Dodging Foreclosure

I have 3 listings currently that are teetering on foreclosure. This is, unfortunately, quite common now-a-days. One of my listings is undercontract and we are at the mercy of the mortgage company's approval of an agreement of sale. I've written about this one before. My client has not paid their mortgage payment since 2007. I would have thought that Option One would have jumped at the chance to sell this one and move it off of their books, but that does not seem to be the case. The agreement of sale is over $140,000 less than what is owed.

The second property is now priced $60,000 less than the mortgage amount. Once we obtain a buyer, we will try our best to negotiate a short sale with that mortgage company. The house is in decent enough shape.......I've certainly seen worse! My client has not paid a mortgage payment for over a year.

The third property is just entering the foreclosure process. My clients are only 2 months behind in their payments, so nothing has been filed just yet. Our strategy for this property is to try to find an investor to offer just enough to cover all of the expenses. My Sellers would see a big, fat -0- on the bottom of their settlement sheet. The clock is ticking on this one, for sure.

The strange thing for me is how common these situations are now. I've been practicing Real Estate for 17 years. I had been involved in short sales a few times over the years..........I had done quite a bit of work for banks after they had taken possession of foreclosed properties, but I never lost one of my listings to a sheriff sale until 2008. I have now lost a total of 3 and am trying to hold off the above-mentioned 3. The thing is that in the situations where I lost the properties to foreclosure, my clients never even told me what was going on! I had no idea that they were in such distress!

Today's piece of advice is very, very simple: If you are in trouble with your mortgage.........COMMUNICATE with your mortgage company/bank and COMMUNICATE with your agent. We know what to do. We know this process. We care and most importantly, we can help you. Everything will be alright.


Chris Hooks 856-628-2710