columbia county foreclosures

The thought of losing your home is one of gut-wrenching pain formany people who are in the predicament of not being able to keepup with their mortgage payment every month. Your day to dayactivities can be consumed with worry and distraction, not tomention never-ending phone calls from bill collectors. You mightask yourself if you can avoid foreclosing and losing your home?

First, besides losing your home, just what does foreclosuremean?

It is the legal means by which a bank or other creditor to whichyou owe money, sells or repossesses your home or a piece of realproperty you may own, due to your default on a promissory note.When your house is foreclosed upon, you must move out and leaveyour home and find a new place to live. Your home is usuallyoffered for sale at a public auction in order for the lienholder to make enough money back to cover, or pay for, theirlien on your property. Once the property is sold, it is saidthat the lender or lien holder has foreclosed it's lien.

There are many full and part time real estate investors who lookfor sales all over the country. They hope to gainprofit by picking up a foreclosed upon home at less than marketvalue and then later resale it at a profit.

However, some states utilize non-judicial foreclosureproceedings, in which the mortgagee, gives the homeowner alegally specified notice of the default and the mortgagee'sintent to sell the property. If the homeowner fails to satisfyor pay off the debt, its default, or use other lawful means,such as filing for bankruptcy to stop the sale, the mortgagee orits representative will conduct a public auction in a similarmanner as the auction described above. The highest bidder at theauction becomes the owner of the property free and clear of anyinterest of the former homeowner.

Useful Tips To Avoid

* Do not ignore letters or contact from your lender and showgood faith. If you are having problems making your payments,call or write to your lender's Loss Mitigation Departmentwithout delay. Explain your situation, let them know that youwant to work this out and see what assistance they might be ableto lend.

* Do not yet leave your home. Leaving may disqualify you fromassistance.

* Contact a HUD-approved housing counseling agency. Call (800)569-4287 for the housing counseling agency nearest you. Theseagencies are valuable resources and they frequently haveinformation on services and programs offered by Governmentagencies as well as private and community organizations thatcould help you. The housing counseling agency may also offercredit counseling. These services are usually free of charge,and they can help explain possible alternatives.

Possible alternatives you may consider include:

Special Forbearance. Your lender may be able to arrange arepayment plan based on your financial situation and may evenprovide for a temporary reduction or suspension of yourpayments.

Mortgage Modification. You may qualify if you have recoveredfrom a financial problem and can afford the new payment amount.

Partial Claim. This will allow you to avoid byselling your property for an amount less than the amountnecessary to pay off your mortgage loan.

It is critical that you are sincere about your intent to satisfythe lien on your property, and are willing to make changes andsacrifice to carry it out. Most banks and lienholders wouldrather work out a mutually beneficial solution with you, thanhaving to go through proceedings.