Sad story. A client told me last February that she was not able to make the payments on her $750,000 home loan. The house is now worth about $400,000 and this person wanted to get a loan modification and get the principle reduced. I can not tell you how many times I hear this story and how few times I have heard that there actually was a principle reduction. Actually I can tell you how many times I have heard of a principle reduction, once.
Ok, so it is bad enough that banks have been unwilling to reduce principle but things can get worse. My client received a Notice of Default last February and at that point she decided to try to to get the loan modification. In November she was finally offered the loan mod, which she turned down because not only did she not get the pricnciple reduced, but all the missed payments and late payments were added on to the back end of the mortgage.
So on Dec 20th she got a Notice of Trustee Sale and on Dec 26th signed a listing agreement to short sale the Redwood City home. Here's the problem. While getting an offer before the sale date of Jan. 12th would be hard, but possible, the Mortgage Servicer, Carrington Mortgage said no deal. THEY DO NOT POSTPONE TRUSTEE SALES FOR SHORT SALES. That is harsh. Not only that but in order to do a HAFA Short Sale and get the auto postponement you need to initialte it 60 days before the Trustee Sale Date.
So now, this person is going to have her home foreclosed. I am very sorry for her, but maybe someone can learn a lesson from this.
Do not put your head in the sand!!!!! If you can not make your payments do something the first month it happens, not a year later. If you have a change of circumstances, lose your job, get divorced, your loan resets, have a health problem, do something right away. If you want to keep your home and can make payments if they are lowered then apply for a loan mod. Don't do it after you get the notice of default, because by then it may be too late. Some banks will allow you to postpone a sale up to 3 days before the sale, but not all. If you can not make payments and need to short sell, do it right away, not at the last minute. Don't take chances with your financial future.
If you have any questions about buying or selling short sales in San Mateo or Santa Clara County please feel free to contact me.
Marcy Moyer
marcy@marcymoyer.com
650-619-9285
D.R.E. 01191194
Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Short Sales and Trust and Probate Sales
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