How to Easily Take Over Mortgage Payments in Norfolk

By mikerbrady

What happens when you can’t make mortgage payments on your house in Norfolk, Virginia? In these troubling times where financial situations can change quickly, it’s worth wondering what happens if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t continue to make payments on your house. There are quite a few reasons why that might happen, from losing a job unexpectedly to dealing with a major life change or suddenly having a lot of health issues to pay for. You might have plans in place for the short-term and long-term future in your Norfolk house but things happen and all of a sudden you can find yourself unable to pay your mortgage before you have a solution in place

Foreclosure can unfortunately be a common ending to homeownership, but it doesn’t have to be. Every month, there are dozens of foreclosures all over Norfolk, leaving many people without a place to live, without equity, and without the cash they need to move forward in life. You don’t have to be part of that worst-case scenario.  

There are solutions that exist for Norfolk homeowners who need someone to take over mortgage payments or think they might need someone to do so in the near future. A cash buyer like Avante Home Buyers will buy your house as-is, including no matter what financial situation you might be in. We’ll make you a fair offer fast and put cash in your hand for your Norfolk house so you don’t have to worry anymore. But let’s take a closer look at how someone can take over mortgage payments in Norfolk. 

Can You Take Over Mortgage Payments in Norfolk?

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Learn About Assumable Loans

If you find yourself in a situation where you might need someone to take over mortgage payments in Norfolk, you need to find out if your mortgage is an assumable loan. An assumable loan is one that allows you to transfer the mortgage to another person. That person is then responsible for the payment of the loan moving forward. Not all mortgages are assumable loans so it’s important to do your research.

If you do have an assumable loan, you can’t just pass it along to someone else. Your lender will want to make sure the loan is going to someone who has the financial ability to get caught up on payments and then pay the loan in full. This new borrower will need to qualify for the loan just like you did. The lender or bank will check their credit score and debt-to-income ratio along with some other factors in order to decide if they are capable.

It’s important to note that the lender isn’t removing you from responsibility on loan repayments until they sign off on the new person or entity. So don’t waste anyone’s time by transferring the loan to someone with bad credit or an inability to repay it, you’ll just get stuck with the loan in the end and your lender won’t trust you. 

Benefits of Finding Buyer to Take Over Loan

If you’re looking for someone to take over mortgage payments in Norfolk, Virginia, there are advantages for both sides when it comes to an assumable loan. Perhaps the best advantage id that the seller’s mortgage interest rate will be lower than current rates, or possibly even lower than the buyer might be able to get, depending on their credit and borrowing history. 

You also don’t have any many closing costs to worry about when you find a buyer to assume your mortgage payments. This is not only a major positive for the buyer but it is also a very valuable option for the seller to consider. If you sell your house for cash to Avante Home Buyers, there aren’t any closing costs anyway, so it can be a really positive way to sell your house and avoid extra fees, not to mention avoiding real estate commission fees since there are no agents or Realtors involved in that transaction.

If you’d rather try to sell your house on the open market and you have the ability to transfer ownership of an assumable loan, that can be a strong marketing tool in your arsenal. It’s the kind of positive that buyers who are looking for these kinds of opportunities will appreciate and it gives buyers another possible way to finance the sale if they don’t have financing of their own. If there are other houses in your Norfolk neighborhood for sale, it’s another thing that you can offer that they perhaps cannot.

Make Sure You Are Released From Liability

If you decide to transfer payments on your Norfolk house to a new buyer via an assumable loan, be sure that it’s clear in the contract that you are no longer responsible for the loan, any future payments or any other legal entanglements. You want to be sure because if you remain included in responsibility for the mortgage and the new buyer defaults on the loan, the lender is going to come after you. And then you’re back in the same position you were trying to avoid. You might even be in a worse situation because you’ve likely moved on with your life with all new financial responsibilities and you weren’t expecting the need to account for this house anymore.

So this isn’t the time to make a handshake agreement with someone to take over your payments and hope for the best. It’s not uncommon for someone else to simply move in and take over payments without any kind of formal contract or, even worse, not telling the lender about the situation. That’s a recipe for disaster. That other person’s life may be upended by any number of changes and there’s no legal recourse to prevent them from just leaving the house or stopping payments. Just make sure everything is in writing, all parties are aware of the situation, and the lender has signed off on all of it. Better to cover yourself and remove liability than be stuck with it in the end. 

Buyers Will Often Negotiate After Inspections

As you’ve seen, it is possible to sell a Norfolk house with an assumable loan on the housing market, but that involves a lot of time, costs, and potential pitfalls along the way. Also, you might not find a buyer that way and then you’re stuck with a house you might not be able to pay for any longer and then you fall into foreclosure. And even if you do sell, a real estate agent will take their commission fee from the sale price, which, when combined with all the closing costs, means a lot less money than you thought you’d get. 

Avante Home Buyers offers a fast and simple solution. We will take over mortgage payments on your Norfolk house and we can close the entire transaction in a matter of days if that’s what you want. We don’t involve middlemen like real estate agents or lenders so there are no commission fees or inspection reports to wait for. We buy Norfolk houses as-is so we don’t need you to fix anything, make costly repairs, clean up, or sort out your financial concerns. We’ll buy your house in its current condition and we will give you cash for it quickly. Then we’ll deal with the bank on your behalf. Contact us today to get this simple process started.Â