There are various methods to postpone a foreclosure of your home. Most of the methods are completely dependent upon the whim of your lender or provide only temporary relief. Only a Chapter 13 filing can give you permanent foreclosure relief. Here are the various methods and how they operate to postpone a foreclosure sale. Some methods require the help of an attorney, and some you can do on your own.
How to Postpone a Foreclosure Sale With Bankruptcy San Diego
Among the most common ways to postpone a foreclosure with or without bankruptcy in San Diego, include: loan modification, short sale, Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and Chapter 13 bankruptcy. If you have a house in foreclosure, you may have tried one or more of these methods. If you have been denied a loan modification, or were unable to complete a short sale, you may be at risk of losing your home any day. If you are facing an imminent foreclosure sale date and want to know your options to postpone a foreclosure, here are your options, how they work, and whether or not you’ll need a lawyer.
Loan Modification
With loan modification, you submit an application to your lender requesting that your loan be modified. Many people are able to do this without the help of an attorney, but obtaining the advice of a lawyer may significantly increase your chances of success. Typically, but not always, while your lender is reviewing your application, it will postpone your foreclosure sale date. If your lender grants you a modification, it will typically apply your missed payments to the back end of your loan, resulting in your loan becoming current. The problem is, that most loan modification applications are denied. Many large institutional lenders have reported modifying only 5% of modification applications. If your application is denied, your house goes to foreclosure, sometimes with only days notice and not enough time even to file a bankruptcy San Diego. Because of the high likelihood of a modification request being denied, a loan modification application usually results in only a temporary postponement of your foreclosure and ultimately end up losing your home.
Short Sale
A short sale is where you sell your property even though you owe more on your loan(s) than what your property is worth. Because the sale price of your house will not cover all of the outstanding loans, you need to obtain your lender’s consent to do the sale. After you’ve found a qualified buyer, while your lender is reviewing your short sale request, your lender will typically, but not always, postpone your foreclosure. You won’t need a lawyer, but you will likely need a good short sale broker. You should ask a San Diego bankruptcy attorney for a referral for a good short sale broker in San Diego. Bankruptcy attorneys frequently deal with short sale brokers and will know who the best brokers in town are. The granting of short sale requests is more common than the granting of loan modification application. So your chances are usually better that you can obtain short sale approval than a loan modification. However, a short sale, by definition (it is a “sale” of your home), means that you will ultimately be losing your home. Therefore, a postponement of a foreclosure sale based on a short sale, is always a temporary postponement.
Chapter 7
A Chapter 7 bankruptcy will postpone a foreclosure. You will definitely need a San Diego bankruptcy lawyer to assist you. Upon the filing of a Chapter 7 case, the automatic stay goes into effect and stops any foreclosure sale. Your lender will usually continue the foreclosure sale date one month at a time, so that it can complete the foreclosure sale once your Chapter 7 proceeding is completed, or until your lender’s attorney obtains permission from the court to do a foreclosure notwithstanding your Chapter 7 filing. Obtaining permission to go forward with a foreclosure is called obtaining “relief” from the automatic stay. When your bankruptcy is completed, or if your lender obtains relief from the stay, the foreclosure sale can go forward. So a Chapter 7 filing will only temporarily postpone a foreclosure sale.
Chapter 13
The filing of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, can postpone a foreclosure sale permanently and let you save your home from foreclosure. As with Chapter 7, you will definitely need a good bankruptcy attorney to assist you. You will also want to make sure you select a bankruptcy attorney who is a Chapter 13 specialist. In a Chapter 13 case, you repay your missed mortgage payments over time, thus bringing your loan current. When you file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy in San Diego, and assuming that you file it with the help of a lawyer who is an experienced Chapter 13 specialist, you can save your home. If your attorney knows what he or she is doing, and executes your Chapter 13 filing flawlessly, your Chapter 13 will do more than postpone your foreclosure sale. It will permanently stop the foreclosure and save your house.
