8 Effective Steps To Stopping Foreclosure
By profitdr

8 EFFECTIVE STEPS TO STOPPING FORECLOSURE
Written By Stephen Anderson – The Doctor

I’m sure many of you have been reading the newspapers, or listening to the news about the ‘mortgage meltdown’ of the sub-prime market which is causing record numbers of foreclosures.

The federal government is concerned this will have a negative effect on the economy so they are trying to come up with ways to help the homeowner and the mortgage companies slow down this mountain of pending foreclosures in the future.

But THAT WON’T HELP YOU TODAY especially if you’re facing right now, but The Doctor, Stephen Anderson can help!

What is foreclosure?

When you bought your home, you signed many documents that you probably didn’t even read thoroughly. But here is the short version of what you signed. You signed a deed, which state who actually owns the house. You also signed a mortgage note for the loan you took out to buy the house. In the mortgage note it states that you give the lender the right to start the process if you do not make you monthly payments.

The process is different in each state, but there are basically two types of foreclosures. They are judicial states, which are states that must go through the court system to ‘sue you for payment’. Then there are states that are non-judicial which means that all they have to do to start the process is to contact an attorney that specializes in to start the process. Also in each state the length of time it takes to complete the process varies. As an example in the state I’m in, Missouri, it’s only 21 days!!

The end result of the process is that either the lender will be paid off or they take the house back. Each county is different in how they do this, but it is a requirement that the be listed in some public form. In my county it’s in a daily legal newspaper.

The final step in the process is to have an auction of the property. It is typically staged at the county courthouse steps on a designated day and time. The bank representative will bid the amount owed on the home plus additional expenses. Then it’s open for other bids. If nobody else bids on the property, then the lender is the winning bidder and they get the property back. If someone else bids on the property, then the highest bidder wins the house. Then the attorneys will put together a special deed make out to the winning bidder. Now they own the property and they can do what ever they want with it.

Then you will be contacted by the winning bidder to vacate the house if you haven’t already left. They will typically give you a few days to leave. If you don’t leave then they will start the ‘eviction’ process. They will have to go to court and get the judge to give them legal permission to kick you out of the house. Then once that is approved, the local sheriff is sometimes hired to contact you, usually by knocking on your door, and telling you that you must leave. If you don’t leave, then they will physically throw you and all your belongings out in the front yard and put another lock on the doors.

And to top that off, if your property is worth less than what is owed, your lender will seek a deficiency judgment. If this happens then you lost your home, but you also owe the lender thousands of dollars.

Having this on your credit report is very serious and it will affect your ability to qualify for credit on any loan for about 10 years.

But dealing with is a costly and very time-consuming process for lenders.

“We don’t want to foreclose,” states Kim Lott, a vice president for loss mitigation at Countrywide. “When homeowners are in houses making payments, that’s how we make our money.” That means you have more power than you may realize. If you’re falling behind on your mortgage, or fear that you’ll soon have trouble making payments, contact the lender. You can usually find a customer-service number on your mortgage bill. Your lender may suggest several alternatives, ranging from a new payment plan to the sale of your home.

Many times the reason you went into no longer exists. You were laid off from your job, but you have a new one now; you got sick and had to leave your job for awhile, but your fine now and back to work. Many people I’ve talked to in are in this situation. They can’t stop the pending because they just don’t have the cash needed to pay the past due amounts but they can continue to make their normal payments. So what do you do?

Or many times they have these ‘god awful’ adjustable rate mortgages and they just can’t afford the monthly payments anymore. How do you get out of this?

HELP IS JUST A FEW MINUTES AWAY!!

Steps You Can Take to Avoid and defaulting on your home mortgage loan.

There are 8 effective options to stopping your and they are:

DON’T IGNORE THE LETTERS FROM YOUR LENDER. If you are having problems making your payments, contact your lender immediately. They have programs that you may qualify for to stop the foreclosure, such as:

1) A Forbearance Agreement with lender - This is where you negotiate with your lender to give them only a portion of what is past due and put the rest in additional monthly payments for a short period of time. They may be able to provide a plan based on your financial situation.

2) A Loan Modification with the Lender – This is where you renegotiate a whole new loan and the past due amounts are added onto the end of the loan. But your monthly payments may go up because of this.

If neither of these methods of working with the lender works, then here are some more that will.

3) Chapter 13 Bankruptcy – If neither of the two above methods work for you, then depending on your income situation, you may get protection from the federal government against the foreclosure. This method is a lot better than having on your credit report but your monthly payments will go up. This works if you can afford higher payments.

4) Short Sale – This works well when you owe more than the house is worth. An investor negotiates with the lender to take less then what is owed. Many lenders are happy to do this because it is very costly to go through the process especially if they take the house back.

5) Subject To Purchase – This works well when the above methods don’t work and the amount of past due is not great. An investor pays the past due amount and continues to make you monthly payment for you. This is a great option because the loan is still in your name and the investor will continue to make the payments in your name, thus improving your credit reports. Depending on the investor you may, or may not, be able to stay in the house. If you do you’ll be renting it from the investor.

6) Sell for what is owed and continue to live in house – Depending on the investor your working with this may be a possibility, but many investors shy away from this situation to someone already showing trouble making payments.

7) Sell Your House for Quick Cash – If you have lots of equity this may be your best alternative, especially if you can no longer afford the monthly payments.

8) Deed In Lieu of – If none of the above methods work, then this is you only choice left if you want to keep from having on your credit report. This is where you tell the attorneys that is representing the lender that you will GIVE THEM THE DEED, so they don’t have to go through the process.

BUT if you do nothing and the is completed, what happens.

1) You lose your home and you still need somewhere to live.

2) You ruin your credit. Public record for bankruptcy remains for 10 years.

3) Lender gets a judgment. If home is sold for less than is owed the deficiency will still be owed.

4) You may owe taxes even though you lost money.

5) Your ability to own another home is diminished for years.

One last thing, beware of unscrupulous investors! If you are selling your house, beware of buyers who try to rush you through the process. Unfortunately, there are people who may try to take advantage of your financial difficulty.

Here are several precautions that should help you avoid being "taken" by scam artist:

1) Don't sign any papers you don't fully understand.

2) Make sure you get all "promises" in writing.

3) Beware of any loan assumption where you are not formally released from liability for your mortgage debt and contracts of sale.

4) Check with a lawyer or your lender before entering into any deal involving your home.

5) If you're selling the house yourself to avoid foreclosure, check to see if there are any complaints against the prospective buyer. You can contact your state's Attorney General, the State Real Estate Commission, or the local District Attorney's Consumer Fraud Unit for this type of information.

To find out more details about all these options, go to http://www.PleaseStopMyForeclosure-StL.com

If there is anything I can do for you to answer any of these questions, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’m your last resort to keep from having your house go into status! But the longer you wait to do something about it, the worst it gets and the less I can do to help you.

If you live in St Charles County Missouri, here are the possible solutions I can offer you, even if you don’t have any equity:
Give you FREE advice as to how you can stop yourself.
Negotiate on your behalf with the lender to keep your house and stop foreclosure.
Help you possibly refinance your mortgage.
Purchase your house.

Stephen Anderson
‘The Doctor’

PS. I know what it’s like to lose my wife’s favorite home, my favorite car and almost my marriage because of my financial situation. It happened to me over 18 years ago. Now I’m trying to help as many as I can that find themselves in the mess I found myself in years ago.

Stephen Anderson, 'The Doctor' has helped hundreds of people stop their for the past 4 years in St. Charles and St. Louis Counties in Missouri.