The last couple of years have been quite unstable for the housing market. People are facing foreclosure and losing their homes. According to statistics, in Florida 4% of all the mortgages are facing foreclosure proceedings. It is obvious that the situation is really bad; however, a homeowner can seek the help of a foreclosure defense attorney to know his/her options.

The fact is that for vast majority of people foreclosures are stressful, confusing and overwhelming because they do not know much about the foreclosure proceeding. They are not aware of the fact that there are options available to them that can help them avoid foreclosure proceedings.

Loan Modification

A specialized foreclosure defense attorney can lay out the options available to homeowners who are facing foreclosure. Under the Housing Bill passed by President Obama, homeowners facing foreclosure can go for loan modification. Assistance of a foreclosure defense attorney can help a homeowner negotiate the mortgage modification with the lenders.

Short Sale

Still another option that homeowners have is that of short sale. Under this option the homeowner will sell the mortgaged property for less than balance owed on the loan. The proceeds of the sale are given to the lender. Before the sale, the short sale lawyer will negotiate with the bank. The short sale attorney will convince the bank that due to economic or financial hardship, the bank should agree to a discount the loan balance. Therefore, after the house is sold the remaining balance is discounted.

Deed In Lieu

Another way that a homeowner can avoid foreclosure is by opting for deed in lieu. The homeowner’s real estate attorney will negotiate with the lender.  The homeowner will sign over the deed or title of the property to the bank and the bank in return will cancel the mortgage.

Bankruptcy

Another option that a real estate lawyer can suggest to a homeowner is that of filing bankruptcy. This will not only stop all foreclosure proceedings but will also give a chance to the homeowner to repay some of the debt and retain the house.

Refinancing

A Florida real estate attorney can also suggest the option of refinancing to avoid foreclosure. Refinancing simply means that the homeowner replaces the existing mortgage with a new one. In most cases, the new mortgage comes with lower interest rates and better terms and conditions.

Reverse Mortgage

A very good option that a foreclosure defense attorney might suggest is that of reverse mortgage. This is simply a loan against the property. A homeowner does not need to repay the loan as long as he/she lives there. However, this option is mostly available to those who own the property and are over 62 years of age.

Contesting Foreclosure

In many cases it has been seen that homeowners can successfully contest foreclosure proceeding. A foreclosure defense Jacksonville lawyer can help homeowners find the legal grounds on which the proceedings can be challenged. It might be possible that the mortgage company has filed the foreclosure proceedings illegally. A cautious attentive homeowner with the help of a foreclosure defense Florida attorney will be able to figure out what is illegal about the proceedings.

The bottom line is that there are several options available to homeowners to help them avoid foreclosure. It is upto the homeowners to seek these options. A foreclosure defense attorney will act as a specialist guide in their efforts to avoid foreclosure.

The last couple of years have been quite unstable for the housing market. People are facing foreclosure and losing their homes. According to statistics, in Florida 4% of all the mortgages are facing foreclosure proceedings. It is obvious that the situation is really bad; however, a homeowner can seek the help of a foreclosure defense attorney to know his/her options.

The fact is that for vast majority of people foreclosures are stressful, confusing and overwhelming because they do not know much about the foreclosure proceeding. They are not aware of the fact that there are options available to them that can help them avoid foreclosure proceedings.

Loan Modification

A specialized foreclosure defense attorney can lay out the options available to homeowners who are facing foreclosure. Under the Housing Bill passed by President Obama, homeowners facing foreclosure can go for loan modification. Assistance of a foreclosure defense attorney can help a homeowner negotiate the mortgage modification with the lenders.

Short Sale

Still another option that homeowners have is that of short sale. Under this option the homeowner will sell the mortgaged property for less than balance owed on the loan. The proceeds of the sale are given to the lender. Before the sale, the short sale lawyer will negotiate with the bank. The short sale attorney will convince the bank that due to economic or financial hardship, the bank should agree to a discount the loan balance. Therefore, after the house is sold the remaining balance is discounted.

Deed In Lieu

Another way that a homeowner can avoid foreclosure is by opting for deed in lieu. The homeowner’s real estate attorney will negotiate with the lender.  The homeowner will sign over the deed or title of the property to the bank and the bank in return will cancel the mortgage.

Bankruptcy

Another option that a real estate lawyer can suggest to a homeowner is that of filing bankruptcy. This will not only stop all foreclosure proceedings but will also give a chance to the homeowner to repay some of the debt and retain the house.

Refinancing

A Florida real estate attorney can also suggest the option of refinancing to avoid foreclosure. Refinancing simply means that the homeowner replaces the existing mortgage with a new one. In most cases, the new mortgage comes with lower interest rates and better terms and conditions.

Reverse Mortgage

A very good option that a foreclosure defense attorney might suggest is that of reverse mortgage. This is simply a loan against the property. A homeowner does not need to repay the loan as long as he/she lives there. However, this option is mostly available to those who own the property and are over 62 years of age.

Contesting Foreclosure

In many cases it has been seen that homeowners can successfully contest foreclosure proceeding. A foreclosure defense Jacksonville lawyer can help homeowners find the legal grounds on which the proceedings can be challenged. It might be possible that the mortgage company has filed the foreclosure proceedings illegally. A cautious attentive homeowner with the help of a foreclosure defense Florida attorney will be able to figure out what is illegal about the proceedings.

The bottom line is that there are several options available to homeowners to help them avoid foreclosure. It is upto the homeowners to seek these options. A foreclosure defense attorney will act as a specialist guide in their efforts to avoid foreclosure.

1. In come cases, the borrower must attempt to sell the home for its fair market value for at least 90 days before the lender will consider this option.

2. This option may be unavailable if there are other liens on the borrowers home, such as judgments from other creditors, second mortgages, or tax liens.

Advantages of a Deed in Lieu:

o Possible tax considerations, talk to your tax accountant about the 1099 ordinary income for the gift of forgiven loans, as well as the insolvency exceptions.

o Problematic option if you have a 2nd or 3rd loan, line of credit secured by the property. Although the 1st lien holder of the property may agree to a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure the subsequent lien holder have not. The subsequent lien holder loans can become unsecured debt that is attached to and stay with the borrower to pay off.

Example of a Deed in Lieu:

Sam lost his job, and after 2 months of attempting to find employment, decided he would move to another state. Sam called the lender to advise them of his situation. Sam decided to sign over a deed in lieu. In exchange, although months later the property sold for $69,000 less than the mortgage owed, the lender did not submit a 1099 tax statement for the difference. This saved Sam thousands in additional income, which would have been added in to his taxes.

K. Patrice Williams has a BA in Economics as well as a law degree. She has successfully managed both residential and commercial multi-million dollar income producing assets and budgets for more than 10 years. As a 1st year law student, Patrice established a real estate development and consulting business and acquired over 30 rental properties. As the housing market values decreased- like millions of other Americans-her properties were negatively impacted by shifting ARM’s, combined by a sluggish economy. Patrice has researched and personally implemented almost all of the pre-foreclosure techniques detailed in the book: “6 Simple Steps to Avoid Foreclosure”. http://www.avoidforeclosuremanual.com

1. It costs up to $100,000 to litigate a case. If a borrower could pay an attorney this amount of money, they probably would not be in the financial situation to be losing the home.2. Many financial Institutions and brokers are insolvent. At the time of the print of this article, over 217 institutions have gone out of business.3. An in ability for mortgage institution to resend the loan because values have decreased such that the home can not be refinanced.4. The surrounding facts and documentation in the case must be strong and the borrower has to have clean handsFor Example: When applying for their home loan, Tiffany and Theresa tell the mortgage broker that they make $120,000 annually. Both the borrowers and the mortgage broker knew otherwise, Theresa is a retail manager making $55,000 a year and Tiffany is completing her last year of Dental School. The mortgage broker puts the $120,000 income on the loan documents. In this scenario, the broker’s actions to process the loan with information that he knows to be false in order to collect his fees are actionable. However, Tiffany and Theresa do not have “clean hands” in the eye of the law, and will not have a viable case to sue against the mortgage broker.K. Patrice Williams has a BA in Economics as well as a law degree. She has successfully managed both residential and commercial multi-million dollar income producing assets and budgets for more than 10 years. As a 1st year law student, Patrice established a real estate development and consulting business and acquired over 30 rental properties. As the housing market values decreased- like millions of other Americans-her properties were negatively impacted by shifting ARM’s, combined by a sluggish economy. Patrice has researched and personally implemented almost all of the pre-foreclosure techniques detailed in the book: “6 Simple Steps to Avoid Foreclosure”. http://www.avoidforeclosuremanual.com

Homeowners are NOT powerless. Lenders are willing to provide retention, workout solutions (ways to keep your house). One of the most important steps to avoiding a home foreclosure is to react quickly and contact the lender, immediately upon realizing that your financial situation has changed.If you are unable to make your mortgage payment:- Immediately develop a financial plan to prioritize your spending. After healthcare, keeping your house should be first priority. Review your household finances to see where you can cut spending in order to make your mortgage payment. Look for optional expenses including cable tv, memberships, entertainment that can be eliminated. Think of alternative lifestyle changes that will allow you to slash your operational expenses, such as carpooling, walking or taking the bus to work; reviewing your insurance policies to make sure you are getting all of your potential discounts.- Delay payments on unsecured debt including credit cards until you have paid your mortgage.- Increase income.. Can anyone in your household get an extra job to bring in the additional income?- Sell assets. Do you have a 2nd or 3rd car, jewelry, a whole life insurance policy that you can sell for cash to help reinstate your loan?Even if these efforts don’t significantly increase your available cash or your income, they demonstrate to your lender that you are making sacrifices to keep you home.

K. Patrice Williams has a BA in Economics as well as a law degree. She has successfully managed both residential and commercial multi-million dollar income producing assets and budgets for more than 10 years. As a 1st year law student, Patrice established a real estate development and consulting business and acquired over 30 rental properties. As the housing market values decreased- like millions of other Americans-her properties were negatively impacted by shifting ARM’s, combined by a sluggish economy. Patrice has researched and personally implemented almost all of the pre-foreclosure techniques detailed in the book: “6 Simple Steps to Avoid Foreclosure”. http://www.avoidforeclosuremanual.com

1. Don’t move out of your home, if you do, you will NOT qualify for assistance.2. Avoid losing your home if possible, to save your credit history. Foreclosures remain on your credit for seven years.3. Call the mortgage lender’s loss mitigation department. It may require a few calls. Stay calm, and be prepared to be on hold for up to an hour. Try to hold back your frustration, you can vent all you want AFTER the call!4. Locate a HUD housing counseling agency in your area. You can find your local HUD counseling agency on the HUD website.5. Call at least 3 non-profit service companies that help stop foreclosure, and schedule at least one appointment to meet them to discuss your options. At this stage you do NOT want to contact a company that offers to buy your home. I really like NACA (Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America) however, they are not in every state. Dont worry, there are other non profit organizations, you just need to look for them.6. Help the lender or counselor help you by being cooperative.7. Don’t let all the red tape overwhelm you.8. Make sure you understand all documents before signing anything. Avoid foreclosure scams by not signing over your deed to another party does not help you avoid the loan obligation.9. Keep everything that you have received about your foreclosure in one place. Pick up the phone with a pad and pen to take notes. Pick up the phone and start calling.10. Take Action right away!K. Patrice Williams has a BA in Economics as well as a law degree. She has successfully managed both residential and commercial multi-million dollar income producing assets and budgets for more than 10 years. As a 1st year law student, Patrice established a real estate development and consulting business and acquired over 30 rental properties. As the housing market values decreased- like millions of other Americans-her properties were negatively impacted by shifting ARM’s, combined by a sluggish economy. Patrice has researched and personally implemented almost all of the pre-foreclosure techniques detailed in the book: “6 Simple Steps to Avoid Foreclosure”. http://www.avoidforeclosuremanual.com

These days, especially in areas such as California, many individuals are beginning to feel the after-effects of the recent housing bubble while running into a few financial problems along the way. Lenders have been laying off employees, several sub-prime lenders have gone under and it seems there is no escaping the realities of this current housing situation. There are many things a person can do in order to avoid a bank foreclosure. First, the bank does now want to own the property that they may eventually have to foreclose on and the home owner obviously does want to keep their home. So what sort of things can a homeowner do in order to help their situation? The first thing to do would be to see where exactly they can save money on monthly expenses. Are there any ways to cut back costs on entertainment, such as eating out? Are cable TV and the best cell phone plans really worth the cost? How much gas does a household use? This can be a real cost cruncher as I have found that during winter months, the natural gas expenses can get astronomical at times. I would simply suggest to turn the thermostat down a bit to temperatures that are not so hot, but keep the place warm. Just enough that you may want to wear a sweatshirt to keep a little warmer can really make a big difference in the gas bill. Where are the other expenses? If the car payments are quite high, possibly consider one car. And as for insurance payments, there may be room to increase a deductible amount in order to lower monthly payments as well. When finding ways to save money are maxed out, where does a person go to? The only way would be towards finding a way to bring in more income. Maybe a second job would not be such a bad idea. Also, finding items such as jewelry and expensive golf clubs and such may be able to make enough money to keep the bills paid for a while. One thing that should be left alone in most cases would be the retirement savings. Pulling money from these accounts will only cost a person as well through items such as early withdrawal penalties and the like. Trying to get back up on top can be a painful process, but if it means saving the house a person lives in then maybe it’s not such a bad idea. The lender would absolutely agree. The lender ultimately wants you to keep a person’s home. Foreclosing on a home is an expensive process for the bank and they may not even get back as much as they need for the home. Many times there will be a better solution than foreclosure. The good thing is that the lenders are required by their insurers to work with individuals facing foreclosure. If a person speaks with the lender, they may be pleasantly surprised to find out that the lender can do lots of things to help a person out temporarily, such as suspending payments, paying less than the entire monthly amount (but making up for the rest later on), lowering the interest rate through a change in terms, or they may replace an adjustable rate with a fixed rate. Many times, the lender has been willing to take the missed payments and place them back into the balance and even lowering the monthly payments altogether, provided that the homeowner is willing to add more years on to the mortgage. After all other options have been exhausted and the homeowner simply will not be able to hang on to the home, there are more options in regards to getting through the tough times and avoiding foreclosure. Some other solutions could even be to find a buyer who is willing to take over payments if there is really nothing else that can be done and the person wants to get out of the situation. Or, if the market is really bad, the lender might agree to accept an amount that is less than what is owed on the home. If this is an option given to the owner, then it would be a much easier way to sell the home and avoid the damaging foreclosure process. If nothing else seems to work out, there is yet another option where the lender could possibly just accept the property through a deed in-lieu of foreclosure and the homeowners are cleared of the debt. Foreclosure is something that is extremely damaging to one’s financial record and should be avoided if at all possible. There are many different things a homeowner can do in a situation such as facing foreclosure and it would be advised to set up a meeting with the lender and discuss some of these options and possibly even more.

Along with the economy and the financial sectors, the housing market is in a free fall and home mortgage lenders are tightening the purse strings. In the foreseeable future and recent past, experts estimate nearly three to four million people (1) will be unable to avoid foreclosure and will lose or have lost their homes due to the current recession. These are alarming numbers, especially when coupled with the fact that this statistic is projected to pass the number of homeowners who lost their properties during the Great Depression.

But is foreclosure always necessary? Could today’s homeowners, if prepared with the right kind of knowledge, avoid foreclosure? The answer is a resounding yes – in many cases, homeowners with a little foresight can work with their home mortgage lenders and often avoid foreclosure or stop it from occurring in the first place.

Work with Your Home Mortgage Lenders

Whether you’re struggling or you know someone who is, there are alternate means to avoid foreclosure. Begin by speaking with your lender to see what he can do for your particular situation. In most cases, home mortgage lenders and/or lending institutions can work with you to get better rates or help you make your payments in a timely fashion.

Below are four services that home mortgage lenders and institutions routinely offer to their clients. And with a little anticipation, you can avoid foreclosure and prevent it from happening in the future by being more informed and armed with some tricks of the trade!

1. Refinance – This is one of the most common activities to avoid foreclosure in the mortgage industry in which the homeowner tries to decrease his interest rate by paying off the actual balance on the mortgage. This is possible by creating a new mortgage with a different lender for a lower interest rate, with the possibility of paying off the actual mortgage and consolidating other debt such as credit cards, auto loans, student loans, or home equity loans) in order to make just one monthly payment.

2. Loan Modification – Generally offered by home mortgage lenders or even the homeowner’s financial institution, loan modification is made to either the rate or the balance of the mortgage. This happens when home mortgage lenders change the interest rate or the balance on the mortgage in order to decrease the amount of the monthly payment. This is one of the simplest processes to reduce monthly payments and avoid foreclosure because it’s done by the current lender, meaning the paperwork is minimal and there are no closing costs, which is ideal in those situations.

3. Repayment Plan – This service is only offered by home mortgage lenders to homeowners who are delinquent on their monthly payments. With this process, home mortgage lenders will add a portion of the past due balance on the mortgage to the monthly payment in order to pay off that late balance in a shorter period of time without paying extra interest. This option is generally offered to borrowing homeowners who have experienced a significant loss of income (or an increase in living expenses), but still have enough monthly income to correct the delinquency and re-instate the loan. Repayment of the loan must occur within the duration of a scheduled monthly plan, which can be achieved either through gradual repayment of the delinquent amount or through both repayment and loan modification.

4. Short Sale – With this process, home mortgage lenders and homeowners agree on selling the house for less than the balance on the mortgage in order to pay off the debt and avoid foreclosure. These circumstances are usually related to the current real estate market and the borrower’s financial situation. A short sale is typically executed to avoid foreclosure and prevent subsequent damage from appearing on the customer’s credit score for years into the future.

Have a Plan in Place

Take your future into your own hands! Oftentimes, simply knowing the steps of how to avoid foreclosure can be successful in preventing a problematic state of affairs from escalating by making efforts well in advance to remit or resume payments. This is a sticky situation you want to avoid at all costs – a foreclosure remains on your credit report years down the road and can significantly harm your credit score to the point where it may be difficult to purchase a house ever again.

Your lending institution wants to help you avoid foreclosure, keep your home, and for you to stay in it. Be proactive and, above all, be armed with the necessary knowledge to save your home and property!

Sources

1. http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/pdf/foreclosures_2009.doc

The American housing market has slipped over the edge of what appears be a bottomless abyss, and up to two million homeowners who were swept up in the home buying frenzy between 2000 and 2006 are now being swept toward that abyss. Is there a way, if you are one of them, for you to avoid foreclosure?
There may be, if you know what you are doing. But your ability to avoid foreclosure will depend, to a very large extent, on the reasons why you have fallen behind in your house payments. Is your current lack of funds a temporary setback, with a specific date at which you know you will once again become solvent?
If so, and you can provide solid proof that your finances will shortly be looking up, you can approach your lender and ask about negotiating a grace period during which your monthly house payments will be lowered, as a way to avoid foreclosure. The formal term for the relief you are seeking is a Special Forbearance, and to have a chance for qualifying, you will need to provide the specific details of how you expect to get caught up on your mortgage.
Taking a home equity loan is another way to avoid foreclosure, but will only be available if you have lived in your home long enough, and made enough of your house payments, to have accumulated a significant amount of home equity. If you bought into the real estate bubble of a couple of years ago, you probably won’t qualify.
Your home equity is the total amount of cash which would be left if the money you still owe on your mortgage were to be deducted from a current appraisal of your home’s value. Taking a home equity loan to avoid foreclosure means that you will refinance your existing mortgage with a new one, cash out the home equity, and use it to pay off the balance on the earlier mortgage.
If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to get a home equity loan at an interest rate lower than that of your previous mortgage, entitling you to lower monthly payments. But you must be absolutely certain, before taking this route to avoid foreclosure, that you will be able to stay current on the new loan, or you will end up right where you began. So do your best to negotiate the most favorable terms you can.
If you don’t have sufficient equity in your home to qualify for a home equity loan, but your missed mortgage payments have not had time to influence your credit rating, you might consider a traditional loan to avoid foreclosure. If you do, limit yourself to borrowing only as much as it takes to get you current on your house payments, because this kind of loan will usually carry a hefty interest rate.
If, however, your credit record has already been damaged by your failure to make your house payments, how about turning to family or friends? That may be a last resort, and if it’s not an option, you may have to accept that you will lose your home. But you can still avoid foreclosure.
How? By doing your best to sell your home while you are still in the pre-foreclosure process. You will give up you home, and you may not walk away with any cash to show for your efforts, but if you can keep a foreclosure off your credit record, you will be in a much better position to get a mortgage on a more modest home.
Finally, the only certain way to avoid going over the foreclosure cliff is never to buy more house than you can realistically afford, no matter what your creative home lender tires to tell you. You need to have a house which will shelter, and not stress you, and the only way to do that is to get one with payments you can manage even if your finances take a hit for some other reason!

Do Nothing

The stress of facing foreclosure can push many homeowners into turning their head and letting the foreclosure process run it’s course. Doing nothing to save your have is the worst mistake you can make. You can avoid foreclosure with foreclosure assistance by a loan modification attorney. Saving your home from foreclosure should be your top priority. Homeownership is the key to financial wealth, personal health, and a stable family. Why do nothing when we can stop foreclosure today.

File Bankruptcy

While this option may of been very popular in the past new bankruptcy laws and restrictions make this once easy process very hard. Filing for bankruptcy may not relieve you of your obligation to repay your mortgage, foreclosures may still proceed, and it may damage your credit for the rest of your life. Avoid bankruptcy at all cost and consult a loan modification attorney before filing for bankruptcy.

Short Sale

A short sale typically is executed to prevent a home foreclosure. Often a bank will choose to allow a short sale if they believe that it will result in a smaller financial loss than foreclosing. The downside to a short sale is that it takes time to sell a home even at a bargain in such a defunct housing market. There are foreclosures on every block, housing prices are rock bottom, and selling a short sale is next to impossible. The entire time the home is on the market you are still responsible for your mortgage payment, taxes, and insurance. Can you truly afford this option?

Loan Modification

Loan modification has quickly become the best option for homeowners facing home foreclosure. Loan modification is not the only option for homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure due to late mortgage payments. However; it is an option that can save your home while putting you in a mortgage you can afford. So how does loan modification work and who is eligible for a loan modification? Here are some helpful tools and resources below to help you understand your options.

The most common loan modifications are lowering the interest rate, reducing the principal balance, ‘fixing’ adjustable interest rates, forgiveness of payment defaults & Fees, or any combination of these. A loan modification can help home owners who can’t refinance or afford their current mortgage payments. Getting an approved loan modification for troubled home loans can help stop the foreclosure process.

A loan modification with a loan modification attorney may offer a more favorable loan modification agreement than your mortgage lender will offer you directly. With so many home loans adjusting to higher payments a loan workout with a Loan Modification Attorney, can modify mortgage loan terms fast and effectively. Obtaining foreclosure help and proper legal advice from a loan modification attorney will get you a better loan modification agreement with your lender and preserve your credit. If you are already behind in your mortgage payments this may help stop the foreclosure process and help you avoid foreclosure.

A loan workout needs to perform for both parties; your lender does not want your home and to go through the foreclosure process. However, they may not want to accept your partial payment and threaten foreclosure if you are late or in default. A HUD housing counselor or a loan modification attorney can offer free foreclosure advice to homeowners that want to keep their home.