of years, you will probably have built up a substantial amount of equity. If that’s the case you will no doubt want to do whatever it takes to keep making those payments. Even though your home has decreased in value you have so much invested that you are hoping the housing market will eventually rebound.
Then there are those individuals who went out and bought houses in the past few years with almost no down payment and the promise of low interest rates for the first couple of years. Once the interest rates went up so did the mortgage payments. When that happened many of these people began losing their places to foreclosure.
But what about those who are still working and can afford to make their payments? There is a growing trend among some of these homeowners to just walk away, stop making payments and let their homes go into foreclosure.
Despite making more than enough to make their payments, they realize that they are not getting ahead, no matter how much money they devote to paying down their mortgages. Their homes are actually losing value so quickly, that they have concluded that it’s just not worth it financially worth it to continue to pay.
But it’s not the same when you are dealing with foreclosure that you have simply allowed to happen. So before you just let it happen, you really need to consider the possible long range consequences. You need to know that the same rules won’t be applied to you. So what can you anticipate if you let this type of foreclosure to occur?
Well, for starters, government officials have stated that the “forgiveness” clause that can be applied to people who legitimately lose their home to foreclosure won’t apply to people who choose a foreclosure even though they can afford payments. They have not yet revealed what steps, if any, they are prepared to take to stop these walk away by choice foreclosures.
For another thing your credit rating will certainly take a big hit. There may even be longer or more severe consequences because if you walk away once, what’s to prevent you from doing the same thing again at some point in the future?
Having a note to this effect on your credit report may be damaging when you try to get financing for other major purchases. You might be subject to higher interest rates on these purchases as well as on credit cards, if you can even get them.
You also have to wonder if banks and mortgage companies will be willing to finance mortgages for those people who have defaulted by choice in the past. How many years will this choice negatively affect you?
There is no definitive answer as to what exactly will happen. But before making the decision to walk away, carefully consider what dealing with foreclosure under these circumstances may mean for you, not just now but in the future.
If you and your family are facing foreclosure, you need help. Get free foreclosure information and find out how to stop a foreclosure.