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Facing Foreclosure in Arizona?

The national real estate market is slowing. Interest rates are ticking up. And the phones are ringing at Arizona credit counselor, as Arizona homeowners start to panic about not being able to make their mortgage payments. The number of Arizona residents asking for appointments to talk about foreclosure is definitely up. Rising rates are really putting a crunch on Arizona homeowners with adjustable-rate loans.

Nearly a quarter of the nation's mortgages have rates scheduled to reset this year or next, which means higher payments for millions of homeowners. How many will default isn't known, but the Mortgage Bankers Association, which tracks delinquencies and foreclosures, expects a "modest" uptick in both by the end of the year. If you're in danger of falling behind on your mortgage, or if you're already delinquent, it's important to know what's ahead and what your options are. Usually, the faster you move, the more choices you'll have about your financial future in Arizona.

Your Arizona Foreclosure Timeline

30 days: Your Arizona Foreclosure troubles actually start as soon as you miss a single payment. Arizona lenders may not contact you until you've skipped a second Arizona mortgage payment, but most will report the first late Arizona mortgage payment and every subsequent delinquency to the credit bureaus. Even a single late Arizona mortgage payment can devastate your credit score, the three-digit number that lenders use to help gauge your credit worthiness. Each subsequent "late" further decreases your score, making it more difficult and expensive to get a loan or a Arizona mortgage refinance that might help your situation. In addition, Arizona mortgage lenders typically tack on late fees of 5% or so for each missed payment.

90 days to one year: Eventually, if the Arizona mortgage payments aren't made, the Arizona lender will file a "notice of default" with the Arizona courthouse and send you a letter saying that the Arizona foreclosure process will start unless you make good the missing Arizona mortgage payments. How quickly the notice is filed depends on the individual Arizona lender. Some Arizona mortgage lenders will hold off if you contact them to work out a Arizona mortgage payment plan or otherwise explain your situation. Others are more aggressive and start the process as soon as possible to try to protect their investment.

foreclosures in phoenix az Arizona mortgage lenders may do it as early as 90 days, or as late as a year. It really depends on the Arizona mortgage lender's temperament. And usually, this notice means that the amount you owe has shot up as well, since the Arizona lender typically adds substantial fees to cover its legal costs. The notice of default is a big threshold. Once you get into that position, it's a whole different world. Your options are fewer.

The notice of default is generally picked up by the credit bureaus, further depressing your credit score and making refinancing your Arizona mortgage loan extremely difficult. In addition, the notice tips off scam artists that you're in trouble and may be vulnerable to various "equity skimming" schemes. One common ploy: The scam artist promises to take over your payments, but instead rents out your Arizona home and keeps the rent payments as pure profit. Your Arizona home goes into Arizona foreclosure, your credit is trashed and you've lost any equity you had in the Arizona home.

90 days more: Arizona borrowers typically have 90 days from the notice of default to make up the deficit before the Arizona lender sends out a "notice of sale," which sets a sale date for the your Arizona home (typically within the next 15 to 30 days). Some Arizona lenders will allow you to keep your original Arizona mortgage loan if you can make up the missing Arizona mortgage payments plus any late fees and legal charges. Other Arizona lenders will insist you in a Arizona mortgage refinance with another Arizona lenders. You can also halt your Arizona foreclosure, at least temporarily, by filing a lawsuit or filing for bankruptcy. For either legal option to work, you'll have to be able to come up with a Arizona mortgage payment plan to fix the deficit.

Your Arizona Foreclosure Options

Arizona mortgage lenders today typically offer a variety of solutions for people who have fallen behind on their Arizona mortgage. Here is our experience:

(1) Temporarily reducing or waiving your Arizona mortgage payments.

(2) Setting up short-term repayment plans to help you make up the deficit.

(3) Adding the unpaid balance to the principal of your Arizona mortgage loan and increasing your Arizona mortgage payments slightly to cover the extra amount.

ACT QUICKLY

If you have certain types of Arizona mortgage loans, you may have even more options. If you have a mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration, for example, you may qualify for an interest-free (and payment-free) Arizona mortgage loan to get your mortgage current. The money doesn't need to be paid back until you pay off the mortgage or sell the house.

If you can work out a solution with the Arizona mortgage lender quickly enough, you can contain or even avoid serious damage to your credit. That's among the reasons MyOwnArizona typically urges you to call your Arizona mortgage lender as soon as you know you'll have trouble making a Arizona mortgage payment.

This is good advice, but trickier than it may seem at first, for two reasons:

(1) Arizona mortgage lenders can make it tough to get to the right people. The folks you want to talk to are in the "loss mitigation" department. But many Arizona mortgage lenders don't routinely route Arizona borrowers to that department until they've missed several payments. Until then, you might be dealing with the Arizona mortgage lender's collections department, which typically offers one option: Pay up now. If you're serious about keeping your Arizona home, you may have to really push to get to right people. The Arizona loss mitigation department is where the options are really going to open up.

(2) You have to be able to make the Arizona mortgage payments. If you agree to a Arizona mortgage lender's "workout" or "loan modification" solution and then fail to make the agreed-upon payments, you'll be in a world of hurt. At best, you'll have "a lot fewer options the second time around. More likely the Arizona mortgage lender will simply accelerate the Arizona foreclosure process.

This can be a big problem if the financial crisis that caused you to fall behind isn't over. If you don't know where you're going to get the money to make the Arizona mortgage payments, trying to work out a solution with your Arizona lender will be tough. If you're honest like that, Arizona mortgage lenders are not going to want to work with you. If you're dishonest, you breach the Arizona mortgage agreement.

That's no reason to hide from your Arizona mortgage lender or ignore their letters. Even if you can't work out an agreement, keeping in contact is usually the right choice: at least you know where you stand. Filing a Arizona lawsuit or bankruptcy carries similar risk: If you don't have the money to make the payments, the Arizona foreclosure can proceed, and you may have further damaged your credit score.

Steps to Get Out of The Arizona Foreclosure Mess

So what to do? First, you'll need to take a hard, clear-eyed look at your financial situation. To that end: make a budget. Sketch out a spending plan for the next several months, including expected income and expenses. See what costs you can trim to free up as much money as possible for Arizona home mortgage payments. You may need to pay the minimums, or even less, on other debts. In certain very limited circumstances -- such as when you are absolutely sure your financial hardship will be short-lived -- it may make sense to skip payments on some bills so you can pay your Arizona mortgage. Another option: borrowing money from friends or family, or tapping retirement funds. Do the latter only if you're convinced you can make future payments; you don't want to drain your retirement funds if you're only going to end up losing yur Arizona house.

Consider getting help. Legitimate credit counseling services, those associated with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling or the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies, typically have housing counselors that can help you evaluate your options. Or you can find a housing counseling agency approved by the Housing and Urban Development Department by calling (800) 569-4287. If you have a Veterans Administration loan, you can call (800) 827-1000 to get a referral to a financial counselor.

Check your Arizona mortgage refinance options. If you have equity in your Arizona home, your credit rating is relatively intact and your Arizona mortgage lender hasn't yet filed a notice of default, you may be able to get another Arizona mortgage loan with more affordable payments. An experienced Arizona mortgage broker, preferably one affiliated with the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, can let you know your options. Be cautious about jumping into another risky loan though: as an adjustable, interest-only or "option" mortgages might just put off the day of reckoning and you could find yourself facing even higher payments down the road.

Be realistic. Many times people struggle to hang on to a Arizona house that they simply can't afford when they'd be far better off without it. Some people are just too tied to their Arizona homes. It's just property. That may seem harsh, but it's far better to sell a Arizona home while you still have equity and some semblance of a credit score than to have it taken away in a Arizona foreclosure.

Get organized. If you are going to try for a Arizona mortgage loan modification, you'll need to prepare a small amount of documentation. The Arizona lender will specify what they want, but typically you'll need to supply the details of your financial situation, a budget, documentation of your hardship (a letter from your doctor explaining an income-reducing illness, for example, or your layoff notice from your Arizona employer) and a "hardship letter" that outlines, in detail, the circumstances that led you to fall behind and the improved prospects that will allow you to get your financial life back on track.

You may also want (or be required) to provide a market analysis of your house to document how much equity you have in your Arizona home. A MyOwnArizona real estate agent can typically prepare this for FREE in exchange for your business should you decide to sell: (520) 222-6929 or info@MyOwnArizona.com

Leaving Your Arizona Home

If a Arizona mortgage loan modification or Arizona mortgage loan refinance isn't possible or feasible, your options come down to these:

Sell the Arizona house. If you have enough equity in your Arizona home to allow you to pay off your Arizona mortgage in full, after deducting any Arizona real estate agent commissions, then a Arizona "quick sale" is usually your best option. You'll preserve what's left of your credit score and your equity, leaving you in a much better position should you want to buy another Arizona home in the future. Please contact a MyOwnArizona real estate agent to get started right away as the process can take a while: (520) 222-6929 or info@MyOwnArizona.com

Offer a deed in lieu of Arizona foreclosure. If you can't sell the Arizona house for what you owe, but you're not deeply "upside down" on your Arizona mortgage, this may be an option: you propose handing over the deed to your Arizona home and your Arizona lender agrees to release you from your Arizona mortgage. This usually keeps you from having to pay any deficit that might be owed on the Arizona property, while the Arizona lender avoids further legal costs related to a Arizona foreclosure.

Arizona mortgage lenders can't be forced to accept a deed, however. Typically, Arizona mortgage lenders require that the Arizona borrower make "a really good effort" to sell the Arizona home first, and show that their delinquency was due to "unavoidable hardship" before they'll agree to a deed in lieu of Arizona foreclosure. Please contact our Arizona Foreclosure and Arizona Short Sales experts at MyOwnArizona to get started right away as the process can take a while: (520) 222-6929 or info@MyOwnArizona.com

Negotiate a Arizona Short Sale. If you owe substantially more on your Arizona home than it's worth, you may be able to get the Arizona lender to accept less than it is owed by negotiating a Arizona "short sale." You essentially sell the Arizona house for whatever you can get, and the Arizona lender agrees to accept the proceeds and not go after you for the deficit. Immediately contact our Arizona Short Sales experts at MyOwnArizona to get started right away as the process can take a while: (520) 222-6929 or info@MyOwnArizona.com

A short sale can further damage your credit scores, often showing up as a "settlement" that indicates you paid less than you owed. You may also face an IRS bill on the unpaid debt, which is generally considered income to you. A skilled MyOwnArizona Arizona Short Sales negotiator may be able to avoid these consequences or at least minimize them, so you may want to consider having our experts find you an experienced attorney's help.

Allow the Arizona Foreclosure to proceed. This is generally the worst choice. In some states and in some circumstances, the Arizona lender can even go after you in court for any deficit between what the Arizona house eventually sells for and what you owe. An MyOwnArizona housing counselor can let you know if that's a possibility: (520) 222-6929 or info@MyOwnArizona.com

Even if the worst happens, though, the damage to your financial life needn't be permanent. If your situation improves, you may be able to get another Arizona mortgage lender, at a reasonable interest rate, within a few years. For more immediate help (520) 222-6929 or info@MyOwnArizona.com

Arizona Agents, Arizona Lenders, Arizona Title, Arizona Escrow, and Arizona Inspectors are all important members in the Arizona real estate purchasing process. They must be the highest level of service and they must work together as one. Your phoenix MyOwnArizona realtor is the best coach in assembling the MyOwnArizona Team. The top Arizona realtors serving the Phoenix area in the industry. Let our MyOwnArizona business professionals be of assistance to you and your needs.

Go ahead, Call or Text us right now at: (520) 222-6929.

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