When you default on your mortgage, your lender will likely seek to recover the amount you still owe by taking ownership over or selling your property. This is the foreclosure process, and when you find yourself caught in the midst of it, you may find yourself feeling unsure of what course of action to take and scared of the potential consequences you may face. When you’re facing the threat of foreclosure alone, it’s hard to determine what your options are for responding to the issue.

The good news, though, is that you do have options you may not be aware of to prevent a total loss of your property and assets. When your home is foreclosed, the recovery of the amount you owed may leave some amount of excess funds behind, potentially amounting to thousands of dollars in some cases. The appointed trustee responsible for disbursing the funds needed to cover the amount of your loan can provide you with these surplus funds.

How can you navigate the process of obtaining these funds and managing other factors that may come into play as part of the foreclosure process? The best way is to make sure you have informed help to equip you with the resources you need to preserve as much of your money and as many of your assets as possible. In this blog post, we’ll review how foreclosure legal representation can give you the guidance you need to avoid as much loss as possible through the foreclosure process.

What does the foreclosure process look like?

Foreclosure may begin soon after you default on a mortgage as your lender attempts to recover the amount you owe. It’s a process that unfolds in six stages, though the way these stages unfold may vary between states.

The first phase is where you default on the loan. The second is the foreclosure notice that is required to be sent to you, which gives you 30 days to make up for past due payments before the process continues any further.

During the third and fourth phases, an appointed trustee or attorney will begin to organize the sale of your property and a notice will be filed with the county where the sale is taking place. The sale must be publicly advertised in the local area in the weeks prior to the sale.

Once the highest bidder has won the auction and the sale has been made (or the lender has taken ownership of the property and sold it), you’re sent an eviction notice ordering you to leave the property.

How can a foreclosure legal representative help?

Throughout this process, there are a few factors you may not be aware of. One is the previously-mentioned amount of surplus funds that you may be entitled to after the sale, which you’ll need to contact the trustee who conducted the sale to claim. No one is likely to get in touch with you to inform you of the availability of these funds, which is why many people who go through foreclosure fail to claim them.

There are other factors you should be aware of too, though, to ensure that you’re taking every possible measure available to you to hold on to your assets. It’s beneficial, for example, to be able to identify if you’re the victim of mortgage lending discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, disability, age, marital status, or use of public assistance.

Generally, with a representative on your side, it’s easier for you to identify grounds on which you can dispute the foreclosure of your home, gain access to helpful resources like an attorney, and more.

Don’t go through foreclosure alone!

Are you facing the threat of foreclosure? Get help from a legal representative through Claims Surplus to get access to an attorney’s help, gain crucial information for recovering assets, and more. To get started, get in touch with us now.