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Advice for Homeowners That Want to Save Their Home

Facing a home foreclosure can be a very scary experience. While foreclosure laws differ from state to state, good foreclosure advice can help almost anyone in this terrible situation. In this article we will explain 5 of the most commons things you should know if you plan to stop home foreclosure and remain in your home.

Five Tips to Avoiding Home Foreclosure

1. Do Not Avoid Your Lender

It is human nature to avoid any situation we feel we are not equipped to deal with. However, if you are behind on mortgage payments and need to stop home foreclosure to remain in your home, avoiding the situation is only counterproductive. Once the foreclosure process has begun, the only thing that will stop the foreclosure process is for you to do something. If you choose to avoid your lender and do nothing to stop the foreclosure, then the foreclosure process will inevitably take your home. Stay in touch with your lender, and provide them with current and accurate contact information.

2. When You First Fall Behind on Your Mortgage Payments, Write Your Lender a Hardship Letter

Lenders are people just like you and I. If some owed you money and could not pay, you would feel much better if they communicated with you and explained their current situation and when they may be able to repay you. Lenders are no different. Many homeowners who refuse seek foreclosure advice do not realize that by writing a Hardship Letter and sending it to your lender, you may me able to delay or even avoid foreclosure. If your financial situation will be improving soon, your lender may decide to give you some additional time to catch up your payments. The best way to stop home foreclosure is to avoid foreclosure altogether.

3. Ask Your Lender if They Can Offer You About Any Foreclosure Advice or Foreclosure Alternatives

You are not the first person to fall behind on mortgage payments, and you won’t be the last. Many lenders have Workout Departments that can give free foreclosure help that can help you stop home foreclosure or avoid foreclosure altogether. Before you talk to an attorney or consider filing bankruptcy to stop foreclosure, find out if your lender can offer you free foreclosure advice and get you back on track.

4. If You Get Foreclosure Advice From a Third Party, Avoid Foreclosure Scams At All Cost

The big problem with a scam artist is that they look and sound like legitimate business people! There are more “Avoid Foreclosure” and “Pay Us To Stop Home Foreclosure” scams than ever more. As foreclosure rates rise and more and more owners seek foreclosure alternatives to help stop home foreclosure, the number of scams will only increase. The best way to avoid foreclosure scams to make sure you are dealing with a company that will at least provide an initial free consultation, references, and has been in business at least two years. Avoiding foreclosure scam artist that can ask for large amounts of money up front or promise to stop home foreclosure as soon as they receive payment can save you time and money.

5. If Possible, Keep Your Other Bills Current

There are many legitimate companies that offer financial help or loans for people in foreclosure. They can help stop home foreclosure by loaning the money you need to catch up on your mortgage payments or by refinancing your property with a new loan, thus paying of your lender and avoiding foreclosure. If you are behind on all of your bills, your credit score will most likely be too low to qualify for this type of loan, called a Foreclosure Bailout (a special type of loan designed specifically for people in foreclosure). I have seen consumers with a mortgage and several other small monthly payments (less than $20) lose their home because they stopped paying all of their bills. Avoiding foreclosure with a loan is one of the best ways to save your home, so if you can stay current on your other bills this is a viable option to stop home foreclosure and is some of the best foreclosure advice anyone can give you.

Jambhala Rinpo asked:


It’s easy to get behind on your bills. It happens even to the best of us sometimes. When it comes to mortgage payments though, getting behind can mean risking your home’s foreclosure. The best way to stop foreclosures is to avoid getting behind on your mortgage payments in the first place, but when circumstances prevent you from paying on time, what can you do? Where can you go?

The first thing to be sure to do, is be open and honest about what’s going on. Don’t try to hide from your lender, or ignore them. This will just give them reason to believe that you aren’t going to pay them back. You need to contact them and be open and honest about your financial situation.

Lenders do not want to foreclose. It is only a last resort for when they feel that you will not be able to pay them any other way. There are a few things you can do to stop foreclosure.

1)Reinstatement – This is when you negotiate to reinstate your behind payments by promising to repay later a lump sum to get back on track with your regular payment plan.

2)Forbearance – This is when you are allowed to hold off on payments for awhile with a plan for later getting back on track with your payments.

3)Modification of the Mortgage – This is when the mortgage is re-negotiated for a new workable payment plan financed over a longer period of time and often smaller regular payments.

4)Selling your Home – This means losing your home, but it can certainly mean getting more money for your home than if you had a foreclosure. You would be given a time period to sell your home in order to pay off the rest of your loan to get out of debt.

5)Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure – This is when the lender and you agree that you will give up your home, and they will forgive the debt. This does not look good on your credit history, nor does it allow you to keep your home, but it is still much better than a foreclosure.

All of these foreclosure stopping methods depend on what your financial situation is in the present, what potential it has for the future, and whether you can negotiate a workable plan with your lender. It’s best to get all your financial documents in order, so that you can present your best possible case to your lender. If they see that there is good potential for you to pay them back, then they will certainly be willing to negotiate with you. You may end up paying higher interest rates over a longer period of repayment, but it’s certainly worth it if you can keep your home.

If you need help in the negotiation process, or getting your financial records in order to plead your case, there are many financial advisors that specialize in helping to stop foreclosures. Financial advisors can be your savior if you don’t know where to start when it comes to negotiations. If you are going to seek an advisor for help, be sure that they are working on results. That means don’t pay them any fees up front. Foreclosure advisors that know what they’re doing, will only take payment if they do the job for you successfully.

Shane Barker asked:


Are you having trouble with selling your home? Has it been a month to a year since your property has been listed? Moreover, has the value of your home differed from what you have expected or determined?

Well, here is the reason why, Research has shown that foreclosure filings in the State of California have dramatically increased since September of last year. As an effect of the increase in the number of foreclosed homes, prices of homes newly listed in the open market have dramatically declined as well. This inevitably affects the number of home sellers in California who are looking for quick sales. Apart from that, this increase in foreclosure listings also affects an entire neighborhood’s prices bringing down an entire block’s value. .

So how can a family stooped in financial problems manage to stay afloat if property sales are hampered by the dramatic rise in foreclosure listings? How can couples settling their divorce find a way to divide their conjugal assets? How can a family who has recently lost a loved one cope up with debts and future expenses? Moreover, and most importantly, how will they be able to avoid foreclosures?

One thing is for certain. Applying for mortgage loans is not the best way to prevent foreclosures. On the contrary, an application for mortgage loans can land you that dreaded possibility of a foreclosure. Mortgage loans may give you the quick cash you need at the meantime but can surprise you with foreclosures at the long run. With interest rates on the rise, many mortgagors find it harder and harder to settle their mortgage bills each month which caused the rise in foreclosure listings. Along with the rise in foreclosure listings, comes the increase of homes being repossessed each year.

But there is no use crying over spilled milk once you have already done so. Fortunately, there is a way of stopping foreclosures. That way is Cashout Options. Cashout Options is a company that invests in single-family homes and multi-family homes in whatever state or condition. Research has shown that most foreclosed homes or homes in danger of foreclosure are the ones that are dilapidated, rundown and or are found in marginalized neighborhoods. Cashout Options does not care where or in what condition the house is in. Through the years, it has saved a lot of homes facing repossession and has purchased these homes from their owners for a reasonable amount that both parties were content with.

Foreclosures do not only lead to repossessions but may damage long-existing good credit reputations. It takes only one instance of a foreclosure to make for several years of bad credit history. Cashout Options, throughout its operation years, has provided foreclosure help to many people who have encountered such problems. People who are deeply immersed in the foreclosure spiral can rely on genuine foreclosure assistance from Cashout Options. The company’s experts are very approachable and transparent when it comes to vital foreclosure information that will help you in preventing foreclosures from destroying your credit and repossessing your home.

Cashout Options provides its clientele with various negotiable foreclosure options such as mortgage modifications and mortgage short sales. The company is able to maintain excellent customer relations by engaging them in a personal discussion of their situation, understanding what each situation calls for and guiding the customer in the short sale process.

The key to stopping foreclosures is simple. Just fill out the online sellers form found in the company’s website. In 48 hours to seven days, you can expect the company’s local affiliate to respond to your application. A local affiliate or one of the company’s personnel will contact you and engage you to discuss your situation. Cashout Options forms foreclosure solutions on a case to case basis so that each solution fits each different situation. You are assured of a clean, safe, and quick sale if you engage Cashout Options as your buyer instead of putting up your home for sale or auction.

Keith Junor asked:


Have you been served with a foreclosure?

Here are your options:

 

1) Your mortgage servicer’s loss mitigation department may provide you with a “reinstatement figure.” If you pay it, the servicer will reinstate the mortgage and dismiss the foreclosure. This option typically has a couple of problems associated with it. First of all, the servicer will not be very cooperative, even if it promises you that the reinstatement figure is on the way. Even if you successfully obtain a reinstatement figure, you still must come up with the cash to pay the amount due to stop the foreclosure.

(By the way, reinstatement figures often will include hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, in junk fees, such as a Broker Price Opinion, property inspections and other “property preservation expenses”. These fees are often charged to the borrower whether or not the cost was actually incurred or the service actually performed.)

2) You can seek a complete refinance of the existing mortgage in foreclosure. This option is limited to a very small group of people. There must be sufficient equity to entice another lender to pay off the defaulted mortgage. This becomes even more difficult if there is a second mortgage because that must also be paid off. Given the much publicized “credit crunch” on Wall Street, only those borrowers with substantial and verifiable income will most likely qualify.

3) You can place your home on the market and attempt to sell it. This may not be a realistic option because home values are still dropping each day, and you may now have no equity or negative equity. I have previously discussed the possibility of a short sale, but if you are in a foreclosure, you are under the additional pressure of time. There is only a small window of opportunity until closing on the sale of your home will become impossible before a foreclosure sale date, and your mortgage servicer will be in no hurry to cooperate. See option #1 above.

4) You can file a Chapter 13 reorganization bankruptcy. There are a bunch of excellent blogs on the subject of filing a Chapter 13 on Bankruptcy Law Network, but you can only save your home in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy if you can make the monthly Chapter 13 Plan payment. Chapter 13 can buy you time, but if your case is dismissed for nonpayment, the mortgage servicing company will resume the foreclosure. If you have regular income, this is the way to go.

5) You can give up and move out. This is an option that many people are choosing in this current economic climate. Maybe the reason you fell behind in your mortgage is a long term loss of income. You cannot meet the requirements of one of the four previous options, and you are ready to move on. There are two major problems with this option. The first problem is that you will definitely have a foreclosure on your credit report. Secondly, there is a possibility that the mortgage company will still be owed a balance after the foreclosure sale. This leads to a deficiency balance owed by you to the mortgage company.

6) You can fight against your foreclosure. It is not a given that your mortgage servicer will succeed easily in a foreclosure . . . unless you do nothing. This may sound too good to be true, but your mortgage company may have filed an improper foreclosure lawsuit. Across the country, judges are punishing mortgage companies for incomplete record keeping and for violations of law. You may have valuable defenses and counterclaims against your mortgage company that could actually prevent foreclosure and even require your mortgage servicing company to pay you damages. You may even be able to force your lender to completely rewrite the terms of your note and mortgage, enabling you to keep your home.

Here’s how you can fight your foreclosure!

How do I fight my Florida foreclosure?

http://www.mortgagelawnetwork.com

By Chip Parker, Jacksonville Consumer Attorney on Mar 28, 2008 in Attorneys In Our Network, barney frank, mortgage reform

greywolf.critter.netAs I stated in my previous article, you have a limited number of options when you are served with a foreclosure on your home. For many, the best option may be to fight the foreclosure. “How is this possible?,” you may ask. “How can I fight my huge mortgage company with all of its tall building lawyers?”

The truth of the matter is that, despite the millions of dollars spent by the mortgage servicing industry on sophisticated software to process loans, record keeping tends to be sloppy and full of errors. Moreover, the largest mortgage companies hire law firms that do nothing but file foreclosures, and the work goes to the firm that bids the cheapest price per case. It’s not that these lawyers are stupid. More accurately, their volume case load prevents them from effectively litigating contested cases, and their client, the mortgage servicer, does little to assist in the prosecution of the foreclosure case.

Are you aware that your mortgage company is probably not the same company that actually loaned you the money to buy or refinance your home? How do you know if this mortgage company has been properly assigned your note and mortgage? The alleged assignment may be legally insufficient. Does your foreclosure complaint even have copies of the note, mortgage and assignment attached? Most likely, these documents are not attached, and may not even be in the possession of your mortgage company. On October 31, 2007, a federal district judge in Ohio dismissed fourteen (14) foreclosure cases filed by Deutsche Bank for this very reason.

Your mortgage company may be attempting to substitute your original note and/or mortgage with a copy. This is called a “Count to Establish Lost Documents.” There are strict legal requirements to establish a lost note or mortgage, and your mortgage company may be unable to meet the requirements if challenged.

Your mortgage company may have inflated the balance due by charging junk fees, such as a Broker Price Opinion (BPO), property inspections, force placed insurance and other “property preservation expenses.” Additionally, your mortgage company may have placed your payments into a “suspense account” and charged you late fees as if payments were never made.

The bottom line is that your mortgage company may have filed an improper foreclosure lawsuit. You may have valuable defenses and counterclaims against your mortgage company that could actually prevent foreclosure and even require your mortgage servicing company to pay you damages. You may even be able to force your lender to completely rewrite the terms of your note and mortgage, enabling you to keep your home.

Don’t sit on your rights! You have or will be served a copy of the foreclosure complaint by a process server. You typically have only 20 days to respond to the mortgage company’s complaint, so you need to see an attorney immediately if you wish to defend against the foreclosure!

Shane Barker asked:


The death of a loved one is never easy. Not only is it emotionally disturbing, but financially as well. So if you’re suffering from depression caused by the loss of a loved one, you hardly have time to notice your mortgage bills sitting their on your kitchen table. When you are not able to pay these mortgage bills, you might be in danger of losing your house as well.

Foreclosures happen when monthly payments for mortgage loans are not met. When a month has gone by since your last bill was sent to you and you still are unable to meet the monthly dues, a notice of a foreclosure will be sent to you.

What is a foreclosure?

In mortgage deals concerning real estate property such as a house, the house is held as a security for the payment of loans. This means that the mortgagor (the owner of the house) ‘trades’ his or her house for a lump sum or an amount loaned by a bank but the mortgagor still maintains ownership of the house by paying mortgage bills. In the event that the mortgagor is unable to pay these bills or satisfy any other requirements that are specified on the bond or deal, a foreclosure can happen. A foreclosure is essentially a legal step that the lender makes when a loan is defaulted. The lender does this to recover the amount owed by the mortgagor. The foreclosure process begins when the lender issues a public notice of a default called a Notice of Default or Lis Pendens.

Foreclosures usually end in three ways: 1) through a pre-foreclosure, 2) through a public auction and 3) repossession

What is a pre-foreclosure?

In a pre-foreclosure, the debtor reinstates the loan either through a mortgage modification process wherein he or she pursues another mortgage package or agrees to pay the amount of debt he or she has in a span of time set by the bank or as stated in mortgage laws governing the area. This period is called a redemption period. It usually lasts only a month after the petitioning for the foreclosure.

How does a foreclosure end through a public auction?

A foreclosure can be settled through a public auction if both parties (the bank or lender and the mortgagor) agree to settle their dispute through a public auction. During the redemption period, the debtor puts up his or her property for sale in an auction to pay off his or her remaining loan balance. In this case, the debtor is agrees to sell his or her property and the rights to it to the highest bidder of the public auction.

What is repossession?

Repossessions happen when the mortgagor has exhausted all means of paying this or her debts to bank or lender. The bank or lender will take over the ownership of the house to compensate for the financial loss it has incurred throughout the mortgage period. A repossession greatly damages a person’s credit history.

A foreclosure that ends in any one of the abovementioned ways can destroy one’s credibility and can hamper a person’s borrowing power. Either that or you lose any money you would have earned in selling the property. Fortunately, there is hope. There is a company in California that purchases properties directly from the owners. Cashout Options is the company that will provide you with suitable foreclosure solutions and present to you a viable and hard to resist all cash offer. Cashout Options has experts that will help you in stopping foreclosures and save you from incurring a dent in your credit history. It has an outstanding group of personnel to supply you with the adequate foreclosure assistance that you need. With its short sale services, you can be assured that you will get the best and fastest deals while still avoiding foreclosures. By filling up an online request form, Cashout Options will try to get in touch with you in as fast as 48 hours and will provide you with all the foreclosure help that you need.

Ioan Margineanu asked:


When a borrower fails to make his payments for several months in a row, the bank starts the foreclosure process. The phase of the foreclosure lasts for a few months and the borrower needs to come up with a way to pay off his debts and avoid foreclosure. Many investors would like to buy a foreclosure home because of the low price, but another option of making profit from foreclosures is to buy a pre foreclosure home. Instead of losing the house to the bank, the owner may decide to sell it. But in most cases, pre foreclosure homes are sold at a very low price and this is where investors appear. It might be hard for the owner to sell his house at a low price, but this option if often preferred instead of foreclosure.

There are many advantages for buying a pre foreclosure home. At this stage, the owner is about to lose the ownership of the house and the back will soon take possession of the property and sell it at a low price. The owner can repay his loan until the day when the house is being foreclosed and the bank tries to offer him many possibilities to avoid foreclosure. As a last resort, most people try to sell their home to any buyer just to avoid foreclosure. If you know where to look for a pre foreclosure home, the owner will surely pay attention to your offer, no matter how low it is. In some cases, the owner is willing to drop the normal price to 50%. The advantage of buying a pre foreclosure home over a foreclosure home is that you have no competition. When the bank sells a foreclosure home, many bitters will attend the public auction and the prices may rise. But if you are the soul buyer, you can deal straight with the owner and you can get a good price. If the owner fails to sell the house, he will lose everything, but if you buy it from him, he will still end up with something. Everybody wins from this situation and buyers shouldn’t feel guilty for buying a pre foreclosure home – they are actually helping the owner. Further more, the owner is not obligated to accept your offer so you shouldn’t have any moral constrains about how much you want to give him for the house.

If you want to buy a pre foreclosure home you need to check out one of the 3 sources: the newspaper, online lists or lenders. Each option has its advantages and you can find a great pre foreclosure home with any one of them. If you are looking for a new home you should start with pre foreclosure homes because they have the lowers prices, the highest quality and you have no competition. If you by foreclosure homes from a bank, they might be in a poor condition. After the initial owner loses his home, there is no one responsible with the maintenance so you might have to clean it up after you buy it. But if you buy a pre foreclosure house, you just have to move in. It can be your dream house or your next investment.

Pre foreclosures can be profitable. Anyone can start searching for this type of real estate and make a profit. The only difference between pre foreclosure houses and normal houses is the price and pre foreclosures are a huge investment opportunity for real estate business men.

submit726 asked:

http://www.RehabaHouse.com is where you can find foreclosures and foreclosure property. where to find foreclosures on the internet is at RehabaHouse.com

DCFawcett asked:


Where do most people turn when they seek opportunities in real estate foreclosure investing? Sure, they take a look at free foreclosure listings or even sources of foreclosures that they pay for. While these sources may lead to productive and profitable deals, they also usually require extensive marketing and business promotion in order these preforeclosure opportunities to be most meaningful in real estate foreclosure investing. How do you learn how to do these things in your pursuit of foreclosures? The key is real estate training and, more specifically foreclosure training/short sale training.

With all the real estate foreclosure investing options out there, I think the greatness of the current market also can be risky for the investor because, without the proper short sale training or even basic foreclosure training, you run the risk of not really knowing what you are doing. Profits can be lost and so too can foreclosure opportunities when you lack the proper real estate foreclosure investing training.

Real estate foreclosure

investing is an amazing opportunity but there are many aspects to consider, especially if you are really going to learn real estate short sales. Good foreclosure training and good short sale training programs cover all the features you need to learn, including marketing, negotiations, and even the emotional aspect of the sale, a natural by-product of foreclosures that can often complicate short sale deals.

My efforts here are to assure you that there are indeed unlimited deals to be found within the realm of real estate foreclosure investing. Whether you’re just curious how to make money with foreclosures or really dive in and engage in serious real estate foreclosure investing (made easier with quality loss mitigation training), then you owe it to yourself to check out my Preforeclosure Cash Flow System and the many short sale training modules within it that cover how to really launch your career in real estate foreclosure investing.

In closing, the entirety of the foreclosure process is ripe with deals that are there for the picking. In today’s market, the short sale process is as much as part of real estate foreclosure investing as any other part of the business. Look at other types of foreclosures too and keep your eyes open because the deals are out there. I also suggest that you commit yourself to real estate short sale training, and your pursuit of real estate foreclosures, investing in them, and profitability will be more productive and more rewarding. I wish you the very best in success in real estate foreclosure investing and in business as a whole.

By D.C. Fawcett, Business Building Coach to the Foreclosure Industry

For more information visit: http://www.realestateforeclosuresinvesting.com

Colin Egbert asked:


Foreclosure Process – Information for Investing in Pre-Foreclosures

Every state and county has slightly different rules concerning the sale of pre-foreclosures and short sale investing, but there is a basic process that each follows. This foreclosure process takes quite a long time before a property is sold at the sheriff’s auction and even, in some cases, before the homeowners are evicted from the property. Yet, even so it’s still a good chance for real estate investors to pick up properties at a discount along every step of the way.

It Begins with Non-Payment

A lender is often a bank that lends the buyer money based on their job, down payment and credit history to purchase a home. In return the buyer agrees to a home mortgage with that bank to begin paying back the loan. The bank makes money because the loan accrues interest over the lifetime of the mortgage. The buyer becomes a homeowner and everyone is happy. Should the buyer turned homeowner stop paying back the loan through the mortgage, the bank has a safety net in being able to take ownership of the homeowner’s property.

This is called a foreclosure. The foreclosure is initiated by the bank when the homeowner has stopped making payments on the home mortgage. The bank may wait an extended period of time before beginning the foreclosure, allowing anywhere from 3 to 6 months for the homeowner to being making payments on the mortgage again. The bank would prefer not to take a property back in foreclosure. It’s a messy, lengthy process and the loss mitigation officers must consider property the bank owns to be a non-performing asset.

Property Enters Pre-foreclosure

A foreclosure is begun when the bank files a Notice of Default through a trustee with the County Recorder’s Office. This notice lets the county and the homeowners know that the bank is getting ready to foreclosure on their property. In short sale investing the home is now considered to be in pre-foreclosure. The pre-foreclosure period is also known at the reinstatement period in that it allows the homeowner some time to catch up their past due amount on the mortgage and keep their property. This amount of time usually lasts about 3 months.

During pre-foreclosure the trustee appointed by the bank, usually a local attorney, prepares for a foreclosure. The trustee makes every reasonable effort to contact the homeowners and let them know about the upcoming foreclosure. This can be done by posting the Notice of Default on their property, sending it in the mail and also placing it in the classifieds of the local newspapers. The trustee may also call the homeowner to see if they can work out payment arrangements to get the mortgage back on track.

If the mortgage loan isn’t brought up to date in this 3 month period the trustee files a Notice of Sale with the County Recorder’s Office. This Notice of Sale is also posted at the homeowner’s property and placed in the local newspaper classifieds.

Goes to Court

Some states require that the Bank go to court and sue the homeowner for their property as part of the foreclosure process. This process can further lengthen the pre-foreclosure period which is a good thing in short sale investing. The short sale process can be a little lengthy itself, so the more time you have to put together a deal, the better.

The bank’s trustee will have to notify the homeowners of the upcoming court date and ask that they show up. However, many homeowners fail to show up in court to fight for their property. This can be because they are ashamed or afraid. Some don’t know the laws very well and could even be concerned that they’ll be arrested for a bad debt.

If the homeowner presents a good case in court or even if the homeowners just show up and provide their foreclosure information, there is a good chance that the court will provide the homeowners with a few more months to try and catch up their mortgage or make arrangements.

The court may also decide to award the property to the bank, especially if this property has gone to court previously or the homeowner doesn’t even show up to state their case.

Foreclosed Property Up for Sale

After the bank forecloses on the property it goes to the Sheriff’s Auction, also known as a Foreclosure Sale or Trustee Sale. This auction can be anywhere from a few weeks to several months from the time the bank has foreclosed on the property.

There are several different popular methods for holding a Sheriff’s Auction, but the most popular is held right on the courthouse steps. The county clerk auctions of the foreclosures one after the other by property number to the public. The highest bidder wins that property. The opening bid on each property is often equal to the remaining loan balance that the bank is owed, plus interest accrued and any additional fees associated with the Sheriff’s Auction.

At this point, short sale investing is bunk. If you still want that property you’ll need to wear the hat of a foreclosure investor and get right in there with the bidding.

After the Sheriff’s Sale

If no one bids on the foreclosed property it is purchased by the bank’s trustee and becomes a bank owned property. It is called, ‘Real Estate Owned’ or REO at this point and usually sits on the banks portfolio until the bank can get it sold to a post-foreclosure investor.

If an investor bids on the property and wins it they are winning the Trustee’s Deed to the property. They become the owner and can do with the property as they wish.

Sometimes the homeowners may still be living in the property after it is sold at auction. In this case the new owner may wish to work out a rental agreement with the homeowners, or ask the homeowners to leave. If the homeowners refuse then the new owner must evict them.

The owner can file an eviction notice with the country sheriff and usually within a few weeks the sheriff comes out to forcibly evict the former homeowners. However, this happens several months to a year after the bank sent the home into pre-foreclosure. Most homeowners have plenty of time to make other arrangements and have either left or are in the process of leaving when the property is sold at auction.

The foreclosure process is a lengthy one, but it provides lots of time for short sale investing to take place before that sheriff’s auction.

Lloyd Segal asked:


Most homeowners believe that foreclosure laws are designed to hurt rather than help them. Not so. The secret is that foreclosure laws have evolved to protect the borrower–not the lender. There, I’ve said it. The secret is out! Now listen closely and understand why I say this. The foreclosure process gives you, the borrower, specific periods of time in which to:

• bring your loan current by making up the missed payments (known as “reinstatement”), or

• pay off your loan in its entirety (called “redemption”).

If neither of these options is feasible, you will still have time to prevent your property from being sold at a public auction (the foreclosure sale).

You will get the most benefit out of the foreclosure process if you envision this secret as a “window of opportunity” to resolve your financial problems. During this window of opportunity, you have time to learn about the foreclosure process and implement a strategy to stop the foreclosure.



Another basic misconception about foreclosure is that lenders want to foreclose. Nothing could be further from the truth! Lenders are in the business of loaning money–not owning real estate.

They don’t want your house back for numerous reasons. Lenders are reluctant to incur the costs of a foreclosure. For example, if your lender is forced to foreclose, it will not only lose your back payments, but it will also incur foreclosure expenses, taxes, insurance, wear and tear while you (or your tenant) live in the

property, repair costs to refurbish the property for sale, and a real estate agent’s commission once the property is sold. As a result, many lenders will go out of their way to work out a resolution–short of actually foreclosing–if you give them the opportunity.

A. Communicate With Your Lender

The secret to stopping your foreclosure is communicating with your lender. With the sudden avalanche of foreclosures and defaults, lenders are more eager than ever before to workout a solution rather than foreclosing. Lenders will do almost anything to avoid increasing their overflowing REO inventory of foreclosed properties.

Don’t shy away because you’ve missed payments, concerned that you will miss some payments in the future, or that your property has already gone into foreclosure. Whether you communicate by telephone, letter, email, fax, or in person, you will have a much easier time stopping (or at the very least, delaying) the foreclosure if you talk to your lender rather than adopting a code of silence.



The secret is to negotiate directly with someone with “authority” at your lender’s office. The first step is to determine who your lender actually is. (This is no small feat these days with lenders selling their loans to other lenders like hot potatoes.) If your property has already gone into foreclosure, the first person you will be dealing with will either be the foreclosing trustee, or the attorney for the lender. If it is a judicial foreclosure, you will most likely be contacted by a process server, sent by the lender’s attorney. If it is a non-judicial foreclosure, the trustee is responsible for handling the foreclosure process. You will need to contact these people.

But the secret is that you will be more successful if you communicate directly with your lender, rather than the trustee or the attorney. So you should request from the trustee or the attorney, the name, telephone number, and address of the foreclosing lender. In the unlikely event that they refuse to disclose the name of your lender, you can look on the Notice of Default, or the summons and complaint, or telephone the customer service department of a local title insurance company.



Another situation may occur where you discover the name of your lender, but it turns out to be a servicing agent rather than the party that actually holds the deed of trust or mortgage. A servicing agent is a company (sometimes it can be a bank, mortgage company, or private corporation) that is hired by the actual lender to “service” the loan, (issuing mortgage statements, payment coupons and late notices, collecting payments, monitoring the impounding of insurance and tax payments, and handling foreclosures if necessary). Fortunately, most servicing agents will disclose the name of the lender. If they won’t, you may be forced to negotiate with the servicing agent.

In the interim, you will receive threatening calls from collection agents at the lender’s office. Do not under any circumstance ignore your lender’s contacts. Your goal should be to respond to every phone call or letter. Difficult as it may be to talk about your financial problems, be polite and cooperative. Follow up all telephone calls with a letter to the person you spoke to, confirming what was said. If you’re not in when a call comes, return it as soon as you can. Use these calls to collect information regarding your lender (i.e. lender’s name, address, phone number, fax number, email address, responsible department or individual).



When you receive a letter from your lender (always keep the original), immediately write a letter in response. The secret here is to establish a paper trail so you can prove to your lender (or a court, if necessary) that you have been cooperative, especially during the initial stages of the foreclosure process.



It is also important to send copies of all of your letters to:

• the lender’s CEO

• the branch manager (if applicable)

• the loan officer who helped you obtain your loan, and

• any other person you know by name at your lender’s office.

B. CONTACTING PEOPLE YOU KNOW AT THE LENDER’S OFFICE

Make sure your letter indicates you are sending copies by typing “cc:” and the name of the person(s) below your signature. Please don’t be hesitant to send copies of your letters to these individuals, as they can’t do anything to help you if they aren’t aware of your predicament. There is a secret to sending copies to other people and showing the “cc” at the bottom of your letters. At the very least, the person you sent the letter to won’t be able to ignore your letter because he or she knows that supervisors have received copies.

Typically, in their initial letters and telephone calls, your lender will state that they have not received your payment(s) and inquire innocently whether or not you have mailed a payment. What you say in response to your lender’s inquiry is another matter. If you already mailed your payment, give your lender the date. If you have not, tell the truth. Your lender in turn will want to know why you haven’t paid, and what date you will be sending a payment. Acknowledge that you are having temporary financial problems and that you won’t be able to make the payments for the next couple of months. Provide a good explanation of your financial difficulties (i.e. layoff, medical emergency, death in the family, loss of business, divorce). Contrary to popular belief, sharing this information will not speed up the foreclosure process. What you say may make the lender more sympathetic to your situation and may delay the foreclosure. At the very least, it will foster a positive atmosphere for negotiations later in the process.



Your lender may warn you that if payments are not made, your loan will go into default. It may also threaten to start foreclosure proceedings unless you bring all of your payments current immediately. Don’t be intimidated. Stay calm and understand that the person you’re dealing with is simply doing his job. At this point, write a letter explaining your financial problem and request an appointment with a senior loan officer to discuss your loan.