Are you an underwater investor or homeowner? Are you thinking of walking away from your property? If you are, don’t feel bad. They are estimating that 10 million people will be in some sort of financial distress in the next few years. There are plenty of options to try before you just give up and walk away…
Have you tried these:
Selling the property yourself
Selling the property using a real estate agent
A forbearance agreement
A loan modification
Tried to do your own short sale
Had an investor try a short sale for you
And still nothing has worked? Is your stress building again, do you feel hopeless, it is looking like there is no help in sight - we have great news - there are still a few options left to try before losing your property to the bank.
Let me cover some final options. If none of these work, then foreclosure may be eminent. Even with all your hard work, sometimes nothing can be done. Often you run into logistical problems:
The bank has too many foreclosures to process.
The bank ran up a large bill with the attorney and wants to cut loses.
The bank may have its hands tied until the next quarter.
The stocks are dropping for the bank.
The bank has decided to take the property and sell it retail.
Many times the banks just have too many foreclosures to process before the sheriff’s sale.
There are not enough loss mitigation reps to process all the short sales.
You live in a state where the foreclosure process is very short – Georgia, Texas, Virginia and a few others. Check with your local REIA group as foreclosure time-frames can change.
Your loss mitigation rep quit before you could get the deal approved.
The bank sold the note to another bank who does not do short sales.
Sadly, the options that are left are not the easiest to deal with emotionally.
Deeding the house back to the bank can hurt your credit, living with negative cash flow may not be possible, renting your house out to someone else can be humiliating ….
we started with what we consider to be the best options first - selling the house, doing a forbearance agreement, a loan modification or a short sale. These options give you a cleaner break or a fresher start. The options that are left leave you no choice but to go in the hole financially each month, deal with a tenant, or lose the house in foreclosure.
Remember what we keep saying – it is okay to walk away. There is no shame in leaving a house behind, renting for a while, and then starting over when the time is right. Henry Ford went bankrupt five times. He completely failed and closed companies, lost employees, was ridiculed by others, yet kept going. What gave him the determination to keep going? We don’t know, but something inside drove him to success. What drives you to succeed?
Bill and I wanted a good life for ourselves and our kids and were willing to bust butt to make it happen. Every failure you have puts you one-step closer to a success. The key is to keep trying. Never give up, never let anyone tell you that you are not worth it, never sweat the small stuff. In the end, it is all small stuff.
A while back we read about a woman who committed suicide over her pending foreclosure. The article said that her foreclosure sale was scheduled for 5:30 that day. At 2:30 she faxed a suicide note to the bank stating that she would be dead by the time the auction was held at 5:30. The bank sent the police to the house and they found the woman dead of a gunshot wound to the head. We were so sad to read that.
Folks – this is a piece of property, it is an object, it does not have feelings, it does not love you back, and it can be replaced. If you were told today that you had cancer, the house would be the least of your worries. Please don’t lose another minutes sleep over this situation. You will recover and you will be better than you were before. We are living proof.
Let’s look at the final options you have left. Again, whether an investor or a homeowner, these options will work for you:
Do a deed in lieu of foreclosure
Ride out the storm
Live with negative cash flow
Rent the house
Or simply walk away and start over
For more information on real estate investing, riding out the storm, the many options you have, or what to do if you are an underwater homeowner or investor – pick up my books.
Short Sale Pre-Foreclosure Investing – How to Buy “No Equity” Properties Directly from the Bank at Huge Discounts
How To Sell A House When It’s Worth Less Than the Mortgage – Options for Underwater Homeowners and Investors
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.look4articles.com/images/rss.jpg "XML Feed For RSS")