Yesterday reports hit the news about the growing number of U.S. mortgage foreclosures for this year. It is frightening to know that we are on track to foreclose on more than 1,000,000 houses this year(2010). So far this year, over 528,000 families have been affected. Even more frightening is that there were 900,000 affected in 2009. I will not cite an article here. The stories are in any newspaper or website that reports real news.
It is a tough fight when you fall behind on you mortgage. Many are realizing that now and are trying to salvage the house they have lived and invested in for what may be years.
Just this past week, WXIA, channel 11 in Atlanta reported that foreclosures are now hitting the “rich”. The number of million dollar homes being foreclosed on has increased and it led that station to report that the recession and foreclosure problem has now hit the “rich”. I will not write about it here, but living in a million dollar plus home does not make you rich. It may make you a lot of things, but it is not necessarily rich.
Are you affected? Are you feeling that you may be soon? If you are, stop and focus on the four areas you need to maintain focus on in times of financial crisis – mortgage(rent), utilities, transportation and rent. Those four areas should be you primary financial fight. Everything else should be prioritized based upon true NEED and paid for ONLY when those things can be afforded. That may mean no one gets a birthday gift (they will survive), your hair does not get “done” every month, you are not buying new clothes just “because” and you may miss some credit card payments. FOCUS on the four items of survival.
For those of you in trouble or feeling you may be headed to trouble – contact your mortgage company for assistance. They may be able to creatively assist you to weather the storm or you may qualify for a mortgage loan modification. It never hurts to ask and get the help you need before you get a notice of “sale”.
I work as a foreclosure paralegal for a company in New York that represents the banks. I am not happy doing this type of work but I need the money to support my family of 4 and this is were the good paying jobs are at the moment.
Often times I receive calls from borrowers who have no idea what they can do and I try to give them information about government approved agencies in New York that can offer free or low cost advise.
The biggest problem with the borrowers is that they are uninformed as to their rights and that they can get help, sometimes it just takes a few phone calls to the loss mitigation department at the bank who holds the mortgages.
A bank who is foreclosing on a property in New York has a lot of hoops to go through and the courts have put into motion mandatory settlement conferences that the borrowers and the banks are to attend to try can get a loan modification or some other repayment option in place to stop the foreclosure. I cannot tell you how many times the borrowers do not show up for theses conferences and then the courts have no choice but to allow the banks to proceed.
If my comments can help in any way a borrower in trouble, know that there are always options open to the borrower in trouble and that speaking with an attorney (most times the first consult is free) or one the government agencies will help the borrowers to learn about all the options available to them.