Do I need to make my mortgage payment while I am trying to refinance or sell my property?
This is a question that is asked a lot. The short answer is yes, you do.
We are often told by a borrower who is trying to, or in the middle of a refinance or sale of their property, that their broker, realtor, or lawyer told them they do not have to make the regularly scheduled mortgage payments because they are refinancing. The loan or selling the property and it will be paid off soon.
This is bad advice for a few reasons. First, when you took the loan, a note and mortgage were signed and that calls for monthly monthly payments, and it says you can skip payments while trying to refinance or sell a property. You are obligated and your lender expects that you make a payment every month and if you don’t you will incur late fees, additional interest, and maybe default fees and interest. Not to mention, this may hurt your credit,
It may not be the 1 of 2 payments that you skipped. That’s the real issue. We have seen this start off as a small issue, but when the borrower’s refinance or sale does not go through, this can spiral into a larger issue. Usually, at this point, the person giving you this poor advice is long gone, and you are left to deal with the mess is caused.
Our advice is to make all payments on time. If there is a reason that you cannot make the payments on time, contact your current lender, explain the reason, and see if they will allow you to skip a payment or make a partial payment and get some agreement with them in writing. Only doing this is necessary, and you have a written agreement.
