Few things are more devastating to families than the prospect of foreclosure. You own your home and you love it — it serves you well. Yet, due to unfortunate circumstances, foreclosure may seem imminent.
For local WA families facing foreclosure, the stress can be almost unbearable. Worse yet, the foreclosure process can take months or even years, stretching out the pain for longer than anyone wants.
Fortunately, you have options available to you here in WA — perhaps more options than you realize. There are many strategies that help for foreclosure in Tacoma; these are legal foreclosure avoidance strategies you can implement to help you resolve your foreclosure issue so you can get on with your life.
In this blog post, you’ll read about 3 ways that you can avoid foreclosure (there are other ways to avoid foreclosure as well). The goal of these strategies is to help you legally and ethically avoid foreclosure and reducing the pain and frustration that you’re facing, while minimizing any long-term financial commitment or burden to you. Not all of these strategies will apply in every situation but you’ll probably be able to find at least one of the three ways that will work for you.
Strategy #1: Work out a deal with your lender
If you’re struggling to make your mortgage payments, one option is to try and work out a deal with your lender. This is called a foreclosure workout. Lenders don’t want to foreclose on your home if they can help it. They would much rather you stay in your home and continue making payments. So if you sit down with your lender and explain your situation, they may be willing to work with you. This could involve giving you a temporary reprieve from making payments, or it could mean coming up with a plan to catch up on missed payments. Either way, it’s worth talking to your lender to see what options are available.
Strategy #2. Bankruptcy
Filing for bankruptcy may seem like an extreme measure but it is one of the “tools” in your foreclosure avoidance toolbelt. When you file for bankruptcy, you indicate to all of your creditors that you are no longer able to pay your bills. Filing for bankruptcy will put a stop to the foreclosure process because all creditors must stop the collection process.
Filing for bankruptcy, though, is a little extreme: it may require you to sell off some of your assets in order to pay off your creditors. And, a bankruptcy will remain on your credit score for many years, which could impact everything from getting a loan to getting a car… even getting a job. So this shouldn’t be your first line of defense!
Strategy #3. Short sale help for a foreclosure in Tacoma
A short sale is the third strategy — this is where you sell your home and put the proceeds of the sale toward the amount owing on your mortgage loan. A short sale is a preferred method for people facing foreclosure because it is proactive, fast, and very effective.
- It’s proactive, which means that you take matters into your own hands (that’s a major stress eliminator because so much of the stress of foreclosure comes from the process being completely out of your control).
- It’s fast — in some cases, you can sell your home in as little as a week! That’s also because it’s local: You can get help for foreclosure in Tacoma since organizations like THINK3RE help people going through short sales.
- It’s very effective because a short sale can completely wipe out (or almost wipe out) the amount owing on your mortgage. If there is any amount left over that is not covered by the sale of the property, you’ll be responsible for it (although you can sometimes work out a deal with your lender).
With a short sale, you still end up with the reality of having to leave your home but there is a bright side: The impact to your credit is much less (compared to a bankruptcy or a foreclosure) so this is a smart long-term play to give yourself some options.