How a West Side family six months behind on the mortgage sold before foreclosure

The situation

A couple had been in their house on the West Side of Binghamton for almost 18 years. Then both of them lost their jobs within a few months of each other, and the mortgage payment went up. They fell six months behind, and they were worried about foreclosure.

They had family in Michigan and wanted to move out there and buy a place. What they needed was to sell this house as-is, before the bank moved on it, and get out with something.

What we did

They found us on the website and we talked the same day, a Thursday. We came out the next day.

The house needed work. Water had been getting in — you can see it on the ceiling — the roof boards were rotted in spots, and the bathroom was the original tile. Nothing we haven’t seen plenty of on the West Side. We buy the house as it sits, so none of that had to be fixed or explained away.

Our offer: buy it as-is, close as fast as we could to get ahead of the foreclosure, and help with the two things they were most stressed about — finding somewhere to go and physically moving. They were already talking to a realtor in Michigan, so we worked around that.

We closed in the middle of January, about two months after that first call.

How it ended

They got out ahead of foreclosure. We helped them find a place, and we helped them move.

If you’re in the same spot

If you’re behind on the mortgage and worried about where it’s heading, the worst thing you can do is wait. Call us early — the more time we have before the bank’s clock runs out, the more options you have. We’ll tell you straight what we can do, and if we can’t help, we’ll tell you that too.