A loan modification is when a lender changes one or more terms of the mortgage. The goal is to lower your payment to one you can afford. The lender may lower your interest rate, change the rate from adjustable to fixed, increase the number of years to pay off the mortgage, and may actually decrease [...]
A short sale is when the lender allows a homeowner to sell a property for less than the mortgage payoff. For example if your property is worth $120,000.00, and the amount of the mortgage is $200,000.00, a bank may agree to let you sell the property for $120,000.00 on a short sale. The bank would [...]
The Deficiency Judgment Once the lender is the high bidder at the foreclosure sale, and owns the property, the lender will list the property for sale. Because the property is upside down, the price it sells for will be less than the amount of the judgment. This creates a loss, or “deficiency” as it is [...]
The foreclosure action will be served on you approximately 90 days after your first missed payment. You have 20 days to file a response. After the response is filed, it takes approximately 45 days before a Summary Judgment Hearing takes place. You then have 35 days until the foreclosure sale. The total time you have [...]
When you buy a house or other property you borrow money from a lender, usually a bank. At the closing, you sign a document called a Mortgage, and another one called a Note (also known as “promissory note”). The Note is a written promise to repay the lender and the Mortgage is an agreement that [...]
I consult with a lot of people lately who are faced with the prospect of losing their homes in foreclosure. Many of them have become ‘upside down’ on their mortgages; the balance of their mortgage is greater than the value of the property. People whose mortgages are upside down have no good options. They have [...]