Who Do You Call When You Can't Pay Your Mortgage?

April:  This is a great post to encourage people to take some action, seek counsel, explore thier options even in challenging times.  There is help out there.  Do not despair; do not give up.

The only problem is that Attorneys are really after a fee that they charge from the beginning, they usually don't guarantee the outcome, they are the vultures of this economic meltdown, and at the end, they usually offer free: short sale of the house if they could not help.

They are clogging the system with frivolous lawsuits, with MERS related threats to banks, and at the end, a great deal of the sluggishness of the recovery can be attributed to attorneys making a buck regardless what happens to the world.

The best advice is to not ignore it!  Asking for help from a Real Estate Professional is a good start, but calling your lender is a good idea as well... Better to work with them before there is a big issue than stick your head in the sand.

Great blog, extremely informative.  Reiterates that we, as agents, are not qualified to give our clients the type of advice they need when facing such difficult decisions.

I have found many attornies ask for money and deliver nothing. 

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is ask for help.  When you are unable to make your mortgage payment homeowners need to understand that their are options out there, but they need to face the reality and ask for help.

April, Great post for any homeowner who is in trouble. Great advice for troubled homeowners.

Great post to warn homeowners about people who might take their money, but not help them with their problem. Hard times produce too many crooks!

April, you hit the nail on the head and wrote this perfectly for distressed sellers.  Great post!!!!

April, action = results.  What about those current, under water and wanting to stay in their homes?

April, that was a nice story.  I remember when I was about 16 & riding a horse in Michigan behind a friend that was an accomplished rider. (3rd time on a horse & first time bareback) I fell off because my horse was running chasing the ohter horse on a frozen gravel road.  Broke my thumb, fell off 2 more times & finally road the horse home in the other direction!

Getting free advice is getting nothing of value and certainly not a solution especially when you are in financial distress. There are many professional financial advisers who have helped their clients and may also be licensed RE agents or brokers who can provide meaningful solutions or steer a distressed property owner toward additional assistance from other credible resources.

Knowledgeable RE agents and brokers are fearless with their advice to their clients and future clients and always advise their clients to seek legal advice on matters or issues regarding their legal circumstances and consequences.

There are many unscrupulous people who take advantage of financially distressed homeowners, all of whom begin with FREE to lure their victims into a relationship. Unfortunately, many victims don't use professionals to help them until they have become victims of fraud and deceit. So what's the value of FREE, absolutely nothing!

Very good post April.  Helps the seller know what they can do and what a REALTOR can and cannot do.  Margaret C.

Dear April,

Talking with a Realtor could not hurt, because they have many contacts and resources. However, the first call should be to the loan servicer to inform them of your hardship situation and to see, if they could work on the problem with you.

Great Blog and others offer some sound advice.

Heard on the news: Federal Reserve has issued a guidance to various state courts that request financial documents submitted in foreclosure proceedings be taken as a true statement of the facts; to wit- Financial Intuitions are to be found innocent until found guilty; homeowners are to be found guilty until found innocent (home owners have to prove the documents are inaccurate; they have to subpoenathe documents as banks are not required to provide the documents). IMO this is a work around by the Fed to protect the banks & mortgage servicer from judges who have found some of the foreclosure documents to have serious legal errors; IE: unable to find original documents or determine who owns the note when sold many times. The memorandum also implied that all homeowners who seek mortgage relief had committed fraud on the banks and not vice-a-versa; this is certainly not true in all cases.

Unfortunately, most home owners when they get to this point don't have the cash to retain a lawyer to fight for their rights. A time may come (hope I'm wrong) that land & home ownership will be the way it was during the 1950's; locally we call thse homes Mill houses as documents show they were owned by the local mills.

Good Post!  This should really be helpful to a lot of homeowners who are in distress!

This is good advice. People really don't know where to start when they get in trouble.

Luckily in California the DRE is cracking down on scam artists cheating people out of money by charging them up front for a service they never perform.