With millions of homes across the country going into foreclosure, it’s important for both buyers and mortgage holders to understand the process.
So what is a pre-foreclosure in Southwest anyway?
Many homeowners across America and Southwest are facing difficulties meeting their monthly bills including their mortgage payment on their homes.
When a homeowner misses 3-6 months of mortgage payments, the lending institution will send out a warning, notifying the homeowner to catch up on their payments or risk losing their home. This period is known as “pre-foreclosure.”
Most banks and mortgage lenders typically provide three months for the homeowner to become current on their mortgage. Of course this number can vary by bank and situation sometimes.
If a homeowner fails to get caught up and make the delinquent payments, the bank will begin the foreclosure process on the home. What does this mean? It basically means the the bank assumes ownership, and evicts the homeowner from the house. Thankfully, during this stage of the foreclosure process, a home owner has the opportunity to take advantage of several options to prevent losing their home.
Pre-foreclosure Options for Borrowers
If you are currently behind on your monthly mortgage payments, you’re likely to receive a “notice of default” from your mortgage lender. This is the time to start taking action and not just ignore the notice.
This document will usually state that you have not made mortgage payments for the last 90-180 days. It’s important not to panic.
You have options that can delay or even prevent losing your home:
- If your mortgage is “above water,” (meaning your home is worth more than you currently owe) you may be able to refinance your mortgage (either with your current lender or a new one), this could result in you receiving lower monthly payments. If you are unsure how to accomplish this, with several local Southwest mortgage brokers… or contact us and we can connect you with several reputable ones who may be able to assist you.
- You may be able to sell your home to a real estate investor that’s reputable in Southwest like us at We Buy Homes in SWFL, after closing you can use the cash acquired to pay the months of back-payments owed (or we *may* be able to work out something with the lender that relieves all or part of your back payments and obligations to the lender.We can buy your Southwest FL area home quickly, often in just a week or two, will pay in cash, all closing cost and take the stress out of trying to find a buyer or waiting while your home is shown by a real estate agent.
- You can contact your lender and ask them they would be willing to permit a short sale. A short sale is where you sell your home for less than it’s actually worth, and the bank will take the loss as a tax write-off. However be aware that in some short sales you may still be required to pay the difference to the bank if the house doesn’t sell for what is currently owed to the lender.
- You may be able to declare bankruptcy, this option can buy you time to pay off your debt. But just be aware that a bankruptcy will remain on your credit report for years, and can cause significant damage and bar you from being able to buy things on credit.
Lenders are very much aware of the current widespread financial troubles across the country and many are willing to work with borrowers a lot of the time. Keep in mind banks aren’t in the business of owning real estate! They have no desire to have to foreclose on your home they’d much rather work out an agreeable deal.
If you’re honest and communicate with your lender before it becomes a major problem, you’ll often find that there are options that will allow you to remain in your home, or at least salvage your credit rating.
A foreclosure can often negatively affect your credit score by 200-400 points and can prevent you from obtaining a loan of any sort for 5-7 years, so be very mindful of this f you’ve received a Notice of Default from your lender and act fast. Don’t just ignore it.
But if you’re not able to find an agreeable solution with your lender working directly with them… connect with us. We may be able to help.
Ways We Can Help If You’re In Pre-Foreclosure
- We can potentially help with a short sale – Submit your info on this website so we can evaluate your home and your situation to see if we can help.
- We can buy your Southwest area house – We buy houses in Southwest and would love to make you an all-cash offer on your house too. Just fill out the form here to get started >>
- You can ask us questions and we can provide you FREE guidance and resources so you can make a well educated decision as to what option(s) will work best for you and your family. There is no cost to you at all, there’s absolutely no pressure, no obligation… just free guidance without a catch.
If you’re in the pre-foreclosure stage… you’ve still got some ?time to fix this situation.
Just connect with your bank to see if they’re willing to work with you… or contact us if you’d like to see what we can buy your house for or to tap into our free foreclosure foreclosure resources.