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I have been invovled in the foreclosure and pre-foreclosure aspect of real estate in Plainfield and Naperville for the last 5 years. I have seen countless families in both of our Plainfield neighborhoods, lose their homes to foreclosure or the real estate auction over the last 9 years. My interest in real estate began as a means to understand the foreclosure process.

In the last 5 years, I have learned more about the foreclosure process than I ever thought possible, and have helped and met some really great families along the way. I helped a seller in Montgomery avoid a foreclosure this past January, and I am currently working with another family in Oak Park. My husband and I also purchased two homes in Plainfield from sellers in foreclosure as investment properties, and as a result the homeowners were able to avoid foreclosure.

Here are a few things you can do if you find yourself in a position of not being able to pay your mortgage:

• Don’t ignore calls from your lender. They may be able to offer options not traditionally available which may include re-payment solutions to get you back on track, and keep you in your home. Loan modifications amend the original mortgage and allow you to keep your home. This is a good option for someone with an adjustable rate mortgage or ARM.
  
• Don’t wait to avoid a foreclosure; be proactive in seeking a solution.
• Prepare yourself for the highly likely chance that you will have to sell your home, especially if you are not over the hardship that brought you to this point You need to work with a Realtor who knows how to negotiate not only with a buyer, but with the bank as well.

These are some options available for Plainfield homeowners to avoid a foreclosure:

• Forebearance agreement: A lender may let you make a partial payment or skip payments if you know that you will be able to catch up within a certain amount of time. You’ll need to tell your lender if you are expecting a tax refund or a bonus that can get you caught up on the money that you owe in arrears.
  
• Reinstatement: A lump sum payment that totals the amount of payments missed to bring the mortgage current.
  
• Repayment plan: If reinstatement isn’t an option your lender may allow you to include an additional amount to your regular payment to catch up.
  
• Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure: Handing over the keys to avoid a foreclosure can spare a foreclosure. This speeds up the process of liquidating the sale of the house to get the bank the money they need to recover their losses. It can still affect your credit in an negative way, but it is still better than a foreclosure on your credit report.
• Loan Modification: At the discretion of the lender the bank can agree to modify the original terms of the mortgage. Some examples of a loan modification would be; adding more years to the mortgage to pay off the loan, adjusting the interest rate from an adjustable rate to a fixed rate, or adding all of the missed payments to the end of the loan to be paid at the end of the length of the loan.
  
• Short sale: In a short sale a lender is willing to accept less than what is owed and forgive the original debt. A “settled for less” appears on your credit report and the foreclosure is avoided. For immediate advice, I recommend calling 1-888-995-HOPE or visit: www.995hope.org as advised by the Illinois Association of Realtors.

If you are a Plainfield or Naperville homeowner facing foreclosure, I want you to call me at 630-673-6233. I can help you explore your options and help inform you about the process of foreclosure. I have experience in both working with lenders and sellers in foreclosure, as well as having a team in place that supports lender negotiations for the purpose of short sales. I have successfully negotiated short sales in the last 12 months.

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*currently I am only accepting pre-foreclosure listings in the Plainfield and Naperville area, but I’d be more than happy to talk to you and refer you a colleague that specializes in foreclosure in your area.