Not all stopping foreclosure stories have a happy ending. This is one of those Massachusetts foreclosure stories that didn’t end how we wanted, but has some learning lessons that are very valuable to a homeowner in foreclosure.
Table of Contents
- Introduction (#introduction)
- The Urgent Situation (#the-situation)
- The Behind the Scenes of the foreclosure process (#behind-the-scenes)
- Efforts Made to Stop the Foreclosure (#efforts-to-stop)
- Conclusion (#conclusion)
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The Urgent Situation
Friday evening on the 12th of September, a seller calls us, Bluefin Property Buyers, a company that We Buy Houses in Massachusetts. She wants to initially meet on Monday, the 15th. After hearing her situation and finding out that the foreclosure date is on the 17th, I push to meet on Monday as time is of the essence.
Every moment is precious, but some moments are more precious than others. The day that you get married or the birth of a child. While we have a lot of moments, those are the ones that will be remembered in the end… Not the one of me typing up this blog posting!
When it comes to foreclosures. There are a lot of moments in the foreclosure process, but the important ones. The REALLY important ones are towards the end. The more moments you have, then the higher likelihood of being able to stop a foreclosure. But more on that and why shortly.
The Behind the Scenes of the Foreclosure Process
There are a lot of parties involved in a foreclosure. You have the property owner who is being foreclosed on, the Servicer who most people refer to the bank, the investor who is the one that actually owns the mortgage, the foreclosing attorney and the auctioneer.
Phew. It’s a lot of people and a lot of moving parts which is why time is so important. Now it is possible, however rare, that a Servicer and the investor being the same entity. So when a final decision is made by an investor to stop a foreclosure… It takes time for that decision to be passed down through the chain of command.
Efforts Made to Stop the Foreclosure
On Saturday, the seller and Bluefin Property Buyers which is one of the top home buying companies in Massachusetts came to an agreement on the price. Selling the house would pay off the bank, pay off a large utility bill and put a sizeable chunk of change in the homeowners pocket. Now, all we needed to do was to stop foreclosure Massachusetts.
But as I said earlier, time was of the essence and it being Saturday… There were only four days until the foreclosure. Well kind of four days. More on that in a couple of moments.
With four days, we burned one day as it was Sunday and no one in the foreclosure department works on Sunday. And that is important because most people think that one department handles it all. And that’s not the case. Most banks have a loss mitigation department and then an additional department to handle properties within the last 30 days of foreclosure.
The foreclosure postponement package was put together and ready to be sent out Monday morning. The Servicer confirmed the fax number it needed to be sent to. But and here is the catch and it is with most banks/servicers… It took 24 hours for this Servicer to be able to upload the package so they could see it.
During this time we also reached out to the law office, but these law offices are really good at holding off a foreclosed party’s ability to talk to the attorney foreclosing on their house. This particular law office requires you to leave a message and wait for the law office to call back.
So more waiting. Essentially a day is burned throughout this process. A very important day.
This left us the day before closing. I called and spoke to someone in the morning who now had all the files. And NOW they give me the contact information for that… If it isn’t a secret department, then it is a voluntary omission foreclosure department.
Now that I have this new department’s contact information, I am now able to send the foreclosure postponement package directly to them. And speak directly to the ones… That almost are the ones that make the decision.
It is these guys that have the direct line to the investor. The investor is the one that makes the actual decision. I called and spoke to the fine people in this department 6 times on Tuesday. Asking for updates. Hoping and praying.
I called them at 7pm on Tuesday for a final update. Hoping that it was good news. I was told that the investor is still considering it. Here is the rub and why what seemed like 4 days was really only 3 days. And one of those being a weekend really meant it was only two days.
This foreclosure department opened at 8am… Mountain Time. The foreclosure was set for 10am on the 17th. I still called at 10am, but no decision had been made.
And when I say no decision had been made, I really mean the decision of foreclosing on the homeowner had been made.
Conclusion and Takeaways
What’s the takeaway here? If you are a homeowner, then don’t wait until the last minute. Two days is not a comfortable enough amount of time to stop a foreclosure.
In the last month or two, we have stopped 7 foreclosures. We were shooting 100%. There were a couple of close calls. Especially with one bank not willing to give a 7 day extension as we waited for a license to sell from the state, but we had been able to perform for every single one of those property owners.
Stopping a foreclosure isn’t easy. If you want to learn more about stopping Foreclosure in Massachusetts, then please reach out. You need a lot of documentation and the documentation has to be perfect. They will reject that paperwork for the smallest reason. Experience matters when it comes to stopping foreclosures, but it’s never guaranteed… Even when you are dealing with someone experienced.
Not guaranteed… That is a phrase the servicer said over and over again. This foreclosure extension is not guaranteed. Not guaranteed.
It’s true. It isn’t guaranteed, but the more time you give yourself to act, then the more options you have and the higher likelihood of avoiding foreclosure and all the devastating consequences of it.
If you are looking to avoid foreclosure MA and time is ticking so you need to sell house fast Massachusetts, then selling to an investor may be your best option to avoid foreclosure. Bluefin Property Buyers buy homes all throughout Massachusetts and can help homeowners find an investor throughout the entire country.
If you are facing foreclosure, then know there are a lot of foreclosure prevention resources available. Sometimes it’s nice to read, but if you are actually wanting to talk to a real person, then please reach out. We are foreclosure prevention experts.
Reach out to the best We Buy Houses Massachusetts type company! We buy houses fast and in as-is condition.