Foreclosure Help

Are you facing foreclosure ? There are a few key factors at play here. 1) Could you afford the house if you were in a 5.5% loan or not. 2) Do you have equity in the house or are you mortgaged for 100% or more 3) Do you have other debt on top of the house ?

If you have other debt and no way to pay it off, a bankruptcy may be better short term and long term. You may or may not want to keep the house depending on the loan, your income and the equity. If you have no equity, you will need an FHA loan, or a program which will come out of the bail-out program, as current bank (conventional) loans will not go above 80% of value. If your property value is down, who's isn't, you will not be able to refinance. HUD is more forgiving and just requires a 3% down payment.

If you have equity in the house and/or can afford the house with a better mortgage, then by all means try to negotiate with the lender, and/or try to refinance with a HUD approved lender or Lend America. Programs are changing daily, but most loans are currently being underwritten to Fannie Mae guidelines which are very strict on documentation (pay stubs, assets, appraisal, loan to value (80% max)) and debt to income ratio. Again check the HUD web site to see what is available. They also have a section on avoiding foreclosure.