The total number of American families who no longer can take great pride in the struggle for home ownership increases on a daily basis. Just Google the phrase “hardship letters”, a seemingly unknown phrase several years ago, and you can find pages and pages of definitions, examples and related businesses all trying to capture the necessary information for you. Bankruptcy filings have defied imagination and we are told that the current level represents more than an 80% increase over 2007.
We receive many phone calls, e-mails and letters from our neighbors who have been served with foreclosure papers seeking advice as to how to keep their homes. Unfortunately, for some families they will be forced to leave their homes. Fortunately, with aggressive defense tactics, that day may be well in the future and they can leave on their own terms, with dignity, not in the middle of the night. The questions posed are familiar – - will filing bankruptcy stop the foreclosure? Should I hire a company to negotiate my credit card bills? What about the modification company that advertises they can save my home? The answers are maybe, no and no.
When my clients go these routes, they usually come back “sore” and disgruntled. The laws in New York provide some protection to the homeowner in foreclosure. But to avail yourself of those protections, you need a “shield bearer”, i.e.- a knowledgeable lawyer, ready to do battle against the banks which our government offered a helping hand to. If you are a defendant in a lawsuit, and as defendant, you have the ability to seek copies of the closing and loan papers signed so many years ago. You can reflect upon the legality of the papers you signed. You may also demand copies of underwriting standards and show whether the lender complied with Federal and State statutes. You may even challenge the manner in which the foreclosure action was commenced against you.
These are your rights, and our courts and judges stand ready to afford you each and every right to which you are entitled as a defendant in a lawsuit. We return to our courts to deal with our national foreclosure crisis. A return to what our great country has always done best as a nation of law and order. While we experience immeasurable comfort when we read a decision in favor of a pro se homeowner who has stared down the barrel of a foreclosure action and has come out the victor, the old adage, holds true in many more foreclosure actions that “a person who represents himself, has a fool for a client”. We urge you to come in and discuss your situation with someone from our knowledgeable staff. There may be thousands of wrong reasons not to look at the choices now available to save your home. However, you only need one good reason to overcome your mortgage paralysis and fight to “keep home your own”.