With millions and millions of homes across the country going into foreclosure, it’s crucial for both buyers and mortgage holders to understand the process.
So what is a pre foreclosure in Fort Wayne anyway?
Many homeowners across America and Fort Wayne are facing complications making their monthly mortgage payments.
When a homeowner misses 3-6 months of mortgage payments, the lending institution will issue a warning, notifying the homeowner to pay or lose their home. This period is known as “pre-foreclosure.”
Banks and mortgage lenders normally give three months for the homeowner to become regular. Of course this number can vary by bank and situation sometimes.
If a homeowner fails to make the necessary payments, the bank will foreclose on the home, assuming ownership, and evict the homeowner. Thankfully, at this stage of the foreclosure process, a mortgage holder has the opportunity to take advantage of several options to avoid losing their home.
Pre-foreclosure Options for Borrowers
If you’re behind on mortgage payments, you’re expected to receive a “notice of default” from your mortgage lender.
This document will state that you have not made mortgage payments for the last 90-180 days. It’s important not to panic.
You have options that can delay or even prevent losing your home:
- If your mortgage is “above water,” (meaning you have equity in your house) you may be able to refinance your mortgage, receiving lower monthly payments. Check with your local Fort Wayne mortgage broker, or contact us and we can connect you with a reasonable one.
- You may be able to rapidly sell your home to a real estate investor that’s reputable in Fort Wayne like us at Sky Line Properties LLC, using the cash acquired to pay the months of back-payments owed (or we *may* be able to implement something with the lender that relieves all or part of your back payments.We can buy your Fort Wayne IN area home speedily, often in just a week or two, will pay in cash, and takes the stress out of trying to find a buyer.
- You can contact the bank and ask them to permit a short sale. In a short sale, you’ll sell your home for less than it’s worth, and the bank will take the loss as a tax write-off. In some short sales you may still be enforced to pay the difference to the bank if the house does not sell for what is owed on the loan.
- You may be able to declare bankruptcy, which can buy you time to pay your debt. Bankruptcy will hover on your credit report for years, and can cause significant damage.
Lenders are very much aware of the widespread financial troubles across the country and they’re willing to operate with borrowers a regularly.
If you’re honest and communicate with your lender, you’ll often find that there are choices that will allow you to remain in your home, or at least save your credit rating.
A foreclosure can more likely than not negatively affect your credit score by 200-400 points and can keep you from obtaining a loan of any sort for 5-7 years, so be very dutiful if you’ve received a Notice of Default from your lender.
But if you’re not able to find a viable solution with your lender working right there, with them, connect with us. We may be able to help.
Ways We Can Help If You’re In Pre-Foreclosure
- We can potentially help with a short sale – Submit your info on this website so we can see your situation to see if we can help.
- We can buy your Fort Wayne area house – We buy houses in Fort Wayne and would love to make you an all-cash offer on your house too. Just fill out the form here to get started >>
- You can ask us questions and we can provide you FREE guidance and resources so you can make a well educated decision. This costs you nothing, there’s absolutely no pressure, no obligation, just free help without a catch.
If you’re in the pre-foreclosure stage… you’ve still got time to make this right.
Just talk with your bank to see if they’re willing to work with you, or contact us if you’d like to see what we can buy your house for or to tap into our free foreclosure foreclosure resources.