The great American Dream of owning a home has never looked so impossible to achieve: roughly 1.65 million homes are in the foreclosure pipeline, housing prices are at an all-time low, and nearly 7% of mortgage holders are more than 60 days late on their payments. Despite the dreary picture, there are an ever-increasing number of lifelines for people trying to avoid foreclosure:
One of the biggest national hotlines for free home counseling is 888-995-HOPE, run by the Congress-funded Home Preservation Foundation. To date, the HOPE hotline has counseled four million homeowners since 2008, and helped 70% avoid foreclosure within a year. HOPE is the number to call before you seek a loan modification or expensive legal representation: a counselor will listen to your housing and financial concerns and, if necessary, facilitate a three-way conversation with a third party for additional help. With 550 employees stationed in 8 centers around the country, Diane Zyats, VP of Communications at the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, says there is rarely a backlog of homeowners waiting to receive advice. This, Zyats stresses, is key to preventing a distressed homeowner from falling for one of the many foreclosure scams out there.
The HOPE website also offers this helpful list of warning signs of a scam. Foremost? “No one should charge,” she says. “There are so many sources for not charging that there is no reason to charge.” Click here to see more.
NeighborWorks America is another Congressionally-funded program that provides financial and technical support to community-based foreclosure prevention efforts, such as the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program (NFMC), which boasts a 60% success rate. It also manages this exhaustive database of certified, HUD-approved foreclosure counselors by state.
At a local level, many communities are showing an incredible display of humanity and compassion for their neighbors facing foreclosure. For example, the non-profit Brooklyn Volunteer Lawyers Project is a coalition of 80 Brooklyn-based lawyers serving low-income Brooklynites on a pro bono basis. Although volunteers receive credited continuing legal education (CLE) training, taking on a case can take up a huge chunk of time. For example, foreclosure cases take anywhere from three months to years and usually require multiple court appearances and ongoing counsel. But Jamie Lathrop, director of foreclosure intervention, sees it as a simple matter of civic duty, “Why help? These people are our neighbors. They keep our neighborhoods clean, watch our kids on the street, return our mail to us. They let us know when someones scratched our car,” he says. “It’s part of being in a community.”
Currently the BVLP handles over 160 active foreclosure cases, and has successfully prevented 45 from final foreclosure through mediation. Brooklyn is one of an increasing number of areas around the country where mediation has become mandatory before a home can be foreclosed on. Although victims don’t need legal representation at these settlements, it can provide an immense amount of reassurance.
Over in Philadelphia, the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program is often touted as the first successful city-sponsored foreclosure prevention plan. Under the compassionate eye of Judge Annette Rizzo, recipient of the 2009 Louis J. Goffman Award, this two-year-old program makes it mandatory for borrower and lender to meet face-to-face, and discuss every possible option before the home can be foreclosed on. These options include forbearance, settlement, stay of sale, loan modification or reinstatement, and as a last resort, a “graceful” exit.
Each homeowner is also assigned a housing counselor to accompany them to court and guide them through the process, and it’s effective: the program has delayed foreclosures in 75-80% of the cases that have made it to mediation. Thanks to the program’s success, it has become a model for many other city-sponsored programs, such as in Boston, Pittsburgh, Miami, Cook County, Prince George’s County, Louisville, and the state of New Jersey.
At best, even the combination of all these programs will make a mere dent in America’s astronomical foreclosure levels. But like with any overwhelming problem, every little bit helps.
Have you avoided foreclosure recently? Are there other groups we should have added? Let us know in the comments section below!

Posted in 


This post is very interesting!…
[..]Check out this good blog, Take a look here [..]…
…
Great post and all very firm info….
lig tv…
Hello Guru, what entice you to post an article. This article was extremely interesting, especially since I was searching for thoughts on this subject last Thursday….
I cant’t see the rss from your blog….
I precisely wanted to thank you so much again. I am not sure what I would’ve carried out in the absence of the entire solutions revealed by you on my problem. It was actually an absolute horrifying matter in my view, however , discovering this well-wr…
I cant’t see the rss from your blog….
I simply wanted to thank you so much once more. I do not know the things I would’ve achieved without the entire tips and hints shown by you on such field. It was actually a traumatic crisis in my view, but looking at the professional technique you man…
Im happy U did it. Thanks for writing so informative post. Im lookin’ forward to c and read ur next post. Cheers
I use most of these merchandise! Being a make-up artist, I’ve to usually be on the lookout for great buys. At times it actually isn’t within the amount of the product but rather on the good quality. Maybelline boosts a wide-range of easily blendable and stand-out make-up. I was able to get the Magnum mascara from the US prior to it was launched here. It really creates volume and opens the eyes extremely well. The gel liner on the other hands glides extremely smoothly so it’s very straightforward to apply! It’s fantastic for beginners!
Wow, it’s so inspiring. Every person really should frequently be exploring to much better themselves. This in fact helps.
hello, I am a exchanging student, I am looking some article similiar to finish my exam and to make the better result of my works. I thought that your article is related to my works,so I decide to copy it without removing the author. manythanks for this useful article. have some good great works than.
I was studying something else about this on another blog. Interesting. Your perspective on it is diametrically opposed to what I read to begin with. I am still reflecting over the various points of view, but I’m inclined to a great extent toward yours. And no matter, that’s what is so super about modernized democracy and the marketplace of thoughts on-line.I will are available back again.
Not easy to say thank you, me english not so excellent – but these really good. Good read to practice English.
I will have to come back again when my class load diminishes – nonetheless I am bookmarking your RSS feed so I can read your web site offline. Thanks.
wc3soft.ru – Хаки, программы, карты, темы, реплеи. Все для любителей доты и варкрафта.
патч для Warcraft III
hello, I am a exchanging student, I am looking some article similiar to finish my exam and to make the better result of my works. I thought that your article is related to my works,so I decide to copy it without removing the author. manythanks for this useful article. have some good great works than.
We’re a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your site offered us with valuable information to work on. You’ve done a formidable job and our entire community will be thankful to you.
http://indexcatalogue.co.cc
I force to practice mi English as I required to say http://latest-newsonline.com/business-and-finance-news/america-fights-foreclosure-lifelines-for-people-fighting-to-keep-their-homes is my favorite blog in English. You share me, I thank you.
Ответ НЕ Mail.ru – Крупнейший в русскоязычной сети сервис, помогающий задать вопросы и получить ответы бесплатно. Ответы на вопросы, Вопросы и ответы онлайн.
Юридический форум
You made some respectable factors there. I seemed on the web for the issue and found most individuals will go along with with your website.
Enjoyable to be touring your web again, it has been a few months for me. Well this article that i have been waited for as long. I need this content to achieve my job in the school, and it contains same subject with your post. Many thanks, awesome write about this.
http://indexcatalogue.co.cc
I absolutely appreciate this excellent posting which are provided for us. I ensure this is advantageous for most people.
hello, I am a exchanging student, I am looking some article similiar to finish my exam and to make the better result of my works. I thought that your article is related to my works,so I decide to copy it without removing the author. manythanks for this useful article. have some good great works than.
If you’d like to become loaded, the easiest way is always to study with this people who are by now powerful. That knowledge is in finding out, monitoring, and pondering.
Acheter Cialis generique
Acheter Cialis en france
I have to admit that i typically get bored to learn the whole thing however i think you can add some value. Bravo !
Wow! Thank you! I continuously wanted to write on my blog something like that. Can I implement a fragment of your post to my site?
I personally am very curious about this subject but was put off by the lack of proper information. Needless to say, your blog has turned me around. I am more than satisfied now.
I am usually looking for discovered this one. The article really peaks my interest. on a regular basis
What a wonderful post!
…
Hahaha wow that is great!…
This is such a nice explanation, Thankyou you demistified what I was very unsure of. Thanks once again.
I’m confident, you’ve a great readers’ base already!|What?s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve discovered It absolutely useful and it has aided me out loads.