Facing foreclosure is a very stressful situation that unfortunately happens quite often around us. One day you have your home and you enjoy living there. Saddly, bad things happen sometimes and people start having difficulties to make their ends meet, the last thing on their mind can be afford the mortgage payments.
For local TX families facing foreclosure, the level of stress you go through can become almost unbearable. And since the foreclosure process can take months or years it can take a heavy toll on us and our families.
Fortunately, you have options available to you in TX. There are some strategies that may help for foreclosure in McAllen; these are legal foreclosure avoidance strategies that you can put in place to help you resolve your foreclosure issues so you can get on with your daily life.
In this blog post, you can learn about 3 strategies that you can try to avoid foreclosure (there are other ways to avoid foreclosure as well). The goal is to help you legally and ethically avoid foreclosure and reduce the frustration that you’re facing, while minimizing any long-term financial commitment or burden to you and your loved ones. Not all of these strategies will apply to your unique situtation but you’ll probably be able to find at least one that works for you.
Strategy #1: Work out a deal with your lender
This strategy basically consist in contacting your mortgage lender. You’ll need contact the mortgage provider and explain your reasons why you don’t think you are able to pay your current mortgage obligation but you’d like to figure out something so you can stay in your house and continue to make your payments.
Contrary to what people may think, lenders usually don’t want to foreclose! Their business is to lend money. Since they’d rather keep their clients who pay their mortgages, lenders are frequently willing to work out a deal with homeowners. An example will be a loan modification agreement that might include a catch-up strategy where your outstanding mortgage payments are spread out so you can catch-up and pay them off, or it may include new terms for your loan.
Strategy #2. Bankruptcy
Filing for bankruptcy may seem like an extreme measure but it is one of the “tools” people can use. When you file for bankruptcy, you indicate to all of your creditors that you are no longer able to pay the bills. Filing for bankruptcy will put a stop to the foreclosure process because all creditors must stop the collection process.
Filing for bankruptcy, though, is an extreme measure: it may require you to sell off some of your assets in order to pay off your creditors. And, a bankruptcy will remain on your credit score record for years to come, which could impact everything from getting a loan to purchasing a car… even getting a job in the future. So this should not be your first option!
Strategy #3. Short sale help for a foreclosure in McAllen
In this strategy you sell your home and put the proceeds of the sale toward the amount owing on your mortgage loan. A short sale is a preferred method for people facing foreclosure because it is proactive, fast, and very effective.
- It’s proactive, which means that you take matters into your own hands (that’s a major stress eliminator because so much of the stress of foreclosure comes from the process being completely out of your control).
- It’s fast — in some cases, you can sell your home in as little as 10 days! That’s also because it’s local: You can get help for foreclosure in McAllen since organizations like Dolfin RGV help people going through short sales.
- It’s very effective because a short sale can completely wipe out (or almost wipe out) the amount you own on your mortgage. If there is any amount left over that is not covered by the sale of the property, you’ll be responsible for it (although you can sometimes work out a deal with your lender).
With a short sale, you still end up with the reality of having to leave your home but there is a bright side: the impact to your credit score is much less (compared to a bankruptcy or a foreclosure) so this is a smart long-term plan to give yourself some options for the future and have a fresh start.