Jul
23
For anyone in front of a fiscal turmoil and fear the loss of your own home, realize you aren’t alone. Like millions of other house owners, you will have lost employment or suffered a pay cut, your adjustable rate mortgage could possibly have reset so you can’t afford the payment, or falling property values mean you cannot refinance. You may think that bankruptcy, foreclosure and loss of your dwelling is inevitable. A single answer doesn’t deal with every scenario, and you’ll have alternatives that include keeping your home as you work through financial challenges. Explore all options before concluding that all will be lost in foreclosure or bankruptcy.
Your mortgage payment, which may include amounts for property insurance and taxes, is quite possibly the biggest single bill you pay every month. The check covers your housing needs, plus it represents an investment for many homeowners - there are financial and emotional aspects in the process. If you can’t make your mortgage repayments, you’ll want to take a hard assessment of your situation, financially and otherwise, and choose on an alternative that’s better for you. Consulting a bankruptcy or real estate lawyer in your area can help with your decision-making process.
Consider All Options
This is the list of options and factors you should consider:
- What is the level of your financial crisis - is there a dominant element, like a job loss, or is paying a single debt at the bottom of the financial problems, like medical bills or your mortgage?
- Is your financial crisis non permanent, such as a short period of unemployment or underemployment, or is there an enduring change, like a disability that could affect your earning power on a long-term basis?
- How much equity is in your house?
- How does the value of your house compare to the debt it secures - do you owe more than the house is worth?
- How does your current home meet your housing needs - is it the right size, what are the ongoing maintenance and ownership costs, and does the location meet your lifestyle, family, and employment needs?
- Is home ownership the best way to meet your housing needs? Do you have the abilities and resources needed to own the place in which you currently live?
- If you want to keep your home, have all options for loan modification been explored?
- If you don’t want to keep your home, have you tried to sell it, either through conventional means or through a short sale?
- Is your lender willing to pursue foreclosure alternatives, such as accepting a deed in lieu of foreclosure?
- Have foreclosure proceedings started, and if so, how far along is the process?
- Would you qualify Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy relief?
- Do you have other debts, and could those debts be discharged or restructured through bankruptcy?
Making Home Affordable Relief
Just before reaching the crucial stage of bankruptcy or foreclosure, figure out if refinancing or changing your mortgage is an available option. In response to common economic crises suffered by lots of homeowners, the Making Home Affordable program offers relief. Financialstability.gov is a government Internet site that furnishes information about eligibility plus the process to getting help. The Web-site has an interactive tool that will determine if you’re a candidate for relief.
Making Home Affordable has two sorts of relief:
1.Home Affordable Refinancing for homeowners who have loans owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. This targets those that haven’t got a possibility to refinance their mortgages at today’s historically low rates as a consequence of plummeting home values, leaving them “underwater” along with a mortgage balance that’s more than the house value
2.Home Affordable Modification for homeowners who can’t afford their mortgage payments because of loss or reduction of income, increased mortgage rates or who don’t get a Home Affordable Refinancing. The program aims to change your mortgage terms and then to bring the payment within a low priced range
Start by contacting your lender or loan servicer, butbe patient and persistent. These programs are new, and lenders must work to quickly implement the programs and also the demand is high. Even if you don’t qualify for these programs, work with your lender to get yourself a solution. Avoiding foreclosure usually is best for all parties.
For help with an Athens GA chapter 7 bankruptcy, contact an Athens Georgia bankruptcy law firm. An Athens Georgia bankruptcy attorney could give you the help you need.