Behind on your mortgage or facing foreclosure?
Understand your options before the next deadline.
Submitting a form does not stop a foreclosure or extend a legal deadline.
If you have a court deadline or scheduled sheriff's sale
Start with these five actions
- 1
Open every letter and email. Identify the sender, date, response deadline, case number, and any scheduled sale date.
- 2
Contact your mortgage servicer. Ask what loss-mitigation application, documents, and deadlines apply to your loan.
- 3
Write down your goal and budget. Decide whether keeping the home is your priority and whether the ongoing payment is realistically affordable.
- 4
Contact free and licensed resources. A HUD-approved housing counselor can provide free or low-cost help; legal papers or an imminent sale may require an attorney.
- 5
Protect yourself from pressure. Do not sign over title, stop paying, or stop communicating with your servicer based on an unsolicited promise.
Two broad paths to review
Path A: Explore ways to keep the home
A mortgage servicer may review a borrower for one or more loss-mitigation options. Availability, eligibility, terms, and timing depend on the loan, investor, insurer, servicer, and homeowner's facts.
- Reinstatement pays the amount required to bring the loan current, subject to the servicer's calculation and instructions.
- Repayment plan adds part of the past-due amount to regular payments over an agreed period.
- Forbearance temporarily pauses or reduces payments; the unpaid amount is still owed and requires a later resolution.
- Loan modification requests changes to one or more loan terms to create a different payment arrangement.
- Refinance replaces the current loan if the homeowner qualifies and the timing, equity, and costs make sense.
- Public assistance or mediation explores programs and counseling available in the homeowner's location.
- Legal options let a licensed attorney explain foreclosure defenses, bankruptcy, mediation, and court deadlines.
Path B: Protect value and plan a transition
When the payment will not be sustainable, time is short, or the homeowner prefers to move, a planned transition may protect more control and equity than waiting for foreclosure. A sale is one option, not the automatic answer.
- Traditional market sale lists and sells the property when expected proceeds can satisfy mortgages, liens, costs, and closing requirements.
- Lender-approved short sale requests approval to sell for less than the total debt when the property value and payoff do not align.
- Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure asks whether the lender will accept a voluntary transfer of title instead of completing foreclosure; legal and tax review is important.
- Orderly relocation builds a realistic closing, moving, and next-housing plan while deadlines and resources are known.
No-pressure principle. We never present selling as the only path unless the verified facts and qualified professionals support that conclusion. The homeowner chooses the direction.
How My Homestead Advisory helps
- 1
Initial options review. We listen to your goal, mortgage status, hardship, property facts, and deadlines.
- 2
Action map. We identify missing documents, the calls that should happen now, and the option categories worth discussing with the servicer or qualified professional.
- 3
Professional routing. We connect you with free counseling, legal help, real estate, title, tax, or other resources when those roles are needed.
- 4
Authorized coordination. Where legally permitted and agreed in writing, we support the specific coordination services described in the engagement.
- 5
Decision and follow-through. You choose the path. We document the next steps and keep roles and deadlines clear.
Documents to gather
- Most recent mortgage statement and contact information for the servicer.
- Every recent default, acceleration, foreclosure, court, or sheriff's-sale notice.
- Income information, monthly expenses, and a short description of the hardship.
- Property-tax, insurance, HOA, municipal, lien, or judgment notices.
- Recent correspondence and a log of calls with the servicer.
- Any listing agreement, purchase offer, appraisal, broker price opinion, or payoff statement, if a sale is being considered.
Secure-data notice
Free and urgent resources
Mortgage servicer
HUD-approved housing counseling
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Legal Services Corporation
State-specific help
Court deadline or sale date
You may have more than one option. Start by getting the facts in one place.