September 21, 2009

Get Rid Of Your Headaches

The doctor* is in.

Mortgage delinquencies hit a record high in August as unemployment continued to plague a large cross-section of America and their ability to keep up with their bills. Some of these people may be your borrowers, or someone you had to initiate foreclosure on and evict from the property. Now what?

We get phone calls every day from people who have delinquency- and foreclosure-induced headaches who don't know where to turn. Many with delinquent borrowers know them personally and cannot bear to think about foreclosing on them and displacing them from their home. Conversely, they can't allow the borrowers to stay in the property and essentially become squatters who take advantage of the note holder's kindness.

Still others have gone through the foreclosure process, paying attorneys, property management companies, realtors, etc. to evict the homeowners and re-market the property in the hopes they can get it to cash flow again. All this takes time and money, and most times they don't have either to spare.

We can (and have) helped people in situations like the ones I mentioned above. One gentlemen we worked with simply couldn't bear the thought of evicting his borrowers. He said he didn't care how much of a loss he took on the sale of his note, it would be worth it if he didn't have to play the 'bad guy'. We helped him get rid of his headache, and purchased the defaulted note from him.

Another company had several houses they had consistently tried to re-market after foreclosing and taking title to the properties. They listed them with several different realtors, but simply couldn't sell them for the prices they hoped for. Time went on, delinquent property taxes became even more delinquent, the vandalism risk got greater with every day the properties sat empty, and keeping the properties secure from squatters became more and more difficult. They finally called us and asked if we could help.

Not only did we cure their headache by buying all the properties from them, but they let us know they had several other 'headaches' in another city, and wanted to know if we had aspirin for them as well. Our answer? Absolutely.

As you likely know if you are in either position described in this blog, there is a price to getting rid of a headache. A defaulted note or REO (Real Estate Owned) will face a substantial discount off the "face" value. As we are learning in this troublesome economy, it's a price many are willing to pay. As my wife says when I get sick and refuse to go to the doctor: "You can wait for nature to run its course and be miserable for a long time, or go to the doctor and be miserable for a little while."

What is your plan should the worst-case scenario sneak up on you? Are you going to wait it out? Can you afford to wait it out? If you are in this situation, or find yourself in this situation in the near future, give us a call. We can help cure that headache so you can move on and do all the things your headache is keeping you from doing right now.

The doctor* is out.

Make it a great week.

Clint

*Clint is not a real doctor, but he has stayed in a Holiday Inn Express.

Our efforts stay focused on note holders. If you are a note finder, a note broker, or anyone other than the actual note holder, please do not contact us.