The sudden plunge into the depths and uncertainties of foreclosure and mortgage defaults for many homeowners, families and clients has not been particularly unexpected. For the past several years, at outdoor dinner parties, Sunday barbecues and afternoons relaxing in our gardens and yards we have been changing and re-shaping our lives into balancing acts of credit card payments, daily living expenses and financial worries. "Home at Last" and similar welcoming thoughts are less traveled paths for many of our neighbors and friends.
The recent statistics are clear, in the increasing pattern of foreclosed homes captured by the lenders despite unending publicity for the Obama Administration's HAMP programs. New York was one of the states which failed to receive and participate in billions of dollars aimed to assist those in need of mortgage payment assistance and unemployment help. However, the new clients we meet and those seeking consultation within our law firm are overwhelmingly open to participate in the litigation necessary to keep their home and defend against the foreclosure.
Eliminating lender guidance in the foreclosure process is one of the very first steps taken by our clients. Often, with an early morning door bell or late night visit by a process server, a mortgage holder’s first reaction is to call the lender. This highlights the instant conflict of permitting the foreclosing attorney to become the homeowner's contact for solutions.
In our law firm, we talk about problem solving, asset preservation and asset protection during the course of the lawsuit. The exhaustion seen in the faces of those who enter our firm is apparent; yet once the discussion begins, we begin to witness the minds and attitudes of our clients changing, as they confront their defaults and begin to focus on their rights defended throughout the courthouses in our state. Despite the delivery of a foreclosure summons, our troubled homeowners learn that the time factors and protections afforded by the enacted laws encourage state-wide patterns of mandated settlement conferences and legal options to confront lender foreclosure actions.
We have confidently seen the record levels of lender home repossessions consistently drop when our clients defend their rights in court in a timely and fierce fashion. The poisonous loans which were injected into the system are under the microscope when challenged. The same middle class homeowners who struggled so hard and so long to bear the fruits of homeownership were also willing targets for these lenders' traps.
The unending courage and unique dedication which fared our neighbors so well in the purchase and planning to create new homes and neighborhoods are the same minds which will ultimately save our homes from the ravaging effects of foreclosure. Pleadings, answers, motions and appeals will become routine topics of conversation while we fight to keep homes and break up the victim roles which gained traction in our recent past. Take the inspiring choice and see the options and solutions to keep home your own.
