When it goes wrong
The loan is maturing, the extension was denied, or it will not sell. What your position actually is - written by someone with nothing to sell you.
Search any of these situations and every result is a lender, a servicer or a refinance broker. Their advice reduces to talk to your lender and take our bridge loan, and none of it tells you what your actual position is.
These pages do. They are blunt about the parts that are uncomfortable, including the times when the right answer is to stop and sell.
The one thing that matters most
Your loan is maturing and you cannot refinance
What your position actually is, what the lender is thinking, and the order to do things in - starting sixty days out, or today if you are already past that.
Start hereThe lender denied your extension
Why it happens, whether it is really final, and the four options left - in the order worth trying them.
The property will not sell
How to tell a pricing problem from a market problem, what each one costs you per month, and the arithmetic on cutting the price now versus later.
The lender backed out before closing
Whether you can recover your deposit and fees, how to salvage the closing, and how to tell an ordinary re-trade from something worse.
What actually happens if you default
The sequence, the timeline, what the personal guarantee means in practice, and the point at which you need a lawyer rather than a plan.
Understand the arithmetic on the other side of the table
Securitized loan pools show roughly 5.9% of these loans seriously delinquent at 22 months and about 3.0% reaching foreclosure, REO or bankruptcy — against cumulative lender losses below 0.1%. Your equity absorbs the loss before theirs does. That is why the person on the other end of the phone sounds so calm, and it is the single most useful thing to understand before you call them. Source.
That is not a reason to despair — it is the reason a workout is usually available. A lender who is well protected would still rather be repaid than own your property.
When to stop reading and call a lawyer
- You have received a notice of default or a lawsuit.
- You are being asked to sign a forbearance, modification or deed in lieu.
- Anyone has mentioned bankruptcy.
- You are considering transferring title anywhere.