|
The purpose of this email is to give you guidance and assistance should you be having difficulty in making your mortgage payments now or in the future.
As you REALTOR® Consultant for Life, I have listed below some basic instructions to help you communicate with your mortgage company. The sooner you call your mortgage company, the more options that will be available to you.
Before calling your mortgage company, familiarize yourself with these various options.
Repayment Plan Forbearance
Loan Modification Pre-Foreclosure
Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure Foreclosure
Repayment Plan - Past due amounts are divided and added onto the regular monthly payments for an extended amount of time to bring the loan current. Plans may be from 6 to 24 months in duration.
Forbearance - A period of suspended or reduced payments that prevents delinquent reporting of the loan to the credit bureaus, and prevents late charges and fees accumulation, and referral to a Foreclosure attorney, as long as the contract is being honored by the homeowner.
Loan Modification - Loan is brought to a current status by adjusting one or more of three terms of the mortgage i.e. reducing the interest rate, extending the term of the loan. Example: Increasing principal balance by adding the past due amount (interest, taxes and insurance) to the existing principal balance or extending the term of the mortgage to 30 - 40 amortization.
Pre-Foreclosure Sale - An approved sale of the property to an unrelated third-party for less than is owed on the mortgage preventing a Foreclosure on the borrower's credit report
Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure - This procedure allows the homeowner to transfer your property voluntarily to their lender or Mortgage Company and the debt or deficiency is often forgiven.
Foreclosure - Georgia Foreclosure Law Pre-foreclosure Process - approximately 45 day procedure.
· Notice of Default to Homeowner giving 15 days to cure the default
· Publish Foreclosure Sale 4 consecutive weeks in local newspaper
· Sale is conducted between 10:00am and 4:00pm first Tuesday of each month.
Negotiating With the Mortgage Company
· Contact your mortgage company regarding hardship with supporting documentation
· Prepare a budget
· Have bank statements & pay stubs ready
· Suggest a remedy
· Communicate with the mortgage company regularly
I appreciate the opportunity to be of service. Give me a call. I will be delighted to assist further.
REALTOR® Consultant for Life,
Five Things A Homeowner Should Never Do If They
Fall Behind On Their Mortgage
1. Absolutely do not ever deed your property to a third party without absolute confirmation your loan has been paid off.
If the homeowner deeds their property to a third party, that party then controls the property. The new owner can rent the property (and keep the rent), attempt to sell the property to make a profit, move into the property or use the property in other ways.
What the new owner might not do is make your mortgage payments.
Just because the homeowner no longer own the property does not mean they are no longer responsible for the mortgage loan obligations. The lender made the loan to them. And until it is paid off they will be primarily responsible for the mortgage obligation.
If the homeowner gives up control of the property and the new owner does not pay on the loan, the damage to their credit could be catastrophic.
2. Do not sell the home at a huge discount. Unless the actual foreclosure sale is less than 45 days away, the homeowner has time to explore options. Advise them to take a day or two and make a few phone calls. As a general rule, if someone is pushing you hard to get you to sell your property to them, it's probably because the deal they are proposing is very favorable - to them.
If the homeowner has equity in their home, it belongs to them. They should be encouraged to talk with a Realtor to see if they can get their equity back to them.
3. Do not authorize a prospective buyer to deal directly with the Mortgage Company.
The buyer has one goal and one goal only, and that is to negotiate a low, probably very low price direct with the lender. The buyer will ask the lender to accept a discounted payoff.
The negotiations could go on over an extended period of time, and if the transaction does not work out the buyer may elect not to buy the property. It could leave the homeowner with very little time to resolve the situation and avoid foreclosure. Further, the homeowner has no control over the information that goes to their lender or the accuracy thereof. It is entirely possible that the buyer could handle the negotiation and presentation of information in a way that makes it very difficult for the homeowner to resolve their loan situation later.
Using a Realtor professional is the homeowner's best bet, surly before signing a contract. It costs them nothing - the lender pays the fees. Someone should be looking out for the homeowner.
4. Do Not Pay Upfront Fees to anyone! Homeowners do not need to pay professional service or consulting fees to get the help they need to resolve their delinquent loan.
5. Don't do nothing a surprising number of people just accept what they see as the inevitable, and let foreclosure run its course. Don't let it happen - the damage to the homeowner's credit will follow them for years to come. |