Unemployment, divorce, job transfer, death, financial crisis is finding many Raleigh homeowner’s struggling to make their mortgage payments. Mortgage payments are due by the first day of each calendar month. They are late on the 15th day of the month. After 15 days a late payment reminder letter arrives, after 30 days it is mortgage default and the ugly phone calls begin from the collection department. The stress of not knowing how to make ends meet and combined with the threatening calls received daily leaves many owners of Raleigh homes wanting to lock the door, cancel their phone and run away to what they hope will be a quick fix; bankruptcy or foreclosure.
Everyday I talk to people who are in despair. The best answer is to sell their home, pay off the debt, and move to a smaller more affordable home. However, many Raleigh homes have not appreciated enough to satisfy the cost of selling and the mortgages owed. If you find yourself in this situation a short sale is your best solution. Mortgage lenders do not want to own real estate. They are eager to work with you on a short sale. So eager that I have many lenders calling me directly to tell me my seller has missed payments and they are willing to do a short sale. They request from me that I get the home owner to submit a pre-foreclosure short sale package. Why, because they do not want to foreclose and own real estate. They want to help find a win win solution.
For most home owners it very confusing and hard to believe that their mortgage company wants to help them when they are receiving threatening phone calls from the collection department. Those phone calls feel like they are only out for blood. And, in some ways they are, at least that one department. Every mortgage company has different departments with their own agenda. The Origination Department makes loans. They are the friendly sales force for the mortgage company who want to give you money. They are paid when you borrow. The collection department has only one job and that is to collect. Some would say; “collect by harassment.” When the Collection Department pressures you into paying they receive a bonus. Loss Mitigation or Home Retention is another department at your mortgage company. They want to work with you to stop a foreclosure and encourage short sales and other solutions to avoid foreclosure. To learn more about the solutions to stop foreclosure visit LindaCraft.com
5 Things You Need to Know to Save Your Credit
and Avoid Foreclosure:
- When you call your mortgage company, make sure you get to the right department.
- There are thousands of short sale request daily so it takes a lot of time to get through. Be patient.
- The work load in Loss Mitigation is causing employee turn over to be very high. If you do not get the answer you want when you call in the first time, call back and talk to someone else. The employee turn over in the pre-foreclosure departments is so high that you may get a new employee that doesn’t know what they are doing. If you get someone new you may be told things that will make you want to run away again. You can always ask to speak to a Supervisor’s.
- Whatever you do, don’t let your Raleigh home go into foreclosure. There are other solutions. Foreclosure equals 10 years of horrible credit and every foreclosure reduces surrounding home values approximately 9%.
- A bankruptcy may seem like a quick fix to stop the harassing phone calls but, in the end you will have a bankruptcy and a home foreclosure on your credit report. Do a short sale first and a bankruptcy afterwards only if you still need to.
If you have any questions I can be reached at (919) 235-0007.
Linda