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What If You Owe More Than Your House is Worth

Posted Thursday, April 19, 2012

So you've purchased your dream home in your dream location thinking that you've already landed the perfect life for you and your family. Yet on the way to finalizing your success and trimming the rugged edges, something went wrong. You find your dream home now becoming a foreclosed property and nearing in the bank's possession, the housing market plummeting down, and eventually, leaving you owing more than your home's value. Refinancing in a closed lending market isn't an option thus you are left settling with an investment that has rotten in value and a dream that has quickly changed into a complete nightmare. Fortunately, there are other options you can opt for that may be able to help you get out of this financially tough situation.

Understand your real estate market. If you owe a greater amount of money on your loan than what the home's value is presently worth, your priority should be to improve your awareness regarding your own real estate market. Avoid panicking since this won't help at all. Any steps and procedures you carry out of fear and anxiety will most likely be the wrong choice to make. Analyze your housing market calmly and patiently. Find foreclosures within your community and assess the value and price others have settled for with their homes in your community. Check out your personal circumstances and compare it with similar circumstances.

Work on your present mortgage. If a modification is imperative, begin it with your present debt option. Every homeowner's circumstances are distinct, yet even if one is behind the scheduled repayments, they still have the capacity to opt for other choices under their present mortgage. If you are already behind your scheduled repayments for your existing mortgage scheme, one option to take into consideration is to request for a repayment scheme. Repayment schemes typically add a portion of the slacking balance to your predetermined monthly premium. Under the scheme, your account will become updated and your mortgage will be secured.

Short selling If your circumstances isn't really cutting you some slack and you desire to move out of the house immediately and sell my house, a viable option would be to execute a short sale. The process of short selling involves the debtor asking the lender to settle with a lower amount of repayment than the original and full amount of what you have on your outstanding balance. Before you sell my house, you should first consult with the lender regarding this option if you think you can look for a buyer while the sale remains lower than the value of your loan.