The Easy How-to Guide when Dealing with Foreclosure

Too often people who are in pre-foreclosure proceedings have very little to no education on how to manage the process so that they aren't giving away the farm or losing their greatest investment. It's not like schools are teaching people what to do if you find yourself in a foreclosure proceeding, but maybe we should since its becoming so common these days.

Management of the process assumes you have the ability to remove emotion and think rationally. Bottom-line: when you're in over your head, seek help. But even before then, you can resolve the issue if you are prepared with the right information.

First, if you are late one day after your mortgage payment is due, you are automatically delinquent. If you miss the succeeding payment, your loan moves into default. If you have not reached out to the mortgage company by this time and they have made one maybe several attempts to speak to you either by mail (certify) or by telephone, don't kid yourself. The longer you put it off, the worse things will be.

Second, before you call or write the bank, be prepared to answer the following questions:

1. Why are you behind on payments?
2. What is your current income/expenses?
3. Do you have a plan to resolve the issue i.e. retirement saving you can draw from to make you current; ask for a grace period; attempt to refinance; sell your home.

Next, document dates, times and conversations that you have with the bank; you want to keep a running record for your protection.

Then contact a lawyer and a realtor (in this order). To the bank you are responding to their questions; maybe formulating a plan for the next few months. A Lawyer may need to get involved depending on how far you are in the proceeding. A lawyer can prevent the bank from harrassing you and even buy you more time is your intend to sell or make delayed payments.