Few things are more devastating to families than the prospect of foreclosure. You own your home and you love it — it serves you well. Yet, due to unfortunate circumstances, foreclosure may seem imminent.
For local NH families facing foreclosure, the stress can be almost unbearable. Worse yet, the foreclosure process can take months or even years, stretching out the pain for longer than anyone wants.
Fortunately, you have options available to you here in NH — perhaps more options than you realize. There are many strategies that help for foreclosure in Your Home Town; these are legal foreclosure avoidance strategies you can implement to help you resolve your foreclosure issue so you can get on with your life.
In this blog post, you’ll read about 3 ways that you can avoid foreclosure (there are other ways to avoid foreclosure as well). The goal of these strategies is to help you legally and ethically avoid foreclosure and reducing the pain and frustration that you’re facing, while minimizing any long-term financial commitment or burden to you. Not all of these strategies will apply in every situation but you’ll probably be able to find at least one of the three ways that will work for you.
Strategy #1: Work out a deal with your lender
The first strategy is called a “foreclosure workout” or forbearance agreement. In a foreclosure workout, you’ll sit down with your lender and tell them that you don’t think you can pay your current mortgage obligation but you’d like to figure something out so you can stay in your house and continue to pay your mortgage.
Contrary to popular belief, lenders don’t want to foreclose! They want happy customers who pay their mortgages, so lenders are often willing to work with homeowners to figure out a deal. This might include a temporary reprieve on your mortgage payments, or it might include a catch-up strategy where your outstanding mortgage payments are spread out so you can catch-up and pay them off, or it might include a restructuring of the outstanding amounts that you owe. Either way, it affords a way for you the homeowner to get back on track. You will have to fill out an application with the bank to up date your information with them, much like you did when you got the mortgage. They are also going to require a verification of your current income. Once the loan is restructured they will want to know that you can comfortably pay the loan.
Strategy #2. Bankruptcy
Filing for bankruptcy may seem like an extreme measure but it is one of the “tools” in your foreclosure avoidance toolbelt. When you file for bankruptcy, you indicate to all of your creditors that you are no longer able to pay your bills. Filing for bankruptcy will put a stop to the foreclosure process because all creditors must stop the collection process.
Filing for bankruptcy, though, is a little extreme: it may require you to sell off some of your assets in order to pay off your creditors. Sometimes the lender will require you to take the house out of the bankruptcy so it can be sold to pay creditors. A bankruptcy will remain on your credit score for many years sometimes beyond 10 years, which could impact everything from getting a loan to getting a car… even getting a job. So this shouldn’t be your first line of defense! Speak to a bankruptcy attorney before you file bankruptcy, this way you know all the pros and cons for you unique situation.
Strategy #3. Short sale help for a foreclosure in Your Home Town
A short sale is the third strategy — this is where you sell your home and put the proceeds of the sale toward the amount owing on your mortgage loan. A short sale is a preferred method for people facing foreclosure because it is proactive, fast, and very effective.
- It’s proactive, which means that you take matters into your own hands (that’s a major stress eliminator because so much of the stress of foreclosure comes from the process being completely out of your control).
- It’s fast — in some cases, you can sell your home in as little as a week! That’s also because it’s local: You can get help for foreclosure in Your Home Town since organizations like Peak Property Group, LLC help people going through short sales.
- It’s very effective because a short sale can completely wipe out (or almost wipe out) the amount owing on your mortgage. If there is any amount left over that is not covered by the sale of the property, you’ll be responsible for it (although you can sometimes work out a deal with your lender).
With a short sale, you still end up with the reality of having to leave your home but there is a bright side: The impact to your credit is much less (compared to a bankruptcy or a foreclosure) so this is a smart long-term play to give yourself some options. Sometimes the lender will help with moving cost and sometimes you can sell contents of the house to be able to get some money to help you move to an apartment.
If you do not cure the default in the three month period, the trustee will record a Notice of Sale and:
- mail a copy to you at least 20 days before the sale (if your deed of trust includes a request for notice, which it probably does)
- publish the Notice of the Sale in a newspaper once a week for three weeks, and
- post the Notice of Sale on the property at least 20 days before the sale.
You can request that the trustee postpone or stop the sale and cancel the Notice of Default by paying the entire loan balance as well as legal fees and other fees associated with the foreclosure. If you have questions about this options, we are ready to help. We have spent years helping homeowners in foreclosure. The call is FREE and there is no obligation to sell you house. Just call us at 984.315.6198.
A word of caution…
Watch out for foreclosure scams and fake legal help
Facing foreclosure can be stressful, and looking for a silver bullet to solve your problems can be tempting. Scam artists could try to take advantage of you during this time. Here are some warning signs that you could be dealing with a scam:
- Demands for upfront payment for help
- Guarantees that the help will work and let you keep your home
- Being asked to sign over the title to your home, or other documents you don’t understand
- High pressure sales tactics that push you to act right away