Guerilla Tactics For Saving Your Home From Foreclosure 

Okay, you know who you are. You are behind on your house payment, the bank is calling you everyday. The mailbox is full of foreclosure notices. I cannot think of anything worse than being forced out of your home, but that is exactly what is happening to millions of Americans every year, and to be honest, there is no real end in sight.

If you think the economy is getting better, then, you probably also believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny too. While President Obama is working his butt off, the financial monster that has been unleashed is going to take one thing to get us back in the black, and that is time, and probably a lot of it too. Considering the Great Depression lasted for almost a decade and showed no real signs of ending until WW2 when American became the manufacturer of the world.

Unfortunately for us, our manufacturing base is GONE. We can thank our government and big business of sending millions of good paying blue collar jobs overseas. If you are one of those American who lost your job and now you are afraid your house will be next…read on, you might be able to stay in your home after all.

1-      One tactic you should try early on is to call the bank and ask them to renegotiate your loan. There is nothing the bank really cannot do when it comes to a loan, it is completely up to them. The banks have a vested interest in you paying off your home loan. Just be honest, and don’t feel bad that you are in a situation where you cannot make your house payment. Its really not all your fault, especially if you lost your job to the recession. Both you and the bank win when you stay in your home and pay it off, so give them a call TODAY! Like NOW!

2-      I heard about this a while back on a news program. Many times the mortgage on your home has been sold and re-sold. If the person who now holds your mortgage cannot produce the original paperwork of your loan, that house then becomes yours legally, free and clear! The good news is that many of the mortgage holders cannot produce that original paper work! If you are having a problem with making your house payments, you need to check into this right now. You just might be able to get your house free and clear without making even another penny in payments!

3-      Most American have a house bigger than they need. Consider renting out your basement, upstairs or spare rooms. In this economy, lots of people are looking for a cheaper place to live, lots of people have bad credit and cannot get into an apartment. You may also want to call your local social services and tell them you have a room or basement or upstairs to rent out to the right people. Because these people are going to be living in your living space some of the time, you need to be picky and get a good fit. Simply explain this beforehand. I have seen this arrangement work out quite well for all parties involved. The main thing is to lay out the ground rules ahead of time, and make sure you get renters with a lifestyle like your own. This can work, it just takes some planning.

4-      Consider merging two families into one, and live in one house, use just one car. This could work well with family members or people who are good friends. Once again, get everything down in black and white and make sure everyone understands the arrangement.  I have one friend whose grandparents moved into their home, so that the house did not go into foreclosure. Not only has the grandmother taken over child care, saving a large amount of money, Gramps fixed up the home that would have taken thousands of dollars if they had to hire a contractor. Plus, they have only one vehicle, and saved even more money. Even when times get better, they plan to continue this living arrangement. Now the house is paid off completely, and everyone is very happy with the deal.

5-      This next suggestion is a bit radical, but desperate times call for desperate measures…so here it goes!  For many people, a big expense is food. Its something that costs a lot of money, even if you scrape to get by. Did you know that food prices when up faster than anything else other than gas? Is it no wonder families can no longer make ends meet? Many people do not realize there is a free source of food in their community that goes to waste each and every day! If you guessed this free food is in the dumpsters of your local fast food restaurants, you guessed right! There is nothing wrong with the food they throw out, they just have a policy to get rid of it after so many hours. Not because it is spoiled in any way or because there is anything at all wrong with it, but because people are fussy when they are paying for it. The best places for dumpster diving is behind Pizza Hut or Mc Donalds. Burger King is another good choice. When things get busy, they make up extra food in hopes the customers will be ordering it. Sometimes they make up too much food, and it can only sit under the heat lamps for so long. In big cities, most homeless people already have a monopoly on the dumpsters that have the good stuff , so this may not work out for you if you live in a big city, but if you are living in a smaller town, most of this food is just going to waste on a daily basis and there is nothing wrong with it at all. I have personally known people who were dumpster divers! You would never know to look at them that they regularly eat out of dumpsters. I will warn you, be very careful with what you eat out of dumpsters! And, never, ever feed a child out of a dumpster! If it looks spoiled in any way, throw it out. And, legally, I am not advocating this practice, I am merely telling you about other people who are doing this. If you do become a dumpster diver yourself, you just might save enough money on your food bill that you can make your house payment. So, indirectly this becomes another way to save your home during dire times, and just think of it this way, think of the cool stories you will have to tell your grandchildren one day. “ During the second great depression, we were so poor, we had to go dumpster diving to save the house we are living in right now.”  You get the picture!