Home Foreclosures Foreclosure Articles Foreclosure Problems? Get Help
Foreclosure Problems? Get Help PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Saturday, 19 July 2008 11:59
When a person becomes late on their monthly house payment, eventually the lender will begin foreclosure proceedings which in most cases will start with a notice of default or a lis pendens recorded with the county where the property is located. There are data companies that collect this information, and sell the information on a subscription basis. That is why, shortly after the notice is recorded, the homeowner is usually deluged with mail, phone calls and people knocking on the door offering various forms of assistance and/or foreclosure prevention. The Stop Foreclosure page on this site covers bankruptcy and investor offers along with some sources for homeowner assistance. This page will just cover Foreclosure Bailout Loans and Lease/Buyback Arrangements that require transfer of the property into someone else's name. Bailout loans are included because there have recently been more and more offerings called a "loan" that in reality is a property transfer.


This page will describe a common method of Lease/Buyback, points where a consumer should pay close attention will be marked in bold. The process begins with contact between the person offering the L/B and the distressed homeowner. The solution presented to the distressed homeowner is to transfer the property out of their name, stay in the home and lease the property for a year or more, then repurchase the property after the homeowner's credit has improved. The fee for accomplishing this is stated as free, or at a very nominal cost. We'll discuss the actual costs further down this page.


The property transfer will normally be accomplished by use of a quitclaim deed, which transfers any interest the homeowner may have in the property into a land trust. If the deed is recorded at the county recorder's office, it is not readily obvious to anyone searching the records that ownership has changed, it only indicates the property went into a trust. It is important to note that transferring title does not remove the owner's obligations under their loan. The homeowner still owes on the loan, but no longer owns the security for that loan. If the homeowner, or the Lease/Buyback purchaser does not make up past due payments and continue making payments, the lender WILL foreclose.


The Lease: Leases can be written with different terms, but a previous homeowner should note that if you are leasing, you DO NOT own the property. Any statements you make, or forms you sign indicating you are the homeowner will not be accurate or truthful. A common monthly rental amount under a lease/buyback arrangement will be 1% of the amount of the property transfer, for a lease period of 12 months.


Property transfer of $100,000 will have 12 lease payments of $1,000 or $12,000<br>
Property transfer of $200,000 will have 12 lease payments of $2,000 or $24,000<br>
Property transfer of $300,000 will have 12 lease payments of $3,000 or $36,000


Lease payments for a personal residence are not tax-deductible and there is no paydown on loan principal, it is just money going to someone else for the use of the space. Remember a few paragraphs up where lease buyback programs are being promoted as being free? They're not. One of the terms that will be written into the lease will be a requirement that the lease payments be on time. If you aren't able to make your lease payments, you'll loose your option to repurchase the property and get evicted as well.


The Loan Discount: Lenders will sometimes allow a reduced payoff for a loan if it is obvious a foreclosure is inevitable and a third party purchaser is willing to buy the property at a price lower than the full payoff. What determines when a foreclosure is inevitable? Commonly, when loan payments aren't being made, and the borrower isn't communicating with the lender. What is a third party purchaser? Someone who is not connected/related to the borrower willing to purchase the property at a price they consider attractive. Lenders generally will not consider a loan discount if title to the property has already been transferred.


The Buyback: The buyback price after the lease period is over can be anything the parties agree on.
One company promotes that they will re-sell the property to the previous owner for 95% of the current market value. Most "damaged credit" lenders will only lend to about 75% of the current market value. So, how's the previous owner going to qualify for financing since their credit is heavily damaged?
They do owner financing. They draft a new mortgage for 90% of the property's value, then they backdate it to the time the lease was originated. They then use the lease payments for verification that mortgage payments have been made on time. The backdated loan, along with its questionable verifications, is then sold on the secondary market. If the previous owner can't come up with the difference between the 95% repurchase price and the 90% loan, they can also get a short term loan from the company.


Are you facing financial difficulties due to your Mortgage, whether it is a loan rate hike, a subprime mortgage or already being faced with foreclosure. When you are not able to manage your household finances, especially your mortgage, that's when times are most difficult. On the other hand, there may be times when you have other pressing finances that you need to attend to. If your income is not enough for all your bills and other payments, you might be forced to skip on your loan payments.
Even if you only skipped a month of payment, this can affect you as a borrower. How much more if you delayed more than a month of loan payment? The worst thing that could happen when you are not able to settle your accounts is the foreclosure of your home. When you are in a situation like this, you have no need to panic. You can get help with foreclosure problems at various professional lending servicing agencies.

If you are looking for service providers, make sure that they have great expertise over the services that they offer. You have to determine how long they have been catering to the needs of homeowners. If they have been into this industry for sometime, this means that they are experts on what they are doing.


Most believe that stop foreclosure laws are designed to hurt rather than help them. Not so. The secret is that foreclosure laws have evolved to protect the borrower--not the bad lender. The secret is out! Stop foreclosure and listen closely and understand why I say this. The foreclosure process gives you, the borrower, specific periods of time in which to: bring your loan current by making up the missed payments (known as "reinstatement"), or pay off your loan in its entirety (called "redemption").


You will get the most benefit out of the foreclosure process if you envision this secret as a "window of opportunity" to resolve your financial problems. During this window of opportunity, you have time to learn about the foreclosure process and implement a strategy to stop the foreclosure. Another basic misconception about foreclosure is that lenders want to foreclose. Nothing could be further from the
truth! Lenders are in the business of loaning money--not owning real estate. They don't want your house back for numerous reasons. Lenders are reluctant to incur the costs of a foreclosure. For example, if your lender is forced to foreclose, it will not only lose your back payments, but it will also incur foreclosure expenses, taxes, insurance, wear and tear while you (or your tenant) live in the property, repair costs to refurbish the property for sale, and a real estate agent's commission once the property is sold. As a result, many lenders will go out of their way to work out a resolution--short of actually foreclosing--if you give them the opportunity. Secret to stopping your foreclosure is communicating with your lender. With the sudden avalanche of foreclosures and defaults, lenders are more eager than ever before to workout a solution rather than foreclosing. Lenders will do almost anything to avoid increasing their overflowing REO inventory of foreclosed properties.


Don't shy away because you've missed payments, divest debt concerned that you will miss some payments in the future, or that your property has already gone into foreclosure. Whether you communicate by telephone, letter, email, fax, or in person, you will have a much easier time stopping (or at the very least, delaying) the foreclosure if you talk to your lender rather than adopting a code of silence. The secret is to negotiate directly with divest debt someone with "authority" at your lender's office. The first step is to determine who your lender actually is. (This is no small feat these days with lenders selling their loans to other lenders like hot potatoes.) If your property has already gone into foreclosure, the first person you will be dealing with will either be the foreclosing trustee, or the attorney for the lender. If it is a avoid foreclosure, you will most likely be contacted by a process server, sent by the lender's attorney. If it is a non-judicial foreclosure, the trustee is responsible for handling the avoid foreclosure process
Last Updated ( Saturday, 19 July 2008 12:00 )
 

Sponsors