HELP AND ADVICE ON FORECLOSURE - A CONTINUING BLOG

HELP AND ADVICE ON AVOIDING FORECLOSURE OF YOUR HOME

This is the first in a series of articles specifically aimed to assist those struggling with debt problems and the threat of foreclosure on their home or property. It is intended to give simple, practical advice on how to manage the situation as far as it is practical.

Foreclosure is the legal process whereby a lender can take forced possession of a property when a borrower cannot or will not pay the regular repayments due on a loan agreement. The majority of borrowers who become involved in the foreclosure process survive it without the loss of their property to foreclosure sale or auction. Today we will look at ways of trying to achieve this objective although it must be remembered that if, for whatever reason you simply do not have enough income make your loan payments as they become due, foreclosure may become inevitable.

There are four courses of action available to defeat foreclosure proceedings. They are:
1. bring up to date any loan arrears, after negotiating an agreed system with the lender lien holder
2. negotiate a repayment holiday (a short period when no payments are made) with the lender so as to give time to bring up to date the outstanding loan arrears
3. refinance the loan on the house, possibly including any other short term debts so that overall monthly debt repayments reduces to a manageable figure.
4. voluntarily sell the house.

People do not like to talk about foreclosure when it is their own real estate at risk. However every lender has the right to start the foreclosure proceedings on a lien property if you fail to make a payment on a due date. Sadly foreclosures are happening with increasing frequency all over the United States. In fact, it is almost a national epidemic.

The over riding recommendation is not to ignore the situation if you are under threat of foreclosure and just hope it will go away. Do not fail to open all mail and respond appropriately even if it is only to say ‘thank you, I am having problems and will contact you again within 2 weeks once I have obtained professional advice’.

Be prepared to seek and follow advice, realistically review the options available to you and try and prepare a plan for dealing with the situation. As far as possible, try and be in control of the situation as this will give some help in dealing with the worry and family stress that the threat of foreclosure brings. It is always much better to try and tackle a problem today, rather than hope it will go away tomorrow.

Further articles in this series will be published on http://golcrest.blogspot.com/

Alan Fleming regularly writes on marketing, business, finance and real estate related issues.

http://golcrest.blogspot.com/ is dedicated to providing practical and sensible advice to those unfortunately facing the possibility of foreclosure on their home.