We Buy Houses!

What do I do if I’m forced into selling my home but I want to avoid foreclosure? Can foreclosure even be avoided when experiencing financial troubles? Surprisingly, the answer is usually, “Yes you can avoid the legal process which strips you of your home!” Whether the end result is that you can or should stay in the home is another question. After attempting the steps to avoid foreclosure, you will be in a better position to make that call.

What are the steps to prevent foreclosure?

Seek help early – Avoiding the problem will not make it go away. The earlier you seek help, the more options you have.

Face the facts – Open your mail and respond to correspondence from your lender. If you are in a home that you can no longer afford, realistically assess whether you need to move on.

Muster your resources – Sell what don’t need that has value–a car, jewelry, household goods, etc. Try to find a second job, prioritize your spending, and see whether your family or friends will lend you money. This may seem obvious, but your effort will show your good faith to the lender.

Contact your lender – If you alert your lender of a problem, they might have programs to help, including “forbearance” (that gives you time to make up the payment, forgiveness of payment, a repayment plan, or loan notification).

Consider outside help – Housing counselors approved by HUD can review your situation at no cost, help you consider your options, and even negotiate with your lender. They can direct you to federal, state, or local programs. You can get started by calling the Homeowner’s HOPE™ Hotline at 888-995-HOPE and tell them “I need help selling my home and avoiding foreclosure!”

Look for programs that can help. Making Home Affordable, the main federal attempt to prevent foreclosure, may be the first program that comes to mind to help you obtain a loan modification if you meet the criteria. Since its inception in 2009, the program has expanded. It can address second mortgages, underwater situations, and more. Within D.C , the Homesavers Program can help unemployed homeowners. Maryland has its Hope Initiative, while Virginia has an Emergency Homeowners Loan Program, among other services.

Avoid scammers – Housing counseling to avoid foreclosure is free, but many private companies have sprung up claiming they can help you. Often these companies request high upfront fees, may take the title to your home, and don’t do as they promise. Always work through a certified housing counselor.

Need or want to move on? Here are your alternatives:

Selling my home – If your home is in good condition, and your Realtor® feels that it would command a good price in view of comparative sales figures in the neighborhood, you might consider trying a conventional sale. This might net you enough money to pay back any past debt to your lender or at least relieve you of a payment that is too high.

Consider a short sale – If your home is worth less than you owe, a short sale might be the way to go if your lender will negotiate. This will impact your credit, but not as much as a foreclosure. The process also offers you more control over your situation and saves your lender the much-higher costs of foreclosure.

Consider a deed in lieu – You can also deed the home back to the lender in return for cancellation of the mortgage. The lender will cancel the foreclosure and might even let you stay in the home until you find a place to move.

Sell my home to a third party – Companies that buy houses are equipped to move quickly to prevent your home from slipping into foreclosure.

With the help of your counselor, you may realize that you are too far behind on your payments, the home needs too much work, the payments are too high, or your home has lost too much value. Your housing counselor can help you make the transition, but you will have to give up your home. This may be hard, but will stop the foreclosure and you will then be able to move on to the next stage of your life.

If you have worked with a housing counselor, what was your experience?
__________________________________________________________________________

I want to sell my house fast. I can call EHB today at 1-888-835-4758 or tell us “I need help selling my home!” in hours from Express Homebuyers.

If you are in trouble with your mortgage payment, you may be applauding recent government programs to help you negotiate a loan modification.  You may have already been helped through Making Home Affordable or through a similar program at your bank.  Now with recent program changes that encourage principle reduction and offer help making payments when you are unemployed, you may feel assured that you will make it through a tough time with your home intact.

This is great news, but there is a down side.  In the process of saving your home, you may lower your credit score. Anytime you are delinquent, have your payment adjusted or loan terms adjusted, you take a credit score hit.

Some homeowners who opted into a trial modification under Making Home Affordable are finding this out the hard way.  They make a few payments at the lower amount, only to find out their score has dropped.  Being in the trial program is no assurance they will even be accepted for permanent modification, yet they are penalized about 100 points just for asking for help.

The credit industry is, of course, quick to defend this practice of penalizing those who even ask for a change in loan terms.  The government realizes this is a side effect.  Consumer advocates deplore the practice on the grounds that people should not be zinged for trying to do the right thing.  All of these parties encourage people in trouble to ask for help before their homes go into foreclosure, but the credit score drop is a disincentive to many.

However, for most who seek help, this is an irrelevant side effect, especially if they are already behind on payments and close to losing their home. It’s like telling people on the sinking Titanic that they will be billed more if they chose a red lifeboat instead of a blue one.  If you’re drowning, you might prefer the blue one, however, if the red one is the only one in sight, paying more for red seems pretty reasonable.

Remedies such as loan modification, bankruptcy, and even short sale or foreclosure are last resort remedies that you might choose when you have no other options.  In a perfect world, you would be able to pay your bills without needing help.  In the real world, if you need help, your best option is to use the help accessible to you.  The time to ask is - as soon as you need it.  There may be a credit score impact with any remedy, but the impact is less the earlier you ask.

Express Homebuyers will buy your home for cash.  Call us today at 1-877-804-5252 or check out our helpful website.  We will make you an offer on your first call, provide free reports to help you make your selling decision, and even offer options to chat with one of our helpful consultants.

The obvious: Foreclosures have affected whole neighborhoods in areas that have been hit hardest by the housing bust. There are homes that have been left empty, abandoned and decaying beyond repair.

The not-so-obvious: We are seeing more deferred maintenance in light of the recession.

Many homeowners these days are putting off doing regular up-keep and repair to their homes. Maybe they can’t afford to replace the roof, or they’re underwater on the mortgage and don’t want to put money into seal coating their driveway when they might not be able to afford the home anymore. They might buy a $5 furnace filter but skip the annual service on the furnace.Whatever the reason, must-do repairs aren’t being done, to the detriment of owners, future owners, and neighbors alike.

We’re seeing the evidence at home improvement stores. Home Depot’s third-quarter 2009 net sales were down 8 percent from the previous year, and Lowes reported a 29.5 percent drop in net earnings in the same time period.  This is interesting as some people who might ordinarily sell their homes are renovating instead. Apparently, this remodeling trend is not enough to offset the effects of the recession.

The homeowner hopes to get by without incident. Sometimes this works out. Other times, something like a simple leak from a pipe in the wall can go from an inexpensive fix the homeowner couldn’t afford to a disaster he really can’t manage.  This situation is adding to the number of distressed properties on the market. Deferring maintenance will only make a home harder to sell and negatively impact its value.

Condo and apartment buildings are affected by recession-inspired deferred maintenance too. When owners don’t pay their condo or homeowner association fees, building maintenance doesn’t happen which brings down the prices of all units in the building. When renters don’t pay their rent in a timely manner, owners may not have the cash flow to do either preventive maintenance or make improvements.

Washington says the recession is over but homeowners with no jobs or shaky finances aren’t buying it. They certainly aren’t buying the goods and services necessary to keep their homes in tip-top shape.  This may be the reality of the current economy, but the resulting deferred maintenance will impact housing prices and neighborhood conditions.

If you need a break from the pressures of home ownership, Express Homebuyers can help you.

We will buy your home as-is and on-time – maybe even before another payment is due.  Contact us today at 877-804-5252 or visit our website to get the process started.  We can wrap up your deal in a couple weeks and even offer you a $2,500 cash advance to help you plan your move.