Are You Facing

Foreclosure?

 

 

Lost income, unexpected medical, loans that re-set at higher interest rates, rolled back home values and other significant items are the reasons behind people loosing their homes through foreclosure.  It is a highly emotional time in their lives and a difficult season to make important decisions.  The best advise? Get a plan together.

 

  • If you are not paying your mortgage payment, are you saving the money?  You need to accumulate cash if at all possible. 
  • What happened to the budget?  Can the bleeding of funds be stopped?  Paying your house payment should be #1 priority.
  • Take inventory. What are your cash resources?
  • What items can you totally cut out of your monthly spending?
  • What do you own that you can liquidate/sell to generate cash?
  • How much equity do you really have in your property?  Get a current comparative market analysis from a local Realtor and go to www.zillow.com to check out the value assigned by computer.
  • How much money will you need to move?  Moving truck, first month's rent and deposit, gas, utility deposits, packing materials, etc.
  • If you have equity and if you can sell your house, will you be able to buy another, less expensive house?  Talk to your real estate loan person and find out your current credit score and what it would take to buy a different house.
  • If you are going to become a tenant, where do you want to live? Check out your options!  Find out how many houses are for rent and at what prices, compare to townhomes or condos or apartments.
  • Do you have pets?  If you are going to rent, keeping them will mean fewer choices (most landlords do not want pets) and higher deposits (pet deposit covers the damage your pet does to house/lawn/plants)
  • Can a relative keep the pets?
  • Get out your loan papers on your house.  Do you have escrowed funds for taxes and insurance?  Are they current? Start a journal. Write down your loan #, your lender's phone # and address.  CALL your lender and talk to them. As them if they can help.  Will they re-amortize your loan?  Will they take partial payments?  If yes, for how long?
  • Do you have homeowner's association dues?  Are they current? If no, call them.
  • Start sorting and packing.  Do you need to rent a storage unit?  All this takes TIME. Get rid of anything you have not used in the last six months. Gather boxes, packing materials. SET A GOAL to pack 4 boxes a week.  Go through household items, clothing, toys.  Give away, pare down, de-clutter.  Call Salvation Army or Goodwill Industries (or your other favorite charity)  to come and pick up large items.
  • Have a garage sale or advertise your stuff on EBay or Craig's List (internet garage sales)
  • Learn about "short sales" and "foreclosure" laws.  Get educated...start online and read about the procedures and processes.
  • If you have equity, call your REALTOR to list the house and be on the low side of value to move it quickly.
  • Keep life in a Godly perspective.  Loosing a home is traumatic and difficult but it's a structure, not a life.  Your credit will be severely affected but if you can get back on track, within 5 years you will be able to       re-structure your credit rating. Who knows?  This is such a wide spread problem, laws may change and it may take less than 5 years!

 RESOURCES:

http://www.foreclosurehelp.nv.gov/

 

If you are unable to make your mortgage payment, call your lender immediately!

Do not wait. Time is of the essence.

Have unexpected medical expenses drained your bank account?

Good resource for medical issues is the Consumer Healthcare Assistance Office.

They can be reached at 888-333-1597.