Massachusetts Foreclosure

 

Nicholas F. Ortiz Attorney & Counselor At Law 306 Dartmouth Street Suite 501 Boston, MA 02116 Tel: (617) 338-9400 Fax: (617) 507-3456 Email: nfo@mass-legal.com   Attorney Debt Review   Click Here to Read What Some Recent Clients Have Been Saying

Massachusetts Foreclosure.... You Have Options If you are having trouble making mortgage payments, it's a good idea to know your options.  It is not too early to start thinking about a plan even when you are up-to-date in payments.  There are six options when mortgage payments become a problem.  They are not the only options, but are straightforward and field tested.  1. Financial management: Though easier said than done, you can try to increase income or decrease expenses to make that mortgage payment.  When your payment is increasing because of a variable interest rate, this can feel like chasing a moving train. 2. Negotiate with your lender:  If the lender will allow you to do a reasonable payment plan to pay back arrears, this may work for you.  Look carefully at the terms of the deal. 3. Sell the house or condo:  This is better than foreclosure for credit reporting reasons and usually for price reasons.  Although you will likely have a real estate broker's commission to pay and finding a buyer in today's market is not easy, the price will not be set at an auction on your lawn.  In some cases, especially when you have some equity in your house (equity = the value after paying off secured debts like mortgages), Chapter 13 bankruptcy can be used to stop a foreclosure and allow you to sell the house yourself while you are in bankruptcy protection. 4. Refinance. This is one of the more dangerous paths to take because their are many scammers and predators out there who will offer you very attractive deals that will fall apart at the last minute.  Some of these people will then ask you to deed your house over to them and live in it as a tenant with a buyback option.  These are usually very, very bad deals that end up with the former homeowners being evicted from their former homes.  There are honest dealers out there, but tread carefully. 5. Give the house or condo back to the lender:  This is for when you do not have equity in a home and just want out.  It is sometimes possible to negotiate a deed in lieu of foreclosure outside of bankruptcy.  Inside of bankruptcy "surrendering" a property to a mortgage lender can make a lot of sense if you have no equity.  By doing this, you avoid the foreclosure process and walk away free and clear from what may end up being a sizable deficiency debt from the foreclosure sale.  What this means is that outside of bankruptcy you owe the difference between what the house fetches at auction and the amount of the mortgage pay off (which is increased during the foreclosure process by attorneys' fees and costs).  In bankruptcy you can discharge this "deficiency" debt. 6. Cure your default in Chapter 13 bankruptcy, make the normal mortgage payment, and keep your home:  This is the classic Chapter 13 bankruptcy in which you start making your normal mortgage payment again and an additional amount to pay back arrears over time. Chapter 13 bankruptcy is the only way to make the lender take the back amounts you owe over time (3-5 years). Unless you can come up with all the unpaid mortgage payments, late fees, legal fees, and other costs right away your lender will usually just proceed with foreclosure. Besides saving your home by immediately stopping foreclosure, Chapter 13 bankruptcy often provides a substantial added benefit of paying off unsecured debt (like credit cards) and reducing the amounts owed on debts like some car loans.   If you are facing foreclosure and want to stop it, you should consider contacting me. My office handles Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies and fights foreclosure for regular people going through tough times.   Click here to read more about Bankruptcy in Massachusetts

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