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, leaving you in a worse financial position than when you started. It is hard not to panic when you see a mortgage foreclosure, even if you knew for months that it would eventually arrive. It turns out that, if you get a foreclosure notice, the worst thing you can do is run away; if you do this, then the bank seizing the property is not even the worst option. If you abandon your property, you could end up with a zombie mortgage, which is even worse than losing ownership of your home. If you have just received a foreclosure notice and are wondering what to do, or if you walked away from a mortgage-encumbered property years ago and have recently summoned the courage to face a zombie mortgage that might be following you around, contact a Boca Raton foreclosure defense lawyer.
What Is a Zombie Mortgage?
A zombie mortgage is a mortgage loan that continues to accrue interest, despite the fact that the borrower has stopped making payments on it and no longer occupies the property. Zombie mortgages come to un-life when a borrower receives a mortgage foreclosure notice and abandons the property, believing that foreclosure is inevitable. Foreclosure is not inevitable, though; the bank does not become the owner of the property until the foreclosure process becomes final; only then does the borrower cease to be responsible for the mortgage debt.
Sometimes the bank does not follow through with the foreclosure, though. If that happens, you still legally own the house, and you are still responsible for the mortgage. You might also owe homeowners’ association fees. If this happens, your home ownership has turned into a zombie mortgage.
How to Stop a Foreclosure Notice From Turning Into a Zombie Apocalypse
A zombie mortgage can continue to wreck your finances indefinitely, whereas foreclosure is a finite process. If you get a foreclosure notice, meet with a mortgage foreclosure defense lawyer to see if there is a way to keep your home, such as by renegotiating your loan or getting a short refinance, which effectively means getting part of your mortgage loan forgiven. If there is no way to keep your home, not even by borrowing more money, then the best thing to do is to avoid foreclosure by signing a deed in lieu of foreclosure. This means that you voluntarily transfer ownership of your home to the bank, and the bank absolves you of responsibility for repaying your mortgage.
Work With a Debt Lawyer About Responding Calmly to a Foreclosure Notice
A South Florida debt lawyer can help you respond to a mortgage foreclosure notice in the way that costs you the least money and stress. Contact Nowack & Olson, PLLC in Boca Raton, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
wfae.org/business/2024-05-18/zombie-2nd-mortgages-are-coming-to-life-threatening-thousands-of-americans-homes
