Foreclosure Attorneys Atlanta GA

A growing number of home owners paying their mortgages late could become home owners faced with foreclosure -- a threat to what's likely their most valuable asset.

Nationwide, the delinquency rate for mortgages on one- to four-unit residential properties rose 10 basis points to 3.82 percent during the second quarter of 2000, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America .

The increase in delinquencies was the first after sixth consecutive quarterly declines and could signal more foreclosures to come on properties held by over-extended home owners.

"The fact is there are several positive options available to those facing foreclosure. Homeowners should view the foreclosure process, which lasts at least four months, as their window of opportunity to resolve financial problems and develop and implement a plan to stop the foreclosure," says attorney Lloyd M. Segal, author of "Stop Foreclosure Now in California," by Nolo.com a self-help legal information publisher on and off the Internet.

Right now foreclosures in California are down.

Lending institutions started foreclosure proceedings on 21,440 homeowners during the second quarter of this year. That was down 16.1 percent from 25,552 for the previous quarter, and down 15.6 percent from 25,407 for the second quarter a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Nationwide, the number of foreclosures is also falling.

However, the sudden rise in delinquencies on the heels of stock market turmoil is worrisome. Many California home buyers tapped investment returns to buy homes they may not otherwise have been able to afford. Should the stock market fail to regain it's pre-Spring 2000 luster, increased delinquencies could turn into increased foreclosures in the Golden State and elsewhere.

"Many Silicon Valley residents are definitely over-extended. I pay thousands of dollars in credit card bills on a daily basis when handling refinances. With new purchases, the buyers often do not have money for the down payment and rely on gifts from relatives," said Joette Joseph, a branch manager of VP Alliance Title Co. in San Jose, CA.

Legally, lenders can begin foreclosure when you miss your first payment, but most don't begin actual proceedings until after several months of consecutively missed payments.

Sift through your original loan documents to learn what foreclosure procedure you face. Once the clock starts it's up to you to stop it before time runs out.

Two-thirds of all homeowners in default are able to stop the foreclosure process by bringing their mortgage payments current, or by selling their home and paying the mortgage off, according to DataQuick.

Examine your options

Assuming you want to keep your home, here are some basic dos and don'ts to help you stop foreclosure.

First, when you are faced with foreclosure, don't go extreme. Panicking or sticking your head in the sand isn't going to make the problem disappear. Your lender isn't in the real estate business of se...

Americans are headed to bankruptcy court in record numbers this year, after having broken the record over the last several years. It’s not just the economy, since every year – even through the boom years of the late 1990s – the number of filings have outpaced the year before.

The first quarter of the year, 404,154 non-business bankruptcies were filed across the country, up by nearly 10 percent the same period last year.

Also, the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University reported mortgage delinquency rates are on the rise nationwide – between 400,000 to 450,000 homeowners foreclosed their homes by the end of 2002 – almost double the rate in 2000. Fortunately, it has been well below the delinquencies of the mid-1980s. A delinquency is when a conventional loan is 90 days past due.

Why are we seeing so many Americans in such dire straits? Well – it’s not just the recession and job loss. The American Bankruptcy Institute reports that consumer debt is consistent with bankruptcy filings. We just take on way too much debt and can’t pay it off.

“Research by the Federal Reserve indicates that household debt is at a record high relative to disposable income. Some analysts are concerned that this unprecedented level of debt might pose a risk to the financial health of American households,” ABI reports on its web site www.abiworld.org. “A high level of indebtedness among households could lead to increased household delinquencies and bankruptcies, which could threaten the health of lenders if loan losses are greater than anticipated.”

While I would much rather write this column from a preventative perspective, instead, let me give some direction from the Web to those who are about to sink. Once you get back in shape – vow on your great-great-grandmother’s grave, that you’ll practice the GOOD policy – Get Out Of Debt.

If you enter Avoid Foreclosure on your favorite search engine, you get about a bazillion sites that come up. Many of them are reputable, many are not. If you’ve never heard of the organization, approach them with trepidation. Find out who they are, how long they’ve been in business and what complaints have been filed against them.

I would start with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development , which has developed some guidelines for homeowners who are facing the possibility of foreclosure. Here are their suggestions to help you avoid foreclosure.

Call your lender. When you’ve missed a payment – the first time – and you are in financial distress -- that’s when you need to call your mortgage company. Don’t wait till you receive the courtesy calls, letters from collections and finally the foreclosure notice. They don’t want your house. It costs them money to sell it and they will not get their initial investment back by selling your home. They would rather work something out...

by Broderick Perkins