Alternative Tactics That May Be Employed By Individuals Facing Foreclosure
Interviewer: Any other things do people try to list the house from the realtor and sell it and they’re behind or they try to refinance or any other strategies you want to share that leads to foreclosure or don’t help if you have foreclosure?
James Logan: Most people who come to see me aren’t pursuing those kinds of options because their goal is to hold on to the house. We do a lot of marketing for foreclosures and probably 30 percent of the mail comes back as vacant where people have already moved on and abandoned the houses. That’s a real problem because now, we have neighborhoods with all the houses that the banks aren’t foreclosing and their owners have moved on.
Trying to Sell the House or Refinance the Mortgage May be Considered as Viable Options
But those are certainly viable options if you start early enough. Refinancing is becoming more and more plausible as banks are loosening up on credits in a last few years. Obviously, in 2010 and 2011, at the height of the real estate crisis, you couldn’t get a loan or refinance unless you have a perfect credit and perfect income. A guy came in today and he said his bank will refinance him and if he can get his score up to 620. So, things are changing in that respect.
If A Person Decides to Do a Short Sale It is Imperative to Retain an Expert for this Purpose
I do have a friend who does a lot of short sales and that’s an option for people. If you do a short sale, you’re definitely want to find somebody who’s an expert in that because there’s a lot of issues with what happens to the amount that you’re not paying off – the deficiency. Do you have a tax liability? Are you going to be liable on it? Those are all issues that you want to be very clear about before you do a short sale.
