The catch-22 of fighting a foreclosure is that financial difficulty, what causes the distress to start, prevents folks from being able to retain an attorney to represent their rights in the judicial foreclosure process. I can relate. When the private second mortgage on my own home was due and payable in 2010, the plan from our 2007 purchase was to refinance and pay it off. But we couldn’t. When all was said and done years later the legal expense was mind boggling.
So what can one do when they want to stay in their house, and could afford more reasonable terms, but can’t come up with all their arrears or a hefty legal fee? There are options.
In my own back yard, Westchester Residential Opportunities provides assistance to distressed homeowners so they know their rights and can navigate the waters of settlement conferences and the myriad of options before them but for lack of legal fees. The organization has been an ally of the Association of Realtors for years now and also help in matters of equal housing and discrimination. They are fabulous.
There are similar organizations all over the State of New York and Connecticut. Seek them out. If you’re in the dark or don’t know where to turn, then contact us and we’ll see who we can put you in touch with. But do something. Don’t be paralyzed. A good real estate broker, a non profit housing organization and a proactive homeowner can accomplish a lot together, even if we don’t have a lawyer on the team in the beginning.
Please do understand that, in as much as we get paid for selling houses, we want to help you keep your house if at all possible if you don’t want to sell. We’ve helped lots of homeowners NOT sell, and some have contacted us when they were ready later because we started the relationship out right.
