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What To Do If You Are Facing Foreclosure

Jan 2

Posted by Morgan in How To Get Out Of Debt | 2 Comments

Assure yourself of one fact: the bank does not want your house. You do not want the bank to take your house. (Banks already have an inventory of homes they’ve repossessed and will have to sell at a loss so they don’t want to add yours to the pile.) Therefore you now have a common goal: that you will pay your mortgage and keep your house. Just realizing this can often ease your anxiety. Call them and let them know what’s going on.
Don’t bury your head in the sand. Find out where you stand financially. Open your mail. If that is too overwhelming take it to your favorite coffee shop or mall, somewhere you feel comfortable, and open it there. Your body cannot be in two states (calm and panicked) at once so if you are somewhat relaxed watching the game in your favorite sports bar or enjoying the weather at an outdoor cafe then you cannot be a ball of debilitating terror at the same time.
Find help. In my community our county and city governments have teamed together with non-profits such as The United Way, HUD (a government agency), and housing organizations to help folks in this situation. Pick up that phone and call. The help is free and on target.
Image by woodleywonderworks via Flickr
Stay away from companies promising to stop your foreclosure. If you sign on that dotted line you may be signing your house over to them and becoming a renter. Fees from these companies can also be exorbitant so keep your pennies and your pen in your pocket.
Foreclosure options, or mitigation, can be found here: www.fha.gov/foreclosure/index.cfm.
Decide on a soft place to fall. If you know you cannot keep your home stop paying into a sinking ship and start looking for a place to live that will make you happy, that you can afford, and that will work with your foreclosure history. Be honest with your future landlord and make certain you make all obligations in this new agreement.

Best of luck and let us know how you’re doing.

Want to avoid foreclosure? Go see a counselor (money.cnn.com)
Government Housing Support Update (yzerfonteinchronicles.blogspot.com)
FDIC pushes mortgage help for jobless (money.cnn.com)
Loan Modification: Banks Finally Agree To Reduce Principal For Borrowers (huffingtonpost.com)

PLEASE CLICK ON TITLE TO COMMENT! THANK YOU.

Tags: Bank, Business, foreclosure, foreclosure help, foreclosure tips, help for foreclosure, House, how to stop foreclosure, Mortgage, real estate, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, United Way

More Money: How to Have Other People Make It For You

Aug 30

Posted by Morgan in How to Discover Your Dreams, How to Earn Extra Money, More Money | 7 Comments

REAL ESTATE

Yup, even in these crazy times I highly recommend investing in real estate.

Maybe more so in these crazy times.

You know the old saying, land…they’re not making any more of it. It holds true today UNLESS, it’s in the middle of a gang battle ground, or it has a meth lab next door, or it has toxic chemicals in the dirt from the plant in town, or it’s sinking, or it’s in the way of frequent flooding or fires or hurricanes…. you get the picture.

My husband and I bought a small house four years ago even though we barely had two nickels to rub together. And we had two horrible tenants (although they didn’t trash the place for which we were grateful) but it still has been very lucrative.

The investment property gives us a lot of nice tax deductions so it has paid off well in that regard.

But the neatest thing about buying property and renting it is that SOMEONE ELSE IS BUYING THE PROPERTY FOR YOU. Can you think of another investment where you can put very little money into it and someone else pays the mortgage so that in fifteen or twenty years the property is all yours? It provides retirement income. Or money for that trip around the world. Virtually free.

BUT, there are a lot of pitfalls. So here are a list of my very best advice on buying and leasing property.

Educate yourself. Take classes at the community college. Read books (and not the get-rich crap that’s out there.) Successful Real Estate Investing: How to Avoid the 75 Most Costly Mistakes Every Investor Makes by Robert Shemin, Start Small and Profit Big by JayDeCima and After the Fall by Steve Bergaman are all good resources. Don’t go to free seminars that are just luring you in for the big kill. Danger, danger Will Robinson!