Repossession can be a very unpleasant experience for a number of reasons. First of all, you obviously lose your home, a home that you may have worked long and hard for, a home that you and your family hold very dear. Repossession and eviction will affect the lives of everyone in your family, not only financially, but also emotionally and socially. Second of all, repossession affects your credit scores adversely, and leaves you with slim chances of making a fresh start soon. Having said that, I’m sure you’ll agree that, when or if the time comes, you have to do everything in your power to stop repossession.

Most homeowners panic when it comes to stopping repossession because they falsely believe that, if things have come this far, the situation is hopeless. Things are actually quite different. There is always a way out of this kind of situation provided you weigh your options carefully and decide what the best and most convenient course of action is.

How can you stop repossession? At an early stage, you can try to get back on track with your mortgage payments. Staying up to date with these payments may not always be possible, but you should not let things aggravate. Putting the payments off month after month will only make matters worse. You can try refinancing your existing loan or getting a loan from someone else, a friend or acquaintance maybe. Or, you can try being honest with your lender about your current financial situation and agree on a more convenient way of paying your arrears. You can work together and make your payments easier.  After all, the financial institution is more interested in getting the money that you have to pay them than in getting the property.

If you need to stop repossession and neither of the options presented above is viable, you can still resolve the matter is a very convenient way. Fast house sale is a very good solution to your problem. And when fast house sale comes with the possibility to rent your house back, what could be more convenient?

Fast house sale means that the sale process will be completed in a lot less time than a traditional sale. Furthermore, your investors will pay all expenses, including valuation and legal fees. What’s more, if you accept their offer, which will only be fair considering the circumstances, they will pay cash for your property. This means that you will have the necessary cash to pay your existing debts, and enough money left to spend as you please. As has been said before, you don’t even have to consider leaving your home when you opt for a fast house sale, as the sell and rent back scheme is widely available from cash property buyers.

Fast house sale is the optimal solution in a number of situations. Whether you are preparing to emigrate, or about to get a divorce, or in need to pay extensive debts, or if you just want to avoid all the hassles of selling your house on the open market, fast house sale emerges as a very sound decision. If you want to stop repossession, sell and rent back is by far your best option.



Sell and Rent Back

There may be periods in a homeowner’s life when his or her personal circumstances change dramatically and it makes economic sense to sell the house as quickly as possible, thus releasing the capital that has built up in it. The reasons are many and varied and may include:

1. The breakdown of a relationship. Whether the partners in the house are married or not, there may be financial pressures caused by the breakdown of the relationship. One of the partners may have started another relationship, in which case they may require capital release in order to finance another mortgage or rental costs. Some of the Sell and Rent Back companies will buy the house very quickly, and rent it back to the remaining partner at a competitive rate.

2. The homeowner may have to move with his/her job, either within the UK or abroad. If this move is seen to be fairly permanent, then capital will be required to finance a new home in the new location. For those relocating or emigrating, some of the Sell and Rent Back companies will buy the house in as little as 14 (working) days.

3. If the homeowner has been in arrears with mortgage payments they could fear the prospect of having their home repossessed and see that a quick house sale would be a financially better alternative and enable them to avoid repossession.

4. Should one of the partners in a house die, the remaining partner’s income may be insufficient to cover the mortgage, then again, a quick house sale may be seen as a beneficial alternative to having the home repossessed.

5. In a falling house market, to sell your house now may be a shrewd move. If financial experts project that house prices may fall 20%, then the homeowner could take the view that selling the house quickly, without Estate Agent’s or Auctioneer’s fees, for as close to its current value as possible, will reduce the capital loss. The house could then be rented back at a competitive rate until the market is viewed to have ‘bottomed out’.

The average level of personal debt is increasing, and a quick house sale may be seen as one way of paying off all debts in one go. This is especially useful if you suffer a reduction in income which is viewed as a temporary situation. To sell the house, pay off the debts and live in rented accommodation for a while may be a sensible strategy. Indeed, with many of the Sell to Stay companies, you can sell your house quickly and rent it back at a competitive rate.

There are many routes to achieving a quick house sale.

1. Estate Agents – Estate Agents will always tell you that they can sell houses very quickly. This may be true when the market is rising and there is a lot of competition for every house, but when prices flatten, or indeed fall, houses stick and your ‘quick sale’ may be lost.

2. Auction – Auctions are the ultimate vehicle to value a property. Any property is only worth what another will pay for it, and an auction with many interested parties in the room will produce the best market price for a property with a very quick sale.

3. However, anyone who goes to an auction will be expecting a bargain – they view the items that go to auction as being ‘on-offer’ and only there because they have failed to sell elsewhere. You may not get a good price at auction.

4. Sealed Bid – Requesting sealed bids is another good way of valuing a property. However, the process suffers from the same market pressures as the previous two. From the buyer’s point of view, putting in a sealed bid when the market is rising is a worrying process, as he/she doesn’t want to bid too low for fear of losing it. This can result in some extremely over-priced bids. On the other side of the coin, in a falling market the worry is that the buyer may bid too high and end up with a home in negative equity. This results in the seller receiving a number of disappointingly low bids.

5. Sell and Rent Back – Sell and Rent Back companies will buy your house very quickly – many of them promise to buy it within 14 (working) days. They will give you 80% or more of the value of your house – but that’s it! You don’t have to pay the Estate Agent or the Auctioneer, just your legal fees. Furthermore, many of the Sell and Rent Back companies will allow you to stay in your home and rent it back at a competitive rate.

So if you need a quick house sale, you must try to strike a balance between speed and the amount of money you will receive from the different methods of selling your property.



Quick House Sale

Flexible mortgages are among some of the new mortgage packages that have been created to cater for the modern mortgage market. The modern mortgage market has become more liberal and creative, and therefore this has led to an increase in the choice and diversity of mortgage packages being offered to borrowers. Most major lenders include some kind of flexible mortgage in their product range. The majority of flexible mortgages are sold through the traditional routes and they are increasing their hold in the mortgage market, due to consumer demand.

Essentially a flexible mortgage is a secured loan that can be paid back in varying amounts, and the interest is calculated on the fluctuations of the outstanding balance. Flexible mortgages are particularly suited to today’s lifestyle, for example: ‘jobs for life’ are virtually unknown, you might want a career break to raise a family or you might expect some major life changes in the near future.

A flexible mortgage can offer:

Overpayments

You can pay off your mortgage quicker by making regular overpayments or by paying in a lump sum on an ad hoc basis, without incurring any redemption penalties. A flexible mortgage recalculates your outstanding mortgage balance on either a daily or monthly basis, and your interest payments are quickly adjusted for the overpayments that have been made.

Underpayments

You can reduce your regular mortgage payments or even have a complete payment holiday without being in default. There will be conditions attached to this option, for example: you might have to build up a reserve of overpayments before being allowed to underpay. However, a consequence of underpayment means an increase in your outstanding mortgage balance.

Further loans

You can withdraw lump sums from your mortgage account to be used for any purpose, without the formality of applying for a new loan. There are usually conditions attached to this feature, for example: you might have to build up a reserve of overpayments against which you can borrow, and there will probably be a ceiling on the overall amount you can borrow through your original mortgage.

Not all flexible mortgages offer those features, so you will have to shop around.

The ability to pay off your mortgage early is a necessary feature of all flexible mortgages, and the main point of distinction for a flexible mortgage is the extent to which you are allowed to withdraw funds from your mortgage account. The least flexible mortgage combines overpayment facilities with only the option to take occasional payment holidays.

In a recent survey of flexible mortgages carried out for the Council of Mortgage Lenders, nearly half of the surveyed borrowers had not made use of the flexible options that their mortgage gave them. The borrowers that had made use of the flexible options mainly used the overpayment option to allow them clear their mortgage early by either regular overpayments and/or an occasional lump sum payment.

A more structured approach to the flexible mortgage is offered by the current account mortgage (CAM) and the offset mortgage. With a CAM, there is just one account as it combines your mortgage account and current account. The offset mortgage uses separate accounts for the mortgage, current, and savings account. The interest earnt by the current and savings accounts is offset against the outstanding mortgage capital and the interest is reduced accordingly. It is important to make sure the mortgage rate is competitive because some lenders charge a higher rate than average and thus the benefit is lost.

Flexible mortgages have been around since the 1990’s and they have grown in popularity since then. The future looks good for flexible mortgages, with even more options for borrowers to choose from as time progresses.



Rent Back Fast

Just imagine  as you’re going through your favourite coffee drive-thru this week  that a well-dressed gentleman stops and offers you $11,000 for your medium double double. Who would hesitate? We’d take the cash. It’s not so far-fetched. In fact, if you take that coffee budget and apply it to your monthly mortgage payment  a mere $30 extra per month -you could save yourself about $11,000 over the life of your mortgage.

Most of us can accept the idea that we must borrow money to purchase a home. We look for the best mortgage, and then just keep doling out the money for as long as it takes to pay it off. Most Canadians choose to amortize their mortgage over 25 years. That’s a long financial commitment, and it could more than double the cost of your home. But with good planning  and a few smart tactics  you should be able to enjoy your mortgage-burning party much earlier.

Here are a few strategies for fast-tracking your mortgage:

1. Increase your monthly payments. Rather than choosing your amortization period first, ask yourself how much you can afford each month. For example, you may feel that you can afford $1,000 per month. You’re delighted when your $125,000 mortgage only demands an $800/month payment (at a 6% interest). But make a monthly payment of $1,000 instead, and you’ll shave 8.75 years and almost $46,000 off your total interest cost.

2. Take advantage of lower rates. In addition to reducing the overall interest component of your mortgage, you can take the opportunity to pay down more principal faster  simply by maintaining your original payment. You should even increase your payment if you can, to reap the benefits of the cheapest mortgage money in memory. Again, you could take years  and thousands of dollarsoff your ontario mortgage.

3. Tie mortgage payments to your pay schedule. Many Canadians are paid on a bi-weekly schedule. If you accelerate your payments to bi-weekly instead of monthly, you could improve your own cash flow and fit in an extra payment each year. That means that you’re paying off principal faster  leaving you with less interest to pay overall. It doesn’t seem like much but  like putting your coffee budget to work  the bi-weekly strategy can have you mortgage free four years sooner, with almost $22,000 in savings.

4. Use any bonuses, tax refunds or “found money” to pay down principal. This is especially valuable in the early years of your mortgage. If you receive an annual bonus or other lump-sum compensation, see if you can put it against the principal. An extra $1,000 per year is a great way to fast-track to mortgage-free!

5. Consolidate your loans into a new mortgage and use the savings to boost your payments. If you’re a homeowner with some equity, you can use your mortgage to consolidate your other loans: student loans, car loans, etc. Add the money you’ve been spending on loan payments to your mortgage payments, and you could see big savings in overall interest.

With ontario mortgage rates at historic lows, you should take the opportunity to get an expert mortgage analysis from an independent mortgage broker with access to mortgages from a wide spectrum of lenders. You’ve got a great opportunity to put some fast-track tactics in place. You’ll remember what a good decision you made at your mortgage-burning party.



Quick Property Sale