Where to find foreclosure assistance
If you are facing foreclosure, it is important to know all of your options. Many foreclosures are due to job loss, unexpected medical bills, or divorce. Usually these are once in a lifetime events; therefore, contacting your mortgage lender and informing them of your situation is vital to your credit and keeping your home. If you are facing any of the financial problems mentioned above, the following steps could help you avoid losing your home.
• Contact your mortgage lender – If you are having trouble making your mortgage payment, contact your lender immediately. The loss mitigation department will be able to assist you with refinancing, loan modification, or forbearance options. Explain your situation, then send an email or letter describing in detail what has happened that has caused financial hardship, and then send documentation to the lender to support your situation.
• Maintain your residence – Stay at home. Most recent government assistance programs are based on owner-occupied housing. Once you move out of your property, you will lose many protections issued by these recent laws.
• Contact an approved housing counseling agency: Contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and find a HUD-approved advocate to act as a liaison between you and your mortgage lender. The housing counseling agency should be well informed about all the government programs that can benefit you. The housing counselor should be aware of any private or local organizations that may offer assistance. The assistance of a HUD-approved housing counselor must be free.
If, after speaking with the housing counseling agency, you may decide that your best option, due to your financial situation, is to sell your property to avoid foreclosure; There are other options, including: short sale or write in place. A short sale is when the mortgage holder accepts an amount less than is owed on the mortgage. This usually happens when the mortgage is greater than the value of the property. It would be necessary to contact an experienced real estate agent who has successfully handled short sales in the past. A deed in place is when you voluntarily return your property to the lender. If you choose this route, your credit will not be as badly damaged as if it had been through foreclosure; while the benefit to the lender is that you will not have to go through the costs of foreclosure of the property.
In short, the first step you should take to avoid foreclosure is to contact your mortgage lender and explain your financial difficulties in detail. Send a detailed follow-up email or letter to your lender with supporting documentation for your hardship. Second, seek the help of a HUD-approved housing counseling agency. Explain your situation in detail to the HUD-approved counselor and cooperate by providing any requested documentation to support your situation. They should work on your behalf to help you save your home or, at the very least, help you minimize the damage to your credit.
