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  • Understanding the Foreclosure Process in Alberta

    Understanding the foreclosure process in Alberta is an important part of navigating your own home foreclosure.

    Before we dive in…

    Understanding the Foreclosure Process in Alberta

    What is foreclosure anyway?

    Foreclosure is the legal process that lenders use to take back property securing a loan, generally after the borrower stops making payments.

    Foreclosure is no fun.  But just know that it’s not the end of the world.

    When you know how foreclosure in Alberta works… it arms you with the knowledge to make sure you navigate it well and come out the other end as well as possible.

    The Basic Stages of A Foreclosure

    There are a few stages that are important to any foreclosure process.

    Foreclosure works differently in different states around the country.

    The two ways different states use to foreclose upon a property are: judicial sale or power of sale.

    Connect with us by calling 587-401-2627 or through our contact page to have us walk you through the specific foreclosure process here locally in Edmonton.

    In either scenario, foreclosure typically doesn’t go to court until 3-6 months of missed payments have elapsed. Usually (but not always), a lender will send out many notices that you are in arrears – overdue or behind in your payment.

    Under Judicial Foreclosure:

    • Your mortgage lender must file suit in the court system.
    • You’ll get a letter from the court demanding payment.
    • Assuming the loan is valid, you’ll have 30 days to bring payment to court to avoid foreclosure (and sometimes that can be extended).
    • If you don’t pay during the payment period, a judgment will be entered and the lender can request the sale of your property – usually through an auction.
    • Once the property is sold, the sheriff serves an eviction notice and forces you to immediately vacate the property.

    Under Power of Sale (or Non-Judicial Foreclosure):

    • The mortgage lender serves you with papers demanding payment, and the courts are not required – although the process may be subject to judicial review.
    • After the established waiting period has elapsed, a deed of trust is drawn up and control of your property is transferred to a trustee.
    • The trustee can then sell your property to the lender at a public auction (notice must be given).

    Anyone who has an interest in the property must be notified during either type of foreclosure.

    For example, any contractors or banks with liens against a foreclosed property are entitled to collect from the proceedings of an auction.

    What Happens After A Foreclosure Auction?

    After a foreclosure is complete, the loan amount is paid off with the sale proceeds.

    Sometimes, if the sale of the property at auction isn’t enough to pay off the loan, a deficiency judgment can be issued against the borrower.

    A deficiency judgment is where the bank gets a judgment against you, the borrower, for the remaining funds owed to the bank on the loan amount after the foreclosure sale.

    Some states limit the amount owed in a deficiency judgment to the fair value of the property at the time of sale, while other states will allow the full loan amount to be assessed against the borrower.

    Here’s a great resource that lists the state by state deficiency judgment laws, since every state is different.

    Generally, it’s best to avoid a foreclosure auction. Instead, call up the bank, or work with a reputable real estate firm like us at FairKey Home Buyers to help you negotiate discounts off the amount owed to avoid having to carry out a foreclosure.

    Experienced investors can help you by negotiating directly with banks to lower the amount you owe in a sale – or even eliminate it, even if your home is worth less than you owe.

    If you need to sell a property near Edmonton, we can help you.

    We buy houses in Edmonton Alberta like yours from people who need to sell fast.

    Give us a call anytime 587-401-2627 or
    fill out the form on this website today! >>

     

    Another Foreclosure Resource For Edmonton Alberta HomeOwners:

  • Can I Sell My House in Foreclosure in Edmonton?

    Do you have a Edmonton Alberta house that’s in foreclosure right now? Many people going through the Alberta foreclosure process want to get out from under that burdensome house and wonder if they can sell the house in foreclosure. The short answer: yes. The long answer: it’s a little more complicated, but usually you can sell your property prior to foreclosure. Generally, the sooner you start, the better.

    Can I Sell My House in Foreclosure in Edmonton? – How it works

    There are a lot of folks in Edmonton who have faced foreclosure in the past few years. Since the changes in the economy, a lot of banks have been shifting the way that they deal with foreclosures.
    Remember, the bank that carries your mortgage doesn’t want to see your home abandoned or auctioned. The bank stands to make the most amount of money by helping you to avoid foreclosure by selling your property. However, dealing with banks during any part of the foreclosure process can be a huge pain. Over many years of working with banks to help stop the foreclosure process, we’ve learned a few tricks that will help you.

    Working With Banks During The Foreclosure Process

    1. Always over-communicate with the bank (but don’t be annoying). Call with updates and show them what you’re doing to get your property sold.
    2. Don’t miss deadlines. If anything will be late, call with advance notice.
    3. Remember that bankers are people too. Don’t be overly dramatic, but explaining your situation and demonstrating your willingness to fix the problems to make it right goes a long way.
    4. Start keeping careful records of every conversation you have with the bank. Nothing counts unless it is in writing. Make sure to keep track of each person you speak with, what they said, and any promises made.
    5. Explore all your options, including short sale, loan modifications, and bankruptcy. Depending on the details of your personal situation, you may be able to dramatically slow down the foreclosure process with enough effort. Each bank has its own policies to help borrowers avoid foreclosure.
    6. Don’t wait. Unfortunately, time is not on your side. The further behind you become on payments, the fewer options are available to you.

    If you’re looking to sell your Edmonton house in foreclosure fast, call us now.

    We specialize in helping homeowners in situations including foreclosure around Edmonton and the whole state of Alberta get out of difficult situations and avoid foreclosure. In certain circumstances, we can negotiate directly with the bank to reduce the amount you owe and (sometimes) even help you walk away from your property with cash.

    If you need to sell a property near Edmonton, we can help you.

    We buy properties like yours from people who need to sell fast.

    Give us a call at 587-401-2627 anytime
    or fill out the form over here today! >>

  • How Do I Sell My House Without An Agent in Edmonton?

    If you’re looking to sell your house or investment property in Edmonton without using a real estate agent, we can help.

    Although we do cooperate with brokers, sometimes it’s best to avoid paying someone to be in the middle.

    After all, paying 5-6% of the sale of a property in a commission is a lot of money. In certain situations, Alberta brokers and real estate agents can be very useful and earn their commission. Not always.

    How Do I Sell My House Without An Agent in Edmonton?

    There are a few ways to avoid paying high commissions in your Alberta sale.

    First, there’s a tricky custom that you’ve gotta know about.

    In most sales in Edmonton, roughly half of the commission you pay as the seller goes to pay for the buyer’s broker.

    Doesn’t make much sense, right?

    Why should you pay for the agent on the other side of the table?

    Truthfully, it defies logic – it’s just what’s typically done.

    You can use that to your advantage in a few ways.

    First, factor in the commissions paid when you’re looking at the comparable sales. If the properties similar to yours sold for prices that included commissions, take that into account.

    Don’t underprice your property – be aware that a savvy buyer may expect to take a discount too. If you’re doing the work of one agent, you can expect to save that money.

    Sometimes in Edmonton, buyers who aren’t represented by an agent won’t remember to negotiate the buyer’s side commission out of the price for themselves, so don’t remind them if you don’t want to pay them. Just don’t be surprised if it comes up during the negotiation.

    You may want to consider offering 2.5% to buyer’s agents who will bring their clients to show your property. Sure, it’s a lot of money. If you’re pricing your property including that commission, you can always negotiate a better deal for a purchaser who comes without an agent.

    On the other hand, if you don’t leave room for the buyer’s agent’s commission, you’ll be excluding most of the buyers in the market in Edmonton.

    Over 90% of transactions happen through the MLS – that’s the Multiple Listing Service. It’s the main database that all the brokers in Edmonton use to access information for their clients on the houses, condos, land and investment properties for sale, along with data on the sold prices.

    Once upon a time, you had to pay a full commission to get your property on the MLS. Now in Edmonton, there are a few brokers who will charge you a fee just to list your property on the MLS. Often, you spend a few hundred bucks and you only pay a commission if the sale closes.

    Compared to the cost of a newspaper ad, the MLS is a cheap way to market your property to a very wide audience.

    All the major real estate search sites like Realtor.com, Zillow, Yahoo Homes, etc. get data from the MLS. Chances are good that when you submit your listing in Edmonton to the MLS, information on your property will end up on most of the major sites within a few days.

    Each of those sites sells ads. They’ve got packages that let you pay to enhance your listing, feature it at the top of the search, and a lot of other bells and whistles that might or might not get an interested buyer to buy your property.

    Advertising is a gamble. Sometimes open houses in Edmonton Alberta can be a great way to sell a property, and sometimes they’re a waste of time. Same with newspaper ads, craigslist postings, fancy signs – sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t.

    To effectively sell your property on your own, you have to market it well.

    Putting up fliers and signs around your neighborhood can generate some calls, and there’s a lot of free websites where you can post information. But often just putting up flyers and an open house isn’t enough if your house doesn’t appeal to the average home buyer.

    In theory, real estate agents charge big commissions because they have to spend a lot of money up front to advertise your property. By advertising lots of properties at once, they expect to get more phone calls – and obviously, they’ll make good profits by selling lots of houses.

    Certain properties might require thousands of dollars in advertising expenses before the right buyer happens to see the ad and call.

    If you want to avoid paying any commissions, you can also sell your house to investors like us for CASH

    We fair prices for properties – and we can close fast (in as little as 3-5 days if you need to).

    Sometimes we’ll purchase Edmonton houses, fix them up, then rent them out… sometimes we’ll fix them up and sell them to other people looking for great homes in the area, and a lot of other reasons, too – but we love to hear from people like you who are thinking of selling anywhere in Alberta.

    We’re investors who care a lot about Edmonton.

    We close fast and pay cash in as little as just 3-5 days. Give us a call now at 587-401-2627 or fill out the short form over here.

    Sell Your Edmonton House Fast – Get A Cash Offer Today

  • I’m Relocating And Need To Sell My House In Edmonton

    selling my Edmonton house relocationRelocation is a complicated exercise in coordination. We get local Edmonton home sellers calling us or submitting their house info on this website every week saying “I’m relocating and need to sell my house in Edmonton“.  The great thing is that we’re able to help a good many of those sellers sell their house quickly (because we’re actively buying houses in Edmonton Alberta right now!).

    There’s an insane amount of details to keep together, plus the stress of whatever is making you move in the first place – often it’s a new job or a sick relative, but the true need to move always comes with a dramatic change.

    So how do you make the most out of a difficult situation?

    Don’t Agonize – Organize.

    You don’t want to be in a situation where you end up paying to own and maintain a vacant house for 2 years. That gets expensive and it doesn’t have to be that way.

    Although the market is relatively stable right now in Edmonton, things can change in the blink of an eye. We’ve heard some serious horror stories over the past couple of decades. Unless you’re filthy rich, you probably can’t afford to wait it out.

    So how do you make the right choices when you’re relocating and need to sell your Edmonton Alberta house fast?

    Relocating And Need To Sell My House Fast In Edmonton… Your Options And Steps

    First…

    1. Find out what your house is worth: To do this you can contact a reputable real estate agent or connect with us and we can give you a no cost no obligation valuation on your property.  Once you know what the house may be able to sell for in the current market… that sets the basis for how long you may or may not be able / willing to sell the house.
    2. Decide how fast you need to sell your house after you relocate: This is a biggie. I’ve seen professionals who moved out of state for a job who had their house on the market for over a year before selling it for a much much lower price than they hoped. Decide how fast you need to sell your house… and how long you’re willing to keep making 2 mortgage payments, insurance payments, etc.
    3. Find a solid real estate agent BEFORE you start packing boxes: Get the ball rolling early so you don’t waste any time. Every month that you wait or every month that it takes to sell the house… costs you money.  Or if you don’t want to use a real estate agent to sell… we are a reputable local house buyer and we’d love to make you a fast-fair all cash offer. Just fill out the form through this link to get started >>
    4. Calculate the value of selling your house fast vs. “waiting it out” for a dream price: We all want to sell our houses for as much as possible. But one thing many people forget to do is come up with the $ amount of how much it costs you to hold onto this house.  The costs involved include the mortgage (which if you’re still within the first 10 years of the mortgage, the majority of your payment interest and not hardly going to principal at all), insurance, taxes, maintenance, etc.Lets say you want to sell your house for $200,000… and your mortgage payment is $1,200/mo, taxes $200/mo, $100/mo for insurance, and $100/mo for maintenance (lawn maintenance, repairs while you’re gone, etc.).Those expenses add up to $1,600/mo in “non equity building” expenses.If it takes you 7 months to sell that house through a real estate agent for that $200,000… it cost you $11,200 in DIRECT “holding costs” + you had to pay $12,000 in real estate agent fees (assuming 3% for the buyers agent and 3% for the sellers agent).Totaling $23,200 in LOST money.  That doesn’t even account for the value of your time, your stress in thinking about that property sitting on the market, the opportunity cost of what you could have been doing with that extra money during those 7 months, etc. So the real cost to you was likely closer to $30,000.But, what if you were to sell your house next week and avoid all of that?Even if you sold for a discount below the retail price (lets say… $175,000)… you’re still ahead of the game by selling the house NOW at a discount to a home buyer like our company vs. 7 months later at full price (and paying holding costs and real estate agent fees).Make sense?
    5. Take action!: Whatever you decide… decide and take action.  If you want to go the real estate agent route, great! Find a reputable local Edmonton Alberta agent.  If you’d rather not have to wait and not have to pay real estate agent commissions… then a viable option may be to sell your house to us 🙂

    If you’ve got a lot of time on your side and a really great property, you might want to test the market by offering it out at a high price. There’s a small chance someone might just fall in love and be willing to overpay – people do crazy things for love.

    Most properties are pretty average, in reality. They tend to be like the other houses around them, in the same way that people who live near each other tend to have a lot in common too. So unless your property is truly exceptional, as in magazine-quality extra-special, you won’t capture the most money in the market by pricing at the highest point.

    You can also win by marketing your property for rent and sale at the same time, just to see what happens first. You have to maintain control of the process, which can confuse even seasoned real estate brokers.

    In certain situations, we may partner with property owners to help secure lease option agreements where highly qualified purchasers rent the property for an agreed time before buying.

    In other cases, we may help renegotiate a loan, help make monthly payments or conduct a short sale with a bank.

    We love helping people solve complicated problems.

    Creative solutions can bridge the gap to get you where you need to be.

    Who Is FairKey Home Buyers And How Can We Help You If You’re Relocating And Need To Sell In Edmonton?

    We’re investors. We support our families and beautify neighborhoods by buying houses from Edmonton home owners who need to sell fast for one reason or another.

    The types of sellers who tend to work with us include people who…

    • Need to sell fast (we can close in as little as 7 days if you need us to)
    • Don’t want to hassle with listing a property with an agent
    • Don’t want to pay real estate agent fees
    • Can’t sell their house for one reason or another (we buy houses in as-is condition)
    • … or a variety of other reasons

    But we’re passionate people, and we believe in the Edmonton community.

    We’re honest and straightforward.

    We’ll quote you a fair price, and we can close fast with cash.

    If you’re prepared to wait and can hire professionals to help, you can manage the sale of your property from a distance. In certain circumstances that risk can pay off.

    We’re happy to help you find answers to your toughest questions about your Edmonton real estate, so please feel free to call us at 587-401-2627 and chat with us anytime.