Abstract: A foreclosure is never a good thing to have to go through but even at that stage there are still options left to a home owner facing financial straits.

The press is, at the moment, awash with reports regarding the rate of foreclosures on properties where the owner has either defaulted on repayments or, even worse, absconded and can no longer be found.

Foreclosures are never happy affairs. I am not going to examine here why some things happen and how it is possible for a home owner to find themselves in a situation where losing the home they have strived so hard to purchase is a real possibility, because we all understand that sometimes bad luck strikes and it is possible for anyone to fall down.

What I am going to focus instead is on what you can do to pick yourself up from a situation like this and move on.

For anyone facing foreclosure the choices available for moving out of the foreclosure zone are three: 1. bring your repayments current. This means that you need to discuss with your lender what you can do and how in order to bring your repayments current. How understanding and patient your lender is prepared to be will depend on your credit history with them and the length of time you have been a client of theirs. The trick here is communication. Do not be afraid to explain your situation and your willingness to rectify it and be reachable at all time.

2. Refinance. This is a tricky option because it means you will need to find a way to raise money when you are already strapped for cash. Refinancing is a complicated field in its own right but, broadly speaking, you will have the option of getting a loan, finding an understanding and wealthy friend willing to lend you money in return of getting some interest or raising another mortgage on your home. Which option you go for will depend on your personal circumstances, the expectation of finance you have plus what you think you are comfortable with in terms of repayments.

3. Sell up, pay back and move on. This is your final option. It means you will need to sell the home you own, use the money you get from the sale to pay back what you owe and move on with your life debt free. There are a few caveats here as you need to be careful to see your credit history survives the debacle plus you don’t end up paying off one mortgage (if you have more than one) and then taking a default and ending up owing the other one with no means of paying it back.

The deal is that whichever option you choose to follow in order to move out of the default zone you will need to plan it carefully, understand your reasons why you are doing it, understand the options available and the consequences and then focus on seeing it through.