Facing Pre-Foreclosure or Foreclosure Copy

We are now in a world where everything is more expensive.  It’s easy to fall behind or just not earn enough money to cover all of your expenses.  If you find yourself falling behind on your mortgage here is a timeline for the foreclosure process.

Foreclosure Timeline in Washington:

1. First missed mortgage payment (the countdown begins).
2. In Washington state after 3 missed mortgage payments the lender issues a Notice of Default (if you don’t take action with in 30 days of the letter the lender will issue a Notice of Sale).
3. Next is Pre-Foreclosure (you will have 90 days once you receive the Notice of Sale until the lender puts the property up for auction).
4. Once home goes to auction the homeowner(s) are likely to be evicted.

What can you do?

1. Contact your lender to discuss options (catching up on missed payments to prevent foreclosure).
2. Possibly modifying loan terms with the lender to make it more affordable to your budget.
3. Refinance home.
4. Sell home (keep your equity).
5. Short Sale (file hardship paperwork and work with the bank.  Put the home up for sale and not ruin your credit). Short Sale are often done when the seller doesn’t have any equity in their home (they are upside down they owe more than what the home is worth).  Don’t let the title fool you short sales are anything but short.  There is a lot of paperwork and hoops you have to jump through.  If the sale is successful it will save your credit and you will not have a foreclosure on your record (which affects your credit for at least 7 years and drops you credit score by at least 100 points if not more).