Selling Your San Diego Home During a Foreclosure? It Can Be Done

Foreclosure can feel like a scary and hopeless situation for many San Diego homeowners. What many of them don’t know is that you can sell your San Diego home during a foreclosure. Yes, even if you have defaulted on the loan, you can still sell your home.

How does a foreclosure begin?

Foreclosures begin with a notice to the San Diego homeowner that they have missed four payments. The entire process of foreclosure can take several months and each case is unique. Much depends on the loan company or bank that holds the note.

The “Pre-Foreclosure Period”

Your San Diego home is essentially yours until the time that the bank gains possession of it after the auction. As long as the home is still yours, you are still free to sell it. This time is considered the “pre-foreclosure” time when negotiations between you and your lender are underway to settle your debt.

If you are able to sell your home during this time, you can take the money that you get and pay off the back payments, penalties, interest, and any fees in order to settle your debt. This is great for many reasons. You won’t ruin your credit by going through a foreclosure and you will still be able to get a home loan when you find another home in the future.

What is a short sale?

Another way out is to agree to a short sale. A short sale is where you sell your San Diego home for less than all that is owed against it. Many lenders will agree to this because foreclosures are just as much of a headache to them as they are to you. Lenders lose money on foreclosures and there are lots of legal and financial procedures that they would rather avoid. They also don’t want to go through the whole process of reselling and refinancing your home to someone else either.

If you are in considering a short sale, we can help. We have experience working with distressed San Diego homeowners and can pay cash for your house. Call us today to see what we can do for you.

Talk to your lender early on

Consider talking to your lender and letting them know of your intentions to sell. This can cause them to look favorably on your case and postpone the foreclosure in order to allow you time to sell. Tell them that you intend to apply all of the funds from the sale to the loan.

Work with your lender not against them

If you fail to make loan payments for too long, foreclosure is inevitable. It is better to talk to your lender even before the foreclosure notice is given when you think that it may be unavoidable in the future. Lenders are much more likely to work with you if they know you are open and willing than if you attempt to hide from them.

Some of the solutions that you and your lender might come up with are:

• Adjusting your interest rate – Just adjusting your interest rate alone can make it to where you can pay the monthly payments and your bank will likely look favorably at this option as opposed to foreclosure.
• Restructuring of the loan – Lenders will often be willing to allow you a missed payment or even tack a payment onto the end of the loan and stretch the loan out longer.

• Suspending payments for a time – Be honest with your lender. Let them know if your situation is merely temporary and ask them to suspend your payments through the hardship while you agree to resume payments at the designated date.

You yourself might be able to come up with some solutions by rethinking things in your life.

• Liquidation– If you have any way to get the money to catch up on payments and avoid foreclosure, do so. Losing your boat or your precious jewels is far less of a loss than the loss of your home and the devastating, long-term hit to your credit.
• Earn more or save more – Find creative new ways to earn money or save. Take on part-time work or cut back on luxuries for a time in order to catch up.

Foreclosure doesn’t have to be the end of the world. You can still come out on top if you pull out all the stops and don’t give up. It can even be a new beginning for you to gain control of your life once again.

If you find yourself facing this situation, contact our team today to see what options we can help make available to you.