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How Can I Prevent Foreclosure?

By
Real Estate Agent with Liberty Realty, LLC

How Can I Prevent Foreclosure?

Preventing Foreclosure

If you fall behind on making your monthly mortgage payments, you can lose your home.  There are ways to protect your home, but you must act immediately.

* First, contact your lender. Chances are, your lender will want to work with you to help you find a way to save your home.  DO NOT avoid phone calls or disregard letters from your lender.

* Seek counseling.  A debt counselor or even your lender, can help you make a budget to structure a repayment plan.  For unbiased answers go to the list of counselors approved by the US Government Dept of Housing: call toll free 800-569-4287 or go to www.hud.gov and select "avoid foreclosure" from the left hand bar.

* Negotiate a payment plan.  A cure is a one time 30 day grace period for a missed payment.  You could also set up complete refinancing, as long as your new plan gets you out of the mess you're in.  If you are several months behind with your mortgage payments and you have not contacted your lender, they may assume you have no intention to repay their loan.  If you are having serious financial difficulties, you need to seek professional assistance and/or legal counsel to best protect your home.

* Keep records.  Keep a record of every conversation (dates & times) you have with the bank in case you end up in court.  Keep copies of all correspondence. 

* Don't sign anything you don't understand.  If you are working with a counselor, ask him to refer an attorney who can explain documents to you.

* Sell your home.  If your problem is serious enough that it can not be resolved in a reasonable amount of time, it may be necessary to sell your home and find a more managable living situation.  Negotiating a short sale with your lender is another option.  Make sure you work closely with your lender to allow a reasonable time to sell the home.  If all else fails, you may be able to sign the house over to your lender, normally referred to as a "Deed in Lieu".  An attorney may also be able to help you file for bankruptcy as a last resort.

If you have found this information useful and have additional questions, please feel free to call, email or text me.  God Bless.

Posted by

Vienna Bello, GRI, SFR
Licensed Real Estate Agent 
Liberty Realty, LLC
1 Marine View Plaza
Hoboken, NJ 07030
O: 201-610-1010
C: 201-725-8102
F: 201-526-4520
E: vbello@libertyrealestate.com

Comments (2)

Kevin Simshauser
Keller Williams Realty | Newport Estates - Newport Beach, CA

Vienna,

If you don't mind, I am going to use this post for my clients.  So many of them end up avoiding every phone call, throwing away every piece of mail and then a day before their sale they call to see if we can help.  People need to stay pro active and seek every piece of advice they can.

Feb 11, 2011 10:19 AM
Don Hess
KW Elite Keller Williams 1280 Plaza Blvd. Lancaster, PA 17601 - Quarryville, PA

Communicate, communicate, communicate! It doesn't matter if it is your home mortgage, a late invoice for your business or just a household invoice. If you call the person or institution that you owe chances are they will work with you. However if you ignore them, I never met a credit manager that didn't come after you with a vengeance!!

Feb 12, 2011 07:03 AM