How to Delay Foreclosure

Delaying Foreclosure as Long as Possible and then Postponing Even Longer at the Last Minute

One thing is for sure, if your home is in foreclosure, and you don’t do ANYTHING, the bank will EASILY take the property. It doesn’t have to be like that…

If you want, you can exercise your Legal Rights and Fight the Back!  Of course the bank will win.  They are big and you are small.  BUT if you want, and you are tough, it will not be easy for the bank to take your property.  You can make them a nightmare!

This is the situation: The bank has unlimited money, lots of time and a team of attorneys.  You don’t.  But Guess What! Both you and the bank are under the same law. That’s why they have attorneys.  With the aid of attorneys, the bank uses the legal system in its favor.  Well, you can do that too!  All it takes is a little bit of knowledge and some strategy.  That is what this web site is all about.

Do you want to fight the bank back to postpone foreclosure?  Do you want keep your home as long as possible?  In this web site I explain you how.  Actually, it’s not that hard!  All it takes is some knowledge, a little bit of time (not much) and an Excellent Strategy.

Do you want’ to learn how accomplish this?  Read this material and buy the Foreclosure Stop-Book.   In this web site you will find all the information needed for you to delay foreclosure.  In Foreclosure Stop-Book you will find all the info needed for you to stop foreclosure at the last minute

This is the thing; there is a logic to postponing foreclosures.   Everything is easy when you know how to do it!   

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Summary

Do-it-YourSelf Easy-to-Understand 24 Page   PDF   Downloadable E-Book Explains Exactly How to File Emergency Bankruptcy to Stop Foreclosure at the Last Minute Simple        Proven Effective   WORKS LEARN MORE

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How to Delay Foreclosure

Premise:  Everything done right works well

Part 1

Expectations About Foreclosure Postponement

First of all, it is very important to have realistic expectations.

Only the lender can permanently stop foreclosure. For this to happen, the lender has to agree to it.  To permanently stop foreclosure is called “To Rescind”.  To rescind means to annul or to cancel.

Only two actions will give a lender reason to rescind:

• The first one is “Curing the Loan”.  This is to cure the default by bringing the loan up to date in payments, which includes penalties and fees
• The second one is “Paying-Off the Loan”.  Once the loan is paid off, the loan no longer exists because there is no debt.  The debt is “extinguished”

If neither is possible, practical or convenient, there is only one option:  To Postpone foreclosure.  What this does is buy time. 

Realistic Expectations:

It is important to have realistic expectations.  The only way to keep the property is to cure or payoff the loan.  If that is not possible, the only alternative is to postpone.  This buys time.

To have realistic expectations is to understand what is feasible.  For most situations what is feasible is to postpone foreclosure, which is the same as to defer, or to delay such that foreclosure happens later.  This material is about what is feasible.  Most of the time, what is feasible is to make foreclosure happen later!

Part 2

Reasons to Postpone Foreclosure

Emotional factors aside, if someone can’t keep the property, the main reason to postpone foreclosure is the financial practicality of staying at the property for as long as possible for free, without paying rent anywhere. Postponing foreclosure creates time to save money and financially recover (by saving on rent) as much as possible.

In addition, once foreclosure happens, it is often possible to get the bank or new owner to pay for moving expenses. This is called a “cash for keys” arrangement.  This is common but not guaranteed.  It depends on, among other issues, the lender policy,  local jurisdiction legislation and investor willingness.  This is a very charged and constantly evolving subject.   

Part 3

What does it take to Postpone Foreclosure?

There is no magic.  Knowledge is what it takes to postpone foreclosure.  All that is needed is to understand the situation, and know what to do.  To be effective at postponing foreclosure it is critical to understand

• The legalities of what actually triggers foreclosure
• The homeowner position in this context
• What makes a foreclosure legally and effectively executable or not
• How the threat of foreclosure is used as a collections tactic
• And the bank’s course of action

Armed with this information anyone is able to counteract, neutralize, and obstruct a lot of what the bank will do.   With this info it is easy to become a nightmare to the bank by negatively affecting the bank’s foreclosure and collection efforts.  The objective is to make it hard for the bank to foreclose.  The harder it is, the longer the homeowner retains the property.

Part 4

Understanding the Context

“It is easier to get to where you are going when you know where you are at”

The first thing to understand are the foreclosure triggers.  A financed property is contractually collateral to a debt.  In the US most of these financing contracts are either trust deeds or mortgages.  Both do the exact same job but are different.  For the purpose of this subject we will just use the word “mortgage”.

Payment default is breach of contract.  The remedy for breach of contract is collection.  The ultimate collection effort is foreclosure.  By contract default leads to foreclosure.

Based on this logic, as a homeowner, this is your position:

• The mortgage is a contract.  In this contract you have agreed that the property is collateral.  Foreclosure is the ultimate remedy to default.  Therefore if you don’t pay the bank will foreclose.
• The homeowner is the owner.  Not the bank.  This is a redundant fact.  All the bank has is “an interest”, because by contract, the property is collateral.  This means the property is your asset, not the bank’s asset.  A homeowner can exercise the legal prerogative of asset protection.  This asset protection prerogative is the ultimate main postpone tools.  More about this soon.
• To make the foreclosure executable, it needs to comply with the law.  That means that there are a lot of “’I’s to dot and ‘t’s to cross.  If not, the foreclosure is voidable.  If a homeowner doesn’t do anything, it is easy for the bank to comply with the law.  However, if the homeowner exercises his asset protection rights, the bank’s attorney will have to work a lot harder to foreclose.  When this fact is taken advantage of correctly, it results in foreclosure postponements and last minute foreclosure stops. 

This is the job:  Keep the bank attorneys busy.  Consume their time.  Keep adding hustles.  Create more and more “T”s to cross and “I”s to dot.

Part 5

Dealing with Collections

Foreclosure threat is a collection tactic.   Foreclosure is the ultimate collections effort.  In the meantime, prior to foreclosure, the foreclosure attorney and the bank need to keep extracting money from the homeowner.

The banks collectors typically do this by making foreclosure appear really scary.  They also hit on the sense of pride.  The typical tactic is to offer a payment plan as chance of redemption.  They do this despite the fact that statically the homeowner will be foreclosed anyway, but will pay something in the meantime.  It works for them.

Before paying it is important to analyze the situation.  What are the chances of succeeding if by continuing payments, re-starting payments or any such thing? 

This is the situation: The more the homeowner has at steak, the more compliant the homeowner becomes. 

If not possible to keep up with the payments, its best to emotionally detach from the property.  It is better to consider it a free rental providing the financial convenience of living cheaply.  That is what is most realistic anyway.

Chances are the bank will offer postponements in exchange for payment.  It’s important to be careful with this.  Will the problem disappear?  The more money the homeowner gives the bank, the more the homeowner has at steak. The more at steak, the more likely to pay more.  That is exactly what collectors want!  If the problem won’t disappear, this is a bad path.  The result is wasted savings, more debt, and losing the property anyway!

Consider the vegetarian shark analogy. Keeping giving more and more money to the bank is like keeping giving a shark more and more meat in the hope that it will get tired become vegetarian.  What are the chances of that?

I this is the question:

What is preferable? To be foreclosed and be broke, or to be foreclosed and have cash

Part 6

Tracking the Foreclosure Sale & Foreclosure Types

Regardless of whether someone wants plan to postpone foreclosure or not, it is critical to know the state’s foreclosure law very well.  There is plenty of information about this.  Unfortunately there is plenty of inaccurate info too.  It’s better to read the state’s revised real estate statutes and keep up with new developments.  If in doubt, it’s best get legal advice.  It is very easy to misinterpret legal matters.  The thing is to avoid bad surprises.

Tracking the foreclosure sale is critical.  The importance of this can’t be over stated.  The postponement strategy depends on this!  It is best to start tracking the sale soon receiving the foreclosure notice.  Banks postpone by themselves all the time.  We will soon get to this.  The foreclosure status changes all the time.  This info is critical in order to act accordingly

Foreclosure tracking schedule:  The closer the sale, the closer the tracking

• If the sale is a few months away, track every week
• If the sale is a few weeks away, track every day
• If the sale is a few days away, track every few hours
• If the sale is in the next couple of day, track every hour

To effectively track the foreclosure sale, it is important to read the foreclosure notice, and interpret the foreclosure sale information correctly.  Reading the foreclosure notice is simple, but the information can easily be miss-understood.  Foreclosure notice formats vary per state, and often also per county and even city.  However, for postponement purposes, they all basically provide the same information.  Before getting further into this, it is important to know the types of foreclosure.

There are two types of foreclosure:

• Judicial Foreclosure, which means foreclosure by law suit
• Non-judicial foreclosure which means foreclosure without law suit

Both foreclosure types are very similar and have the same objective.  However, they have significant differences in process and implications.  This is really another subject.  Don’t underestimate the foreclosure process.  Its best to get educated and read all the paperwork.   Below is a brief outline.

In judicial foreclosure, the first critical document is the “lis pendens”. Lis pendens means “litigation pending” in Latin. Typically the lis pendens does not have the sale date.  Depending on the state you are in, and the situation, there may be other less relevant documents.  However, the document that will have the foreclosure sale date is usually the final judgment, or similarly named instrument.  This will also be in most instances published in the newspaper

In non-judicial foreclosure, the critical documents are the “Notice of Default” (N.O.D.) and the “Notice of Trustee Sale” (N.T.S.).  Some states use only one document, either “Notice of Default”  or  “Notice of Trustee Sale”.  Either way, the sale date will be clearly stated in the used document.  Other states use both documents.  First “Notice of Default”, then “Notice of Trustee Sale”.  Sale date stated in 2^nd document, typically the N.T.S. only

Either way, judicial foreclosure or non-judicial foreclosure, this is the information to look for:

• Case number or similarly named file identification feature
• The foreclosure sale date
• The company executing the sale, which is typically a specialized attorney firm

With this information it is easy to keep track of the foreclosure sale date status.

Staying updated on the foreclosure sale status is critical.  Most foreclosure companies have web sites that are regularly updated.  Some even update cases in real time.  Most are easy to use.  However, as of now there are still plenty of telephone hotlines.  In some states it is best to visit the county foreclosure web site.  The job is to locate the latest info, and always know the foreclosure sale status. 

If the foreclosure status is updated through the foreclosure company web site, it’s best to become familiar with it.  Surfing the site is very helpful.  Most of these sites have searchable calendars by file number, zip, property address, sale date, and other criteria.

All foreclosure company web sites work similarly.  It’s best to get good at interpreting the sites clues.  Tracking a few other foreclosure sales to see what happens with other properties is very helpful.  This is a good way to learn to interpret the info.  Some sites have plenty of clues and indicators

For example in this foreclosure site the clues and indicators are evident.  No icons indicate that the property is just active.  A flame icon indicates that the property, as this instance, is going to trustee sale.  A flame and a dollar sign indicate that now there is a minimum bid.  In this foreclosure site, when this happens, property is going to foreclosure sale almost for sure!

In many counties, the best place to track the foreclosure status is at the local county web site.  The same already explained guidelines guide lines apply.

Review:

• Foreclosure status tracking is absolutely critical. 
• Without tracking there is no postponement strategy. 
• The status changes constantly
• Be up-to-date with your property’s status

Part 7

Foreclosure Postponements Overview

There are three foreclosure postponement types:

• Voluntary foreclosure postponements, which are by bank initiative, without homeowner involvement
• Forced foreclosure postponements, which are by homeowner initiative, by operation of law, usually by asset protection through bankruptcy
• “Things to Try”.   These are based mostly on consumer protection initiatives that are basically worth trying if they are for free if the will most likely result in foreclosure postponement

Voluntary Foreclosure Postponements

Voluntary postponements happen by the banks own initiative, without homeowner’s intervention.  Typically this happens because of the bank’s own convenience, overload, management problems, compliance issues, etc.  There are lots of reasons for this.  However, they are immaterial because none includes wanting to be nice.  What matters is just that this phenomenon happens.  The issue is that homeowners can take great advantage of this.  That is why tracking is so important. 

Forced Foreclosure Postponements

Forced foreclosure postponements are involuntary.  These foreclosure postponements are triggered by the homeowner invoking operation of law.  Bank attorneys are great at complying with all foreclosure law requirements.  Because of this, the most powerful foreclosure technique for this is to file a last minute emergency bankruptcy.  

Forced foreclosure postponements are highly inconvenient to banks because they are costly to them.  Basically forced foreclosure postponements are almost for free to the homeowners but very costly to the bank. 

Banks hate foreclosure postponement, especially if they are caused by bankruptcy.  Banks are great overcoming foreclosure impediments. They do it all the time.  So they will fix all this.  It will just take much longer and be much more expensive to them. 

Foreclosure Postponement Things to Try

Anything that will postpone the foreclosure is worth trying if it is for free.  Foreclosure postponement gambits appeared and disappear all the.  Regulations change all the time.  What worked before and for others may not necessarily work now or for someone in a different situation. 

These foreclosure postponement gambits are mostly based on consumer protection initiatives.  They tend to appear and work better in high consumer protection states (such as California).  There seems to always be new foreclosure postponement options.  It is best to keep searching. 

9

Part 8

Voluntary Foreclosure Postponements

As said earlier, this type of foreclosure postponement “happens” by bank’s own initiative, without homeowner intervention.  However, this does not mean the homeowner should remain passive.  There is a strategy.  It is to “Alertly Wait”

Alertly Waiting

Amazingly enough, “just waiting” works! Lenders postpone foreclosure all the time.  This can happen for months, even years.  As of now, there are homeowners that have not paid for over four years.  However, eventually the bank will foreclose.  In the meantime, there is no need to vacate the property, just to keep tracking the foreclosure status.

The main action of alertly waiting is to closely track the foreclosure status. So here is the rule of thumb of voluntary foreclosure postponements:

• The more postponements
• The lower likelihood of new postponements
• The higher chance of foreclosure

That is why it’s SO important to keep track of the foreclosure sale status.

Part 9

Things to Try

Consumer protection advocates propose saving homeowners from foreclosure through all kinds of government regulations.  As said earlier, because of the fact that default is breach of contract, none of these measures work.  As of now, already several years into the real estate foreclosure crisis, all that has been accomplished is foreclosure postponement.  It is better to treat these consumer protections initiatives as just things to try.  Basically, these are foreclosure gambits that appear and disappear.

This is the typical situation:

1. New Consumer protection measures are proposed
2. Successful one become ordinances
3. And ordinances are enforced
4. The result is always a challenge to the foreclosure process, not the foreclosure itself
5. For the banks, these are just more hurdles to overcome

And this is the typical result:

1. It takes time for banks to find the solution to the ordinance, law or new regulation
2. However, the banks will find a solution so they can continue foreclosing.  It’s just a matter of how soon
3. In the meantime some foreclosures are postponed. 
4. These postponements create a backlog, which results in even more foreclosure postponements
5. However, sooner or later, the hurdle is assimilated into the foreclosure process and therefore becomes a non-issue
6. In the meantime other things to take advantage  may come up

Before getting into what to try, the reality is that all kinds of unrealistic expectations are promoted.  To be realistic, its best to consider everything just foreclosure delay tactics.  This tactics are only good for postponing because the bank will win.  The reason is simple: A mortgage is a contract.  A default is a breach of contract.  The ultimate remedy to default is foreclosure.

With that in mind, what to try is mostly a matter of criteria:

• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
• If it looks like a pie in the sky, it most like is
• If someone is asking for a lot of money, it’s probably a scam

The best way to find things worth trying is to research.  These are some starting points.

• Non-profit organizations offering help for FREE
• Government programs for FREE
• Bank incentives such as short sale option or deed in lieu of foreclosure alternative
• Anything that may delay sale as long it’s free or not expensive

Part 10

Forced Foreclosure Postponements

Using Bankruptcy to Stop Foreclosure at the Last Minute

To review forced foreclosure postponements are involuntary.  This means forced on the bank.  This of foreclosure postponement is triggered by the homeowner and caused by operation of law.   The main way to do this is filing a last minute emergency bankruptcy.  This stops the foreclosure for sure

These are the keys to forcing postponement by filing bankruptcy:

• It should be the measure last resort
• Done at the last minute

Why Does Filing Bankruptcy to Stop Foreclosure Works:

This is the reason:   Federal law protects all assets in bankruptcy. 

How does this work:

Bankruptcy is a form of asset protection.  The moment a person, or an entity, files for bankruptcy and the petition is accepted by the court, the bankruptcy court issues an automatic stay.  A stay is an injunction.  An injunction is an order to prevent something from happening.  In the case of bankruptcy, the stay is an injunction against collection actions.  No collection actions can take place while there is a stay.  Since foreclosure is a collection effort, the bank can’t foreclose.  If the foreclosure sale is executed, it will be voided.   Therefore, no foreclosure can happen. 

One of the oldest, most common and most effective tools:

Using bankruptcy is one of the oldest, most common and best proven methods of asset protection.  Debtors of all types and sizes use this part of federal law to protect assets.  The reason is evident:  it works.

Filing a last minute emergency bankruptcy will definitely postpone a foreclosure.   This is not hard to do, but it needs to be done correctly and just at the right time.  Foreclosure Stop Book shows how to accomplish this.

Bankruptcy and pride

Bankruptcy is just a financial tool.   Using or not using bankruptcy to discharge debt or protect assets is just a matter of financial practicality, nothing else.  It exists to be used when needed.  Using bankruptcy for postponing foreclosure is definitely a reason to file.  Associating pride with bankruptcy is just misguided.  Our legal system offers bankruptcy as an option to solve otherwise crushing indebtedness and asset loss.  Thousands of individuals and entities take advantage of this powerful tool every month.   Bankruptcy is not the answer to all financial and collection problems, but it does help a lot.   Pride is expensive.  Why easily lose a property and remain in debt when bankruptcy can help things get much better.  

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Do-it-YourSelf Easy-to-Understand 24 Page   PDF   Downloadable E-Book Explains Exactly How to File Emergency Bankruptcy to Stop Foreclosure at the Last Minute Simple        Proven Effective   WORKS LEARN MORE