MOVE fast when you find out your rental property is being foreclosed
Here’s the NIGHTMARE you don’t want to face. You’re renting a house. You pay your rent on time. However, little do you know, your landlord is NOT paying the mortgage. The next thing you know, you get a notice (whether it be in the mail, the newspaper or the landlord themselves) that the property you have been renting is in the process of being foreclosed.
Unfortunately, the worse part of this nightmare is facing the reality that you probably are NO WHERE NEAR prepared for this type of traumatic life experience. You don’t sign a lease expecting to be told at some undisclosed period of time that you would have to leave on a dime!!
If you find yourself in this situation, you don’t have time to mess around and wallow. Here’s a few tips to get right:
1) Get ready to move NOW
Don’t freak out and ask yourself what you’re going to do. Start DOING!!!! Start figuring out RIGHT THERE and THEN where you have to go! As soon as you get notice that the house may be in jeopardy, START hustling from that point.
2) Find out where the case is in the legal process (and see where you stand)
Most people forget that foreclosure is a legal process. In some states, you may have the ability to intervene as a third party in the event that you need time to move. If you get the word that foreclosure is going down, contact you an attorney or find out at what stage the case is currently.
3) Contact the new (or potential) owner
Sometimes, the new owner may or may not know that you are in the property as a tenant. Don’t wait until the new owner executes a writ of possession (i.e. eviction notice) for you to contact. The new owner may or may not want you to be the tenant but you want to let them know that you may need time.
4) Pay rent on time (it helps) and let them know about your family
Remember, when you’re talking to the old or new owner, your bargaining ability may be strengthened based on the size of your family as well as the fact that you have paid your rent on time.
5) Recognize, if you KNEW that foreclosure was coming and you didn’t do anything, you may be stuck when they tell you to get out NOW!!
If you know that that beast is coming, don’t move slow. Act on it quickly because if you drag your ass, that’s exactly what you’ll be sitting on OUTSIDE of the house when they evict you.
6) When that eviction notice comes, it may be too late
Listen, you come home, you see a 48 hour notice on your door. You freak out but you need to understand one thing, you may not be able to do anything about it. You can file an emergency motion with the court but the court may not be able to get to it before the eviction is enforced. You may not be able to contact the new owner.
7) Keep a copy of the lease handy and explore your options
Don’t throw your lease away. You may have the ability to exercise legal options (especially if you are still paying the landlord and you didn’t know that the property had already been sold).
There is NOTHING sexy about having to leave a home that you have been paying rent on faithful. However, in this tough economy, you must understand that you may have to move on a DIME in a very unpleasant situation.
