1. Talk to your bank when you first get behind. You want o put this behind you and not let this get out of hand. You want all of stresses to go away, however, if you do not talk to bank and be open to different options, matter will only continue to get worse. I have seen people avoid bank at all costs at first believing there will be this miracle to happen, only in end to find out it is too late for them to do anything. I do believe in miracles. I do believe that you have to be proactive and looking for that miracle before it will be given to you. The longer you wait, more fees that you will incur. Attorney fees run around $1600 for bank to conduct a foreclosure. If you wait to reinstate at last minute, you are one that has to pay for these fees.

2. Ask bank for a forbearance agreement. This is an agreement to help you get caught up on monthly payment. For example, if you were 4 months behind on your house payment, bank may be willing to stop process if you were to bring 2 months worth of payments in. Usually, bank will require you to get your tax returns and fill out some paperwork to do this. If so, fill out paperwork completely and get it back to them as soon as possible. If you are not sure about a question, call representative that you are working with. Be responsible and take action. Bank representatives are only human, they are given 200 foreclosure files every month to try to resolve. So be patient with person you are dealing. Do not scream or yell your frustrations, as this will only cause more problems for yourself. So be understanding, explain to them that you understand how hard their job is and this will create a bond with person you are dealing with which is important because this will be person that is going to bat for you when they talk about getting approvals with their boss. There are companies out there charging fees up front for doing this. Do not pay anyone up front to negotiate with bank a forbearance agreement. The people that want money up front will not make any guarantee while you are out $300-$400, this puts you taking all risk for someone else to get situation resolved. If you want to go this route, then hire someone that gets paid on performance after they have worked out a possible solution. Usually these consultants will work harder to get your situation resolved because their pay will depend on it.

1: one that is under protection of another: DEPENDENT 2 a: a person who engages professional advice or services of another b: customer c: a person served by or utilizing services of a social agency

As buyers, we look to professionals such as lawyers, realtors, title companies, appraisers, and banking officers to look after our best interest because we trust that they are looking out for our own well being as their client. Now clearly we feel that is their job, their responsibility to look after us, don’t you agree?

Well, under some state laws buyers are considered buyer beware states. What does this mean to you? Well, it is simple – Let Buyer Beware. In other words, your realtor cannot tell you that you are paying too much for a property. If they did, they put their job at risk. So in this report we will discuss steps you can take to insure that you are not paying too much for your property. We start by explaining appraisal process.

Appraisals Explained

Now before you get a loan, your lender will require an appraisal on property. This is simply to check value of home to make sure that lender is protected with money that they lend you. The lender will send sales contract to appraiser to get appraisal done. Here is what appraiser will do: they will look for sales that are in your neighborhood that are similar in size and style. Then they will give their opinion on what homes are worth. Now, an appraiser can look for homes that have sold for less, for more, or about what you are paying. They will look for homes that support your price on sales contract. After all, they want loan to go through so that they can get paid, loan officer is pushing for loan to go through so they can get paid.

So where does this leave you?

Just for a moment, imagine that you are in market for a house. You have been looking, then you find one that is what you want. The seller is asking $100,000, you tell your realtor that you are going to offer $95,000. But in actuality homes in area that are similar to one you are buying are selling for $85,000, but you are not aware since you are relying on your realtor for protection. Now you buy home at $95,000 feeling good about your purchase. Now, in one year, imagine you lost your job and was forced to relocate and sell property. If homes in area have been selling for $85,000, guess what? You now owe more than what your property is worth. For average home in America, there is a 4-6 month time that it takes to sell property and sellers typically get 95% of value of home.

This is not a make-believe scenario. Just last week I had someone to call me wanting me to purchase their home. They had bought it only 1 year ago for $38,000. They were 4 months behind on their house payment. The house was falling apart and needed serious repairs. So, I check comps to see what has sold in area and homes that did not need any repairs were selling for $20-$30K. She paid $38K for one that needed serious work! She overpaid by at least $20K. Now, in 1 year home is not suddenly going to be in need of all these repairs. If she had done her homework she would have not overpaid.

Now bank is threatening to foreclose, here is what will happen if they foreclose: The bank will hire an attorney to foreclose, thus running 3 - 4 ads in newspaper to auction of house. In most cases bank will take home back. Now, everyone knows that there are people looking for foreclosed property that they can pick up cheap- right? Now if bank takes an amount less than what was owed, then you (the homeowner) are still responsible for remaining debt.