Unfortunately many homeowners get behind in their mortgage payments. The good thing is that there are many programs out there to help homeowners including loan modification programs or short sales. Very often a trustee sale date is set before a short sale or loan modification is completed, but this date is most likely be postponed in order to give the homeowner the opportunity to work thinking out with the bank. The homeowner or their agent needs to ask the bank representative with whom they are working to postpone the trustee sale date. That rep will then make sure it is ok with the investor on the loan (which it usually is) and then postpone the sale. The record of postponement can be found on foreclosure tracking sites like www.foreclosureradar.com
However, sometimes mistakes are made. While I do not subscribe to the theory that corporations are people, it is actual people who have to deal with the day to day operational issues, and sometimes they make mistakes. Someone may have agreed to a postponement and for what ever reason the word did not get to the person who actually makes that happen.
Last week I went to a trustee sale on the San Mateo County court house steps for the first time. It was very interesting. There were 2 people there whose homes had been scheduled for a trustee sale but were postponed. At the beginning of the sale the auctioneer reads off the addresses of the sales that have been canceled or postponed. The people who were there to check on their homes left after they heard that their postponements actually did happen. At the time I thought that was overkill, but I changed my mind quickly.
I was there checking on another property that had been listed as a short sale. This particular property was sold back to the bank, by mistake. It had in fact gotten an offer that was acceptable to the bank but someone forgot to stop the sale. It was not a big conspiracy or a plot for the bank or investor to take back this property, just a human mistake.
So if you are in a situation where there is a trustee sale date that you have been told is postponed or canceled, I would recommend going to the court house on the originally scheduled date and making sure. It is a lot easier to save your house before a foreclsoure than after.
If you have any questions about short sales in San Mateo or Santa Clara County please feel free to contact me.
Marcy Moyer
marcy@marcymoyer.com
650-619-9285
D.R.E. 01191194
Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto, Ca. Specialist in Short Sales and Trust and Probate Sales
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