Category Archives: Foreclosure
Are Appraisals to Blame for Your Mortgage Woes?
It is so difficult to qualify for a home mortgage these days that, if you complain about how expensive your mortgage payment is, almost everyone you know will accuse you of humblebragging. It isn’t only the people who are trying to apply for mortgages, and facing bigger and bigger obstacles, who are struggling. The… Read More »
Think Twice Before Assuming Someone Else’s Mortgage
Journalists have been saying for at least a year that the only way you can afford to be a first-time homebuyer is if your parents give you money for a down payment, co-sign with you on the mortgage loan, or both. Where does that leave the rest of us who do not have wealthy… Read More »
Avoiding Foreclosure When You Can’t Afford to Keep Your House
When you look for advice about avoiding foreclosure, it becomes obvious that the best way to stop the bank from trying to get its paws on your house is not to borrow a mortgage loan that you cannot afford. To someone who has fallen behind on mortgage payments, this is as unhelpful as saying,… Read More »
Fear Is Your Worst Enemy in Mortgage Foreclosure Cases
What could be a worse end to your dream of homeownership than foreclosure? You place a down payment for the purchase of your house, and then you make payments on your mortgage every month until one financial catastrophe after another strikes, only for the bank to swoop down and take everything you worked for,… Read More »
Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure
Foreclosure, where the bank that issued your home mortgage petitions the court to declare it the legal owner of your house, which you have pledged as collateral on your mortgage loan, is a costly and agonizing process. Almost any other resolution to a situation where a homeowner has fallen behind on mortgage payments is… Read More »
Seniors and Mortgage Debt
For decades, Florida has been an attractive destination for retirees, but it has changed a lot since today’s old geezers were young. In the 1980s, tiny anole lizards scurried across the sidewalk everywhere you went, but iguanas were only in zoos, but today, the sight of enormous green lizards lounging in the trees or… Read More »
Here Come the Zero Down Payment Mortgages
The signs of financial catastrophe are all around us. Grocery prices have not decreased much since the worst days of the pandemic. Well-paying jobs are beyond anyone’s hopes. Today, you are lucky if you can get a low-paying job and supplement it with gigs; most of us have no choice but to cobble together… Read More »
Short Refinances
In the Netherlands, the interest rates of home mortgage loans gradually decrease over the term of the loan, such that the mortgage refinances itself. If American consumers had that option, they would likely choose it whenever it was available, but we are unlikely to see Dutch style mortgages here anytime soon, because the mortgage… Read More »
Florida Needs Dutch Style Mortgages
Excitement has always been easy to find in Florida, but financial stability never has. Florida is where you go to build a glamorous mansion and show it off on MTV Cribs, only to have a hurricane reduce your house to rubble by the time the episode airs. It only makes sense that the most… Read More »
The Four Elements of Home Mortgage Availability
The bad news is that it is well nigh impossible to qualify for a home mortgage unless you are rich. Families with incomes just above $100,000 can barely pay their monthly bills, much less save any money to put toward a down payment. The slightly more encouraging news is that your home mortgage is… Read More »