Foreclosure Self-Defense For Dummies

Ralph R. Roberts · Lois Maljak · Paul Doroh

Apr 2011 · John Wiley & Sons

About this ebook

Facing foreclosure? You need to do three things: stop worrying about why this has happened to you; resolve to fight the foreclosure and save your home; and read Foreclosure Self-Defense For Dummies. It delivers the knowledge, strategies, and tactics you’ll need to take command of your situation and achieve the best possible outcome.

This practical, no-nonsense guide helps you size up your options and increase your chances of saving your home. You’ll find out how to delay foreclosure, form a plan of attack, negotiate solutions with your lender, and restore your financial health. You’ll also find field-tested strategies for dodging the foreclosure trap, getting out from under a house you really can’t afford, and finding help where you might least expect it. Discover how to:

• Regain your emotional composure
• Confront your foreclosure head-on
• Protect your rights
• Assess your situation and weigh your options
• Touch base with key people who can help you
• Stop the financial bleeding
• Team up with your lender to find solutions
• Work out a refinancing deal with another lender
• Avoid quick-fix schemes and scams
• Cash out before it’s too late
• Recover from foreclosure
• Re-establish your credit

Complete with a handy cheat-sheet to help you keep your most important tasks in the front of your mind Foreclosure Self-Defense for Dummies gives you the moral support, commonsense guidance, and expert advice you need to make the best of this difficult situation.

Ratings and reviews

This trot is an excellent introduction to the mechanics of foreclosure. Unfortunately it fails to address elf-defense in a meaningful way. The authors assume that where a borrower has borrow the the money and created a lawful debt, the creditor has the right to be repaid and utilize the remedy of foreclosure. The book basically shows all the things a borrower can do to help the creditor effect repayment of, alternatively, successfully foreclose on the indentured property. Although I can accept the premise of the duty to repay,I do not feel that te debtor is in the best position to defend against the creditor in hot pursuit of the home by adoptiong the position of Daniel in the lion's den. The Lord in deed rescued Daniel; nonetheless hundreds of thousands of homes have gone to auction in foreclosure without divine intervention. Acciordingly, it is best to have some defense availabl;e against the lender to give the lender an incntive to compromise and listen to reason. I do not suggest that a debtor should escape the obligation to repay. However,if the taxpayers can pay to keep the biggest lenders afloat with taxpayer subsidies to allow financially to recover, becoem profitable and repay monies advanced, why, in heaven, can a lender not be forced to do the same thing for a homeowner. Until now, very few attornys have been willing or able to mount an effective defense to foreclosure. Good news! In the rush to compu8nd profits at all costs, many technical mistakes have been ,ade in the mortgaging procedure used by many lenders. In short, the lenders failed to follow the rules in most cases. This can cost them dearly if the debtor objects. The sad fact of the matter is that in 99% of foreclosures, the debtor goes passively like a lamb to slaughter without objection.I believe that there has been a failure to provide legally required documents in three out of four foreclosures. It is also my opinion that all mortgages held in a pass through mortgage trust are unenforceable. Both lines of argument constitute a fruitful strategy to be used to motivate a lender to renegotiate a mortgage upon terms and conditions which the borrower can afford. Given the creativity of the Federal Reserve in keeping the banks afloat. I suggest a little of the same medicine be used to save tens of thousands of hard working American families.

About the author

Ralph R. Roberts is a master of transforming crises into opportunities. After losing one of his own homes to foreclosure early in his career, Ralph added a foreclosure division to his real estate business. Its goal was to assist distressed homeowners facing foreclosure and earn a profit in the process. Since then, Ralph and his team have led thousands of families through the foreclosure maze, informing them of their options, steering them clear of the most common pitfalls, and empowering them with the information required to get on with their lives. Ralph is the official spokesperson for Guthy-Renker Home (HurryHome.com), is on the board of directors for the Macomb County Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and has a host of Web sites and blogs, including FlippingFrenzy.com and GetFlipping.com.
Ralph is also an experienced mentor, coach, consultant, and author who has penned several successful books, including Flipping Houses For Dummies (Wiley), Foreclosure Investing For Dummies (Wiley), Advanced Selling For Dummies (Wiley), and Protect Yourself from Real Estate and Mortgage Fraud: Preserving the American Dream of Homeownership (Kaplan). To find out more about Ralph Roberts, visit www.aboutralph.com.

Lois “Lane” Maljak is Ralph’s second in command and a foreclosure specialist in her own right. Lois formerly ran Ralph’s foreclosure department, HomeSavers, during which time she met with hundreds of distressed homeowners every year, assisting people in foreclosure and pre-foreclosure, counseling them on their available options, and helping them leave a difficult situation in their past. Lois has a combination of compassion and expertise that makes her uniquely qualified to counsel hapless homeowners.

Paul Doroh is also a foreclosure expert working directly with clients and prospective clients at Ralph Roberts Realty. In addition to meeting with homeowners who are facing foreclosure, Paul represents the company at foreclosure auctions. He has been thoroughly trained in the Ralph Roberts approach to foreclosure investing — assisting people through the foreclosure process so they can gain more control of the situation and improve their outcome.

Joe Kraynak is a freelance author who has written and coauthored numerous books on topics ranging from slam poetry to computer basics. Joe teamed up with Dr. Candida Fink to write his first book in the For Dummies series, Bipolar Disorder For Dummies. He has since teamed up with Ralph Roberts to coauthor Flipping Houses For Dummies, Foreclosure Investing For Dummies, and Advanced Selling For Dummies, and with Dr. Robert Wood to coauthor Food Allergies For Dummies.