Homeowners facing foreclosure in this country is at epidemic proportions. Many homeowners do not know where or whom to turn to in this time of need. I know first hand, what this feels like. It does not matter how recent or how long ago these events take place in your life, they can leave everlasting scars.

I can recall the stages my emotions went through when I was facing the possibility of loosing my home; it was similar to the four stages of death; First the denial, then anger, soon the depression sets in, and finally, if you are lucky, acceptance. The final stage is realized when you can no longer hide your feelings of failure from your family, friends, and neighbors.

What I didn't know at the time, was that I had choices. I was so caught up in why and how I got myself into this situation, too afraid of my friends and family finding out that I made poor choices. I could not tell anyone about my pending foreclosure. Fear had control of my life. A friend shared with me what I am sharing with you now, and gave me the power to negotiate with my lender and save my home. Many homeowners try to ignore the foreclosure process until there is little to no time left for them to react.

If your situation is anything like mine was, I received ten to fifteen letters and post cards a day from real estate agents, investors, lawyers, and hard money loan sharks, all promising to help me. I even paid an attorney $1000.00 dollars to stop my foreclosure. Every time I called him, he told me he was working on it, and acted like I was bothering him. In the end, the only thing he stopped; was returning my calls.

In my opinion, most of the people contacting you to are self serving sharks, who could care less about your problem. Many of these suitors, are looking to steel your home right out from under you, using fear and intimidation to play on your already raw emotions.

I am here to tell you that you have more power than you think. You have the power to negotiate with your loan servicing company and save your home. I must warn you that this can be an arduous task; it will take persistence, a little organization, and an un-yielding desire to save your home from foreclosure. You will have to make a very hard choice, and search deep down to determine what is more important to you, your home, or your STUFF.

I make this statement for a very important reason. A crucial part of your negotiation with your lender will rely on you showing them that you have the ability to make the agreed upon monthly payments. You will have to provide them with your personal financial information, such as: W2 forms, pay stubs, bank statements, income and expenses statements, and a hardship letter.

When your lender reviews these documents, they will not take into consideration any miscellaneous expenses or unsecured debts that they do not feel are relevant. Your lender does not care about your nanny, or your child's piano lessons, the gardener, or if you drive a luxury vehicle with large monthly payments. All they care about is the bottom line of whether or not you can afford the mortgage payments and if you are willing to make your mortgage a priority over other debts. If your financial picture indicates that you are not willing to do what it takes, you can find yourself in the denial pile and on to foreclosure.

When you are preparing your financial statements, remove any unnecessary expenses, try not to have too little or too much money left over at the end of the month. This is primarily what they use to determine your ability to re-pay. If you are offered a "work out plan" you may be required to come up with 2 to 3 months of mortgage payments as a good faith deposit towards your arrears, so make sure you put some money away, if you can. You can start the negotiation process prior to actually being in foreclosure, or if you are only a few weeks away from your sale date. However, contacting you lender as soon as possible is always the better choice.

A loan modification, is where your lender may take the amount you are in arrears and add it to the current principle and re-amortize it over the number of years you have owned your home, or up to 360 months. In some cases they may lower the interest, if you do not have the ability to pay the current rate, which can sometimes lower your monthly payments. The benefit to having your loan modified, is that your loan will be reinstated, and you will now be considered current.

In most cases, your first option will be a re-payment plan, which is often not very pretty. A repayment plan is when you make your monthly payment plus an additional amount to cover part of the arrears. In most cases, the lender will require a payment plus ¼ or ½ to shorten the length of time you will need to be on it, but it usually turns out not to be affordable or practical. They will spread the payments of the arrears over six, twelve, or in rare cases up to eighteen months, which can increase your monthly payments substantially.

Repayment plans can still work if you can weather the storm for a few months. If you make your payments on time for three to four months, you can return to the negotiation table and request a loan modification. If you have been on time, you should have a more positive result this time around.

The options I have mentioned are based on my personal experience and are for those borrowers who want to retain their home and have the ability to pay. If you do not have the ability to pay, then you may have to consider a liquidation option of a pre-foreclosure sale where the lender will consider allowing you to sell your property for what it is currently worth in lieu of what you owe. For more information regarding options, you can send your questions to 4closurefreeze@live.com.

Negotiating your own loan repayment or loan modification is emotionally difficult. Many times homeowners are afraid to talk to their lenders, and often may say or give the wrong information to the loan servicing company that can cause them to reject their request. Your best defense is to approach your lender by being prepared by knowing your financial picture before you request assistance. Have your finances itemized and have a plan to get yourself back on track. Request a contact person and fax number to send your information to a specific representative that will be handling your case. Do not let collectors shame you or belittle you; you have nothing to be ashamed of, sometimes bad things happen to good people. Let me be the first to tell you, there is no shame in adversity, the only shame you may feel, is if you do not do everything in your power to save your most valuable asset, your home.

So get fired up, get ready to fight, throw caution to the wind and go for it. If you absolutely feel you still are unable deal with your lender, or have tried and failed, there are legitimate people out there, that have the experience to negotiate for you. If you find yourself in this position and need guidance from a professional that has expertise in this area, then send your questions and concerns to 4closurefreeze@live.com. Your questions will be answered by a group of Loss Mitigation specialist who have been successful at providing counseling and insight into maneuvering through the foreclosure process.

Good Luck and God Bless

Live Life Powerfully

Colin F. Watson

cfwatson@loans4heroes.com

http://www.loans4heroes.com/

888-242-5282