When you fall behind in your mortgage payments in San Antonio for your mobile home, it can feel like you’re drowning in debt and need help.
Even if you’re able to make your monthly payment, catching up on a past due balance can be an overwhelming challenge. It’s ok to get help if you are behind in your mortgage payments.
There are a few options that can help you to avoid foreclosure in San Antonio and maybe even keep your mobile home, even if you’re seriously behind in payments. Lots of mobile homes and manufactured homes in San Antonio have been lost to foreclosure, but there are many ways to avoid it. Just FYI if you’re wondering, we use the terms mobile and manufactured home interchangeably. They are same thing, just technically after 1976 they are considered “manufactured” but most people still say mobile home. A few even still use the term trailer, which I’m not a huge fan of. But to each their own, back to the article! “Help, I’m behind in my mortgage payments in San Antonio!”
Help, I’m Behind in My Mortgage Payments in San Antonio! 5 Things You Can Do To Help Your Situation
1. Bankruptcy:
This is usually the tool of last resort. If you’re being crushed by lots of debt, bankruptcy can be a good way to negotiate with lots of lenders at once. It’s a lot of work, and it won’t help you avoid your mortgage. Different lenders will treat your circumstances in unique ways. You’d benefit from serious professional help – the best you can afford.
2. Reaffirm:
This can be a good card to play, but it may come with some unseen penalties. Basically, reaffirming the loan is an additional commitment to pay. In some states where it’s allowed, an affirmation can create additional liabilities if your property is auctioned.
3. Making Home Affordable (MFA):
If your mortgage qualifies, you might be able to participate in MHA. Any loans backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac must be considered for MHA, and other lenders choose to participate in MFA.
With MFA, your payments and/or interest rates might be lowered – even the principal balance (if your home is worth less than you owe). If you’re unemployed, you might be able to get your payments temporarily suspended or reduced.
MFA is a government program, so be prepared to deal with lots of paperwork. It ain’t free money – you gotta work for it.
4. Negotiate with your bank:
Lots of lenders routinely offer some level of assistance. You have to work hard at it, but you might be able to get your interest rate reduced or a temporary reduction in your payment.
Most of the time, lenders will want to steer you to refinance your loan – but by the time you’re a few payments behind, you probably don’t qualify for a reduction in interest rate. Especially now in 2023, if your purchase your home 2-5 years ago refinancing would not be a real option because interest are SO much higher than they were.
You have to work really hard to negotiate with a bank. Usually, it takes lots of calls and the patience of a saint to get through the bureaucracy. Never, ever act rude. Ask for help from everyone you speak with, but don’t sound desperate. Explain your situation, offer supporting documents, and reassure the bank that you want to live in your home for the long term.
If you’re in need of a temporary fix and want to stay in your home, most banks can be forgiving. Sometimes they’ll be willing to add a few months of payments back onto the primary balance of your loan. It’s all dollars and cents to them, so remind them that you need their help to give them a lot more money in the long run. If they have to sell your mobile home at a foreclosure auction, they’ll take a huge loss.
That sounds obvious, but for some reason, bankers seem to forget it when saying no to someone in need of help. Not very nice of them IMO.
5. Borrow money from a private investor:
If you’re behind on your payments and need to sell fast, we can help.
In certain circumstances, we may even be able to help you stay in your mobile home.
We work with mobile home owners in San Antonio to find solutions to foreclosure problems.
We’ll let you know how we can help. We have a few different solutions we can offer. The first being to purchase the mobile home from you directly for cash. Unfortunately what we see often with mobile home home owners who have mortgages, is that they end up upside down on their loan. Meaning they owe more than the home is worth. So they only option maybe be to sell at a loss and come out of pocket to make up the difference. Which nobody wants to do but it is reality sometimes. This is due to depreciation on mobile homes, they tend to lose value over time. So you combine the depreciation with the interest on the loan and you get upside down. The best thing you can do to avoid that is to take great care of your home! Keep it clean ALWAYS, do the required maintenance. When something breaks fix it. Remember that water is the enemy, if you notice a roof or window leak fix it right away. If you notice a soft spot in the floor, you have a leak. Fix it before it becomes a big deal. Also just because mobile homes depreciate doesn’t make them bad, if they are taken care of correctly they can be fantastic homes for many many years. Another option we have at our disposal that works well for some mobile home owners that have mortgages is for us to sell the home for them. We can typically offer a slightly higher price that way which may enable you to come out breaking even instead of taking a loss. That process typically takes less than 30 days and we can do it with mobile homes in parks and mobile homes on private land. Feel free to ask about this option.