How to Save Your Home From Foreclosure

Foreclosure is devastating financially, emotionally and to your credit.  There are solutions to avoid this process, though.  Not everyone will be able to stop the process from occurring, especially if it has progressed past ownership transferring. 

However, if you are facing foreclosure, now is the time to take action and reduce your risk of losing your home.  To do that, you do need to focus specifically on the options available to you sooner rather than later.  The longer you wait, the higher the risk of loss will be.

Important Tips and Steps

The following are workable steps you can take to reduce the risk of foreclosure and to get your home back.

* First, be sure you always pay your mortgage payment first, before paying any other debts you have.  You need to keep a roof over your head and to do that you have to pay your mortgage.  Put off or stall credit card bills, personal loans or other forms of debt you may have until you have made your monthly mortgage payment.

* Get help now.  To avoid foreclosure, you need to take steps now.  This means contacting organizations that can help, such as a credit counseling company, a debt management company or other such programs.  These organizations will work with you and your lender to find a solution, if a solution is out there.

* Contact your lender directly and ask for foreclosure help.  Many lenders can extend help to get you caught up, such as extending the terms of the loan and adding those payments you missed to the end of it.  Some lenders will allow you to get caught up over a short period of time, if you have the  employment and income to do so.

* If you know you will be in trouble, but your credit is still good, you can save your home by refinancing to a lower interest rate mortgage.  This will help you to get a lower payment, especially if you lengthen the terms, and help you to get caught up.  You can avoid foreclosure so long as you keep your payments up to date with your new lender.

* A final option to consider is the sale of your home.  If you do not want the foreclosure on your credit, but you cannot get out of the loan, or get caught up, consider the sale of the home.  If it sells fast enough, you may be able to avoid the foreclose process.

Stay Out of Foreclosure

For many, it will be necessary to work through the process of each of these steps, one by one.  Foreclosure is not something easy to avoid.  If you are missing just one payment on your mortgage, lenders will take steps to either help you to get caught up or to start the legal process. 

If you do take action now, though, you may be able to avoid the outcome you are dreading, and you may even be able to save your home and keep living there long term.