Author: Peter Baptiste Added: August 19, 2008
Copyright (c) 2008 Peter Baptiste Do you want to keep your home from going into foreclosure? Millions of people have foreclosed on homes across the nation. There are many reasons for this. There are ways to avoid foreclosure if you are serious about saving your home. These methods include loan reinstatement, forbearance, and a loan modification. The loan reinstatement is the most common way to save your home from foreclosure through the bank. Many of the things you should consider when your home is going into foreclosure include: - The foreclosure process - Tips on Saving Your Home The foreclosure process can take up to a year for some people. This is because there are many steps of the foreclosure process. Not every home forecloses in exactly the same amount of time. This process can take six months for some homes and a year for others. When a foreclosure begins a bank will issue a statement of claim because you have missed at least three payments on your mortgage. Your ability to service the financing of your home will be questioned. The second phase of a foreclosure is when the statement of claim is served to you. The third step of a foreclosure is the bank demanding you sell the home. This will be stated inside of the statement of claim. The bank will give you time to try to sell the home. This timeframe can be up to six months. This period is usually called the redemption period. Toward the end of this period the fifth step is the Order of Sale. This documentation will be served to you as a homeowner. This will include a date when the bank is going to sell the home through an auction at the county courthouse in your local county. The final period is when the home is sold through the auction and you are required to move out of the home. This entire process can be very lengthy. Some people are not serious about saving their home. Because of the length of time it takes before you will be legally removed from the home, some people live in the home for free right up until the day the home is sold at the auction. If you want to keep your home you should not let the home get past the third stage of the foreclosure process. There are three primary methods you can save your home from foreclosure. These three methods include loan reinstatement, forbearance, and loan modification. If you are serious about keeping your home you should look at these three options and determine which method is right for you. The forbearance agreement is a common way a homeowner can save their home. This agreement is made between the bank and the homeowner. The homeowner commonly has an emergency in the household that prevents them from making the monthly payments. They make an agreement with the bank to catch up on the arrearages by making larger monthly payments on the home loan until they are caught up. The bank will usually give the homeowner a six month period. This could double the payments in some cases and may not even be affordable for you. When you agree with the bank on a forbearance agreement it does not stop the foreclosure process. This puts the foreclosure on hold until you are entirely caught up with your payments. If you do not make the promised payments your home will go through with the foreclosure process. A loan modification used to be the most common method of resolving the problems of foreclosure in the past. This method allows the lender to issue a new home loan agreement with you where all of the arrearages are added to the end of the loan. This would extend the life of the loan but the homeowner can continue making their payments as if they were never behind and everyone wins. This is not a common solution anymore and banks rarely agree to allowing a homeowner have a loan modification. The loan reinstatement is the third way you can save your home from foreclosing. This method is when the lender has initiated the process of foreclosure and you find a way to pay back all of the missed payments, late fees, attorney costs, etc. These amounts must be paid back in full and zeroed out in order for it to be valid. There are many positive sides to the loan reinstatement you might consider. These include being able to keep your home without the worry of losing it to a foreclosure. You are back at square one with your monthly mortgage payments. You are not behind and you don't owe any additional money for late fees or anything else. This is the best method and banks are usually willing to accept this method if you can come up with the payments to catch up. There is a downside to the loan reinstatement that you might want to consider. The downside is that if you have to borrow the money to be able to pay the bank all of the money you now owe someone else. This may be another monthly payment for you. If you are in the foreclosure process because your monthly payments are difficult to be able to afford you might have a hard time making payments on an additional loan too. The loan reinstatement method of saving your home from a foreclosure is the most expensive way to save your home and be able to keep it. It is important to remember that if you take a loan out to save your home then you must give the bank the entire amount you owe them including the fees. Do not just pay back the monthly payments you missed or the home may continue to go into the foreclosure process. A bank will not work with you on the loan reinstatement unless you zero the balance out. You should be sure you can afford to come up with all of the money in this process also. If you really cannot afford to do this you might be digging an even bigger hole than you expected. It may be inevitable that your home goes into foreclosure but you are denying that you really cannot afford it. It is important to know for sure that you really can afford to save your home through the loan reinstatement program. A loan reinstatement is the most commonly accepted method of saving your home if the bank has started the foreclosure process. It isn't common for banks to agree to other methods because they want their money. You should be sure that you really can afford your home if you can get out of the hole you are in before you decide to pay off the entire debt.
--- Peter Baptiste is known as the Foreclosure Doctor Online. Feel free to visit his blog where he provides a wealth of information on a regular basis. http://www.foreclosuredoctoronline.com
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