Do It Yourself
According to RealtyTrac, one in 78 housing units in the nation obtained at least one foreclosure filing in the first half of 2010. In June 2010, 313,841 properties obtained either a default option, auction sale or bank repossession noticedown almost 7 percent from June 2009. California led the nation, with 340,740 housing units in the state receiving a foreclosure filing in the first six months of 2010, a 15 percent reduction from the past six months. If you’re one of the countless thousands facing foreclosure, there are possible ways out.
Get in touch with your lender. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) advises calling your bank when you foresee a issue or miss your first payment. After you skip a payment or two, your bank will probably be contacting you. Don't ignore letters or its phone calls.
Work out a payment agreement. If your situation is temporary, your lender may be willing to temporarily suspend payments on your loan, a procedure called forbearance, as you get back on your feet. In the end of the forbearance time you pay your lender the amount past due in a lump sum, known as a reinstatement, or in monthly installments in addition to a regular mortgage payment before your account is current.
Apply for a mortgage alteration. If you don’t imagine your fiscal situation shifting, you may qualify for a modification, which is intended to bring your monthly mortgage payment down to a manageable level. Lenders can modify your loan in a variety of ways, including by lowering the interest rate, extending the duration of the loan, including missed payments to the loan or forbearing or forgiving a portion of your loan's balance.
Consider refinancing. Refinancing differs from alteration in that generally you transition into an entirely new loan. For example, large numbers of homeowners moved from interest-only loans into 30-year fixed-rate products when the housing crisis took hold in 2008.
Assess your eligibility for federal government programs. The president's Making Home Affordable app provides both alteration and refinancing options as well as temporary aid for jobless people. HUD's Hope For Homeowners plan refinances struggling homeowners' loans into FHA-insured 30-year fixed-rate mortgages.
Assess the chances that you can pull off a brief sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. In the cases you will lose your home, however you will also avoid foreclosure. With a brief sale your lender allows you to sell your home for less than what you owe on your loan, and forgives the difference. Below a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure you willingly transfer your home's deed to your creditor, which permits you to walk away from the mortgage scot-free.