Few things are more devastating to families than the prospect of foreclosure. You own your home and you love it — it serves you well. Yet, due to unfortunate circumstances, foreclosure may seem imminent.
For local families facing foreclosure, the stress can be almost unbearable. Worse yet, the foreclosure process can take months or even years, stretching out the pain for longer than anyone wants.
Fortunately, you have options available to you here in — perhaps more options than you realize. There are many strategies that help for foreclosure in Murfreesboro; these are legal foreclosure avoidance strategies you can implement to help you resolve your foreclosure issue so you can get on with your life.
In this blog post, you’ll read about 3 ways that you can avoid foreclosure (there are other ways to avoid foreclosure as well). The goal of these strategies is to help you legally and ethically avoid foreclosure as well as reducing the pain and frustration that you’re facing, plus minimizing any long-term financial commitment or burden to you. Not all of these strategies will apply in every situation but you’ll probably be able to find at least one of the three ways that will work for you.
Strategy #1: Work out a deal with your lender
The first strategy is called a “foreclosure workout”. In a foreclosure workout, you’ll sit down with your lender and tell them that you don’t think you can pay your current mortgage obligation but you’d like to figure something out so you can stay in your house and continue to pay your mortgage.
Contrary to popular belief, lenders don’t 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 reprieve on your 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.
Strategy #2. Bankruptcy
Filing for bankruptcy may seem like an extreme measure but it is will stop a foreclosure. 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 a little 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 shouldn’t be your first line of defense!
Bear in mind this is a temporary solution. When you come out of bankruptcy you will have to be caught up or on track with your lenders plan or the process will resume.
Strategy #3. Short sale help for a foreclosure in Murfreesboro
A short sale is the third strategy — this is where you sell your home for less than what’s its worth. Your lender has to be in agreement with this obviously. These were very common back 20 or so years ago, then basically went away for many years now they are making a comeback.
- It’s 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).
- In most cases it can be a long process.. but this can work in your favor by giving you time to find another place to live, etc. You can get help for foreclosure in Murfreesboro by working with the folks at Provision Homes, LLC. We help people navigate the short sales process.
- It’s effective because if done correctly a short sale can completely wipe out the amount owed on your mortgage.
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 is a smart long-term play to give yourself some options.