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How to Avoid a Short Sale or Foreclosure in Maryland

By Margaret Woda

Real Estate Agent with Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.

April 10, 2008 12:30 PM

Maryland offers three programs that may provide relief for homeowners concerned about increasing monthly payments or late payments on their mortgage. Hopefully one of these programs will be just what you need for buying time to address whatever financial challenges you face.

"Denial" may be your greatest obstacle to avoiding a short sale or foreclosure. Pretending there's no problem, leaving mail from your mortgage company unopened, and not answering your phone are three things that will NOT put you on a path to financial recovery. (Sound familiar?)

On the other hand, one of these three programs from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development may help. Don't you owe it to yourself and your family to at least look into them?

woman - istockphoto

1. LIFELINE REFINANCE MORTGAGE PROGRAM

Maryland's Community Development Administration's (CDA) Lifeline Refinance Mortgage program provides a refinancing option to Marylanders who may be facing difficulties after financing their homes with adjustable rate or other unfavorable mortgages, or with mortgages that no longer fit their financial situation.

2. BRIDGE TO HOPE

This statewide program, administered by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development's Community Development Administration (CDA), provides Maryland homeowners with short-term relief to maintain homeownership by preventing residential mortgage foreclosures resulting from borrowers experiencing financial difficulty caused by either a sub-prime or exotic mortgage, such as a negative amortization loan or an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) loan that has, or is preparing to, reset.

3. HOMESAVER REFINANCE PROGRAM

The Community Development Administration's (CDA) Homesaver Refinance Mortgage Program provides a refinancing option to Marylanders who have sub-prime or exotic mortgages and are experiencing difficulties as a result of mortgage default, low credit scores and/or a mortgage greater than the current value of their home. The Maryland Housing Fund (MHF), the State's mortgage insurance agency, is the exclusive mortgage insurer for this program.

There are income and property value limits for all of these programs, so they won't work for everyone. But you may be one of the many homeowners for whom Maryland DOES have a solution.

If all this seems overwhelming, don't panic. Give me a call and I'll put you in touch with one of the lenders approved by Maryland Community and Economic Development Association.

Thank you Bob Lockhoff, Wells Fargo Mortgage, for making me aware of these programs.

INFORMATION FOR CONSUMERS:

How to Avoid Foreclosure in Crofton and Anne Arundel County Maryland
If you're a Crofton or Anne Arundel County resident and behind in your mortgage payments, the #1 piece of advice I have for you is this: OPEN YOUR MAIL! Avoiding notices from your lender is one of the surest ways to find yourself in foreclosure, because you may overlook proposals...

Maryland Home Sellers, New Relief for Short Sales
Most Maryland home owners won't be affected by the new tax bill signed by President Bush yesterday, but anyone who purchased or refinanced their home in the past 2-3 years could be, if the loan balance is higher than today's selling price. That situation is known as a "short sale"...

RELATED LINK:

Your Online Relocation Package for Anne Arundel County Maryland
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Karen Luke

South Metro Property Management, LLC - McDonough, GA

Henry County Real Estate

As usual, great post of great information for the great people of your area.

Apr 10, 2008 02:17 PM

Monika McGillicuddy

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Verani Realty - Hampstead, NH

Southern NH & the Seacoast Area

Margaret

Excellent post full of timely advice. We're seeing so many foreclosures and short sales up here but I don't think we have any of the resources that your area has. Time for me to investigate it!

Apr 10, 2008 02:31 PM

Joan Whitebook

BHG The Masiello Group - Nashua, NH

Consumer Focused Real Estate Services

This is great news for homeowner in Maryland. I will have to see if we have anything like this in New Hampshire.

Apr 10, 2008 03:15 PM

Gita Bantwal

RE/MAX Centre Realtors - Warwick, PA

REALTOR,ABR,CRS,SRES,GRI - Bucks County & Philadel

Great post. I hope the newspapers write such articles about foreclosure prevention so that more people can read and benefit.

Apr 10, 2008 11:06 PM

Anonymous

Josh

Our mortgage was 7 months behind...we tried to send a payment...but they sent it back we were at the end of our time in our home, the mortgage company had started foreclosure proceedings. After checking into other lending companies with no luck we heard of the website mortgagebuyerbasics.com and found that they had options for us. They worked closely with the lending company to work out a short sale so this would not tarnish our credit. We were not able to save our home, but we were able to sell it and still make enough off of the sale to where we could purchase a home we could afford. On the day of the sale, they notified me to keep me informed of what was happening as it happened. What started out as a nightmare, really turned into a lifelong dream. We have saved money and now can afford to live again.

Apr 11, 2008 08:06 AM

Gary Woltal

Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX

Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

Margaret what a great set of resources you have provided for distressed homeowners in your area. This is invaluable. We had some seminars in this area from the Federal government.

Apr 11, 2008 03:34 PM

Katerina Gasset

The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT

Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Margaret- This is great information for some Maryland homeowners. We just added an inhouse attorney who does loss mitigation and foreclosure defense which gets us the time we need to complete a short sale. He is also going to start doing some of our short sales as our inventory keeps growing. We now have sold and closed 100% of those we negotiate for. He can do the loss mitigation, the short sales and foreclosure defense in Maryland too. SO if you have sellers who need this, let me know.

Apr 11, 2008 06:48 PM

Margaret Woda

Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. - Crofton, MD

Maryland Real Estate & Military Relocation

Katerina, that's good to know. I'm in a community that's fairly stable, and we don't have much of that here. Of course, there's plenty in some areas of Maryland - it's just not as dominant in the Greater Crofton area.

Gary, Thanks for your comment. I understand the DFW area is actually doing "okay" - whatever that is.
Josh, Thank you for sharing the informaion about that website. I'll look into it and post more about it in a future blog. Glad things seem to be working out for you. I had a good friend who went through a tough time many years ago and ended up in a much better place - in an ocean - area retirement community, to be exact.
Gita, I haven't read a word about these programs in our local newspapers.
Joan - It's amazing what you can find on your state government web pages.
Monika - Maryland is a very liberal state, so I'd be more surprised if the government didn't do something like this. We have a saying... "If you can dream it, we can tax it."
Karen - Thanks, I try!

Apr 11, 2008 11:57 PM

How to Avoid a Short Sale or Foreclosure in Maryland

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