Tallahassee Real Estate Blog

If you know someone in Tallahassee that is having trouble with their home mortgage or facing foreclosure, their first reaction may be to give up and walk away from their home.  But that may not be the best solution.

Change Mortgage Financing.  There are several options for changing a homeowner's financial picture.  If financial troubles are temporary or not too deep, loan modifications or forebearance may work for both the homeowner and lender.  Another option may be to restructure other forms of debt by using sound, reputable debt consolidation programs. 

Short Sales versus Foreclosure.  If it's not possible for a Tallahassee homeowner to stay in their home, short sales have many benefits over foreclosures.

• Short sales often have a lower risk of deficiency judgment for the homeowner.  Deficiency judgements are mortgage lender judgments against homeowners for the difference between the loan balance and the value they receive from the property.  In a short sale, this amount is often thousands of dollars less than a forclosure where legal fees and a lower sale price add to the amount of the deficiency.  And, mortgage lenders will sometimes forgo a judgment when agreeing to a short sale. 
• Short sales usually have a lesser impact on credit scores than a foreclosure.  (This can vary, depending on a homeowner's total credit situation.)
• Short sales have a softer impact on employment situations such as security clearances.  Lengthy payment deliquencies and deficiency judgments associated with foreclosure can wreck employment applications. 

If you would like more information on short sales versus foreclosures, you can email us for a more detailed report "Short Sales versus Foreclosures, Homeowner Consequences".  Or call 850.445.2476