Approximately 250,000 families enter into foreclosure every 3 months due to delinquent home loan payments or delinquent property taxes. Each of these homeowners has one thing in common: they have to make the decision of whether or not to fight for their home. However, if you want to fight the foreclosure and keep your home, it's time to find a foreclosure defense attorney. Here are some reasons why:
You've been served with foreclosure documents and now you're wondering: What's my next move to fight this action? Once you are served with foreclosure papers there are two options. You can be reinstated or you can request a loan modification.
If you are fortunate enough to be granted a loan modification, it is such a relief to know that you have saved your home! Almost losing your home to a foreclosure can be a scary wake up call that you hope to never have to go through again. Some people unfortunately do face foreclosure more than once, and when this happens there are many things to consider. One of them is whether you can modify your loan again.
Falling behind on your mortgage doesn't mean losing your home to foreclosure is a foregone conclusion. What happens and when depends in large part on how you respond to your situation. You may be able to keep your home or at least exit it under the best circumstances. But to do that you have to act on good information and avoid the mistakes that are often made by homeowners in foreclosure, which include:
1. Assuming your lender is going to help you.
Though your lender has the power to help you, you should not assume that they will. You and your lender's goals don't always align. Following a default, you probably want to keep your home but with a lower payment. The bank simply wants to make as much money as possible from the loans in their portfolio. Sometimes helping you keep your home is also the best way for the bank to make the most money, sometimes not.
If you're considering hiring an attorney to help you avoid foreclosure and/or get a loan modification, you may be wondering what specifically an attorney will do to help you keep your home. You know your mortgage issues are too important to try to handle alone, but how exactly does an attorney help?
Do they just show up in court and say something in Latin “Your honor, the corpus juris, et cetera, entitle my client to keep their house. Also, carpe diem, and liberum domum (free house), please.”
Of course not. So what does an attorney actually do when you hire them to defend you from foreclosure and assist you in getting a loan modification?
If you're having problems with your mortgage, it's a good idea to communicate with your bank to see if you can work with them for some sort of agreement to stay out of foreclosure.
Your bank can choose to give you an unemployment forbearance that temporarily suspends your mortgage payments because of a job loss, for example. Or, if you're already behind on your mortgage payments due to a hardship, you may be able to get a loan modification that reinstates your mortgage with a more affordable payment.
Loan modifications are the only option many homeowners have to keep their home. The terms of the loan, such as the length of the loan, the interest rate, and the principal balance can be changed.
Loan modifications are a life saver for those who get them. Unfortunately, many Wells Fargo borrowers end up disappointed when they don't get the results they're looking for after trying to deal with the bank on their own. And Wells Fargo has a reputation as one of the most difficult banks to work with for a loan modification.
If you need help with your mortgage, you're not alone. Millions of Americans have experienced hardships caused by factors beyond their control that made their mortgage payment unaffordable.
If that's happened to you, there is assistance available that can help you keep your home and avoid foreclosure. But to get that assistance, you'll need to complete a Request for Mortgage Assistance.
Anyone who drives a car has noticed that gas prices are dramatically lower than they've been in years due to lower oil prices. While we're all happy that filling up our tanks is easier on the wallet, there is a down side: cheap oil can cause people who make a living in the oil industry to lose their jobs, and their homes to foreclosure.
When the price of oil plunges, companies in the oil business or businesses that service or support them, lay off some workers or pay them less. Those workers are more likely to be unable to afford their mortgages payments and fall into foreclosure. The oil business is employs a lot of people, so when it suffers, a lot of workers can suffer.
Some problems in life are too tough to handle on your own. They're too complex and are outside of your areas of expertise. To address those problems you have to get help from someone who understands your issues from the inside out. Nowhere is that more true than for homeowners facing foreclosure.
But how do you even know what type of help you need, what options to pursue, and who to turn to? Many do it by trial and error...
Millions of Americans have experienced hardships that have caused them to fall behind on their mortgage payments for a variety of reasons. Events like loss of employment, getting divorced and trying to maintain the entire household without the former spouses income, or a medical problem that prevents the homeowner from earning the living they're accustomed to, are common.
