Can I Sell My House If I’m Behind on My Mortgage?

Real Estate Advice

FALLING BEHIND ON YOUR MORTGAGE

Paying a mortgage can get hard at times. What if you fall behind on your payments? Well, don’t worry you have 120 days, to either pay or sell your home. After these 120 days, your lender can legally reclaim your home and sell it. This means you will need to leave. If you were to just miss one payment you could receive a foreclosure notice in the mail. Going through a foreclosure can impact you in many ways.

For example,

  • Drop your credit score by as much as 300 points or more.
  • Make it hard to get a credit card.
  • Hard to get an auto loan.
  • Hard to get a cellphone plan.
  • Most importantly, makes it hard to get another mortgage.

All those things can take years to re-obtain and rebuild your credit score.

FORECLOSURE AND SHORT SALES

If you wanted to sell your home, that is still an option. However, you have until the day the foreclosure takes place to sell on your own. Before you do that though you need to check if your home is worth more or less than what you owe on your mortgage. Being worth more would be the best, you can then sell your home and use the profits to pay back your lender. If your home is not worth more than you owe then you have the option for a short sale. Which is selling your home for very low knowing you will fall short of what you owe. Going through a short sale, your real estate agent can help you negotiate terms with the bank regarding repair costs, transfers, and, fees. Going through a short sale will do less damage to your credit score compared to a foreclosure. Another benefit to doing a short sale is you get to stay in the home until the sale is complete, unlike a foreclosure.

OTHER OPTIONS

There are other options you could do if you do not want to go through selling your home.

  • Mortgage forbearance.
  • Loan modification.

These are two things you might be able to work out with your lender and get back on track. First, let’s talk about the first option.

MORTGAGE FORBEARANCE

You can consider this as a break from making payments. If you lost your job or any emergencies come up in your life this could be your best option. Unlike a foreclosure and short sale, this does not impact your credit score at all. Now let’s look at your second option.

LOAN MODIFICATION

This is a negotiation with your lender about your payments. You can skip a few payments but your lender will add on those payments later on to your loan. This could be helpful if you are going through something and need money to pay another important thing.

SELLING YOUR HOME TO A CASH HOME BUYER

So, can I sell my home if I’m behind on my mortgage? The answer is yes you can. Either hire a local real estate agent to help you negotiate terms with your bank or, qualify for one of the other options.

One of the fastest ways to sell your home if you have fallen behind on your house mortgage payments to a cash home buyer in your area. These cash buyers typical can buy the property quickly even if you are behind on your mortgage payments.