Foreclosure Digest

If you have a FHA-insured loan
You have certain rights and your lender has to follow FHA servicing guidelines and regulations for FHA-insured loans. If your lender is not cooperative and willing to discuss options with you, contact the FHA’s National Servicing Center toll free at (877) 622-8525.

When you contact the center, be prepared to provide the full name(s) of all persons listed on the mortgage loan and the full address of the property including the city, state and zip. They also  may be able to help you more quickly if you can also provide your 13-digit FHA case number from the loan settlement statement.

Don’t hesitate. You have rights. You may not be able to stop foreclosure but you certainly need to try all available options.

I would imagine this might offend some people but I’m going to express my opinion anyway.

First of all, I feel bad for anyone who losing their home to foreclosure. It’s a shame as it’s always been the American dream to own a house.

Now there has been some government help available to help people keep from losing their homes, but that really doesn’t seemed to have worked.

One of the biggest problems is so many people purchased homes that were well above what they could afford. Using special financing such as ARM’s (adjustable rate mortgage) has become a problem down the line. Now ARM’s has gotten a bad reputation because of the financial situation in the 80′s. They have improved with maximum rate adjustment caps and mandatory rate disclosure regulations to protect and educate borrowers, but that doesn’t change the current foreclosure situation.

I feel more sorry for someone who had a job and purchased a home well within their means. They felt assured they could continue making the payments until their mortgage was eventually paid off. Then, for reasons beyond their control, such as a lay off or unforeseen medical expenses, they now can no longer afford their house.

If anyone deserves help, they are the ones. The persons who bought a home they knew they couldn’t afford for whatever reason, status symbol being one of the big reasons; that’s another story. I feel bad for them but I don’t want my tax money bailing them out.

I bought a old house to start out, sold it and bought my current house, and now have it paid off. Good thing too because my wife’s medical bills have become massive. There were houses we really wanted but knew we couldn’t afford, as is probably the case with many of you reading this.Had we bought one of those houses and lost it because we couldn’t make payments, we would have been devastated but, when the smoke cleared, would have wrote it off to being greedy or over zealous.

My point to all this rambling? If you are considering buying a new home, buy within your means. If you don’t, foreclosure might be in your future.

Now is definitely the time to consider looking into purchasing a home in foreclosure. Interest rates are low and there are plenty of homes to choose from.

It’s unfortunate. I hate to see people lose their homes and it’s one of the reasons I have so much on this site dedicated to stopping foreclosure. If your home is in foreclosure, however, chances are learning about purchasing these homes isn’t of interest to you.

Or is it? You might want to consider reading some of the articles on how to purchase a foreclosure because it might also open your eyes as to how you might come out of your current financial crisis without losing too much.

But as much as I feel for people losing their homes, the fact is you purchasing the house is likely helping them in the long run. They want out of their situation and until they unload their home, they are going through a stressful situation.

Buy a Possible Foreclosure Property Direct?

If you know of someone facing foreclosure, you may be able to get that house direct from them. That’s not always a possibility and it depends on their mortgage as well as how far into foreclosure they might be. But it’s a possibility.

You might pay a little more than you would once the house is foreclosed, but you will likely have less competition as well.

Foreclosures are making news today with this article about foreclosure default warnings surging in August.

The bottom line is banks are starting to get tougher on mortgage loans and that is even more reason for homeowners to learn more about how to stop foreclosures.

It really doesn’t matter where the blame lies. Yes, the government ran a program years ago designed to get more people to buy a house and the result was many people  purchased a house that was way beyond their means.

But reality has set in and it’s time to fight back and do all you can to keep from losing your home. Get some coffee and sit down and start reading all you can. There are ways to get back on your feet but it will take action on your part.

If your finances are due to temporary problems, such as illness or unemployment for example, you might want to consider short term fixes to help you stay out of any foreclosure proceedings.

Temporary solutions for short term financial situations:

Reinstatement:

Your lenders may be willing to consider “reinstating” your loan if you can make arrangements to pay back your overdue  payments in one lump sum by a specific date. A forbearance plan often accompanies this option.

Forbearance:

This is well worth looking into as your mortgage holder may be willing to provide a temporary reduction or suspension of your mortgage payments for a short period, such as 3 or 4 months. Once this time period elapses, theywill work with you to create a repayment plan for your loan. You may qualify for forbearance if you have experienced a reduction in income (as an example, you have become unemployed) or you have experienced an increase in living expenses (higher medical bills). You will have to show that you will be able to stick with the new payment plan.

Repayment plan:

Sometimes you may be able to work out a plan where you pay your regular monthly payments and add an additional amount to your payment until you catch up on the payments you missed. This will likely incur additional finance charges so try to pay back your back payments as quickly as possible.