Winter is here and the lenders are getting aggressive and breaking into people’s houses!
We received a call last week from Amy, an angry homeowner who was behind on her house payments and facing a Michigan foreclosure. The foreclosure wasn’t why she was angry, however. Someone had broken into Amy’s vacant house, changed the locks and winterized the house. Amy demanded to know who would do such a thing? Guess what Amy, you don’t have to guess. It was your bank protecting their asset – the house.
One look outside will tell anyone that winter has definitely arrived in Michigan. While this might mean fun in the snow for kids of all ages, it means freezing pipes to lenders. Consequently, lenders tend to be a lot more aggressive in taking control of delinquent houses during the winter.
What does this mean to you? If you are facing a Michigan foreclosure and the house is vacant, you can virtually count on the bank securing the house and winterizing it. Yes, they do have the right to do this – it says so in your mortgage.Sometimes they’re mistaken and do this even if it’s not vacant (yes, we’ve had amazing stories like that!)
Once they claim the house is abandoned (even if it’s not), they can also accelerate the foreclosure or redemption period giving you less time to try to fix the problem.
The solution? If you are facing a Michigan foreclosure and the house is vacant, call us. We have strategies to keep the bank off your back and out of the house so you have the time you need to sell the house or pursue other solutions. Take action before action is taken on you.
Ann