Foreclosure, short sale, loan modification, why are all of these terms becoming so common, and what do they mean to an individual home owner?
Values of homes are down 20-50 percent or more in many places from their peak values and unemployment in states such as California is easily in the double digits. Across the country, more than a third of home owners owe more than their properties are worth. Better than one out of every eight home loans are delinquent in some respect, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.
If you are aproaching the point of defaulting on your mortgage, you basically have three options: a loan modification, a foreclosure or a short sale. Many professionals these days are advising a a short sale, as they offer an upside for buyers, lenders and real estate agents. But that then begs the question, is a short sale best for you or for them?
Often times, it truly is not in your best interest, even though others working with you during this time of need may want you to believe it is.
Why might this be? Let’s take a look. So you are struggling to make mortgage payments. If you should stop making payments, what will happen?
Right off the bat, it will damage your credit. Your credit is crucial to future lenders who will decide at some later point just how good a risk you are, and may force you into working with hard money lenders if you should need a loan. Also, it’s also being used by potential landlords and employers. Deciding to move forward with an action that can ruin this score is something you really need to consider carefully.
Your credit score is calculated through arcane and guarded methods using data that has been compiled over time, encompassing your entire borrowing life. The people in charge of these scoring systems say that they are supposed to be an indicator of how likely someone is to stop paying on a debt or loan during the first two years.
Other companies have their own formulas that do pretty much the same thing. On another popular credit score scale, which runs from 500 to 990, stopping payments on all your loans will drop you into the low 600s.
If your credit is in under 680 based on one of the major credit reporting agencies in today’s lending environment, finding a loan of any type can be incredibly hard (short of working with private hard money
). If you are concerned about loans for the future, short selling your house will not save your credit, contrary to what many will have you believe. So what is the benefit of short selling your home?
The main benefit is getting rid of the large debt of your home and the drag it has on your finances, and keeping your credit report foreclosure free. A short sale usually will impact your credit score about the same as a foreclosure, but by short selling your home, you will be able to get another conventional type loan in as little as two years, rather than the three or more that a foreclosure will require.
A potentially better option to consider is loan modifications. this can often be a difficult process to work through, but if you would like to stay in your home and save your credit, a loan modification may be a good solution to look at.
You must to do your own due dilligence before you choose which direction or option you are going to take. It will also matter in which state you live, as there will be different ramifications for the various options. Locate a highly reccomended real estate agent and/or real estate attorney, make an appointment, and look at all your options before you make a choice. When making this decision, make sure you are comfortable with the direction you choose, good luck!