Greater than 30% of homeowners before the housing slump are foreclosure casualties now and experts predict that that figure will worsen beyond 50% over the next two years. Apart from those which were uncontested, many affected homeowners had fought and lost. If only they had the benefit of the rescue programs that are in place nowadays, a great many of them would have come through.
To be sure, dealing with a foreclosure is a deliberate matter, to say the least. When a foreclosure becomes imminent due to delinquency in servicing a mortgage, an elaborate personal due diligence exercise is in order. In current times, preventing a foreclosure at all cost is no longer a foregone conclusion. Depending on the individual situation, the homeowner in the dilemma might be better off dropping the fight and focus instead on damage mitigation.
This is a big decision and should never be rushed into although a foreclosure situation is really always a pressing one. More and more options and breaks are brought to the table these days, both by the regulatory authorities and lending institutions and the affected homeowner would do well to capitalize on them. Examples of potentially feasible avenues are refinancing, partial claim, forbearance, loan modification, disaster assistance, deed in lieu, pre-foreclosure and short sale.
Once the decision to stop a foreclosure is taken, you can’t get into action swift enough. This is because it becomes a race against time with immediate effect but take heed not to overreact into a panic. There are basically two ways of handling it, namely engaging a turnkey third-party for it or going it yourself. That’s a key decision in itself as the former will incur further expenses but the latter is going to be challenging both in spirit and energy.
Either way you go, or it could jolly well be a combination of both, a few fundamental steps must be taken: -Take charge immediately and assume the Commander-in-Chief position. -Identify the scams and cons and steer clear. -Research all options and focus only on those that are applicable. -Stay positive and never presume ineligibility without enquiring.
The internet and other media are flush with information to help you do that. There are also many guides and handbooks retailing very competitively to initiate the layman to stop foreclosure.
While the overall situation remains grim, the horizon seems to have cleared up a little. Consumer confidence index (Conference Board, June 2008) actually improved, albeit marginally and in a symbolic twist, home prices in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis and Portland increased month-on-month over April (S&P/Case-Shiller, May 2008). Meanwhile, the government is now even helping lenders to help their mortgagers with their latest bill (Housing and Economic Recovery Act 2008), on top of continually bringing more rescue channels to defaulting homeowners.
