Getting Your House Back After Foreclosure: Ascent Law's Tips

How Can I Get My House Back After Foreclosure

You can’t get your house back if it’s been foreclosed on. It’s too late. So before that happens, call a competent attorney to help you.

The common belief of most house owners facing foreclosure due to the inability to pay the balance of their outstanding debt on time is that they only have a limited time to be able to save their homes. Once the property has been seized by the creditor or the financial institution, they would not be able to get their homes back since this would then be sold for the creditor to liquidate the property and thereby use the money to pay off the existing debt with them. Several people have gone through foreclosure and have been able to get their homes after it has been seized by the creditor or financial institution.

Reclaiming your house after foreclosure is not a walk in the park, but it does provide some hope yet for many house owners who have lost their homes this way. If you’re one of the thousands who have lost their homes as a result of foreclosure, here are just some of the necessary steps you would need to take.

The first thing that you would need to do is to know exactly what your options are and the requirements each option may entail. Recently, Congress has passed legislation to help you with this process. Based on this newly passed legislation, creditors and other financial institutions are now required by law to be more lenient and generous in terms of the options that they can provide to repay your outstanding loan and get your house back. A copy of this legislation has been uploaded over the internet, so it is accessible to anyone who would like to know more about it. Try to negotiate with the lender for a payment to make up for the missed payments. It is imperative that you act quickly to prevent sale of your house because once the foreclosure process begins, you only have 120 to 140 days before your house is sold. Contact the lender to explain your situation and work out a way for you to keep your house. By acting quickly, you have the most time and the best chance of being able to negotiate a solution before the trustee files the notice of default. If foreclosure has already begin, you must contact the lender during the 90 days before the announcement of trustee sale is posted and archived. One of the most common causes of failure to communicate is that many house owners facing foreclosure avoid contacting their lenders because they are upset or embarrassed. Most times they believe their lender will not help them because they feel that the lender prefers to foreclose. In reality, the opposite is exact. Banks and other lenders are primarily in the business of earning money by collecting interest on loans that they have made. Their net income is derived by having a specific process in place to invest and receive payments.

They find it awkward to go through the foreclosure process, and usually are not well equipped to manage foreclosure properties. Because of this, most lenders are willing to work with house owners because foreclosure is much more costly for them in the long work with house owners because foreclosure is much more costly for them in the long run. It forces them to allocate time and resources to an unprofitable activity. Contact your lender immediately. Do not ignore phone calls and letters from your lender. If you do not inform your lender of your situation, they will assume that you do not intend to pay and the legal process will go forward. It is essential to prepare well before you contact your lender. You must gather all documents supporting your income and expenses, as well as loan account information. When you call, ask to speak to someone in the customer service department. Be upfront and honest about your circumstances and be prepared to discuss your financial situation in detail. Your lender needs to know your financial situation to determine whether they can offer a solution.

There are some options that you can discuss with your creditor or financial institution to get your home back. Here are just a few of these options:

Forbearance

This type of arrangement would allow you to begin repaying your outstanding debt after an agreed period. By asking for forbearance from your financial or creditor, you can save up just enough funds which you can then solely allocate to repay your outstanding loan.

Full payment

While this is the most preferred option of creditors and financial institution, it is also the most difficult one to be met by the borrower. However, if you would be able to allocate the necessary funds through the help of friends or family members along with your savings, you would be able to provide a specific date when you can be able to pay the outstanding debt in full and get back your foreclosed home.

Repayment plan

Another option that you can discuss with your creditor or financial institution for you to get your loan back is to make some adjustments on the existing schedule of payments that you have initially agreed to. Providing a hardship letter to your creditor or financial institution can increase the likelihood for your creditor or financial institution to give you a second chance. Some websites can help you draft a letter of hardship which you can present to your creditor or financial institution. A repayment plan may be suited for you if you have recently recovered from a short-term financial problem and are now able to resume making your regular monthly payments but need time to catch up on the unpaid fees.

Borrow money from family or friends

Many people tend to shy away from this as their first option. One would think this option would be the most common place to start. Most eliminate this as a means to gather the funds necessary to bring the loan current simply because they are embarrassed to ask. They do not want family or friends to know that they encountered financial difficulties, so they look elsewhere. Family or friends most times are the one that are likely to be very willing to help out.

Often because of a house owner’s embarrassment, they are not approached until is too late in the foreclosure process and are unable to obtain funds quickly enough to help out. There are situations where the house owner’s family members of friends are not approached because there are already strained relations, or they want to avoid causing any discomfort to their inner circle of friends or family. One of the best things that I can recommend to you is that you should approach the request for assistance in a very business-like manner. By that I mean, you should look to secure their interest just as you would expect if you were the one providing the funds to someone else in trouble. The higher the degree of security that you can offer them in protecting their funds, the higher the probability of successful obtaining the funds necessary to stop the foreclosure.

Borrow from the institutional lenders

A third option is to borrow from institutional lenders to bring up back payment. This can be done by refinancing or only by borrowing against the equity in the house. These lenders will primarily consider investment when determining the approval of a loan. Equity is define as the difference between the fair market value of the house and what is owed on the mortgage. Refinancing is when you take out another loan to pay off the existing mortgage. When refinancing to avoid foreclosure, you might be able to obtain a lower interest rate, a more extended payment period, or a lower monthly payment which would make your mortgage payments more affordable. Usually, lenders that become aware that you have fallen behind in the mortgage payments will shy away from lending to you, so if you expect to borrow from an institution, you must act very quickly before your credit report reflects any late payments. If the lender is aware that you are in default, they will probably refuse to lend, or offer a loan with much higher interest rate to account for the borrower’s inability to meet their financial obligations.

Borrow from private party lenders

Some individuals have funds to invest and are looking for a higher return on their investment that can be obtained by depositing their moneys with saving institutions. These individual are expecting a high rate of return on their cash investments, and understand that the loan that they are funding is a high risk loan or is often referred to as “hard money” loan.
Usually, once the house owner falls behind in their mortgage payments. It is increasingly difficult to borrow money. These private lenders typically consider the equity in the property when making the loan. Because the borrower is behind the payments, the lender cannot look upon the borrower’s ability to repay promptly as the ability to recover it based on the property’s market value and what is owed by the borrower on the property. Almost without exception, these loans carry much higher interest rate (usually beginning around 14%) than the traditional home loans obtainable at banks or other lending institutions. They are, however, the only option left to a house owner in foreclosure. So once you’ve looked at what got you where you’re today, think about what you need to change about your spending habits. You may not have a house payment anymore, but you’ll need to pay for a roof over your head, and you probably still have other bills- credit cards, auto loans etc. you might be able to lower your credit card payments at least temporarily if you talk to your credit card companies and let them know what you’re going through and that you’re serious about getting your bills paid. If you work through a debt counselor, you might be able to get a lower discount rate, but that usually mean having to close your accounts, and you probably want to keep them open to pay on time and improve your credit score. Be wary of debt counselors, though some of them have outrageous charges and you don’t want to work with one that charges you more than $25 a month.

Now it’s time to make a realistic budget and stick to it. Make sure it includes money for a savings account. Saving cash is a good idea for those unexpected costs and shows that you have the self-discipline not to spend every dime you make. How much should you save? It seems many financial advisers suggest around 00, if you still have debt you’re trying to pay off. It is essential to have that money there for emergencies, but paying down your debt is what will help you get ahead the most. Pay all your bills on time. It’s so easy to fall back into old spending habits, so keep that budget on track. You already know how the bills can snowball. If you don’t pay the required amount when you’re supposed to, it will cost you a lot more in the end.