First of all, if you are reading this because you have found yourself in this situation, I can truly empathize and I desperately hope you get through this unscathed. I have been through a foreclosure and a short sale of a house over the course of 6 months. It was agony and it left me in a terrible state. Looking back, I can only say I wish I knew then what I know now. Let's talk about the foreclosure first because it was traumatic and I made one mistake after another in the process.
Be grateful for everyday and every person in your life.
In 2013 I began down a road that would ultimately place me in the position to have to sell my primary residence amidst a financial crisis I created for myself. The how I got there details are probably best saved for another post on another day. Suffice it to say I lost my source of income in May of 2013. Arrogantly, I overvalued my ability to quickly replace a very handsome income and started living off cash reserves and was force to sell my share of a very viable business to get cash quick. When life is good it's hard to see how much cash you burn through outside of your "budget". After just one month, I realized I was in trouble and this money would not last the 6 months I had projected. As I took inventory, I quickly came to terms with the fact I needed to sell my house to access that equity I had in it. No bank out there was going to refinance me without a job even though I thought I have about 120K in equity. So my for sale sign goes up and I waited just knowing it would all work out. Unfortunately, I didn't get much action. By know I am holding on to every dollar waiting to sell my house and stopped paying my mortgage. The bank didn't take long to reach out and within three months I got that scary sticker on my door. I hope none of you reading this but if you do, you know it's not good. That sticker essentially says this house is entering the foreclosure process. At that point we packed up quick, got into a rental, put a few thousand dollars into the house to make it pretty hoping to get the house sold faster. We dropped the price and then I made my second massive mistake... I turned down an offer from my neighbor. He had asked my one day while I was there working on the house if I would take less than the asking price and I said sure. His offer was WAY below the asking price. My pride took over and I politely rejected his offer and muttered under my breath how much of a jerk he must really be.
My second biggest mistake during my foreclosure was not maintaining an open line of communication to the bank. If you are in that "pre" foreclosure status- REACH OUT TO THEM! If they don't want to work with you reach out to me. I have been through it and I have a much better understanding of alternatives to foreclosure. They aren't always pretty but foreclosure hurts both short and long term. Digressing a little, after the foreclosure happened, my daughters were fundraising for a missions trip and stopped by to sell their wares to our old neighbors. My daughters had no clue why we moved - literally 1/2 a mile away when we did but they found out on this day. My oldest knocked on her old door and the new owners recognized her from one of the many social events we had once attended during our more affluent days. His words to her were " I know you. You use to live here before you guys lost everything". When my daughter told me this, it was a knife through my heart. I had failed them and then allowed them to be humiliated. As time progressed, we got back on our feet and put a bunch of money back to get the next house. It took over a year to find a lender to work with me even though I had GREAT income and the foreclosure was years ago. That put tremendous stress on on me emotionally because I felt like I couldn't even buy a small house for my family.
Even to this day it haunts me for many reasons.
The third major foreclosure mistake was not taking help from others. I was in trouble financially. I cannot tell you how many people contacted me with solutions to help me but it didn't get me what I wanted. I wanted my equity and I wanted to be made whole but the numerous times people tried to explain options to me sounded so foreign. I could have stopped the foreclosure. I even could have made a few dollars but pride kept me from even trying to understand the help people offered me trying to buy my house.
It took 7 years to recover fully from the foreclosure.
So when I say I understand what it is like to try to sell your house during a personal financial crisis, believe me I mean it from every fiber of my being. I have committed myself to never being put in that situation again. I will tell you this, if you find yourself in that situation or one similar, you can reach out to me. It is very likely I can help you and if I cannot, I know someone who can. I buy, fix and sell houses in all types of conditions and in all types of situations even if I have to help you catch up on your payments, I may be able to help with that. If you are in a financial crisis and trying to sell your home to avoid foreclosure or just trying to get out of a house you cannot fix, reach out to me.
You can call me @ 1.833.266.6275
You can email me at shawnrgorden@gmail.com or support@maskmarketing.io
or you can visit my website https://maskcapital.ibuyhouses.com and answer a few questions so we can get on the phone and see what I may be able to do for you, I may not have the answer you are looking for but I will definitely be able to provide you some guidance.
I wish you the best
