Foreclosure proceedings may legally begin once payments have become one hundred and twenty days delinquent. To learn the specific timeline of when the home can be offered for sale by the mortgage holding financial institution check with the local county clerk’s office.
[Delinquency is not defined as missed payment alone; a partial payment also falls under delinquency, as logically, any scheduled payment, not paid in full, is considered a delinquent payment.]
According to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a website published by the U.S. government, when a mortgage becomes forty-five days delinquent (essentially one and one half months), the lender must provide the borrower options for “loss mitigation”. Loss mitigation is the “…process where the service provider considers what help [the borrower] might qualify for to avoid foreclosure.” The loss mitigation process can be labor intensive with regard to the amount of time it takes a homeowner to:
- Gather and complete documentation
- Forward the documentation with full tracking capabilities as a well as confirm delivery for each set of documents as that are sent
- Follow up with the bank to obtain written confirmation they have received each set of documents as they are sent.
- Constant confirmation by the borrower that the lender and they are on the exact same page as far as the timeline of next step in the process
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act put into place policies and procedures for handling consumer accounts when documents are confirmed delivered but cannot be found by the lender. However, the onus is on the borrower to know the policies and procedures in order to confirm Dodd-Frank is enforced.
Using a pluralistic view consider that you are working under duress. Consider a scenario where an unexpected financial burden occurs and eventually causes you to become four months delinquent in payment of a home mortgage. Imagine the litany of events that have had to occur in order for you to come to a point where you may lose your home. Imagine the mental agony that must have already taken place in order to culminate to this final frontier. Now, continue to juggle the financial balls that brought you to this result and practice diligence in a well-organized way in order to keep your home through the loss mitigation procedure. For some folks this is just not possible.
Examples of unexpected financial burdens include:
- Unexpected health expenditures
- Divorce
- Loss of income e.g. unemployment
- Home maintenance including catastrophic weather events and insurance costs
One alternative is achieving immediate release of the financial burden that may provide the largest monetary gain. Sell your home for its cash value. In this case you control your move.
At least gain enough information to understand it if will work for you. There are many reputable companies in the United States that will get you fast and fair market value for a cash sale.
Of course a cash sale is not the traditional open market sale option. It cannot be because there is no time or money for home inspections, advertising, and showing the home, bid consideration and along with it – bid denial. Or bid acceptance followed perhaps by rejection by the mortgage lender. There is no time for any of this.
There is, for businesses like Cash Closing Home Buyers in Pennsylvania, time for physical home inspection to monetarily assess the renovations that will be necessary to get the property back on the market and provide any homeowner an offer within 48 hours. Closure on the sale occurs in two weeks or less.
Selling a home for cash is an option when other options are limited. It is a best case scenario amongst competing scenarios that have little room for leeway. There is no hard sell, there is no further negative offered from all the negatives that brought you to an option to consider selling for cash. At this point positive options are offered. The options either fit your need or they do not.
[Unless you know what complete options are open to you, a fully informed decision has not been explored.]
In Pennsylvania look up Cash Closing, in other locations, do a web search and/or talk to advisors in the field of quick home purchases to learn your options. If you do not feel that you are interacting with a reputable company keep looking.