Baltimore HUD Homes Blog

Stop Baltimore Bank Foreclosure - REOs Eleven Different Ways

The list of various methods to stop foreclosure that is presented in this article is a nearly comprehensive accounting of the most common ways homeowners can use to save their homes, either by staying in them and avoiding foreclosure, or by getting out of a bad situation with as much of their financial lives intact as possible. There are really no magical ways to end the foreclosure process — but there are enough tools that homeowners have available, that they can choose from a number of options to help them out of their hardship situations.

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1. Save up and get current on the mortgage by paying back the payments that have missed, plus the interest, late fees, attorney fees, etc. Bank Foreclosure - REO victims should be aware that there are often thousands of dollars of extra charges that are added once a homeowner start missing payments and especially if the lender hires a law firm to pursue the foreclosure.

2. Work with the lender to put together a repayment plan, which would require the homeowners to put down part of the amount that they are behind now and pay back the rest over a period of months, along with the current monthly payment. Usually, repayment plans can be worked out through the lender’s loss mitigation department, and will result in the foreclosure victims paying almost twice as much per month as the regular mortgage payment. This is to help get caught up on the payments that have been missed while the homeowners are paying their original monthly obligation.

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3. Work with the lender to modify the terms of the loan to state that the missed payments are spread out over the life of the loan or put on the back end of the loan. This is called a mortgage modification or loan modification. Some lenders will not do this because they do not hold the paper to be able to modify it. This is especially true for mortgage servicing companies, who only service their loans and collect payments, but who do not own the loans.

4. Refinance — find a hard money lender or traditional lender that will consider foreclosure refinance loans. Qualifications include lots of equity and lots of income, since interest rates for foreclosure loans are typically over 10%. Bank Foreclosure - REO refinance loans can be difficult to qualify for and may result in higher monthly payments, but they are a good way for homeowners to get a fresh start with a new note and new lender.

5. If the homeowners have an FHA loan, they may be able to qualify for a one-time loan from the FHA that will bring the loan current and is placed as a lien on the property that would have to paid back if the property is sold or refinanced. This is called a partial claim. The foreclosure victims would have to contact the FHA directly for this one time payout to get caught back up on the mortgage.

6. Sell to a private investor or friend/family member and lease/rent the property back from them. This option clears off the foreclosed loan on the property and uses someone elses good credit to get a new loan and may allow the foreclosure victims to stay in the property. Investors can also work out short sales on properties, although they usually do this in the hope of flipping the property by reselling it quickly at a profit.

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7. Bankruptcy will stop the foreclosure process, but is usually an expensive alternative to setting up a repayment plan (described above as Option #2). Attorney fees, trustee fees, court costs, and high monthly payments cause numerous homeowners to fail their bankruptcies. Bankruptcy should usually only be considered if the homeowners desperately want to prevent foreclosure and if they have a significant amount of disposable income they can dedicate towards the bankruptcy payments.

8. Short sales are a good option for homeowners who owe more on the property than it is currently worth. A short sale means the bank accepts less than what they are actually owed, and would allow you to get out of the loan, at least. The bank would not be able to come after the homeowners for the rest of the loan amount, since, by accepting a lower amount, they forgive the rest of the debt owed on the mortgage.

9. Sell outright if the property is worth enough and if there is a willing and able buyer. List the house as a For Sale By Owner (FSBO) of through a local real estate broker. In some cases, it is the right decision just to unload the house to stop foreclosure and focus on repairing the credit situation until there is a more opportune time to purchase a new, more affordable home, possibly in a few years.

10. If 1-9 do not work, the homeowners can offer the bank a deed in lieu of foreclosure, which means they would be voluntarily giving the property back to the bank, with the bank agreeing that the property is payment in full of the loan. This is not much better than a foreclosure, and the homeowners have to leave the property anyway, but it will prevent the sheriff sale and eviction process. The bank will not be able to ask for any extra money or sue the former owners for a deficiency judgment, because they accept the property itself as satisfaction of the loan.

11. If 1-10 do not work, as a last resort, the homeowners can just move out and walk away and forget about the property. This is definitely not recommended if they care about their credit in any way and plan to borrow money for several years, but foreclosure should teach them not to rely on banks and lenders to bail them out with borrowed money when they face a hardship. or are short on cash. Many homeowners simply walk away because the foreclosure situation is so intimidating, but, as listed above, there are numerous options that are better than just giving up on the property.

Those are the most common options that can be used to stop foreclosure. There are a few others (suing the bank, bringing various complaints to regulatory agencies, etc.), but they involve much more cost and legal involvement and may not end up stopping the foreclosure process in the end. To learn more about any of these options, though, please consider searching through various resources online that offer foreclosure information. Every homeowner’s specific situation is very different and deserves a high level of review and analysis before any one solution or combination of alternatives to foreclosure are decided upon.