A Realty Firm is in The Forefront Trying to Help Owners

Shelby County has been the victim of over 1,200 foreclosures during November. A realty firm is in the forefront trying to help the foreclosure victims so that they can continue to stay in the houses that are their homes.

One of the residents is Dorothy Rayford who fell in love with the quiet peaceful surroundings of Raleigh. Six years ago she bought her house. At that time, when she was working full time, the interest rate was 10%. Today she has retired but the interest rate has spiked to 12% and she is in default for three months. A programme named Save the Dream might be able to help her. Rayford rued, “I just got in a situation where my income decreased and my house note increased. This is my plight right now. I’m in the process to negotiate to get my interest rate down.” But whether she will or will not succeed is leading to stress and a feeling of frustration.

Rayford contacted her realtor James Kincaide who was working with Crye-Leike. He informed her about the Save the Dream operations. Kincaide said that the house owners make a big mistake when they remain silent and do not try to work out a fresh agreement with the lender. He advised that the borrower should pick up the phone and talk to the lenders. The key factor is opening up communications with them because they too are sincerely interested in saving the property for the borrower.

Kincaide discussed the different ways that are there to prevent foreclosure. Realtors can talk about cutting down on losses and interest rates. This will be of great help to Rayford and others like her.

One alternative is a ‘friendly foreclosure’. This can be resorted to when it becomes absolutely impossible to save the house. By it the court is avoided and a direct settlement is made with the bank. The bank avoids expenditure and the borrower does not get a bad credit mark.

Other positive options are rescheduling of loans and extension of the life of the mortgage. Penalties too could be waived and missed payments taken into consideration. A short sale will also address the problem. In some instances the lender will buy the house and keep the owner as a tenant until the latter is able to sort out finances and is in a position to buy back the house.

Rayford is grateful of this positive approach by realtors.