The 8 Best Ways to Prevent Foreclosure

Hey there! We hope to provide you some value here – we have created a quick 1-page guide for homebuyers to help you evaluate your options to prevent foreclosure. Think of this as a way to see which options apply to your situation then you can make the best choice for you.

If you are considering how to stop foreclosure and have even considered a short sale then this tool can be very helpful for you! Feel free to reach out to us to get this form free of charge, no strings attached.

Background: Why we took the time to review the options to stop foreclosure

Recently, I was talking to a homeowner, and unfortunately, she had recently lost her job. And she was facing some other hardships – as we all do from time to time, and unfortunately, she had missed a few payments on her mortgage. So, now she was going through the foreclosure process. It definitely is not a pleasant process – it is both emotionally draining and exhausting, and so she reached out to us to see if we would be able to help at all.

As you can see if you just watched the video – we just had a conversation about what kind of options she had to prevent foreclosure. So, here at Mike buys houses – we like to make sure that our homeowners know all the options that they have. If you are looking over the best ways to prevent foreclosure then you should consider reaching out to us. We may be able to help because we define help differently. Sure! We would love to buy your house and help you out, but to us – helping you will mean that we just help you pick the right option for your situation. We often explain to homeowners why we think they have other options – and usually, they appreciate the clarity we were able to provide. So that is how we helped them!

And we don’t always buy the property and we’re upfront about that. We’re trying to do right by the homeowners that we work with.

So I told her that she has 8 options when she’s facing foreclosure. And these are the eight options I told her about.

Option One to Avoid Foreclosure

List with a Realtor

So the first option that we talked about, as I mentioned, is to list your home with a realtor. We put this as the first option because we are honest and we understand that for the majority of people this is the most common and often best way to sell a property.

This often works especially when the property is in good condition and you have some equity. So if that’s, the combination that fits your situation, then listing with a realtor is definitely a good option that will get you top dollar. It may take a little bit of time, so you need start selling your house with a realtor early in the foreclosure process.

Especially if you are planning to sell the property to conventional buyers sometimes that can take, 30 to 60 days to close. So if you were to list your house with a realtor today and sell your house today – it will still probably take 45 days to sell your house with a realtor. So you want to make sure, especially that you have time before that auction date if you are selling your house with a realtor. But, that’s a great way to avoid foreclosure if you have equity and the property is in pretty good condition and you have the time.

Again, if you don’t have equity, then you’ll be paying to sell the property. Because don’t forget, you’re going to have to pay the Realtor, and that will cost about 5-6%. And, of course, there’s always some clean up some kind of fixing up that the new homeowners are going to want you to do after the inspection report is returned

In conclusion: option number one of the best ways to prevent foreclosure is to list you house with a realtor – and to do this you will need time, equity, and a house that doesn’t need much updates or repairs.

Option Two to Avoid Foreclosure

Get a personal loan

One of the best ways to avoid foreclosure is to get a personal loan from someone in your network. That means is you can reach out to someone in your network either someone in your family, a relative, or somebody you know from work or from church.

You just need the help of someone in your network, who has access to the money and can get that personal loan done for you in time.

Oftentimes, it’s going to be a lot cheaper than going out to the banks and trying to get something done with the banks. Also, banks are going to be much more stringent with their demands, while someone in your network may be more lenient with the costs, they will charge you.

It’s definitely going be a lot easier to just talk to somebody you know, to get that short-term loan to catch up on your payments, and especially if the situation that caused the foreclosure has ended.

Then this is a great way to avoid foreclosure and not have any impact on your credit or any outstanding credit card debt or anything like that.

So option number two of the best ways to prevent foreclosure is to get a personal loan from someone in your network to help you with how to avoid a foreclosure

Option Three to Avoid Foreclosure

Loan Modification/Refinance

One of the most common ways to stop foreclosure is to do a loan modification or refinance the loan if possible. So, what that usually looks like is you’ll reach out to your bank that holds the mortgage, and you let them know what’s going on in your situation and how you think in the future you’ll be able to continue with your payments.

So at that point, the bank will potentially work with you to get the loan current – this usually looks like some type of proof from you that you will be able to pay your loans again.  Then the bank will take the money that you have owed on your mortgage and add that into the loan amount while charging you some fees.

This is definitely something you want to reach out to the bank for – this may take a while, so again, this is something you want to get started early in the foreclosure process.

And there’s no guarantee that even if you get further along in the process for a loan modification they accept your loan modification application so it is something you want to start early and It’s definitely not a guarantee.

This is just something to keep in mind.

So option number three of the best ways to prevent foreclosure is to do a loan modification.

Option Four to Avoid Foreclosure

Make it a Rental

Option four to prevent a foreclosure is to turn the property into a rental.

So, this isn’t going to work for everyone. You definitely need somewhere to move, somewhere to go. In the meantime, what you can do is turn the property into a rental, so it starts making you money instead of costing you money. Again, that’s going to come with the headaches of being a landlord, which not everyone wants, and the time commitment that it will take as well as going through all the paperwork and stuff like that. But an option for you to avoid foreclosure is to turn that house into a rental and start making money on the house rather than losing money.

So option number four of the best ways to avoid foreclosure is to make the house a rental.

Option Five to Avoid Foreclosure

Fix and Flip

Option six of the best ways to stop foreclosure is to renovate the property and list It for top dollar – this is what I plan on doing.

So this is definitely a great option. If the property needs work and you have access to some capital so you can fix the property up a little bit, then this is definitely something to consider, especially if you’re in a market where sellers are able to kind of dictate their price. Then this may be a great way to avoid foreclosure and maybe set yourself up for the next step in your life.

You may be saying, that sounds amazing and I love watching HGTV, but I don’t have the money or the experience & that is exactly where Mike Buys Houses is able to help homeowners facing foreclosure.  We partner with homeowners for a fix and flip when the situation calls for it – reach out at 267-984-4765 and see if we may be able to work together to get your house in top condition.

We may be able to help you sell your house quickly and move on to the next step whether that’s to buy another house or to rent for a little bit, whatever the next step is,a great option to prevent foreclosure is to renovate your property, get it looking really nice and then listed with a top real estate agent.

So option number five of the best ways to prevent foreclosure is to renovate it and list it with an agent.

Option Six to Avoid Foreclosure

Bankruptcy

Option 6 when trying to avoid a foreclosure is to declare bankruptcy.

So, what you’re going to want to do in this situation is talk to a local attorney in your area who specializes in bankruptcy and see what they advise for your specific situation because there are two different types of bankruptcy that you can declare.

And you’re going to want to make sure you declare the right one for your situation.

If that’s the route you want to go now, be advised that it is going to cost you money to consult with the bankruptcy attorney, and then on the same note, after you declare bankruptcy, there’s going to be some impact on your credit for sure.

So, that’s something to keep in mind when you’re deciding what to do. So, whether you declare bankruptcy or, go through the foreclosure process. Either way, it’s going to impact your credit scores. It’s Just something to consider when you’re evaluating your options

That’s option Number six of the best ways to prevent foreclosure and that is to declare bankruptcy.

Option Seven to Avoid Foreclosure

Cash Sale

Option number seven when trying to avoid a foreclosure is to sell your home for cash.

So usually that would be to someone who’s a home buyer like me here at Mike Buys Houses. And what that looks like is you would reach out to me, at 267-984-4765 or fill out the form here. And we’ll reach back out to you and learn a little bit more about your situation. At that point, we would take 24 to 48 hours to draw up an offer for you via cash. And with that, the benefits are that we can usually close within 14 to 30 days. We can even close in as little as seven days if that is what you need. So this is one of the options that you have if you’re later along in the foreclosure process.

The benefits of a cash sale are numerous:

It is ‘As-Is’

No Repairs. No Cleanup.

I’ve mentioned before that in one of our projects, we even let the people leave everything that was in the house that they didn’t want, and we took care of getting rid of it. So the benefit to selling cash is the convenience.

It’s as is, and it’s fast. And it is guaranteed. So if that’s an option that you’re looking at the best ways to prevent foreclosure, then you can reach out to me.

Option number seven is to sell for cash to a home buyer like me at Mike Buys Houses.

Option Eight to Avoid Foreclosure

Sell Creatively

Option number eight to avoid foreclosure is to sell your property to a creative buyer like me here, at Mike Buys houses. This is a really good option because it allows us to tailor these creative options to your specific situation. So, if you’re facing foreclosure, creative options are definitely going to be something that you’re going to want to look into, especially if you’re later on in the process.

Creative offers can help you sell your property in as little as a week, sometimes even less, so it’s definitely a good option if you’re later in the foreclosure process or anywhere along the process.

My personal favorite reason to do this option with homeowners who are facing foreclosure is because it makes US teammates.

We’re working together, and in the long run, it’s going to actually increase your credit and improve your credit rather than going through foreclosure, which we know is going to hurt your credit in the long run.

So this teamwork process really allows us to work together, and we can provide you a creative solution and improve your credit while also improving your chances to buy a house after a foreclosure.  One of the biggest questions that we always here is “Why avoid foreclosure?” And the honest answer is that it becomes extremely difficult to buy your next house after a foreclosure.

So what is the best way to prevent foreclosure? Well, it is to sell your house to me. 

I cannot make any guarantees about the future but I can usually help speed up the process when homeowners want to know “can I buy a house after a foreclosure?”  The answer is it depends, but when working with me those chances are definitely going to improve. Ask me how at 267-984-4765.

Another benefit is that you can sell the property as is, so it’s super easy. You don’t have to do any work, and even if you don’t have any equity, this is going to work.

A lot of times homeowners reach out to us because they don’t have equity and they found out that they were going to have to pay money to sell their house to avoid foreclosure. So if you are looking to avoid foreclosure and wondering how to sell my underwater house then we can help!

So a lot of times, homeowners with no equity will reach out to us, and these creative options where we become teammates really work out in those situations.

And yes, so if you’re facing foreclosure, creative options may be a great option for you to avoid foreclosure. You can get your options by calling me at 267-984-4765 Or you can fill out the form here:

Either myself or my partner, Bill will reach out to you and we’ll collect more information about your situation.

And we will see how we can get some creative options out to you.