Foreclosure looming? Steps to Stop Foreclosure on Your Oceanside Home & How to Sell Fast Before Auction

In Oceanside alone, there are currently 70 foreclosed homes listed for sale on Zillow. That is just one small coastal city in North County San Diego and on one real estate site! The FDIC currently claims that 1 in every 200 homes in America is or will be foreclosed on. It happens to people in all phases of life and in areas across the country, even in your backyard in Oceanside. Many people come face to face with looming foreclosure because their bills have been piling up and they start falling behind, or maybe their financial status changed due to a layoff, or their mortgage is just too hefty to bear. Regardless of why you may be facing foreclosure, we understand the stress and pressures associated with the situation. Sometimes it feels like there are no options and there isn’t anything you can do to stop an auction sale, but that is rarely the case. Before getting into how you can sell the house before it hits auction, let’s talk about what you can do before that to get yourself out of the situation altogether.

How to Become Free of Foreclosure’s Grip on Your Home

Before you do anything, if you’re having trouble making your mortgage payments you should always contact your lender immediately. Gather resources about the trouble you’re facing, and learn about your options. The more knowledge you have about the process and the foreclosure timeline, the more prepared you can be to avoid it.

– Balance your budget: Is there anything that you can change RIGHT now to better balance your budget? Are there any bills that can be reduced, or are you overspending in some areas that can be cut way back? If you can adjust your spending with expenses and ultimately begin making mortgage payments again, by all means…do this. Speak to someone who is savvy with finances and learn how to better tackle what’s on your plate.

– Restructure payments: If spending cuts and your income overall just can’t support payments, speak to your lender about a new payment plan or restructured plan. Bear in mind, that it costs your lender thousands in order to foreclose a property and they may be willing to help you out in order to avoid that. All lender repayment plans are different, but it wouldn’t be uncommon for them to temporarily reduce your monthly payment and provide you with a mode of paying the back payment over a period of time (to lessen the burden).

– Refinance: Another highly sought-after option is to refinance your loan. This is more of a long-term solution and can mean even lower monthly payments than if you did a restructuring. The more equity you have in the home, the higher the likelihood of being approved for a refinance. But, be wary of some of the reasons you may be denied a new loan.

If You Can’t Keep Up, Sell the House and Unlock Any Equity Left

If you aren’t able to adjust spending to keep up with payments, and restructuring payments or refinancing don’t work out for you, then your best option is the sell the house fast before it goes to auction. Whatever you can do to avoid foreclosure, even if it means a short sale, you should do to dodge the hit to your credit. You can get a deed in lieu of foreclosure, but this should be your last option after trying to sell the house. By transferring ownership to the foreclosure lender, you would be avoiding foreclosure, but also walking away with essentially nothing to show for the house.

Selling your house before the auction date:

At this point, selling your house is your best option. So, how should you go about it?

• Sell it yourself, who wants to pay commission fees to an agent when the equity you’re getting back is already limited and you’re in a tight spot?
• Hire an agent, someone who has a proven track record in marketing properties to sell fast and get top-dollar.
• Sell it directly to an investor buyer who will pay you cash, and close as quickly as you need.

As you can see, there are benefits to each mode of selling. But, depending on where you are in the foreclosure process, time is usually your biggest enemy. We would almost immediately recommend that you not try to sell your house on your own at this point. FSBO sales are the slowest of all real estate transactions, and it will add to the stress already on your plate. The real estate agent could be a great option if your house is in good condition and you want to get top dollar…but, this also takes time. An average sale with an agent takes approximately 69 days. So, selling to an investor in many cases is your best option solely due to the flexibility in closing on time and before your house goes to auction. There are no delays due to buyer financing problems or inspections because we have the funds to purchase homes directly and we buy them AS-IS. If you work with a company like ours, you can sell really fast…we’re talking within a week. If that would benefit you in your situation, entertain the idea of at least receiving a no-obligation offer and do whatever you can to avoid foreclosure. We’ll help in any way that we can.