Where our experience with mortgage arrears helps you
Being behind on mortgage payments is a problem with three possible answers, and the most useful thing we do is help you work out which one is yours.
Catching the missed mortgage payments up through a modification or forbearance is usually best where it is achievable, and we will put you in front of a HUD-approved housing counselor for it. Selling clears the mortgage and the arrears together and protects whatever equity is left, which is where we come in. Doing nothing is almost always worst. We will give you an honest read on which applies, and we are not paid either way.
Three real options, honestly described
The reason people stall is that all three options feel like admitting something. They are not. People fall behind on mortgage payments for ordinary reasons: a job goes, somebody gets ill, a marriage ends, a business has a bad year.
What matters is only which route the numbers allow. Cure the missed mortgage payments, sell and clear them, or let it run. The third one costs the most, and it is the one that happens by default while people are deciding.
Why local knowledge changes the number
A three-bedroom on Pleasure Avenue. A three-bedroom on West 5th Street. A two-bedroom on Terry Road. All of them in Ronkonkoma, all bought by us.
Ronkonkoma is roughly 18,955 people in Suffolk County, ZIP 11779, and the housing stock is mostly ranch, cape cod, hi-ranch. Around Lake Ronkonkoma and Long Island MacArthur Airport, most of it is old enough that the mechanicals are on their second or third life. The Ronkonkoma stop pulls buyers who commute, which supports the good houses and does very little for the ones that need a roof. We know which of these streets take water, where the older systems fail first, and what the Connetquot Central School District does to a resale price.
What the payoff includes that your statement does not
Not what you originally borrowed, and not the balance printed on last year's statement. The mortgage payoff includes the missed payments, the late fees, the default interest and the lender's costs through the closing date, which is why it is usually higher than owners expect.
Get it from the servicer in writing, early. It determines whether selling leaves you with anything, and it is the single fact that shapes every other decision once you are behind on mortgage payments.
Why waiting makes missed Ronkonkoma mortgage payments more expensive
The unfair part of falling behind on mortgage payments is that the cost is charged to the person least able to pay it. Late fees first, then default interest, then legal costs, all added to the payoff.
That is the whole argument for dealing with missed mortgage payments earlier rather than after the next letter arrives. Not because something terrible happens tomorrow, but because every month behind on the mortgage quietly moves money from your side of the closing statement to theirs.
What you do not pay when you sell a house in mortgage arrears
Listing a house in mortgage arrears the usual way brings each of these costs with it. Selling to us brings none of them.
- Agent commission
- $32,050 at 5% of the Ronkonkoma median none
- Seller closing costs
- About $12,820 on a $641,000 sale. We can cover these. none
- Repairs to make it listable
- The work it needs to show well, out of your pocket first none
- Cleanout and removal
- Paid per load, before a single buyer walks through none
- Carrying costs while it waits
- Taxes, insurance and utilities through the 67 to 82 days a listing takes to sell and close none
Selling a Ronkonkoma house quietly while behind on mortgage payments
No sign, no listing, no showings, no neighbors asking questions. One visit, a written number, and a closing date you pick.
The part of mortgage arrears people dread is rarely the paperwork. It is somebody they know finding out. A sale to us involves one person coming to the house once, and nothing about it goes on the internet or on the lawn.
What the two paths cost in Ronkonkoma
These are the two routes open to you with a house in mortgage arrears, priced against what Ronkonkoma houses actually sell for.
Work it against Ronkonkoma's own numbers. The median sale here is $641,000. A 5% commission on that is $32,050, and seller closing costs of about 2% add roughly $12,820. Those are costs we can cover on our side. That is $44,870 gone before anyone counts the repairs it took to get the house listable.
There are two waits in a listed sale and people usually only count the first. In Ronkonkoma the median house takes about 22 days to go from listed to a signed contract. Then it waits again, typically 45 to 60 days, while the buyer's lender orders an appraisal and underwrites the loan. Call it 67 to 82 days from sign to keys, assuming nothing goes wrong.
The part worth understanding is what a signed contract actually guarantees, which is less than most sellers assume. A retail buyer with a mortgage contingency can walk away right up to the end. If they do not qualify, if the appraisal comes in under the price, if they change their mind and let the financing lapse. A share of deals die exactly there, after months of waiting, and the house goes back on the market with time on it. We are not borrowing anything, so there is no lender to satisfy, no appraisal to come in low and no contingency to exercise.
| Listing with an agent | Selling to us | |
|---|---|---|
| Sale price | $641,000 (Ronkonkoma median) | Our written offer |
| Commission | −$32,050 | None |
| Seller closing costs | −$12,820 | We can cover them |
| Repairs before listing | Out of pocket | None |
| Cleanout | Yours | Ours |
| Showings | Until it sells | One visit |
| Listed to signed contract | 22 days (Ronkonkoma median, once listable) | 24 hours to a written offer |
| Contract to closing | 45 to 60 days (waiting on the buyer's lender) | A date you choose |
| Total wait | 67 to 82 days if nothing falls through | Yours to set |
| Can the buyer walk? | Yes (mortgage contingency runs to the end) | No financing to fall through |
| Before repairs and carrying | $596,130 | The number we put in writing |
The listing column assumes a 5% commission and seller closing costs of about 2%. Both vary. We have not subtracted repairs or the cost of carrying the house while it sits, because those depend on the property. A house in good condition listed with a good agent can absolutely beat a cash offer, and we will say so if that is your situation.
From arrears to a filed case in Suffolk County
The single most useful thing you can do about mortgage arrears today is find out exactly where you stand. What the payoff is, whether anything has been filed, and what the house is actually worth.
Those three facts take about a week to assemble and they turn a vague dread into a decision you can make. We will do the third one for free and tell you honestly what the other two mean, whether or not the answer involves selling to us.
Common questions
How far behind on the mortgage is too far?
There is no fixed point, and it depends on where the lender has got to rather than on the number of missed payments. Call earlier rather than later, and speak to an attorney at the same time.
Can you pay off my arrears and let me stay in the house?
That is not what we do. Anyone offering to clear your arrears in exchange for the deed while you stay on as a tenant is offering something you should put in front of an attorney before you sign it. We buy houses outright, and that is the whole of it.
Will selling cover the arrears?
If the house is worth more than the payoff, yes, and the balance is yours. If it is not, you are looking at a short sale, which needs the lender's agreement to take less than it is owed. We can work one of those with you.
Should I keep making partial payments?
We are not going to tell you what to do with your money, but we will tell you it is a question worth asking a counselor. How partial payments get applied against arrears varies by servicer, and the answer matters.
Does being in arrears stop me selling a Ronkonkoma house?
No. Arrears are paid from the proceeds at closing like anything else secured against the property. The title company obtains a payoff figure, the mortgage and the arrears are settled out of it, and the balance goes to you.