Foreclosures are a scary thing.  Without a house, it’s hard to imagine how you’re going to provide for your family.  Not only that, you’re going to feel like the biggest loser in the world not being able to pay off your bills.  I’m going to show you a few tips that you can use in order to hopefully prevent a home foreclosure.  Remember, these are tips and they aren’t guaranteed to work.

When you start to miss your mortgage payments, you’re going soon find out that the lender is going to take over the home.  Usually after about 6 payments that are missed, you’ll receive some sort of notice.

What should you do?

STEP ONE – NEVER ever ignore the letters that the lenders are sending you.  Instead, you’re going to want to contact your lender and explain why you’re not paying the bills.  Is it because you lost your job?  Is it because your rates were higher-ed?  Write a detailed letter explaining your situation.  This will never hurt you, it will only help.  Sometimes, you’ll find that the lender is willing to help you out with assistance.

STEP TWO – After you call up your mortgage company, call up the HUD housing agency at 800-569-4287.  These people will be able to assist you with what you need to know when it comes to foreclosures.  This is a government agency so you won’t have to worry about anyone ripping you off or giving you bad advice.

What’s going to happen after all of this?

The first thing that will happen is that they will work with the mortgage company to refinance your loan in order for you to get a lower rate.  Obviously with a lower rate, you’ll be able to pay off your mortgage since the payments will be a little lower.

Another thing that may help you is the FHA.  The FHA may be able to bring your mortgage to a current status only if you reach a certain requirement.  These requirements are that your loan should be at least 4 months delinquent and no more than 12 months.  This is usually a tough one especially with today’s economy but it’s always worth a shot, it doesn’t hurt!

If you’re finding that none of this works, you may want to make an agreement with your lender on a sale of your home before the foreclosure.  This will allow you to sell the house even if you can’t reach the mortgage amount and call it a deal.  This will look a lot better on your credit report than an actual foreclosure itself.  If this is your only resort, do it!

These are just a few tips you can use in order to avoid your foreclosure.  It’s always important to realize what you’re getting yourself into.  Never sign a deal that you don’t fully understand because if you don’t understand it, you’re only going to hurt yourself more in the future.  Foreclosure is a scary situation and as long as you do your research and you’re trying hard to pay your bills off, you should be able to find an alternative.