I Can't Afford My House Payment. What are my options?

My tax bill is too high. I can’t afford the house!!!

Here is a list of options to consider...

1. Reduce your insurance cost. Your house payment likely includes taxes, insurance, principle, and mortgage interest. If your payment has increased, there is a good chance your insurance rates have increased. Many people are significantly overpaying. We have expert insurance agents on staff that shop A-rated insurance carriers and get them to compete to provide the best quote… for free. We save some clients a ton of money. Just send us an email and we’ll be happy to get you a free quote.  
2. Reduce your utility cost. This company is saving Chandler over $250/mo on average (and it only costs $10/mo!!!). It’s borderline magical. We wanted to offer the same service to you, so we partnered with them. Use this link to sign up, and you get the exact same service paying the exact same as you would if you went directly to them. The only difference is by using our link they agree to contribute $2 to help fund our free tax protest service for every person that signs up. Go here to see how much you can save. 
3. Drop your PMI. Ask your lender if they are charging you mortgage insurance (or PMI). This is a cost that lenders charge if you have less than 20% equity. With house prices increasing so rapidly, there's a good chance you already have enough equity to force the lender to drop PMI even if you purchased your house last year. All you have to do is call them and ask what documentation they need. It may be much easier thank you think. 
4. Reduce your utility consumption. Here are 50 ideas that can help reduce your electricity consumption. 
5. Ask your mortgage company to spread out your escrow shortage over 24 months. If you have a mortgage and your monthly payment has increased in the past year or so, it is likely due to an escrow shortage because your taxes and/or insurance have gone up. Your mortgage company likely uses a 12-month payment plan by default to pay off your escrow shortage, but they usually don't tell you that you have additional options. To help lower your payment just call your mortgage company and simply ask them if you can pay out the escrow shortage over 2-3 years. Most of the time they just say yes without any issue or push back. A 10-minute phone call could drop your payment by hundreds. I’m keeping track of which companies agree to this and which ones won’t. Please let me know if your mortgage company agrees to spread out your escrow shortage or refuses. It will help me help others. Here’s what I have so far: Status on Mtg co’s
6. Triple check to make sure your exemptions are in place. The appraisal district can actually cancel your exemptions anytime without a great reason, such as, if mail they send you is returned undeliverable. This video shows how to verify your homestead exemption is in place in Tarrant County.  If you find out you need to file, this page provides the form you need, step-by-step instructions, and a video to that answers all your questions.  Go here to get the form you'll need and a tutorial video that will answer all your questions and demonstrate how to fill out the form. 
7. Buy a smaller house - Obvious, but it's still an option. Hard times call for hard decisions.
8. Moving far enough away so you would be in a different tax district. Either a…
   • Different county
   • Different school district
   • Move out of your neighborhood if it has a PID (public improvement district)
9. Move to a rural area so you avoid city tax all together
10. Rent. Would it help if I had a list of every rent house and every apartment in the area that fits your price range?
11. Move into a house that doesn’t have an HOA
12. Move-in with a friend/family
13. Buy bigger so you can rent out rooms
14. Buy a house with a garage apartment and rent out the apartment
15. Live in an RV (sounds crazy, but I routinely sell houses because people are doing this more and more)
16. Consider a condo or townhouse
17. Buy a barndominium
18. Move into a tiny house
19. Build a shipping container house
20. Buy with land so you can raise animals, crops, eggs, and sell stuff to offset housing expenses.
21. Rent out your current house and move into another home to create extra income.
22. Biggest issue: Solve the cash-flow crunch by making extra income
    • This article & video covers at-home in-quarantine ideas
    • Sell your possessions (garage sales / online classifieds etc)
    • Eliminate debt
    • Cut down on luxury items
    • Rent out space in your garage to allow (item or vehicle) storage for other people
    • Rent out an extra bedroom on Airbnb 
    • Start an in-home business - childcare, adult care (skilled nurses/caretakers), pet care (boarding, walking), sell home-baked goods, make crafts to sell on Etsy, volunteer to host parties for MLM friends
    • Profit from your yard: Plant berries, vegetables, flowers to sell, make compost from worms
    • Provide fulfillment (boxing and shipping) services for other home-based entrepreneurs
    • Allow people to shoot movies/film at your house: https://gov.texas.gov/film/page/your_property_in_films

Have more ideas? We want to share them. Please email them to us at chandler@chandlercrouch.net

• Options we’re trying to avoid, but are still viable options to consider
  • Stop making payments… forbearance, bankruptcy, foreclosure