You love your home. You bought the property several years ago when everything was going wonderfully in your life, and you thought you would always be able to make the payments. Now, things are starting to change unexpectedly. You are late on payments and you might be a little behind on your mortgage. The fear starts to set in and you begin to worry that you will be kicked out of your house. Losing your home is one of the biggest fears and now it looks like that may happen to you. However, it might not be too late. There are some things you can do to help avoid foreclosure.
Face the Problem
One of the biggest problems is that people tend to ignore the issue, hoping it will go away. It won’t. The sooner you start dealing with the problem the sooner you can make things better. Don’t ignore the phone calls and do not ignore the mail that you get. It is stressful to have to deal with it, but it is essential if you want to make things right.
Reevaluate Your Spending
In some cases, such as with the loss of a job, you do not have any control over your income. However, if you still have your regular job, you can look at the way you are spending and try to make some changes. If you haven’t been keeping track of your money, it’s time that you start. While you might know where your major expenses are, such as your car payment and your electricity bill, you probably don’t keep track of all of the little expenses through the month.
When you start looking at the amount of money you and your family spends on unneeded items, it can be shocking. For example, if you stop for coffee on the way to work each morning, and you spend $4 per trip, you are spending $80 a month. If you are going out to lunch instead of making your own, you could be spending more than a hundred extra dollars on lunch each month. Each of these small things will add up, and you could be saving several hundred dollars’ month if you just change a few habits.
While this might not be enough to get you fully out of your mortgage debt, it’s a start.
Foreclosure Doesn’t Start Immediately
If you are less than 90 days behind on your payments, the lenders will not likely start the foreclosure process. They want you to be able to pay your bills because that is how they will make the most money. They do not want you to default, so you do have some time before the proceedings begin. If you are able to make some payments, and you communicate with the lenders, they may be able to work with you as you try to catch up.
Loan Modification
When you are in trouble with your payments, and you are trying to catch up, your lender might be willing to make modifications to your loan on a permanent or temporary basis. They might be able to lower your interest rate, move you from a variable to a fixed rate for a few months, or have other solutions that can help you make your payments more easily.
Selling the Home
If things are looking desperate and nothing else is working, you do have another option. You could always choose to sell your home. If you are going to sell, make sure that you work with someone who can help you understand the process and how it can help you to avoid foreclosure and the problems that come with it.
You may be thinking of calling a Realtor first, but they may not be your best choice. Realtors can help you sell your house for a good price, but they cannot guarantee that your house will sell in the timeframe you need. Selling to a cash house buyer or investor may be the better choice in this situation.
We Buy Houses
If you have a house that you need to sell quickly, give us a call or fill out the form. We can discuss your unique situation and explain how we can buy your house, even if the foreclosure process has already started. Oftentimes, we can close in as little as a few days.