Foreclosure Solutions are varied and need to be combined and tailored to every client’s specific circumstances to maximize a client’s ability to save their home.
As you must be aware due to the Coronavirus caused recession of 2020, many homeowners are behind with their mortgages. Lenders had initially been tolerant, with most lenders allowing temporary forbearance of the missed payments. But as time has dragged on and the arrears of homeowners have exacerbated, many lenders have started to demand a cure either over time in the form of a reinstatement (usually over 1 year) or through a modification which requires an application by the borrower and approval by the lender. These new potential foreclosure situations are coming when there is still a foreclosure problem remaining from the previous 2008-2014 recession, especially in our Long Island and New York areas, which was caused by overly aggressive mortgage lending and borrowing. The previous recession had caused a foreclosure crisis whose effects are still present in the form of many older foreclosure matters which have taken a long time to resolve and homeowners still struggling with mortgage problems whose origins where in the last recession. In this market which has not yet healed from the last recession, the new turmoil caused by the Covid recession has caused many homeowners to their dismay find themselves in arrears on their mortgages and/or threatened by foreclosure. Some of these problem mortgage situations are new, having been caused by Covid-19 related furloughs, layoffs and lockdowns; while other mortgage issues have been problematic for a long time but have been made much worse due to this new recession. This new potential crisis, is made worse because it is coming before we have fully recovered from foreclosures caused by the previous recession. Yet despite these hardships, programs, policies, court decisions and laws mostly enacted during the last recession, but some new in reaction to this new Covid caused recession, can potentially give homeowners a better chance to save their homes. Because homeowners are frequently confused as to their options, and because the advice of their mortgage holders can be inaccurate and/or misleading, a homeowner threatened by foreclosure or in foreclosure needs to quickly get reliable information from an attorney who concentrates in this area.
Saving homes from foreclosure often involves combining strategies: Defending AND Negotiating. A homeowner in arrears with their mortgage or in actual foreclosure needs to gain both Time AND Leverage in order to best increase their possibilities of successfully saving their home. The different solutions to foreclosure – modification negotiations, foreclosure litigation defense, and bankruptcy – overlap and often reinforce each other. We represent clients in every type of foreclosure solution.
Foreclosure Solutions are varied and depend on many factors; they include litigation (answering the Complaint, defending the foreclosure action, and Emergency Orders to Show Cause), negotiations (mortgage modifications, forbearance agreements and short sales), and bankruptcy (chapters 13, 7 or 11). We can advise and represent our clients in all of the possible solutions to the foreclosure process; these potential solutions are reviewed based on the client’s goals and the stage of the foreclosure proceeding. In order to decide which Foreclosure Solution to pursue, we ask our clients several important questions as follows: i) At what stage is the foreclosure?; ii) What is your main goal as to the house?; and iii) What is your main financial difficulty in terms of the mortgage? We explore and offer to our clients the possibility of all Foreclosure Solutions as follows:
If the client is in a foreclosure action that already has proceeded for a period of time, and is nearing a foreclosure sale, the Law Office of Ronald D. Weiss, P.C. can file an Emergency Order to Show Cause or an emergency Chapter 13 or a chapter 7 bankruptcy case, under appropriate circumstances, to stop a foreclosure sale in an attempt to assert the client’ s rights and to give the client more time to attempt to resolve their situation and/or to cure their arrears.
Moratoriums imposed by the New York State governor , the state Court system and FHA had essentially temporarily shut down the ability of lenders to foreclose. In addition the New York State Courts were closed till May 4, 2020 and even when they had reopened, the Courts initially refused to file any foreclosure action documents and treated foreclosures and evictions different than any other actions. Presently, the Courts require a hearing to determine that a defendant is not facing Covid-19 related hardships before allowing a foreclosure action to continue to go forward. These moratoriums and other measures have given reprieve to borrowers unable to make mortgage payments during a period of national crisis and have given households facing mortgage challenges an opportunity to recover. However, the remedy of a moratorium on all foreclosures has been a broad one and by including foreclosures that were not caused by Covid-19, the moratorium has created a backlog of problematic mortgage situations where lenders during more normal times would have been more able to move forward with foreclosure process. This mandated pause in the foreclosure legal process has given an opportunity for borrowers to try to either reinstate, modify or otherwise resolve their mortgage arrears issues. Where a resolution is not forthcoming, the foreclosure moratorium and economic downturn will effectively give foreclosure defendants new litigation options to gain time, catch momentum and settlement opportunities.
The experience of the attorney representing the client is a critical factor in the client’s success when attempting to save their home from foreclosure. Since 1993 we have successfully represented numerous Long Island, Nassau County & Suffok County homeowners in foreclosure and have helped many of them permanently save their homes and re-establish their financial stability. When a homeowner is in foreclosure the legal options available to them to resolve and/or stop the foreclosure need to be carefully pursued. Such legal options are limited in terms of the number of times they can be pursued and when and how they can be pursued. Let us help you in your efforts to save your home with experience and expertise that is both affordable and personable.
Our consultations are free, the advice may be invaluable.
Contact us by phone at (631) 271-3737, or e-mail us at [email protected] for a free consultation to discuss legal options your legal options in terms of stopping or preventing foreclosure.
“I have been using Mr. Ronald Weiss’s services for a long time. My house was in foreclosure. His staff was successful in getting me a loan modification. I am very happy with the results and the professional matter my case was handled.”