If you are late on your mortgage, receiving demand letters and in fear of being foreclosed....you have options, but please don't wait on your lender to give them to you. Call them yourself and start trying to work it out. Your lender doesn't want the foreclosure...they have enough of those already!!!
Recently I received a call from a lady needing to sell her home. During our conversation she tells me she's several months late on her mortgage and that she has received a letter that it is going to be foreclosed in 4 days. I felt terrible for her, and I knew the story she had told me was 100% true. The trouble is, even with my mitigation training, I knew 4 days wasn't enough time to initiate other options and stop the foreclosure. We tried, but the lender told me that it would take 2 weeks and she had waited to long. The moral of this story is don't wait. In a time like this, it's natural to ignore the mail and the phone because you feel ashamed and scared. The irony is, if you would call them, they have options for you! Most lenders will allow you to list the house for immediate market price regardless of what you owe. This is called a short sale. They will send you a 1099 for the balance at the end of year as income, but it beats having a foreclosed home on your credit for 10 years. Many lenders also offer loan modifications to get you current faster and help you stay in your home.
