Foreclosure houses are the result of a long process usually taking months or even years before it can be fully completed. This process evokes every bit of human emotion, from confusion on how one declined financially to anger at your lender for commencing the process without hearing you out first to despair in the thought of losing your home. The good news is that, at every stage of foreclosure, the owner has the ability to stop the entire process and hold on to their property.

Education is Key

The main reason why more and more properties turn into foreclosure houses is that there is not enough understanding of mortgage finance. In the past, Adjustable Rate Mortgages are the most popular type of financing facility for individuals buying a new home. This is the vehicle pushed hard by lenders to borrowers. When the economic downturn set in, the adjustable rates skyrocketed and borrowers were left bewildered by the mortgage that they owe. Had borrowers known that the adjustable rate mortgage they signed up for means that their mortgage payments will double at some point of their life, then they would have been able to prepare more.

After reneging on your mortgage for three to four months, your lender will turn your case over to their legal department and will then issue you an "intent to collect" notification. If you communicate with the lender at this stage, you will be given opportunities to make your payments current. If this notice is ignored from another two to three months, you will receive the actual foreclosure notice. At this point, the lender will conduct their due diligence where you will be contacted to try to work out a way to prevent foreclosure.

After a month or two, the lender will be sending out the notice of sale to let you know that they are putting up your property on the selling block. Then, you will enter a period of redemption or a time to take back your home and continue your mortgage payments.

At any point in the process, the home owner can prevent their home from become another one of the thousands of foreclosure houses on the market. Homeowners should not give up on their home just because they have fallen on hard financial times. Just keep in mind that lenders would rather patch things up with you than go through a foreclosure process, which is way more expensive.