A short sale in real estate is one in which a house is sold for a price that is less than the amount owed on the mortgage. The lender must agree to accept potential losses for a short sale to take place. The difference in the mortgage and price of sale may or may not be forgiven.
Bankruptcy is a legal process where people who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. Bankruptcy can be court forced or initiated by the person in debt.
Deed in lieu of foreclosure is a document in which the owner transfers the title and all interests of the property to the lender to satisfy a loan that is in default and to avoid foreclosure proceedings. This impacts the owner's credit less than a foreclosure.
Foreclosure is the legal process of forcing a sale of property by the mortgage lender to recover any possible financial loss. This occurs when the owner of the house has missed numerous mortgage payments. The property is used as collateral for the loan.
Forbearance is a special agreement between the lender and the borrower to stop or reduce the mortgage payments. It can be paused or reduced up to 12 months, but the borrower will have to pay back later date all at once.
In deferment, the borrower's payments are tacked on to the end of their mortgage loan. Instead of paying the lumpsum of payments deferred, the deferred payments extend the length of the mortgage for more manageable payments.
A loan modification is a change to the original terms of your mortgage. It is used to directly lower the interest rate or extend the loan to help the borrower pay the mortgage. Typically the modification lasts for 30 to 90 days then returns to the original conditions.
