Shocking Fact: 7 out 10 homeowners facing foreclosure proceed without the assistance or advice of real estate or lending professionals. (source: Distressed Property Instititute, LLC)

Okay, I know you have heard all this before, but really it's true, your lenders do not want your home. If you default on your mortgage, they have to make your payments and property taxes if they take possession. The lenders have things they call "work out options" to help you keep your home, but quite frankly these options work out best if you or only one or two payments behind in your mortgage. The further behind you are the fewer the options. Let's take a look at some of these options. Hopefully, you won't need any of these but you might have a friend who does:

FOREBEARANCE- The lender allows you to reduce or suspend payments for a short period of time after which another option must be agreed upon to bring your loan current.

REPAYMENT PLAN- This is an agreement to resume making your regular payments, in addition to a portion of the past due payments each month. This happens until your loan is current.

MORTGAGE MODIFICATION: If you can make the payments on your loan but can't bring your account current or afford the total amount of your payment, your lender may be able to make your payment more affordable. Your loan could be permanently changed in one or more ways by:

• Adding the missing payments to the existing loan balance
• Changing the interest rate
• Extending the number of years you have to repay

CLAIM ADVANCE- If your mortgage is insured, you may qualify for an interest free loan from your mortgage guarantor to bring your account current.  Then the repayment of this loan may be delayed for several years.

RENT THE PROPERTY- Homeowners facing foreclosure will have payments low enough to allow them to rent their property and keep up their mortgage payments.

SHORT SALE- When homeowners owe more on a property than it is currently worth and one of the previous solutions does not apply to their situation, there is the option of pursuing a short sale. 

Be armed with information when you call your lender or call your favorite real estate agent and ask them to help you.