Best Way to Stop Foreclosure?

There are a lot of very intelligent people on this site.
I looked back at previous posts and didn't see this one.
How about this:

Let's all put our heads together and figure out the best way to solve this foreclosure mess.

Do any of you have info about a sound refinance program or a program that will really help homeowners? There is likely a lot of people on this site that could use some help.

Please do not post guesses, just facts that you know have helped others.

Thanks, and good luck.

Well, I've done a LOT of research on this topic....

The one way that I found to best stop any kind of foreclosure or Lien repossession is to pay your bills.

I know...freakin complicated

Stopping foreclosure is not easy at any time let alone at this time. First off how many people are in foreclosure because of their own doing (lied on mortgage applications)? Why should those people be helped out? Secondly it is not a right or an entitlement to own a home, it is a privilege. One must work hard to afford a home. Now if a person was truly forced into a mortgage they could not afford then they should be helped.

Exactly.

If you can pay your bills, do it. If you can't pay your bills, unfortunately you will be out of a home.

It's not always the individuals fault, as many of them were given loans they never should have received. On the other hand though, these people should have known what they were getting themselves into.

It's a tough situation, but it just has to play itself out naturally in my opinion. All the government interference in the world won't change anything. (other than adding more debt)

Prevention is the best cure. Don't get interest only loan. Don't take out a second for your down payment. Don't get an ARM. And most of all, don't spend more than you make.

I know this doesn't help out the thread, but I am pretty upset at all of the foreclosures in my neighborhood lowering the value of my home as the banks are short selling the houses to get some money back[/rant]

Talk to your banker. A lot of people don't realize that a bank may work with the customer. I know a couple who just abandoned their house because they could no longer afford it. They made no attampt to talk to their bank.

Another thing to do is search court cases in your state to see if their are any recently settled cases or pending lawsiuts against your bank having to do wil bad business practices or predatory lending. Especially if your state attorney general has went after them during the time you signed your note. If there is or was you might be able to convince a lawyer to file a lawsuit in a similar manner.

As long as you make one payment and interest you "reset" the 30 day letter.

This buys you more time. Two line post.

OK here's one for you and it's nothing to do with affordability. I'd be interested in any free advice anyone can give.

March 2004 - bought house valued at 147,500 and spent 2 years renovating.

March 2006 - new valuation at 211,000, increased buildings insurance accordingly.

November 2006 - Storm that damaged the roof to the point that we had leaks over probably 1/2 the roof. Part of one plasterboard ceiling came down when some roof tiles fell on it - luckily no-one was hurt and the whole mess landed on the stairs. Insurance sent a surveyor who told us that the roof was badly damaged and needed urgent repairs/replacing. He was recommending insurance company pay out quickly, gave us his business card and even wrote his private mobile on it.

We got quotes then a letter from insurance to say they won't pay anything as the buildings insurance doesn't include the roof?! Called their surveyor who wouldn't give a copy of his report because he relies on work from the insurance company but he did confirm verbally that he'd told them the roof needed repairs/replacing.

Got a lawyer who eventually managed to get 700 (yes seven hundred) from the insurance company to repaint the walls. Insurance claimed the surveyors report said only a few tiles needed replacing and the rest of the roof was in good order. We tried to argue that 3 builders had said the roof needed replacing but got no joy.

December 2007 the roof of our house collapsed in a rain storm and luckily we were away visiting family for Christmas and New Year. Our neighbour had a key, to feed the cats, and took photos and emailed to us. We put in an insurance claim and they sent a surveyor out and then they wrote and told us that the they won't pay anything towards the roof because we hadn't maintained it.

So, in 2006 they said only a few tiles needed replacing but in 2007 it's our fault the roof fell in because we hadn't maintained it. Who maintains a roof unless you know there's a problem? Since replacing the few tiles we hadn't had any leaks or problems. Some neighbours lost their roofs in September 2007 after a storm and ours held up fine.

We had our own surveyor look at the roof and he said that the roof was probably seriously damaged in 2006 and then the September storm probably weakened the roof even more and the December storm just finished it off.

Our options.

1. Pay a lawyer who wants 5000 euros up front to take it to court and says we have a 70% chance of winning. (tried 3 lawyers - all say the same)

2. Pay for a new roof ourselves - not sure how we can do that as the bank have said no to a loan and we don't have 20,000.

3. Walk away and give the house back to the bank. We owe around 134,00 and by the time we spend 20k on it it will bring the total to 154,000. There's another house in our street, totally renovated, for sale at just 117,500. Another for reform is for sale at 80,000 (needs the same amount of work as ours).

The sums just don't add up to keep the house but it was once our home.

We've spent the past 12 months renting because the house isn't safe and doesn't have a roof. We've also been paying the mortgage payments somehow. Now the bank have taken another year's insurance policy from our account - for the same insurance that won't pay! I should add that the insurance company is part of the bank.

That was my final straw and I decided it's best to give the house back. This bank are just ripping us off big time and they know we can't afford to fix the house or take their insurance company to court.

Now I've calmed down a bit and I would like to keep the house, if at all possible but we cannot continue paying rent plus a mortgage on a house we can't even live in. If we could get the house done then we could move back in but the bank won't lend us the money, the insurance won't pay and we don't have a spare 20,000 hanging around.

Lawyer says that if we give the house back it will be full and final settlement and we won't have to pay any shortfall. Although there are 2 cheaper houses, in our street, we won't be able to buy one because we'll have bad credit.

Please don't suggest speaking to a consumer place/ombudsman/etc as this is Spain and we're told there isn't anywhere we can get help from an independent source, except to pay our own lawyer.

So there you go. Not everyone is getting foreclosed for overstretching themselves. Some of us have very affordable mortgages (if we didn't also need to pay rent) and had buildings insurance too. If the insurance company and bank weren't screwing us then we'd have spent this year happily living in our home and paying the mortgage comfortable.

What would you do? Any Spanish speaking lawyers that will take the case on a no win, no fee? Any advice from anyone? I'm not trying to hijack the thread but it is about how to help stop foreclosure.

Did I not hear in the second Zeitgeist movie that the bank tried to foreclose on a guy's home and he fought them in court saying that the money that was lended to him never really belonged to the bank as it never really existed anyways. The bank admitted it was true and the guy kept his home.

The first thing anybody should do if they are facing foreclosure is TALK TO THE MORTGAGE COMPANY!! I work for a law firm that specializes in foreclosures and the banks are always willing to work with their clients. They'll lower interest rates, or lower payments, they'll postpone selling the house time and time again just to give the borrower time to gather the money up. I really don't know what's so frightening about foreclosures, I mean most of the borrowers we foreclose on haven't made payments since the beginning of the year- if I went one month without paying my rent I would be thrown out immediately. Furthermore, did you know once the property in question is sold the borrower can actually get money back if the house sells for enough? And as for credit problems all the borrower needs (even after a foreclosure) is a letter stating everything was taken care of. In the end, all they lose is the house and they should see it coming if they're not making payments and avoiding the mortgage company.

reply to post by Maya00a


that sux ballz man....but yours is a small percentage of cases..the majority of foreclosures is because people live beyond their means

Lieing on you rloan App is not the only reason people cant afford to pay their bills. When i bought my house back in 2004 i put down 15 grand. My monthly payment was only 800 dollars. A year after that my monthly payments went up to 1200. Thats because they came in a reassessed my property for tax purposes. Then the strangest thing happened. A year after that they came in a did it again. Now im paying over 1300 a month.
I dont fully understand how all this works but my wife does. She handles all our finances. Im glad for it or i would be living under a bridge somewhere.

One can try to negotiate to lease the home so that your not forced out of it, and maybe later down the road you can re-negotiate to buy it back at the point where you left off.

The real estate industry is really in no position to be just throwing people out of their homes and end up having a bunch of empty expensive boxes all over the country. They would rather have some kind of income for the property, and if you can comfortably lease or rent the home until you can be in a better position to repurchase it, then chances are good they will do that.

But the key is to negotiate all this BEFORE the home is put into forclosure. Once the forclosure process starts, its very very difficult to stop.




Cheers!!!!

reply to post by midnightbrigade


Thanks for reading my post. I know that most foreclosures are for people that can no longer afford their mortgage payments and I'm sure there'll be many more of them as more people lose their jobs.

I don't really think you can blame the people for wanting the chance of something better - I personally think it comes down to irresponsible lending by the financial institutions. If those institutions were willing to overlook whether someone could afford the home, or not, then they have to accept responsibility for that.

It comes down to greed - people were greedy for a better home in a better area (who can blame them?) but the financial institutions were greedy for all that interest they thought they'd make or, at the very least, all those foreclosed homes they thought they could sell on for a handsome profit.

I can't believe that supposedly qualified people in these financial institutions didn't realise that eventually the whole thing would go this way. They must've known and they were willing to take the risk so really shouldn't complain now.

As for the people that took mortgages they couldn't afford - they saw a chance and probably believed they could make the payments somehow. They're not qualified to see that the numbers didn't add up and probably truly wanted a better home, in a better area and were prepared to do whatever it takes to keep that home. I don't believe in blaming people who weren't given all the facts, figures and information. Yes, they could've looked into it but when a smiling bank manager says "just sign here" most people would take the chance, rightly or wrongly.

I hope that the people that say these people shouldn't have taken mortgages they can't afford, don't find themselves out of work and facing the same problem. People in glass houses and all that.........

I don't know all the details, but I once knew a family who was in financial trouble. They ended up declaring bankruptcy. Since all the big stuff (house, car, etc) was in the husband's name, the wife's credit was actually still good, so they then used her credit when they needed it. I'm not sure if this works in all locations, though, or what other negative side effects bankruptcy might incur, but they seemed to think it was a pretty sweet deal.

It might not be a big problem for very much longer anyway...
think about it this way... the news reports 1 in 10 home owners are now 30 days past due or have received at least one foreclosure notice.... add to that, of those who had their mortgage readjusted more than half are once again in trouble.... if all of them defaulted there's just no way these banks and mortgage companies can stay in business if big brother hadn't stepped in that would have already happened... therefore if you want to stop foreclosures just have everyone default the banks go bust and then there's no one left who wants it back anyway,,,simple...