A letter to Amy Dickinson, the syndicated advice columnist in the Chicago Tribune, described one woman’s emotional struggle with foreclosure.  You can read the column, including Amy’s advice, here, but in sum, the letter writer appears to be wrought with shame – she hasn’t even told her own college-age children the truth about why she and her husband left their home – and anger – she blames her husband for being unable to “negotiate” keeping their home.

Here’s a bit of advice for anyone facing foreclosure from the perspective of a law firm that’s defended hundreds of foreclosures in the past three-plus years:

First, don’t be ashamed

The sad truth is foreclosure numbers are simply astounding.  We’ve placed recent RealtyTrac^® data on our Website that demonstrates this.

About negotiations

What is there to negotiate?  A modification?  Perhaps, but keep in mind while you are trying to navigate the red tape that is involved in load modification, the foreclosure suit is proceeding.   You can’t ignore a lawsuit because you are in negotiations or, chances are, you will lose your home!

More about negotiations

Our clients’ experience is most modifications simply don’t happen.  A lot of time, effort and frustration is spent with no gain.  While lenders may appear to be negotiating in good faith, few if any of our clients who’ve attempted modification would say that describes their experience.  Furthermore, modification simply adds back-end costs so in the end, homeowners pay more.  With many mortgages already upside-down, i.e., the balance on the mortgage exceeds the value of the home, this is not a winning situation for the homeowner.

Fighting foreclosure

Don’t try to fight the foreclosure on your own.  Representing yourself – called being a Pro Se litigant – can cost you your home.  Consider this:  Most people involve a lawyer when buying a home because of all the complex paperwork.  Do you really think you can understand all of those documents without a lawyer now?  You need lawyers experienced in foreclosure defense.  We have a number of clients who were referred to us by other law firms because lawyers who aren’t familiar with foreclosure know that it takes expertise to battle the banks.  Our firm is keeping clients in their homes and, in many cases, we are able to challenge the standing of the plaintiff lender to even file suit.  In other words, the bank trying to foreclose on your home may have no valid legal claim to the money you owe or to your home. It takes a trained eye to spot the surprisingly frequent manufacturing of evidence the banks and their attorneys will engage in solely for the purpose of making the foreclosure suit difficult to defend, especially for a pro se homeowner.  

To learn more about the foreclosure practice at Joseph P. McCaffery & Associates, contact us for an initial consultation.