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Quakertown Mortgage Foreclosure Lawyer

Foreclosure is not something anybody wants to go through. Seeing your home or business get sold off to the highest bidder is not a pleasant experience. If you are facing foreclosure, you are probably already trying to get back on your feet financially and may even be almost there. To see all of your progress yanked away in one fell swoop can be incredibly demoralizing.

Fortunately, our lawyers can help you out. We know how to deal with scary experiences like foreclosures and will work with you and the foreclosing entity to either stop a foreclosure before it happens or work with you through the process.

To have our team of foreclosure attorneys go over your case, call Young, Marr, Mallis & Associates at (215) 701-6519.

Can Lenders Foreclose Whenever They Want in Quakertown?

Many people may think that foreclosure happens out of the blue. However, the opposite is true. Lenders are required to go through several steps before they can initiate foreclosure proceedings against someone.

Initial Notification of Default

Per 12 C.F.R. § 1024.39, a lender needs to inform you within 45 days of the first missed payment on the mortgage. The lender must tell you that no payment was made as well as inform you of your options. During this time, if you are able to make the missed payment, there will be minimal consequences, and a foreclosure cannot happen.

Follow-Up Notifications

Following the initial 45-day period, lenders have an option, but not an obligation, to notify you 45 days after a subsequent delinquent payment. However, lenders are under no obligation to send this notification, so you may want to keep track of the timeline of events yourself to some degree.

Finally, foreclosure can begin 120 days following the first missed mortgage payment. Again, the lender is under no obligation to tell you they are foreclosing.

What Can I Do to Stop Mortgage Foreclosures in Quakertown?

If you are expecting an imminent foreclosure – or are in the midst of one presently – there are several options available to you, either to stop foreclosure in its tracks or prevent it in the first place. The best options for each person are going to be different depending on the unique factors affecting their situation, so you should let our foreclosure lawyers examine your situation to determine what makes sense for you.

Pay Debt Quickly

The most straightforward, but also most difficult in reality, option is to pay the outstanding debts. Mortgages have a “cure period,” where a party can submit any missed payments without serious repercussions. If you can make missed payments within the cure period, lenders will not be able to foreclose on you. Of course, parties facing imminent foreclosure often have trouble coming up with funds, which makes this option an impossibility in some cases.

Restructure Mortgage

A different option is to have our lawyers negotiate with lenders to try and work out a new payment plan. It is important to remember that, at the end of the day, the lender is in the business of getting paid, not taking people’s property. It is not practical for, say, a bank to have real property in inventory for a long period of time. Accordingly, some lenders may be willing to restructure your payment plan so that they can have a continued relationship with you and continue to get paid.

However, there may be some tax implications if you take this route, especially if the lender decides to forgive some of your debt. Debt forgiveness is treated as income for tax purposes. For example, if a lender forgives $25,000 in debt, that is treated as you earning $25,000. This can create changes in tax requirements, so it is important to go over the pros and cons of restructuring your mortgage with our attorneys.

File Bankruptcy

Declaring bankruptcy immediately stops foreclosure. Once you declare bankruptcy in court, something called an “automatic stay” is put in place. Automatic stays immediately stop all debt collection efforts, which includes any foreclosures in progress.

While bankruptcy is often not as dire as it is frequently made out to be, filing bankruptcy is still a serious decision that requires careful consideration. Discuss this prospect with our attorneys.

Stopping Mortgage Foreclosure Sales in Quakertown

Contrary to what some may think, all is not lost even when your property is being sold in a foreclosure. You may still be able to stop foreclosure proceedings or keep your property.

You are able to file an answer when a lender initiates foreclosure proceedings against you. Filing an answer signifies that you are going to contest the foreclosure in court. Our lawyers can look over your foreclosure and put together a counterclaim you can use to try and stop a foreclosure sale from happening. If you do not contest a foreclosure in court, the court enters a “default judgment,” where the bank/lender will then be free to foreclose on your property.

If you get a default judgment entered against you or do not successfully contest foreclosure proceedings in court, your property will be auctioned off in a sheriff’s sale. At a sheriff’s sale, the lender sells the foreclosure property to whoever bids the most on it. Once the house is sold in this way, you cannot get it back. However, there are things you can do at a sheriff’s sale to try to prevent your home from being sold to another party. You can bid on the property yourself and retain possession under a new mortgage if you win out.