Are you at risk of losing your home due to delinquent property taxes, resulting in a property tax foreclosure? Habitat HOPE Housing Counseling may be able to help.
In Michigan, real property tax foreclosure involves a three year process. Parcels are forfeited to the county treasurer in the second year of delinquency. If they are not paid by March 31st of the 3rd year of delinquency, the property is foreclosed upon.
Steps to potentially avoid losing your home to foreclosure:
1. Contact your county treasurer to talk about a repayment plan or extension. Be prepared by looking at your budget ahead of time and know what you can afford to pay each month toward the repayment of the delinquent taxes.
2. Contact DHHS to apply for State Emergency Relief (SER) if you are at risk of losing your home. There is a maximum of $2,000 lifetime for home ownerships services.
3. Call 211 for local referrals.
4. If the property is no longer affordable, consider selling your home before it goes into property tax foreclosure.
5. Increase income if possible or use one-time payments such as income tax refunds or stimulus money to pay a portion or all of the delinquency.
6. For 2021 property taxes – if you are very low income, contact your city/township assessor to ask about a poverty exemption.
7. FREE HELP is available by contacting a HUD Certified Housing Counselor, such as the Habitat HOPE housing counselor. A housing counselor can help you review your budget, find resources that may be available, and review all your options to help you keep or transition from your home
Join us Tuesday, March 23 2021 for this very important virtual HOPE Huddle. We will be discussing this information at length and talking about resources that may be able to help you. The Monroe County treasurer Jesse Stanford will be a guest speaker at this event, as well as Cathy Cousineau, the Monroe Township assesor.
JOIN US – MARCH 23rd at 5:30 PM via Zoom.
Contact Jeanette at jmcdonald@habitatmonroemi.org to register