There are not too many circumstances more devastating to families than the prospect of foreclosure. You own your home and you love it — it serves you well. But because of unfortunate circumstances, foreclosure may seem unavoidable. Here we are going to try to provide you with some ways that you may be able to use to help for foreclosure in Detroit.
For local MI families facing foreclosure, the stress can be almost unbearable. Worse yet, the foreclosure process can take months or even years, extending the pain from that foreclosure for longer than anyone wants. This is why getting help for foreclosure is so important.
The good news is that you have options available to you here in MI — perhaps more options than you realize. There are a number of strategies that provide help for foreclosure in Detroit; these are legal foreclosure avoidance strategies you can implement to help you resolve your foreclosure issue so you can get on with your life.
This video describes the options you have available if you want to avoid foreclosure in Detroit MI.
In this blog post below, you’ll read about the 3 ways that you can avoid foreclosure (there are other ways to avoid foreclosure as well) that were described in the video above. We’ll also tell you what happens if you decide not to do anything and if you can get your house in Detroit back after foreclosure and what to do instead.
Check out this infographic that describes what you can do to get help for foreclosure in Metro Detroit.
Hopefully, you find this article provides some help for foreclosure in Detroit. The goal of these strategies is to help you avoid foreclosure and reduce the pain and frustration that you are already facing while reducing any long-term financial commitment or burden. Not all of these strategies will apply in every situation but you will likely be able to find at least one of the three ways that will work for you. And if not, you can always contact us and we can try to help you in a different way.
Strategy #1: Work out a deal with your lender
This first strategy is called a “foreclosure workout”. In a foreclosure workout, you would meet with your lender and tell them that you are not able to pay your current mortgage obligation but you would like to figure something out so you can stay in your house and continue to pay your mortgage.
Contrary to popular belief, lenders really do not want to foreclose! They want happy customers who pay their mortgages, so lenders are often willing to work with homeowners to figure out a deal. This might include a temporary postponement on the mortgage payments, or it 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 might include a restructuring of the outstanding amounts that you owe.
So you can sit down with your lender and figure out a payment plan or maybe extended the duration for your loan so you either have more time to pay your lender or have a reduced monthly payment so that you can actually afford those payments.
Strategy #2. Bankruptcy
Filing for bankruptcy may seem like an extreme measure but it is one of the “tools” in your foreclosure avoidance toolbelt. When you file for bankruptcy, you indicate to all of your creditors that you are no longer able to pay your 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 quite extreme: 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 for many years, which could impact everything from getting a loan to getting a car… even getting a job. So this should not be your first line of defense!
Again I want to reiterate that bankruptcy does stay on your credit report for a long while and may affect your future potential to get mortgages, to get loans, even possibly renting, and other things in your life. That is a pretty extreme option. We always suggest seeking legal counsel for extreme cases like this too.
Strategy #3. Short sale help for a foreclosure in Detroit
A short sale is another strategy — this is where you sell your home for slightly less than what you owe and put the proceeds of the sale toward the amount that you owe on your mortgage loan. A short sale may be a good option if your lender will agree to it.
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 is much less (compared to a bankruptcy or a foreclosure) so this can a smart long-term play to give yourself some options. There are some benefits to it:
- It is 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 is local: You can get help for foreclosure in Detroit since local organizations help people going through short sales.
- It is effective because a short sale can completely wipe out (or almost wipe out) the amount owing 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).
However, short sales are not always the best option either. Some of the disadvantages are:
- Loss of your home: Of course, you will be selling your house so you will no longer be living in your home.
- You may owe the difference between the sale and the balance and the lender may file for a deficiency judgment. To avoid this, you need to make sure that you get in writing that your lender won’t demand the difference before you sell.
- Other liens: If you have liens on the property other than your mortgage, you will have to either pay them off or try to find alternative ways to have the debt canceled.
- Damage to credit score: Short sales will damage your credit score. Although not as damaging as a foreclosure or bankruptcy, you will still feel the effects of a short sale in other areas of your life.
- Short sales can be an extremely slow process. Often it depends on the lender but it can take months to just get approval and by that time the interested buyer may no longer be interested.
So if you choose to go through a short sale, your lender will have to agree to allow you to sell at this reduced price lower than what you owe. Again, a short sale will negatively affect your credit for a while but that is a potential option if you owe more than what the house is worth.
Now, what if none of these options are what you are looking for…
Can You Get Your House In Detroit Back After Foreclosure?
If you are facing the possibility of foreclosure in the future, perhaps you are wondering can you get your house in Detroit back after foreclosure. After all, you need a place to live in!
Unfortunately, after the court rules in the favor of your lender and agrees with the lender to proceed with foreclosure, it is very hard for you to get your house back. It may be better to look for help for foreclosure in Detroit before it happens.
Instead of wondering can you get your house in Detroit back after foreclosure, here’s another option…
The good news is, if you’re not in foreclosure yet, you have options.
As mentioned before, the first and best option is to pay off your mortgage or work out a payment plan with your lender. They’ll prefer to keep you in your house and instead just collect the money owed to them.
If that is not an option for you at this time then you may decide to do what a lot of homeowners facing foreclosure are choosing to do: Get help for foreclosure in Detroit. Sell your home before the home is foreclosed upon and pay the lender what is owed to them.
While not an ideal option (because you’ll have to give up your house), it’s still a preferable option to foreclosure because you’ll have cleared up your debt to the bank and you won’t have the long-term impact to your credit score that a foreclosure would have.
This option is proactive and long-term, which is why homeowners facing foreclosure love it: it’s proactive because you are taking control of your financial situation; it’s long-term because you’re accepting the short-term discomfort of selling your home in exchange for the long-term benefit of a better credit rating.
Here’s a secret to selling your Detroit area home fast so the bank can’t take it
You could work at trying to find a buyer to take your home. However, a faster and easier option is to find an investment firm that buys houses as-is for cash, fast. Instead of spending all of your time and energy trying to locate a buyer, there are many companies that can do this for you. Companies like Amaze Properties LLC can provide help for foreclosure in Detroit and buy the house from you at a reduced price, and very quickly.