Foreclosure Help Overview

When is it time for you to work out your real estate loan?  Which procedure is best: Loan Modification, Short Sale or Deed In Lieu Of Foreclosure?  These are tough questions to answer.  Let the following guidelines help you make that decision.

When should you apply to modify your loan?   

• If you are two months late in payments.
• If you have experienced hardship and cannot afford your loan or your loan modification anymore (your loan payment is more than 31% of your net gross income, adjusted if self-employed) or
• If you loan or loan modification is within 90 days of adjusting up and you cannot afford that payment (same test).

When should you short sell and get rid of your loan entirely?

• If you are two months late in payments.
• When your loan plus 5% real estate commission and 2% selling costs is more than 115% of the value of your property.

When should give your lender a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure? 

• If you are two months late in payments.
• When you have unsuccessfully tried to short sell at fair market value represented by a real estate agent other than yourself for 90 days.

If you meet this criterion, go to the page that relates to your Option.

Watch Marilyn's YouTube Video to help you understand how to workout your loan. The video is geared toward the government program which expired in 2016, but the same standards are most likely applied by lenders today.  This video was created in 2009 and must be understood as something from the past, but similar standards likely still apply now in 2024. The website shown in the video is a former design.  

Marilyn specialized in Loan Modifications and Short Sales following the 2008 real estate recession. She no longer handles Loan Modifications but offers the helpful tools free of charge in the Store.  Go to the Loan Modification page for more. She still handles Short Sales. Go to the Short Sale page for more.

Email Marilyn by clicking the Contact Us Link on the bottom right of your screen if you have questions.