Can I Sell My New Bedford House Before Foreclosure?

How we help you work toward closing

Tell us the property address and what the notice says, if you have it. We review the house as-is and give you a written cash offer and written terms before you commit. We buy houses as-is, in any condition — no repairs, no cleaning, no cleanout required to sell to us. Closing is through a title company.

If a mortgage auction is scheduled, our agreement gives us a basis to ask for a postponement while the title company checks ownership, signing authority, payoff figures, and other title items. Our agreement of sale will often get a foreclosure sale postponed so we can close. Signing alone doesn't postpone it automatically; we use the agreement to ask for the postponement, and it works more often than people think. Confirm any changed sale date with the lender or the party handling the auction.

You don't need to pay off your back taxes before we settle. We buy houses with back taxes and liens — payoffs get handled through the closing, not by you upfront.

When you sell to us, we pay the closing costs, including the Massachusetts deeds excise. Mortgage balances, liens, back taxes, and your share of current property taxes are separate amounts to address through the closing.

Is the notice about a mortgage foreclosure or a tax sale?

Most Massachusetts mortgage foreclosures use the mortgage's power of sale: the lender or its representative can hold a public auction without a judge deciding the foreclosure itself. A lender usually files a Servicemembers case in Land Court first; that case checks whether the owner is protected as a servicemember. Read the state's mortgage-foreclosure overview and the Land Court's Servicemembers case FAQ.

For an eligible owner-occupied home with one to four units, the lender must send a right-to-cure notice and allow 90 days to cure before accelerating the loan. This right is available once in a five-year period. A loan-modification review can extend the period to as long as 150 days for certain higher-risk loans. See Chapter 244, Section 35A and Section 35B. These rules depend on the loan and property; use your notice to confirm the dates that apply.

The lender or its agent or attorney runs the mortgage sale as a public auction. Notice is published once a week for three weeks, starting at least 21 days before the sale, and mailed to the owner at least 14 days before. These notice rules do not calculate your personal deadline. See Chapter 244, Section 14 and confirm the current date and amount needed with your lender, title company, or attorney. The right to redeem ends at the power-of-sale auction; see Section 18.

A tax-title or tax-foreclosure notice for unpaid property taxes concerns a separate process under Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 60, not the mortgage foreclosure described above. Each notice has its own dates. A mortgage cure period or postponement does not set or change a tax-title deadline; follow the tax notice and its contact information.

What happens next

1. Contact us by phone or form and share the property address and any foreclosure notice or scheduled auction date.
2. We review the house and give you a written cash offer and written terms before you decide.
3. If you accept, a title company checks ownership and signing authority, requests payoff figures, and identifies liens, back taxes, and current property-tax amounts separately.
4. We prepare for a title-company closing on the written terms. If a mortgage auction is scheduled, we use the agreement to ask for a postponement and confirm any changed date with the sale contact.

It's real estate. Sometimes there are bumps in the road. We won't disappear when that happens, and we'll be fighting to get this to the closing table.

Questions and contact

Compare possible sale proceeds with the New Bedford home-sale calculator. It is a planning estimate, not a property-specific offer or settlement statement.