Lenders, after all, deal in dollars,
not real estate. With foreclosures increasing every day, the last thing most lenders want is another house to dispose of. Therefore, you have to
make yourself stand out from those folks who want to avoid foreclosure. Remember, lenders are not charitable institutions. By not keeping in touch
with them, they might view the totality of circumstances, including your long term prospects, the amount of the loan versus the equity, your payment
history, etc, in a way that might accelerate the foreclosure process.
Rule Number 2. THROW AWAY YOUR CALENDAR: Dates to Disregard.
The most important date to forget when it comes to being able to avoid foreclosure is the 16th day after the mortgage payment is due. Even though the payment
statement says you have until the 16th to avoid late fees, what it really means is that you have until the 16th to avoid the onset of
the foreclosure process. This is how it really works:
Your payment is due on the 1st.
If you miss it, then between the 16th and the 30th the lender will levy late fees and attempt to contact you. It is easy to see that if you want to avoid foreclosure,
contacting the lender before they contact you can be important. That's why Rule Number 2, Throwing Away Your Calendar is so important.
Sometime between the 45th and 60th day after the payment is missed (and possibly 2 payments) a notice in the form of a letter and possibly email goes out to the borrower. This notice tells the borrower about the breach of the mortgage agreement and gives a period of time, generally 30 days for the borrower to avoid foreclosure by paying the delinquent amount, including late fees, etc.
Between the 90th and 120th day, the loan is referred to the foreclosure department and foreclosure proceedings are started. You can still avoid foreclosure at
this point or at least salvage some money, by going back to the first step above: contact your lender. Remembering and following Rule Number 1,
is more important than ever. Keeping your head in the sand now, will help insure that your lender thinks of you as just another deadbeat; another of
those folks who cannot avoid foreclosure.
At this point, the state law of where your house is located becomes important. The timing of the foreclosure, the redemption period, if any, the notice provisions and other dates and procedures are governed by state law and can vary from 150 days
after missing the 1st payment to 415 days or even longer. This brings us to:
Rule Number 3. NEVER CONSULT AN ATTORNEY
If you are caught in a foreclosure situation, please do not check with an attorney or other legal counsel such as local legal aid
to determine what, if any, the period of time you may have to avoid foreclosure sale. Doing so might actually help you avoid
foreclosure.
Please skip ahead to Rule Number 4. DO NOT GO FSBO TO AVOID FORECLOSURE to make sure you lose your home.
HOWEVER, if you want some options that people have used successfully
to avoid foreclosure in this time of increasing uncertainty in the mortgage and loan markets, click here.
Repayment Plan: Some lenders will agree to spread out repayment of
the missed payments over some period of time to enable you to avoid foreclosure if you are experiencing or have experienced a temporary setback, such as a medical emergency other unforeseen financial problem.
Loan Modification: Mortgage lenders have the ability to adjust the terms of your loan in order to help you avoid foreclosure. Common adjustments are lengthening the amortization schedule, in other words, lowering
your payments by extending the length of your mortgage. Some lenders may also allow you to roll the delinquent payments into the loan
amount and reamortize the new total to avoid foreclosure. Obviously, the interest rate may also be changed.
Short Sale: This method of trying to avoid foreclosure depends on a lender willing to forgive the remainder of the debt by allowing you to sell the house for less than the debt and forgiving the balance.
Short Refinance: This is a combination of some of the debt being forgiven and the rest refinanced into a new loan.
Using Bankruptcy to Avoid Foreclosure: Filing for bankruptcy can be used to stop a foreclosure, but beware: this is at the heart of many foreclosure scams.
At best using this will have lasting and negative consequences. Also, even though bankruptcy is governed by federal law, some aspects of
the law of the state you and your house are in apply. The most important of these is the homestead exemption. If, for example, the state
in question is Illinois, the homestead exemption is only $7,500 of equity. Florida, on the other end of the spectrum, may have as much as a 100% exemption.
Rule Number 4. DO NOT GO FSBO TO AVOID FORECLOSURE. You might just save your home.
We wrote the book, FSBOComplete™ in order to give sellers the confidence to
sell their houses by themselves.
There are 3 additional reasons why selling your home by yourself is especially helpful when you are trying to avoid foreclosure:
1. Economists have shown that despite what the National Association of Realtors has said, FSBO'S get more money for their homes. Why? Because FSBO'S are more motivated than realtors to get that last $1,000 or $2,000 or even more. Realtors want the deal done and a certain X amount rather than hold out for that extra;
2. While real estate agents may have more experience selling houses than you do, they have no more experience selling your house than you do; and
3. Foreclosure is a scary place to be and it also undermines a person's confidence no matter how the
threat of foreclosure came a bout. Wouldn't it be just great to be able to regain the control and
confidence you deserve by taking the bull by the horns and avoiding foreclosure by selling your
house by yourself.
Is It Easy To Sell Your House Alone? The numbers say no. The National (con't below)
Association of Realtor's did a survey a few years ago. The results suggest that most people who try to sell their homes alone, end up
contacting a realtor and listing with them. Of course, this survey was not conducted by the National Association of For Sale By Owner's,
but of Realtors. In any case, we can surmise that the majority of people who try to sell their house alone,
fail. Does that mean you will fail? No! By looking for and then buying this book, you have already taken your first step to success!
We have analyzed everything you need to know in order to sell your house alone and broken it
down into our proven 8 Steps to Success System™. Also, we know you already have the
following keys to success:
You have access to a computer;
You have the computer skills necessary in order to achieve success; and most importantly
You are motivated to succeed!
We wrote the book, FSBOComplete™ in order to give sellers the confidence to
sell their houses by themselves.
Even if you have tried to sell a house by yourself and failed, it may very well have been you were using techniques that weren't
designed for you. We know from having done it ourselves, from our own experience that you have what it takes to be successful.
You may not recognize it now, but by that time you work your way through our program, you will be successful!
Before leaving FSBOComplete, why not take a minute and download our FREE Get Started Guide.
This will give you a head start on being a for sale by owner seller and starting on the road to avoid foreclosure.
