360 Real Estate Group

Capitulation II

In my last post I mentioned the trend of homeowners finally giving up on their properties, and just resigning themselves to letting their homes get foreclosed on. This has been happening even when homeowners have a great deal to lose โ€“ tens of thousands of dollars for example. I also mentioned a couple in Alhambra who were about to let their home go into foreclosure, but who by working with us instead, earned about $40,000. A happy ending, as it were.

Today I am going to talk about another man who gave up on his property. I will call him Clarence. I knocked on his door on 3 separate occasions. Each time I saw him, he was polite, but told me that he had the situation under control. He told me that he was going to refinance to cure the foreclosure. To get to the point, he did not refinance. He did not qualify for a refinance, as I had told him on two occasions. The last time I saw him was about 8 days before the auction date.

On that occasion he looked sad, but was still polite. He told me that he had given up. He said that the house was going to be foreclosed on, and that was that. I knew that this man had about $140,000 in equity. Immediately I told him that I could help. But to my dismay, he declined. He was just too tired of disappointment, and frustration. He could not bring himself to do one more thing regarding the house.

Eight days later the house was foreclosed on. He moved in the middle of the night, and did not leave a forwarding address. He did not earn one penny to help move forward with his life.

I mention this as a cautionary tale. When in foreclosure, it is best to get the help of a professional early. And even though everyone hopes to get a modification and save their home, it is important to realize that most people will not qualify for this. When in foreclosure you need to know about ALL of your options, including liquidation for the most money possible. If and when the time comes that your first choice does not work, knowing your next best option in advance can give you the strength to move forward, and not give up on the very strategy that can put money back in your pocket.

In the world of foreclosure, the endings are not always happy. But you can almost always set the limits on damage control.

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