According to recent foreclosure statistics from the Mortgage Bankers Association, there are 1.35 million homes in foreclosure at the time of this post. Furthermore, borrowers who are behind on their payments have reached a historic high of 6.99%. If you’re one of those buyers, you may be afraid that you’ll soon face foreclosure on your home. Here are a few tips that can help you stay a step ahead of foreclosure and safeguard your most valuable asset.
Call Your Lender. You may feel bad about being behind on your payments, but remember that your lender is here to help. Given the state of the economy, many lenders will work hard to ensure that you stay in your home. Banks understand that more foreclosures will only cause further market depreciation, so they have an added incentive to keep you in your home to protect their other assets.
Track Your Finances. It’s important to get your finances in order and to know what you owe. Create a budget spreadsheet with expenditures to organize your finances. You may find costs that you can cut out. Maybe you won’t buy that Wii for Christmas, but you’ll still have your home.
Get Advice from a Housing Advisor. Non-profit housing counselors can give you free foreclosure information and help you find solutions. The Homeownership Preservation Foundation is one of several reputable organizations that offer foreclosure info and can get you moving on the right track.
With foreclosures causing so many problems, these tips may just be the start to protecting your home and stabilizing the country. If, however, you find yourself having to return to renting again, check back at this blog for some tips on how to make that tough transition as easy as possible.
Tags: avoid foreclosure, bank foreclosure, foreclosure, foreclosure info, foreclosure statistics, free foreclosure information, home foreclosure, housing advisor, lender, mortgage bankers association