Foreclosure help
Behind on payments
Before you talk to any buyer, call a free HUD-approved housing counselor. Then, if selling makes sense, we'll show you the numbers.
Step one, before any buyer
Call a free HUD-approved housing counselor.
HUD-approved counselors are free and they work for you, not for a lender or a buyer. They can look at your budget, explain your lender's letters, and help you ask for options that let you keep the house.
That's HUD's housing counselor locator line. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also explains your options at consumerfinance.gov/mortgagehelp.
Options a counselor can help you ask for
- A repayment plan to catch up over a few months
- Forbearance: a pause or smaller payments for a while
- A loan modification that changes the loan's terms
- Reinstatement: paying what's past due in one amount
- A short sale or deed in lieu, if you owe more than it's worth
Red flags, from anyone
- Asking for money upfront to "stop the foreclosure"
- Telling you to stop talking to your lender
- Asking you to sign over your deed and rent the house back
- Pushing you to sign today
If selling is the plan
When selling protects what you've built.
Selling is one option, not the only one. If you can't keep the house and you have equity in it, selling before a foreclosure sale can protect that equity and your credit. When that's the case, we'll show you exactly what you'd walk away with.
This sounds like you if
- You've missed payments and the letters are getting more serious
- You've talked to a counselor and selling is the plan that fits
- You have equity you don't want to lose at a trustee sale
- You need a closing date that beats the sale date
How we handle it
Three things we do differently.
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We start with your payoff
With your permission, the title company asks your lender for the exact payoff, late fees included, so the numbers are real.
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Net sheet before you sign
You see the offer minus the payoff, back taxes and fees, so you know what's left for you before you commit.
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We say when we can't help
If you owe more than the house is worth, a short sale needs your lender's approval. We'll tell you that, and point you to a counselor.
The math on an example house
This seller had equity. Selling before the trustee sale kept it in her hands.
Example: 2-bed in Princeton Heights, about $98,000 owed
- After-repair value What it would sell for, fixed up $200,000
- Minus Repairs Priced line by line at the walk-through $30,000
- Minus Our costs to buy, hold and resell Closing, taxes, insurance, utilities, resale fees $25,000
- Minus Our margin About 10% of the after-repair value $20,000
- Equals Example cash offer $125,000
Example net sheet: what's left for you
- Example cash offer
- $125,000
- Minus mortgage payoff
- $98,000
- Minus past-due payments, late fees, lender's legal fees
- $6,500
- Minus property taxes owed this year
- $1,200
- Estimated cash to you at closing
- $19,300
At a trustee sale, that equity is far from guaranteed to reach the owner. Real payoff figures come from your lender through the title company.
Example figures for illustration only. Your offer depends on your house and recent sales near it.
Questions people ask about this
How long until a foreclosure sale?
Federal rules generally keep a servicer from starting a foreclosure until a loan is more than 120 days behind. After that, most Missouri foreclosures happen outside of court, so the timeline can be short. Call a counselor early.
Will selling to you stop the foreclosure?
If we close before the sale date and the lender is paid in full at closing, the loan is paid off and the foreclosure ends. We don't promise that until the title company has confirmed the payoff and the dates.
Do you charge anything for this?
No. And nobody should. Charging upfront fees to stop a foreclosure is a red flag.
Other situations we buy in
Get started
Talked to a counselor? Let's see the numbers.
Call or fill in five quick steps. You'll get a written offer with the math, and it stays open for 14 days. If listing would net you more, we'll say so.
When we answer
- Monday to Friday
- 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Saturday
- 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Sunday
- Closed
Leave a message after hours and we call back the next morning.
Or start online
Five short steps: the address, the condition, your timeline, how to reach you, and a review. About three minutes.
Get my cash offer4400 Chippewa St, Suite 3, St. Louis, MO