Protecting Our Clients Homes from Foreclosure

At Blake Goodman, PC, Attorney , we understand that your house is your castle. We know you have worked hard to save up the money to put down at the time of purchase and have done everything you can to keep up with your mortgage payments for many years. We also know that you have raised our kids in your house and wish to grow older there. If you have unexpectedly missed a payment or two behind due to financial hardship, it can become an anxious time. That is why you should consider contacting a foreclosure attorney at our firm to discuss how to possibly avoid the embarrassment of foreclosure.

The Foreclosure Process Explained

If your mortgage company, or home association, decide to take action to collect, then they normally will send you scary letters first. These letters will inform you of the debt and explain that if you don’t get caught up right away they will initiate a foreclosure proceeding. If you don’t make immediate payments after these written demands, it’s unlikely you get a poster nailed to your door. However, they will eventually come to your door in person and serve you with foreclosure documents.

Foreclosure means your creditors are trying to take your house away from you and obtain the court’s permission to sell it. Usually, the Mortgage Company or AOAO serves you in person with a complaint in order to start the foreclosure lawsuit. You can answer this complaint yourself or you can hire an attorney to file and answer it for you. Although this will buy time, unless you can pay the mortgage company what they want, you will lose the battle, and your house.

After you get served with the complaint, then various other hearings and orders will be entered against you. This will lead to the posting of a sale date of your house at a public auction where it will be sold to the highest bidder. This means you will no longer own it and the new buyer will pay the mortgage off. If your house is sold at a foreclosure auction, whatever equity you had in the house will be completely lost and you won’t see a dime of it.

How Bankruptcy Can Save Your Home

There is a solution to get caught up with your payments and keep your house: filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. This chapter of the bankruptcy code was invented specifically to help defend against foreclosure lawsuits. It allows homeowners the chance to re-organize their affairs and stay on their property. In the mid-1970s, Congress responded to the growing ranks of the homeless by enacting this quick and simple bankruptcy procedure. It gave Federal bankruptcy courts the power to stop a foreclosure filed in any state court.

As a result of this legislation, you are given the chance to file a plan with the bankruptcy court that will allow you to repay your mortgage company or AOAO. In fact, it can be used to repay all of your creditors. The plan is over a maximum of 5 years, which is a pretty good deal.

But there are certain timing issues. There is a point in time where it is too late to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy to save your home. Your next step is to contact our law office and speak with an attorney about the specifics of your case.

Can I Get a Loan After Foreclosure?

Yes, you can still take out loans, but they will sometimes be more difficult to receive and come with high-interest rates. A foreclosure will stay on your credit record for at least seven years. While that is a mark that is not easy to remove, and will likely impact interest rates, you can make efforts to improve your credit score by paying off debts and making payments on time. As your score goes up that foreclosure will stop looking quite as bad.

We have programs to help our clients recover their credit scores after large losses, such as bankruptcy. Many of our clients are able to find new homes while still being involved in bankruptcy cases. Being involved in a foreclosure case does not mean you are never going to own a home again. In fact, we are hopeful that you will not lose your home in the first place.