YOU already know that your home is in foreclosure. You’ve received that dreaded Notice of Default. You know that after 90 days, your home can be scheduled for a Trustee Sale. You don’t have a lot of time left. Your home with all its memories, hopes and dreams will be gone. What are you going to do?
Facing foreclosure can be every homeowner’s worst nightmare. Recently, a client was crying in my office as she told me what a stressful time she is going through. She was laid off from her job more than six months ago and that’s when her financial problems started. The bank started foreclosure proceedings last month and she is afraid of losing her home. She is a single mom (a recent divorcee) with 2 young children. “How do I even explain this to my children?”, she asked. “How do I tell them that we have to move out of our home and that they need to change schools and leave their friends?” Fortunately for her, she just found a new job and started working again. But with no savings, she simply can’t come up with the $12,000 that the bank is demanding for her to catch up on her mortgage payments.
These days, you see a lot of companies offering you a “solution” to your problems. But can they actually deliver? Should you short sale your home, refinance or should you apply for a loan modification? The options you hear about can be confusing because you don’t know what to believe and who to trust.
The economic downturn has crushed a lot of hopes and dreams. I am sure this is not what you planned when you bought your house. Perhaps you planned on staying in this house for good. Or maybe it was just going to be a temporary home until you were ready for a bigger and nicer place. A lot of people also bought a home several years ago for investment purposes, hoping that someday they would be able to sell it at a profit after living in it for a few years. But now everyone is dealing with a different reality and it’s really difficult to do.
One of the legal remedies available to stop a foreclosure is by filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Chapter 13 gets you up to 5 years to catch up and keep your home. If you have other debts like credit cards, personal loans, medical bills, back property taxes and all other types of debt, it also allows you to consolidate all these bills into one monthly payment that you can afford. A lot of people are not aware of this but Chapter 13 is a lot more affordable than trying to bring your account current with the lender on your own. With the right attorney, it can also be a pretty painless process for you.
If you have a second mortgage that is not supported with equity in your property, Chapter 13 can also completely eliminate or drastically reduce the amount of the loan. The worst mistake that you can make when facing foreclosure is to wait until the last minute to take action. Once foreclosure begins, the clock is ticking and every day you wait doing nothing is a day wasted. At least find out what all available options are and from there, you can hopefully make the best decision for your situation.
If you are facing foreclosure and need to figure out what you should do, I’d like to help you. For a free attorney consultation, please call Toll-Free 1 (866) 477-7772. We have offices in Glendale, Cerritos , West Covina, Valencia and Riverside.
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None of the information herein is intended to give legal advice for any specific situation. Atty. Ray Bulaon has successfully helped thousands of clients in getting out of debt. For a free attorney evaluation of your situation, please call Ray Bulaon Law Offices at TOLL FREE 1 (866) 477-7772.