The Complete Guide to Preventing Foreclosure on Your Home: Legal Secrets to Beat Foreclosure and Protect Your Home NOW

by Martha Maeda

Overview

When a homeowner can no longer make payments on the house, the lender or bank will attempt to seize the property. This process, known as foreclosure, is becoming more and more common, even for those with good credit. Find out how you can prevent foreclosure by reading this book and discovering the legal ways to protect your home. The Complete Guide to Preventing Foreclosure on Your Home will provide you with strategies for getting legal advice, keeping current on your mortgage payments, negotiating temporary delays in payments, restructuring loans, refinancing, filing for bankruptcy, and creating and sticking to a budget.

You will learn about debt counseling and income maintenance, tax abatement, and public assistance programs. This book also provides details on the recent modifications to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) programs offered by the federal government to assist homeowners who have been affected by the economic crisis through no fault of their own.

In addition, this book will show you how to decide if your property is worth saving, how to figure out how much time you have to act, how to use the courts to stop foreclosure, how to decide whether bankruptcy is your best option, and how to use your military status to prevent foreclosure. You will also learn about foreclosure rescue scams, nonjudicial foreclosure, judicial foreclosure, and notice of default. Also included is an explanation of the alternatives to foreclosure, such as special forbearance, mortgage modification, partial claim, pre-foreclosure, and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.

With foreclosures on the rise, it makes sense to know how to protect your home. The Complete Guide to Preventing Foreclosure on Your Home will provide you with tips, tricks, strategies, and secrets to prevent your home s foreclosure now before it is too late.

Atlantic Publishing is a small, independent publishing company based in Ocala, Florida. Founded over twenty years ago in the company president’s garage, Atlantic Publishing has grown to become a renowned resource for non-fiction books. Today, over 450 titles are in print covering subjects such as small business, healthy living, management, finance, careers, and real estate. Atlantic Publishing prides itself on producing award winning, high-quality manuals that give readers up-to-date, pertinent information, real-world examples, and case studies with expert advice. Every book has resources, contact information, and web sites of the products or companies discussed.

This Atlantic Publishing eBook was professionally written, edited, fact checked, proofed and designed. The print version of this book is 288 pages and you receive exactly the same content. Over the years our books have won dozens of book awards for content, cover design and interior design including the prestigious Benjamin Franklin award for excellence in publishing. We are proud of the high quality of our books and hope you will enjoy this eBook version.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781601386793
Publisher:	Atlantic Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/30/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	3 MB

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 What is Foreclosure? 11

Foreclosure Myths 12

The Four Main Types of Foreclosure 14

The Steps of Foreclosure 18

Types of Foreclosure Notices and What They Mean 23

Property Documents 26

The Lasting Effects of Foreclosure 28

Chapter 2 Understanding Your Loan 31

Types of Mortgages 32

Who Owns Your Mortgage 37

Types of Loan Documents 37

Chapter 3 Steps to Avoiding Foreclosure 47

What to Do and When to Do It-Developing a Timeline for Success 48

Talk to Your Lender 53

Negotiating With Your Lender 53

Know Your Rights 58

Chapter 4 Assessing Your Finances 63

Recognize Trouble When it Starts 64

Identify Your Income and Your Expenses 66

Are You Overextended? 68

Reduce Your Expenses 71

Know What You Owe 72

What are You Worth? 73

Check Your Credit Report 74

Get Through the Crisis 74

Credit Counselors 75

Chapter 5 Reviewing Your Options 77

Halt the Process Before it Starts 78

Reinstatement 80

Commercial Mortgage Assistance Programs 81

Refinance 84

Sell or Offer a "Deed in Lieu" 85

Declare Bankruptcy 85

Options for Those in Military Service 86

File a Lawsuit to Enjoin 89

Forbearance 89

Repayment Plans 90

Loan Modification 91

Assumption 91

Short Sale 92

FHA-/VA-Backed Loans 93

Strategic Default 96

Walk Away 98

Chapter 6 Borrowing What You Owe: Refinancing 101

Your Existing Mortgage 102

Is Refinancing the Best Choice for Me? 104

Know How Much You Owe 105

Get a Valuation 106

Will I Qualify? 107

Determining Equity 111

Being Prepared 112

Talk with a Broker 113

Where to Find Money 114

Compare Your Refinance Options 115

Making an Educated Decision 117

Chapter 7 Halting Foreclosure a Legal Defense 119

How a Legal Defense Works 121

Tactics to Delay Your Foreclosure 157

Chapter 8 Selling Your House 161

Preparing Yourself to Sell 162

Getting in the Selling Mindset 163

Deciding Who Will Sell the Home 163

Listing Agreements 165

Finding a Real Estate Lawyer 168

Disclosures 168

Preparing Your Home 169

Finding a Buyer 173

Selling in Foreclosure 174

Short Sales and Foreclosure 175

Making Homes Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program 179

Chapter 9 Deed in Lieu 181

How a Deed in Lieu Benefits You 181

How a Deed in Lieu Benefits Your Lender 182

Complications 184

Arranging a Deed in Lieu 185

Elements of a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure 187

Chapter 10 Filing for Bankruptcy 189

Types of Bankruptcy 192

Is Bankruptcy Right for You? 195

Proving You Are Eligible 197

Chapter 11 Where to Go for Help 201

Your Family and Friends 202

Another Lender 202

Credit Counseling 202

Real Estate Lawyers 203

Foreclosure Consultants 203

Your Lender 204

The Federal Government 205

Local and State Governments 208

Beware of Scams 209

Where to Look for Help and Information 213

Chapter 12 After Foreclosure 215

Rebuilding Your Finances 216

Rebuilding Your Credit Score 218

Living in Your Home Free During Redemption 219

Conclusion: Moving On 221

Appendix A Sample Letters 223

Letter to Lender Explaining Hardship 223

Letter to Lender Contesting a Default 224

Letter to Request a "Short Sale" with Lender 226

Letter to Request a Deed-in-lieu Arrangement 227

Letter to Lender Requesting Reduction in Interest Rate 229

Appendix B Sample Foreclosure Documents 231

Sample Notice of Complaint, or Lis Pendens 231

Sample Notice of Default for Non-Judicial Filings 235

Sample Answer to Notice of Complaint 237

Sample Tax Lien 240

Sample Grant Deed 242

Sample Quitclaim Deed 243

Sample Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure 245

Appendix C Foreclosure Laws by State 247

Appendix D Finances Worksheet 259

Glossary of Terms 261

Bibliography 279

Author Biographies 283

Index 285