The Little Mistakes That Cost a Homeowner over $6000 a Year

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There are a couple of little mistakes that cost homeowners a lot of money.  One of those mistakes is not filing for tax exemptions.  Another mistake is not understanding the mortgage.  Still yet another mistake is not knowing your right if you are trouble with your mortgage. 

In the recent past, I worked with a homeowner who did not know that he was entitled to tax exemptions.  When he lost his job and could no longer afford to pay for his home, he wanted to do a short sale.  However, the property taxes hindered that sale.  Due to the high taxes, I advised the homeowner to renegotiate his mortgage and forego doing the short sale because the property would be hard to sell with the high property taxes.  The homeowner decided that he still wanted to do the short sale, so the home was initial listed for close to the mortgage amount owed by the homeowner. The homeowner’s property taxes were $4500 a year on a home that was worth under $100,000.  What was worse, he owned over $100,000 on the home.  

Interestingly enough another, another thing that I advised the homeowner to do was file for those exemptions.  Even though the new homeowner was not going to experience a change in his or her property taxes immediately it was assuring to know that the reduction would be happening within a year of purchase.

Despite the high property taxes, I was able to find an investor to put an offer on the property, but when the mortgage company final negotiated the final purchase amount the parties could not reach an agreement on price.  Two other offers came in that were far less than the original offer.  Needless to say, if the exemptions were filed on this home the homeowner may have been successful in the negotiation of his short sale because he would have had more interested buyers.     

Understanding your mortgage is another area that need to be address to help the homeowner avoid common mistakes.  There are other articles that discuss this so please read them below:

• Tips on Choosing a Mortgage Broker

Another costly mistake is not understanding your rights if you are in trouble with your mortgage.  Often times, a homeowner may experience a temporary loss of income.  This temporary loss of income may result in the mortgage becoming three to four payments behind.  As a result, the homeowner gets the run around when calling customer service of the mortgage company after the homeowner has the money needed to catch up his or her mortgage.   The homeowner often loses his or her home unnecessarily out of frustration, as a result.    

If you can no longer afford your home, you can contact a Realtor to list it and do a short sale.  If you would like to stay in your home, then contact the loss mitigation department for your mortgage company and negotiate your mortgage.   Please read the articles below for more information:

• What Does Mortgage Foreclosure Really Mean?
• What is Involved in Applying for a Short Sale?
• What is the Difference Between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13?
• What is Foreclosure?
• Common Myths about Foreclosure
• The Amazing Secrets to Short Selling Your Home in This Market
• A Loan Modification is Within Your Reach in This Market

Originally posted 2009-05-21 13:30:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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