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Are There Ways to Prevent a Home Foreclosure in Pennsylvania?

Few situations are more stressful than having your home foreclosed on. If you have been notified of a home foreclosure, contact our firm today to get help stopping it.

Home foreclosure is not an overnight process. They often take months before the final sale, giving you time to address the problem. Fighting foreclosure can be stressful at a time when you are already dealing with financial strain. Our lawyers can ease the burden by handling the important aspects of your case and explaining all the options available to save your home. After reviewing your finances, we might renegotiate the terms of your mortgage with your lender or get additional time to pay. If unfair practices are involved, we can help you file a lawsuit against your lender.

Call our Pennsylvania foreclosure defense attorneys at Young, Marr, Mallis & Deane at (609) 755-3115 for your free case evaluation.

How Can I Stop a Home Foreclosure in Pennsylvania?

You should have received notice of your home foreclosure long before the final sale is initiated. A lender cannot foreclose on your home if you only miss a payment or two. However, if your mortgage is 120 days or more past due, 12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(f) allows lenders to file for foreclosure. You are entitled to be notified of your missed payments and the intention to foreclose on your home. In the interest of fairness, the law demands you have some time to fix the situation.

Fortunately, several strategies can help fight the foreclosure and keep your home. Our Pennsylvania foreclosure defense attorneys have the experience to evaluate your case and determine the best path forward for you and your family. Some options will give you more time to get your finances in order. If you are completely overwhelmed, we might explore options to sell the home. In other cases, you were the victim of your lender and need to get justice in court. We will know the best course of action after reviewing the facts of your case. The following are ways to prevent your foreclosure in Pennsylvania:

Pay Off the Debt

One option is making the overdue payments to bring your mortgage current. While this might be challenging because of your financial difficulties, it is often the initial step our team takes. We can carefully review your financial situation to explore any potential sources of funds before considering other strategies.

In some cases, tapping into your savings or retirement funds may provide the necessary funds. Alternatively, seeking assistance from family or friends could be an option. Our team can provide guidance and help you weigh these difficult decisions. During this time, we will also maintain open communication with your lender. Many lenders are willing to work with a client if they see your efforts to address the situation.

In Pennsylvania, you have a right to redeem your mortgage up to one hour before your home is sold by the Sheriff’s Office. If you can pay what you owe on your mortgage plus any additional costs assessed, we can help negotiate your right to redeem.

Request a Forbearance

Another way to halt a home foreclosure is to work out a forbearance with your lender. However, forbearance is only a temporary solution. It will not prevent foreclosure on your home, but it will buy you some time to develop a strategy that will keep your home. With a forbearance, you will not have to make payments for up to six months. This is a good option if your financial issues are the result of an injury or being out of work. However, you will still need to make the missed payments, but it might be possible to have them added in installments to your monthly payments when they resume.

Restructure the Mortgage Before Foreclosure

Our lawyers could also help restructure your mortgage. If you receive a notice of foreclosure, contact our team immediately. The sooner we start negotiating with your lender, the more likely we will be able to negotiate favorable terms for a restructured mortgage.

You are essentially renegotiating a new contract when getting a loan modification to your home mortgage. You can bargain for new interest rates and monthly payments that reflect your current economic situation.

File for Bankruptcy

Filing for bankruptcy might sound extreme, but certain types of bankruptcy can help prevent a foreclosure. Specifically, filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy can stop the foreclosure proceedings against you.

However, you will need to qualify for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Our team will help you do this by developing a detailed repayment plan that shows the court your financial ability to make payments and the schedule you will use. Generally, these plans range from three to five years. You must be sure you can make your payments during this time, though, as missing even one payment can cause the foreclosure process to start back up.

Negotiate a Short Sale

A short sale can potentially eliminate your mortgage responsibilities through an agreement with your lender. This involves selling your property for an amount that is less than the remaining total mortgage. If the lender agrees, you will be able to sell for less than the property value. However, we will need to show that certain circumstances exist, such as a depressed housing market. We will also negotiate with your lender to waive the right to file a claim against you for the difference in the amount of sale, known as a deficiency judgment.

Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure

A “deed in lieu of foreclosure” works much like a short sale. It allows you and your lender to agree to transfer the deed in order to satisfy your outstanding mortgage debt. However, the lender can file a deficiency judgment to seek the difference in the debt and home value unless they waive the right.

File a Lawsuit

In some cases, you will need to file a lawsuit to fight your home foreclosure. This usually needs to be done when your lender acted unethically or illegally when foreclosing your home. For instance, foreclosure proceedings have many notice requirements that lenders are legally obligated to follow. This allows for due process, ensuring fairness by allowing you to be notified and have time to respond. If you only learned of the foreclosure right before it happened, your lender likely violated due process.

In other situations, we would file a lawsuit on behalf of victims of predatory lending. Predatory lending happens when a lender lies or conceals important facts from a home buyer to secure the loan. Some lenders might misrepresent or outright lie about the interest rate. Other times, they approve borrowers who objectively should not have qualified for a home loan.