In Foreclosure? Don’t Rely on Just One Option

Possibly one of the most important things to do when facing foreclosure is to have a backup plan at all times. Many homeowners begin working with a company who says they can help them stop foreclosure, but, for one reason or another, are turned down at the last minute and have nowhere else to turn and no time to find someone else to help. To avoid losing the home, the homeowners should have a Plan B that they can immediately turn to and implement.

Just because one or two or more companies turn a foreclosure victims down for their specific program, doesn’t mean that there is no way to stop the foreclosure process from going through. There are many different methods that can be used to stop foreclosure, and the more the homeowners are aware of and actively working on, the easier it will be to implement the backup plans if one of the main options does not work out.

Foreclosure victims are most in danger when they rely on just one option or company to help them save their homes. This creates are very dangerous false sense of security for the homeowners, who may believe they are doing everything they can to prevent the foreclosure. However, there should always be a Plan B and enough plans after B that there will always be a solution to the problem.

This is not to say that homeowners should keep looking for option after option after option and never make a decision on which one to use to begin saving their homes. In fact, the opposite is the case: learn enough about the foreclosure process to make an informed decision, and then begin working on a way to stop the foreclosure process on their own or with a reputable foreclosure help company. While they are actively working on a solution to foreclosure, though, there is no reason not to examine other options and put together other plans, as well. It would be a good idea to go so far as to find at least a handful other companies who would be willing to help in the situation.

Every homeowner facing foreclosure should ask themselves what they will do if they are turned down at the last minute. Will they attempt a foreclosure refinance? Do they qualify for a forbearance agreement? Is there a private investor or friend/family member who may be able to help them out? And how much time will they have to consider any of these options?

Obviously, a lot of the answers to these questions depend on how willing the lender is to work with the homeowners in finding a solution to foreclosure. This is just one more reason why it is vital for homeowners to maintain contact with their lenders before, during, and after they begin to miss mortgage payments. The more communication that the lender receives, the easier it will be for the homeowners to bargain for extra time, delay a sheriff sale, or negotiate a short sale with their lenders.

With so many new foreclosures being filed every day, and stricter lending guidelines being put into effect, homeowners in hardship situations will face tougher qualifications for any program they may consider to stop foreclosure. Even when they are qualified for one option, this does not guarantee that the solution will work, and necessitates the homeowners examining as many different methods to stop foreclosure as they possibly can.

The ForeclosureFish.com website has been designed to provide homeowners with relevant free foreclosure help resources and information. By learning about the foreclosure process, foreclosure victims stand a much better chance of saving their homes and avoiding foreclosure scams.

Filing Bankruptcy to Stop Foreclosure

Bankruptcy to stop foreclosure is possibly the least-understood and least-desired option for most homeowners, although it can provide them with the last chance they need to be able to save their homes. The drawbacks to bankruptcy are widely discussed and raise serious concerns for foreclosure victims who want to preserve as much of their credit as possible, but this option can also provide homeowners with a last chance that is not present in other solutions to foreclosure.

Bankruptcy can be used to set up a repayment plan that allows the homeowners to repair their credit and get back on track with their debts. Although it is usually an expensive payment plan, homeowners who have repaired their financial situations may be willing to pay more every month to fulfill their mortgage obligations. And once the bankruptcy is completed, homeowners can go back to paying their regular monthly payment without the threat of foreclosure hanging over their heads any longer.

In foreclosure situations, filing bankruptcy will put the entire foreclosure process on hold, which is very important for homeowners when the situation is getting out of control and they are running out of options at the last minutes. When a foreclosure auction is approaching, and there is no other way to stop the sheriff sale, filing bankruptcy will immediately put everything on hold, including putting off the sale of the property. In certain situations, this is the most important aspect of bankruptcy, as it just allows the homeowners to gain a little more time to put together or complete a more reasonable plan to save their homes.

However, there are also valid reasons why homeowners may want to consider bankruptcy to stop foreclosure as a last resort, rather than as their first line of defense. There are numerous methods that are available to stop foreclosure, and working with an attorney to file bankruptcy may not be the most appropriate solution in every case. Foreclosure situations are always unique, and deserve a serious evaluation to determine the best way to save the home.

Filing bankruptcy can be a complex process that is expensive and may not bring about the desired results, in addition to harming the homeowners’ credit. When the homeowners’ finances have not sufficiently improved to the point of being able to afford the repayment plan, the bankruptcy is doomed to failure from the very beginning. Foreclosure victims should not agree to a repayment plan that they know will be unmanageable in the long run, because missing a payment in bankruptcy means that the foreclosure process will start back up.

There is also the possibility of running across an unscrupulous bankruptcy attorney who does not act in the best interest of the foreclosure victims. Horror stories abound of homeowners who paid for the bankruptcy to be filed and the attorney simply did nothing with it, resulting in the loss of the home to foreclosure. Other attorneys have been known to advise clients to continually switch from a Chapter 13 to a Chapter 7 and back and forth over and over again, in an effort to have the clients pay substantially more in fees for each new filing. Although the vast majority of attorneys will act in the best interests of their clients, it is important that homeowners be aware of potential scams, even among bankruptcy lawyers.

Thus, bankruptcy is a solution to foreclosure that most homeowners should examine with a reputable attorney, even if it is just to have a last-ditch effort to stop foreclosure on their homes. Foreclosure victims need to be aware of the implications of filing bankruptcy, and do their best to avoid being taken advantage of by a scam, but this option should not be ruled out entirely. Despite its complexity, drawbacks, and potential pitfalls, filing bankruptcy to stop foreclosure may give homeowners that one last chance to put the foreclosure process on hold for just long enough to find a more reasonable solution.

The ForeclosureFish.com website has been designed to help homeowners learn how to stop foreclosure on their own. By providing hundreds of pages of information, the site gives foreclosure victims all the resources they need to save their homes from foreclosure. Visit their site today and download a free foreclosure e-book: http://www.foreclosurefish.com/

Foreclosure News Encourage Scams

There has been a lot of news recently about the current state of the real estate market, and especially about the record foreclosure numbers throughout the country. Every few hours, a new story will appear on Google News or Yahoo! News with new statistics, predictions, and warning messages to homeowners about foreclosure scams. While the news is often interesting, dense, or just plain sad, endless news articles do not really help homeowners save their homes from foreclosure. When facing a financial crisis, foreclosure victims need much more than simple stories or warnings. They need advice and reasonable solutions to fix their problems.

The news stories that are being presented online, though, seem to be neutral and numbers-oriented, at best, and optimistic about the high foreclosure rates, at worst. For example, in a search on Google News today, there are three stories analyzing foreclosure rates, two articles on predictions of rising rates, two offering advice to homeowners, and three offering to teach investors how to profit from foreclosures. Yahoo! News fares worse, with seven articles focusing on analysis, and two stories of communities or homeowners facing foreclosure. This leaves only one story on Yahoo! News that focuses on helping homeowners stop foreclosure on their homes.

One of the articles with the most crooked slant, from a foreclosure victim’s perspective, shows that many real estate professionals are intent on making money from the homeowners’ situations. Foreclosure: One Person’s Pain is Another’s Good Fortune states that “Home Center Chief Executive Ron Barnard says that personally, he finds foreclosure sad, even tragic. ‘But as a business owner, I think it’s great.’” Although there is no reason to suspect Home Center or Ron Barnard or Dave Hennigan (the other Home Center Realty associate mentioned) of any unscrupulous business activities, homeowners should be aware that there are many more “investors,” “buyers,” and “real estate professionals” out there that use some of the same tactics but who are out to take advantage of the homeowners. Foreclosure scams are nowhere mentioned in the article, though, unfortunately.

The top story on both Google News and Yahoo! News is that Realtytrac, the company that “publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties,” will be starting to offer foreclosure auctions from Williams & Williams on their website. While this is great news for some people, forelosure victims who are facing the loss of their homes right now have little to look forward to. Their former homes will just appear on one more website by the time the foreclosure process has reached its end.

Obviously, online news sites are not the place to go for homeowners who want to keep their homes and recover from foreclosure. So where can homeowners go for valuable information that they need to save their homes? The first option, of course, should be for homeowners to research as much as they can about the foreclosure process in their state and in general. There are any number of helpful websites, books, and helpful resources available to educate foreclosure victims. (We even offer a free foreclosure e-book to everyone who signs up to receive one on our site, and with several thousand downloads already, it has helped numerous homeowners understand the foreclosure process better.) But the news about foreclosures will probably continue to look worse throughout the year, and homeowners, who are in the middle of the action, will only be able to find an outsider’s perspective on the nationwide crisis when they turn to the news media for help.

ForeclosureFish.com has been designed to educate homeowners on what they can do to stop foreclosure for free, on their own. The site provides homeowners with accurate and relevant information they can use to save their homes and avoid potential scams.
http://www.foreclosurefish.com/