If you're looking at hard times, and have fallen behind on your Santa Cruz condo mortgage payments, you may already think it’s too late to save your home from foreclosure. But rest assured, you can take steps to keep your home and stop the process.
• One of the most important things to do is keep the lines of communication open with your lender. Most lenders would much rather avoid foreclosing on your Santa Cruz condo. If you call your lender as soon as you miss a payment, you may be able to qualify for a forbearance, which could cancel the payment that you are unable to make. You are unlikely to receive forbearance more than once, so make sure that you will be able to start making payments at the time the forbearance runs out.
• Of course, the simplest way to avoid foreclosure is to pay the total amount owed, including all the attorney’s fees. But, you probably wouldn't be worried about foreclosure if you were able to do that.
• If you are not able to make payments to get caught up, you still have one final option to keep your home. In some cases, filing bankruptcy can stop the foreclosure process. If your condo doesn’t have a lot of equity built up that could be used to pay off your debts, the courts may allow you to keep your home. The past due and current mortgage payments are included in a payment plan designed to get you out of debt in three to five years. The decision to file for bankruptcy protection should not be made without consulting with a lawyer
If the foreclosure process can’t be stopped, you still have the opportunity to keep your home. You have until the actual day of the Trustee’s Sale of your Santa Cruz condo to pay up what you’re behind, or make arrangements to be caught up on your loan.
After the sale, you enter a redemption period, during which you can get your home back if you’re able to satisfy the terms of your lender. You will likely have at least 180 days before the redemption period expires.
Do you have other real estate related questions? I'm happy to answer them for you. Call me today at 831.662.6522 or email me at lauren@laurenspencer.com
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