Foreclosure and Loan Modification Blog

In the first quarter of 2016 the U.S. saw less foreclosure activity than in any quarter since the fourth of 2006. But New Jersey continues to struggle with a foreclosure rate that's much worse than the national average.

Nationwide, one in every 459 homes in the country had a foreclosure filing in the first quarter of 2016. But in the garden state it's one in 216.

According to RealtyTrac's Foreclosure Market Report the only state with more is Maryland with one in every 194 housing units having a default notice, scheduled foreclosure auction, or bank repossession.

Southern Jersey and Atlantic County are struggling particularly hard.

What Exactly Is Predatory Lending?

Texas police are accusing Christopher Brian Colbert of murdering Robert Shumway then pretending to be him to sell his house.

“Abandon ship!”

That's the thought some homeowners have when they miss a few mortgage payments and realize they will not be able to keep their home. If the ship's going down, it's better to get off sooner rather than later, they reason.

Just because you can't afford your mortgage payment doesn't mean you need to leave your home right away. You have the right to stay in your home until the foreclosure process is finished, which can take months or years.

A little knowledge of the process can help you to stay in your home as long as possible without making mortgage payments and land on your feet if and when you do leave.

Other than facing criminal charges that could cost you your freedom or a custody battle for your children, there are few legal fights that are more consequential than foreclosure. Your home is probably your largest investment and also has an emotional value that can't be measured in dollars. Accordingly, many people hire a foreclosure defense attorney to help them deal with it. But even the best attorney can't solve your foreclosure problem without your help. You have to do your part.

Doing everything you can to help your attorney isn't going to be worth a damn if you hire a flake attorney with no experience. So you need to do some homework to make sure you get a qualified professional.

Retirement is supposed to be the best time of your life, the reward for your decades of hard work. A time to not worry about the things you've been worrying about your whole life, especially money. Unfortunately, many seniors find themselves worrying not just about money but also about avoiding the foreclosure of their largest asset, their home, in their golden years.

While dealing with the prospect of foreclosure is never easy, it can be especially difficult for retired people, the elderly, and those on a fixed income. People plan so that the expenses for the rest of their life can be paid from their Social Security benefits, retirement plan, and savings before they retire. But sometimes there are unexpected expenses that throw everything out of balance and leave a retiree unable to pay their mortgage.

Homeowners facing foreclosure whose mortgage loans are insured by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac have not been eligible for principal reductions, which is one of the best tools for making mortgage payments more affordable, when modifying their loans. That may be changing soon.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are regulated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or FHFA, which has indicated that it is considering allowing principal reductions.

However there have been conflicting reports on the FHFA's intention. The Wall Street Journal reported in March that Fannie and Freddie principal reductions were going to happen. But that same day FHFA's director Mel Watt said that no decision had been made.

Recently some people in high places have asked the FHFA to allow principal reductions. According to housingwire.com,New York's attorney general Eric Schneiderman wrote a letter to director Watt saying that principal reducing loan modifications“should be deployed broadly and quickly to homeowners in desperate need of this relief from the continuing damage caused by the housing crisis.”

Abraham Lincoln said “He who represents himself has a fool for a client.”

Honest Abe was talking about legal representation when he said that, and a century and a half later his advice still rings true. President Lincoln was a lawyer himself and knew that it just doesn't make sense to act as your own attorney, even if you are one.

But some people have been doing exactly that in recent years while trying to avoid losing their most valuable investment, their home, through foreclosure. Seven million homeowners have experienced foreclosure since the housing crisis began and many of them don't have a clue about how to deal with it.

Their bewilderment is completely understandable. Foreclosure was never part of any homeowner's plan. Unfortunate circumstances beyond the control of any individual homeowner has made foreclosure something that millions of homeowners have been forced to learn about.

Some look into it and think they can handle everything on their own. “How hard could this be? I can answer a complaint and fill out a request for modification assistance without a lawyer.”

Others learn about the laws pertaining to foreclosure and the ways to avoid it and conclude that having an experienced attorney on their side is essential. While every person's situation is different, there are important reasons for everyone with mortgage problems to seriously consider hiring an experienced attorney:

“I love my home too much to just lose it in an auction or hand it over to the bank. When my mortgage started failing, I knew I had to see my lawyer. He put me on Loanmodify^®. I got a loan modification and now my mortgage is doing great and I'm feeling much better.” 

Foreclosure Frank

If you're having difficulty or are unable to pay your mortgage because of a hardship beyond your control that's caused your other bills to increase and/or your income to go down, it may be more than the typical challenges all homeowners go through. It may be a more serious problem known as foreclosure syndrome.

Here are some of the most common symptoms of foreclosure syndrome:

When you have trouble with your mortgage, it's important to start thinking about how you're going to get out of trouble as quickly as possible. The sooner you can understand the issues affecting you and what the potential solutions are, the sooner you can work toward getting what you want, which is avoiding foreclosure and getting back on good terms with your lender.

While it can take years from the time you stop paying your mortgage until until you lose your home in foreclosure, spending that time dilly dallying, lollygagging, or failing to plan is a mistake. You're eventually going to lose your house, so use the time you have to your advantage by saving money, educating yourself, and making a strategy.

This may seem like common sense, and it is, but some homeowners are so overwhelmed by the stress of potentially losing their home that they freeze up and don't do anything. Playing dead is not an effective strategy. Pretending that you didn't get the bank's notices does not make you immune to their consequences. There are productive things to do.