Archive for the ‘Ways to Avoid Foreclosure’ Category

When you are in foreclosure, you need to expect fewer lenders to want to work with you. That is normal but you should not be discouraged. You might have to convince a lender to work with you and you might have to put up with lenders refusing to discuss any loans with you but many homeowners in foreclosure just kept calling lenders and talking to reputable real estate agents and eventually they found lenders that were willing to assist them. You can also get advice from experts such as HUD counselors. Even if you keep getting rejected by lenders, you should still keep trying because you never know when you will come across one that will accept you.

Lenders to consider

• Commercial banks
• Savings banks
• Mortgage companies
• Credit unions
• Life insurance companies
• Stock brokerage houses
• Hard money lenders
• Individuals

Each lender that you talk to will have different loans and different interest rates to offer. You need to inspect all the details of the loans they are offering and compare them against each other. You need to shop around. Do not think that you need to take any loan that comes your way just because you are in foreclosure and you do not have a choice. Do shop around and do compare all the loans on the table. Now that the interest rates are low, you may be able to find better loans and better interest rates.

Shop around!

It is important that you shop around. Do not sign anything until you have been on your computer a long time looking around and shopping for the best loans and the best rates. We have introduced many books on refinancing and loan modification so you should be familiar with what are out there. Knowledge is key and do not be pressured into getting a loan that might not be the best for your situation.

Talk to a reputable Realtor

If you are in foreclosure, do not be afraid to ask a Real estate agent for help. A Realtor can be a great resource for you even if you do not buy or sell with him or her. A Realtor is often very helpful and has lots of contact and connections. He/she can give you the names of banks, mortgage brokers, and other institutions that give great loans for people in similar situations to you. A Realtor can advice you on what you can do and what your options are.

If you are ready to talk to a Realtor about your situation, use the free service below to find one.

Save on REALTOR® Fees. Let listing agents compete for your business!

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So You Want to Refinance: An Insiders Guide to Refinancing Adjustable Rate Mortgages and Home Loans

There are many homeowners with horrible mortgages and they want to refinance. By refinancing, they could lower their monthly payments. Many have refinanced and reduced their mortgage payments by half which help them afford the payments and prevent foreclosure. The problem is that, there are people who fall for bad deals again even when they are refinancing. So, there are lots of things you need to know before you refinance and the more you know, the more prepared you are at choosing the right loan for yourself. Don’t let the mortgage company recommend a loan to you without you verifying that it is a good loan. Too many homeowners do not verify and end up with loans that will come back to haunt them later on.

Buy So You Want to Refinance: An Insiders Guide to Refinancing Adjustable Rate Mortgages and Home Loans

Buy Credit After Bankruptcy: A Step-By-Step Action Plan to Quick and Lasting Recovery after Personal Bankruptcy

Finding Some Money to Pay Mortgage Payments

When you need the money to pay your mortgage payments, trying to rent your home out is one way of getting some money. You can then use the money to pay your monthly mortgage payments, therefore avoiding going into foreclosure. If you do not want to rent, you can sell your home and try to pay the lender off altogether but if you want to keep your home, selling is not a good option. You can also borrow from relatives, family members or friends to cover some mortgage payments but nowadays most people find that they do not have anyone they could borrow from. You could also get a loan but if you do not have a good job and are already having a problem paying your current loan payments, then the chances are no bank will lend you the money.

Putting a Sign Up

If you are about to go into foreclosure, you might want to try everything such as putting a sales sign up for your home, putting a rent sign up for your home and even try to find a buyer for a short sale. You never know which route will pan out and which one will end up being the route to save your home or prevent foreclosure. Also putting a sign up encourages people to come to see your home and you never know if they are going to want to buy or rent or even help you do a short sale.

Good Time to Rent

Now that it is a buyers market, you may not be able to sell your home for enough money to pay off your  mortgage even if you are willing to sell your home and move out. So, renting may be a good option. You might not want to be a landlord but it may save you from foreclosure. Many homeowners turn into landlords in this real estate market when they could not find buyers. Since people are not sure of where the market is heading, many are not willing to buy but they would not mind renting and even rent to own.

Advertise Your Rental

In order to find the right renter, you need to get as much exposure as possible. You need to do a lot of advertising. People look online for homes to rent nowadays and they also still look in local papers. You need to think about where a buyer or renter might look and advertise there. In the meantime, you need to make the home nice and enticing. You want someone to walk in and feel right at home. If they fall in love with your home then they will either rent or buy if they can afford it. Stage your home very well and use all the tips for attracting renters and buyers you know.

Stay in a Cheap Place

When you move out of your home, you need to find somewhere cheaper than your current mortgage payments. It is best to stay with a friend if you have someone who will let you stay with them for free or for a small rent payment. You need to save as much money as possible so that you can pay the mortgage payments each month and save enough money to actually get out of bad financial situation that you are in.

How to Be a Landlord

Being a landlord is not difficult but it might be a change in your lifestyle. If you do not have a management company to take care of the property (which you should not to save money) then you need to fix anything that is broken, etc. There are legal issues that you need to know as a landlord. You also need to pick the right renter so that you will not have a problem later on. This book called Every Landlord’s Legal Guide will tell you what you need to know to become a landlord.

Every Landlord’s Legal Guide

Sometimes, you can avoid having to go through the foreclosure process by doing a real estate short sale. Real estate short sales are commonly associated with upside down mortgages. When a homeowner is upside down, which means he or she owes more than his or her home is worth, then it does not make much sense to sell the home because the proceed from the sale will not be enough to pay the bank off. If the homeowner is only a little upside down, he or she may decide to fork up the difference out of pocket. However, most of the time, upside down homeowners do not have the money to pay up the differences. This is why a short sale is necessary.

When the bank feels that there is no way the homeowner could pay what he/she owes in full, the bank may decide that some payment is better than no payment at all. The bank may also decide that it is more profitable to go ahead and accept a short sale proposal rather than proceed with the foreclosure process. After all, in this buyers market, the bank is not likely to be able to sell a home for a large amount of money.

What are the benefits of a real estate short sale?

The main benefit of doing a short sale for a homeowners is to be able to get out of the mortgage obligation without having to pay it in full. If the homeowner is in foreclosure, the short sale will stop the foreclosure. That means, you should not have foreclosure on your credit record. However, sometimes, the bank has sent  your account to a collection agency or has reported foreclosure to the credit bureaus and then do not send them updates after the account has been settled under a short sale agreement. If this is the case for you, then it is up to you to make sure that the bank send proper notifications to credit bureaus and collection agencies or you can dispute with the credit bureaus yourself.

The effects of short sale on your credit

Unlike a foreclosure, having a short sale on your credit report is not as damaging but it is not totally good either. Usually, you will be able to borrow money sooner with a short sale on your credit record than a foreclosure or bankruptcy. So, if a short sale is an option for you, then credit-wise, it is a good option for you to take. However, you need to also consider disadvantages of doing a short sale too. With a short sale on your credit record, the interest rate you are going to get will still be high but not as high as you would get with a foreclosure or bankruptcy on it.