It Takes a Long Time to Foreclose

This is a short memo that I am doing for the benefit of my clients who are behind in their mortgage payments. I want people to be aware that they are not in jeopardy of immediately losing their home just because they fall two or three payments behind on their mortgage.

In fact, the way things are right now in New Jersey, they probably aren't in jeopardy of losing their home to an immediate Sheriff Sale even if they are 11 or 12 months behind in their payments.

The most important thing for you to understand so that you don't worry needlessly is that foreclosure is a process. In fact, foreclosure can be a very slow and long process.

Foreclosure is a step-by-step process, and the mortgage company must follow each and every step precisely as required by law. If the mortgage company doesn't do it exactly the way it is supposed to be done, the foreclosure will not be valid or legal.

Let's compare foreclosure to a nine-inning baseball game. Many people come to us thinking that they are about to be locked out of their homes, when really they are only in the first or second inning of the foreclosure process.

So if you have gotten some nasty letters from the mortgage company, or even if you have been served with a foreclosure complaint, you don't have to needlessly worry, because the game has just begun.

We want to let you know that if you regularly communicate with us, and give us copies of all documents, Court papers, and everything else that you get from the mortgage company and/or their attorneys, we know how the process works, and we know what to do to protect you.

In fact, we have had clients who have lived in their homes for three years or more without paying a single penny to the mortgage company.

So even if you can't foresee how you could pay your mortgage in the future, we don't want to give up. We want to help you understand your legal rights, and we want to help you stay in your home.

Once we talk to you and get all the information that we need from you, we can tell you exactly where you stand in the process. We can help you do what you can legally do to stay in your home for as long as possible.

Believe it or not, sometimes the mortgage company might even give you money to walk away from your home.

Another interesting fact for you to know is that mortgage companies often lose $30,000 or more when they foreclose on a home. Many mortgage companies have changed their attitudes, and they realize that they are better off working out a deal with the homeowner, rather than taking over ownership of a home that has dropped in values and getting stuck with a home that they are going to have difficulty selling to someone else.

We help many clients get loan modifications. This means that the foreclosure is stopped, the mortgage payments are reduced, the interest rate on the mortgage is reduced (SOMETIMES TO 2%), the arrears are put at the back of the mortgage, and our clients get to keep their home.

If our clients have other debts like credit card bills, medical bills, utility bills, pay day loans, car repos, motor vehicle surcharges, and other debts, we can help our clients have those debts forgiven by the federal government.

Give us a call for a totally free consultation, and we'll let you know exactly what you need to do.