Hard Money Loan Refinancing
Hard money refinance is often seen as the last resort option. So, at first, most people ask their initial lender to refinance the mortgage.
But if the lender deems there is too much risk, they will deny that request. In this case, you can go to a private lender and get a hard money loan to refinance that mortgage.
While this will prevent foreclosure, you may incur very high interest from private lenders.
Communicate With Your Lender
If you know that you are going to have trouble making your mortgage payments, contact your lender immediately and let them know you are having financial difficulties. This allows your lender time to work with you to create a plan. Remember, do not stop paying your bills, and do not wait until you cannot make payments before you act. Learn how to talk to your lender about trouble making payments.
Are Hardest Hit Fund Programs Still Open
Individual Hardest Hit Fund programs are likely to end as soon as their funds run out. Most have already shuttered. So, if you think you could qualify for a particular type of assistance through a specific program, you should submit an application immediately.
A few states that previously closed their Hardest Hit Fund programs when their funding ran out reopened when more money became available. If your state’s program has closed, it’s a good idea to keep tabs on the program website in case it reopens, most likely to help homeowners affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Include Critical Resources On Their Website
Your mortgage servicer should maintain readily available information on its website homepage to provide you with:
- Foreclosure-prevention options and instructions.
- A list of financial documents necessary when discussing foreclosure-prevention options.
- Mortgage servicer contact information and HUD-certified housing counselor.
Get Help Contact A Not
Housing counselors that handle foreclosure-related issues can give you advice on your options and resources at little or no cost. They may also be able to negotiate with your lender for free and help you find free legal services in your area.
Housing counseling resources for New Yorkers include:
- New Yorks Homeowner Protection Program , which connects with housing counselors and legal services at no cost. Call the HOPP hotline at 466-3456 or visit homeownerhelpny.com.
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Deed In Lieu Of Foreclosure
Another way is to willingly give your property to the lender in return for pardoning your debt. You will qualify for a deed in lieu of foreclosure only if you cannot sell your home before foreclosure. The only advantage of this option is that you are rescued from foreclosure and the lower credit record that inevitably results from it.
What To Do Next
If you are worried about keeping up with mortgage payments or are at risk of foreclosure, there are steps you should take no matter what your circumstances may be:
- Contact your lender, who may be able to help you find a solution.
- Contact your local NeighborWorks organization for support and assistance.
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Shouldn’t I Try To Keep My Home At All Costs
No. As hard as that might be to hear, keeping your home may not be your best option.
Selling your home may be your best option. If you are not able to make a realistic workout plan, refinancing with a legitimate company is not possible, and you will not benefit from bankruptcy, the best remaining option is to sell the home at fair market value. Although selling may not feel like a good solution, a sale at or near fair market value can allow you to pay off the mortgage and keep the equity in your home. Depending on how much you have paid in, that equitythe value of the home after you pay off the mortgagecould be in the thousands of dollars.
What You Can Do
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Notify You Of Your Options To Avoid Foreclosure
Your mortgage servicer must try to contact you, in person or by phone, at least 30 days before starting the foreclosure process. Your mortgage servicer must do the following:
- Explore options to avoid foreclosure
- Provide you with ways to contact Department of Housing and Urban Development counselors.
Your mortgage servicer should not begin foreclosure action until the above have been performed.
How To Stop A Foreclosure
If youve fallen behind on your mortgage payments due to a hardship such as job loss or divorce, and youre facing the possibility of foreclosure, youre not alone. Since the housing crash, millions of homeowners have lost their homes to foreclosure. The good news is there are things you can do to stop a foreclosure. The first thing you should do if you are having trouble making your mortgage payments is contact your lender. Communicating with your lender creates an opportunity for you to create a plan, which may include one of these four ways that can help stop a foreclosure:
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Avoid Foreclosure Recovery Fees Scams
If you are being foreclosed on, you may be contacted by foreclosure prevention companies and home recovery scams.
For-profit foreclosure prevention companies, while legitimate, charge fees than can equal two or three mortgage payments, or more. Its money that youre better off using to pay your mortgage. The information and services these companies provide are available to you for free from your lender, or with help from a nonprofit housing counselor.
If a firm promises to stop a foreclosure immediately if you sign a document appointing them to act on your behalf, you may be signing over the title to your property, HUD warns. Before signing such a document, get advice from an attorney or nonprofit housing counselor.
The Home Affordable Foreclosure Program
This is a deed-in-lieu foreclosure or a short sale. Its main benefit is that as a homeowner, you will not be held responsible anymore for the difference between the amount the home sells for and the amount owed on the mortgage. As a homeowner, you will also receive $3,000 for relocation assistance upon a successful deed-in-lieu or short sale. The short sale agreement allows the homeowner or borrower a minimum of 120 days I which to sell the home. Upon a successful sale, the mortgage lender should fully release the borrower of any claims and debt against the home.
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Who Qualifies For Hardest Hit Fund Foreclosure Assistance
Eligibility requirements vary widely from state to state and among different state-specific programs. But the requirements often include the following:
- The property must be owner-occupied.
- The homeowner must be unemployed/underemployed or experienced a hardship, like a divorce, death of a spouse, or medical hardship.
- The homeowner’s total annual income must be less than a certain amount.
- The homeowner has limited financial resources.
- The unpaid principal balance on the homeowner’s mortgage can’t exceed a certain amount.
Watch Out for Scams
Beware of scammer copycat websites posing as Hardest Hit Fund application sites. The Hardest Hit Fund programs never charge a fee for their services. You don’t need to pay anyone to prepare or submit an application for assistance. If someone offers to help you apply to the programâor offers counseling services or loan modification servicesâfor a fee, it’s a scam.
Pause Foreclosure To Honor A Loan Modification Application And Avoid Dual Tracking
Your mortgage servicer cannot start or continue with the foreclosure process while you have a complete loan modification application under review, a process called dual tracking. This restriction includes any appeal period after a denial.
Your mortgage servicer cannot foreclose on your home if you are complying with the terms of an approved loan modification, forbearance, repayment plan, or other foreclosure-prevention option. This restriction applies even if your loan is transferred to another mortgage servicer.
If you believe your mortgage servicer did not comply with the Homeowner Bill of Rights, you may do the following:
- Seek legal assistance.
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If You Want Or Need To Leave Your Home
If you have discussed your payment options with your mortgage servicer and cant afford your mortgage anymore, you may need to leave your home. That can be a difficult decision. But dont just walk away.
You may have options that are better for your finances and your credit:
A traditional sale is when you sell your home for what it is worth.
If your home is worth more than what you owe, this could be a good option for you. You can pay off what you owe on your mortgage in full and likely have remaining funds from the sale. You dont need approval from your mortgage servicer to sell your home, but it can help to notify them of your plans. Talk to a housing counselor to see if this is an option for you.
A deed-in-lieu is when you turn over ownership to your home to your mortgage servicer and move out. With a deed-in-lieu you are not responsible for selling your home.
With a foreclosure, you may still owe money on your mortgage even after you move out of the home, but a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure may help you avoid being responsible for paying any amount remaining on the mortgage, called a deficiency.
A short sale is when you sell your home for less than what you owe on your mortgage. With a short sale, you are responsible for finding a buyer for your home and need approval from your mortgage servicer.
If You Have Missed A Mortgage Payment Know Your Rights
California homeowners have additional protections thanks to the California Homeowner Bill of Rights . HBOR provides protections to homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure. If you own and live in your home, HBOR generally applies to your first lien mortgage. Key HBOR provisions require your mortgage servicer to:
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Information On Foreclosure Prevention
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency may be able to assist you in saving your home from foreclosure. If you have missed mortgage payments or are experiencing a hardship, it is best to contact your servicer and PHFA as soon as possible. If you are having trouble making your mortgage payments, do not assume your situation is hopeless. Do not ignore letters and phone calls from your servicer. Your servicer can work with you to explore all options and alternatives to foreclosure. A counseling agency can assist you in establishing manageable spending and debt repayment program.
Hardest Hit Fund Programs By State
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What Are My Options
There are many ways the bank can help you if you fall behind on your mortgage or are having real difficulty making your mortgage payment. The list below is an overview of the most common options. Which one is right for you, or one that the bank will allow, depends on your individual situation. To be eligible for these options you will need to have income.
Important: If you think that you are a victim of predatory lending, get legal help right away.
Proceed carefully. Beware of large fees and high interest rates. Be very careful if you receive calls from companies other than your servicer or mortgage holder offering to refinance. Read our Don’t Borrow Trouble! and Foreclosure Rescue Scams pages.
Talk to a HUD-Approved Housing Counselor. The Foreclosure Prevention Hotline 1-888-664-2569 can provide you with a list of approved agencies throughout Maine. They can help you decide if a refinancing deal may help you, or only put you in a worse financial position.
Even if you are 30 days or more behind on your payments there is still plenty that you can do. Follow all the steps outlined above. The same process applies.
- Pay high priority bills first
- Focus on an affordable outcome
- Complete the To Do List above
- Know your options.
You may have some additional options to consider
Depending on who is involved with your loan there may be specific guidelines for the servicer to follow and steps they must take. See Does it matter who owns my mortgage? below.
Changing Your Mortgage Payments
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Save Your Home From Mortgage And Tax Foreclosure
Philadelphias Foreclosure Prevention Program provides housing counseling and legal aid to help residents facing the loss of their homes due to mortgage or tax foreclosure. This program is funded by the Division of Housing and Community Development . Any Philadelphia homeowner who lives in the at-risk property may participate in the program.
To learn more, visit Save Your Home Philly or call 334-4663.
Philadelphia also offers a Foreclosure Prevention Grant Program. This program provides up to $3,000 to help homeowners who are three or more months behind on their mortgage to catch up.
Fha Second Lien Program :
If you have a second mortgage on the same property and it happens that the lender of your first mortgage agrees to take part in the Federal Housing Administration Short Refinance, you may be eligible for the reduction or total elimination of your second mortgage. If your second mortgage lender agrees to take part in the Federal Housing Administration Short Refinance, your total mortgage debt after the refinance cannot go beyond 115% of the present value of your home.
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What To Do When You Cant Pay Your Mortgage
If youre struggling to make mortgage payments, you need to swallow your fears and call your lender immediately. It may be possible to save your home through a forbearance or loan modification, says Bill Richardson, district sales manager for The Keyes Company, a real estate agency in Boca Raton, FL.
With a forbearance, a lender agrees to temporarily suspend your payment responsibilities. This is not free moneyitll be tacked onto the end of your loanbut it could give you a chance to get your finances back on track.
If youve had an income change thats created the hardship, the lender might be willing to review your finances and redraft your mortgage, adding time onto the overall loan in order to lower your monthly payments.
The most important thing you can do right now is focus all your efforts on assuring your lender that you can and will repay your home loan, so start making payments immediately and actively seek an appointment with a counselor or your lender to discuss your options, Lerner says.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developments Home Affordable Modification Program may also be an option for you. Administered by Fannie Mae, the program is designed to keep families in their homes and includes access to free counseling services for struggling homeowners.
Types Of Available Assistance
With the provided funds, each state and the District of Columbia developed programs to help homeowners facing foreclosure. Generally, the programs involve:
- mortgage payment assistance for unemployed or underemployed homeowners
- principal reductions to help homeowners get more affordable mortgages
- reinstatement assistance , and
- providing money to eliminate homeowners’ second lien loans.
Programs often change, so check your state’s official website to find out what’s available.
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