Question: I am in California. I missed my first payment Sept 1. I got a letter telling me to bring things current by Dec 16th. What happens now? I am not sure when the period of redemption begins? Was I already in it? Or does it begin Dec 16 and go three months? People tell me different things and I am a single mom of four kids and need to plan. Thank-you. Nomi
Answer: -Nomi, the California redemption period is approximately 3 months and begins after you receive the notice of default. Typically you won’t receive a notice of default until you are at least 3 months behind on your mortgage, especially now, banks are slower issuing the notices of default because they don’t need any more inventory. So you’re about 6 to 8 months out from foreclosure, if it goes that far, so you do have several options as a homeowner. Unfortunately Obama’s HAMP program hasn’t turned out the way we had all hoped, however there are alternatives. Assuming you want to stay in your home, one option is a loan modification. This is something you can do yourself or you can hire an attorney to do it for you…just be careful in choosing the right attorney that really does care about your situation and will guarantee their work. Another option is to sell your home, if it has equity, and move into something smaller or less expensive until things pick up again. If your home does not have equity and a loan modification doesn’t work, you could try to do a short sale where a buyer offers the bank less than what is owed on the property. Whatever you do, don’t give up.