My house has been foreclosed: what now?

Today, foreclosure is a huge issue in regards the real estate market. So, what exactly does foreclosure mean? Suppose, you have taken a loan from your bank, and you secured it against your home. You have been making regular repayments but fail to make a particular repayment on time and this problem keeps recurring over a period. In such a situation, the bank or some other financial institution, from whom you have taken the loan, may forfeit your home legally. Now, they sell your home to make up for their loss and, eventually pays off your other debts, if any. This legal procedure of selling a fixed property is known as foreclosure.

Most lending institutions are willing to work with their customers and will give some basic foreclosure information to them in order to come to an agreeable solution that does not include repossession proceedings on their homes. The property owner needs to ask their lenders exactly how they do their foreclosures if no other solution is available. There may be instances where a lender is willing to take a lower payment for a brief period of time to keep the loan from getting any deeper into default.

If you know that you are not going to be able to save your property from foreclosure, then you need good information to be aware of the many different options you have in order to protect your credit. One of the easiest things to do is request a chance to sell your home before it goes up for foreclosure. Many lenders are willing to allow their customers the opportunity to put their house on the market and sell it for a price that is agreeable to all parties.

What are your alternatives, when faced with bank repossession of your home? Surprisingly there are quite a few. Firstly you can do what is known as a pre foreclosure loan. This is when you find an investor to pay off your present loan and take over the title of your home. This can be a family member or an agent interested in selling your home for monetary gain. If it is an agent they will sometimes pay you a little more and you will make a small profit. In this way you will both win. You will save your home from being repossessed and the agent has made a nice profit. Of course the agent will come out better monetary wise. The lender is happy because he got back his money and will not be stuck with a repossessed house to auction.

Other foreclosure information includes using a reverse mortgage. People over the age of 62, who are looking at a repossession of their property, may have the option of securing a reversed mortgage to pay off the debt. Basically what a reversed mortgage does is take the current equity in the home or property and turn it into usable cash without having to secure another debilitating loan.

Other useful foreclosure information consists of documenting everything. No matter what else happens, make sure you document every conversation with your mortgage company that you have. Repossession procedures usually take three to six months to run their course from start to finish. As long as you remain in contact with your lender and are either; making an attempt to work out an agreeable arrangement to bring your mortgage to date, to pay lesser amounts as agreed. Or attempting to sell your home, you have a legal leg to stand on if for some reason you need to fight the lender in court.

Another alternative to bank repossession is a stop foreclosure loan. This can be done if you are not in a very bad financial circumstance, but need a break with your monthly payments. With this loan you will pay off your first loan and start a new one. If you have been paying your house payments for a little while, this could work in your favor. Because the principle will be smaller it will make the monthly payments less. This will certainly ease your financial situation and allow you to get back in control.
 

Back to San Diego downtown real estate article index