Foreclosure Prevention

Home mortgage foreclosures began in 2006 and continue to occur in Baltimore County in several areas of concentration. Foreclosed properties create a stock of vacant and abandoned properties that diminish the value of nearby properties, cause negative equity, elevate crimes, deteriorate neighborhood conditions, and erode governmental fiscal capacity to conquer these problems.

Options to Avoid Foreclosure

If you have missed mortgage payments and are worried about losing your home, contact your lender or servicer immediately.

If you lose your job, have to take a pay cut, become ill, or anticipate financial problems, contact your lender immediately. Your lender may have programs or resources that can help.

Contact a nonprofit, HUD-approved counseling agency to obtain free and confidential assistance. Be sure to fully understand your loan options and only accept options that will work best for you, such as:

• Forbearance
• Reinstatement
• Modifications
• Repayment
• Partial claim

If You're Facing Foreclosure

Maryland’s foreclosure mediation law requires mortgage lenders and servicers to be more responsive to homeowners facing foreclosure. The goal of the law is to help homeowners get relief through a loan modification if they qualify or to find an alternative to foreclosure.

The Maryland Foreclosure Law gives homeowners a new opportunity to meet with the lender and an independent party to ensure that alternatives to foreclosure have been considered and evaluated. Under this law, when a lender notifies a homeowner about possible foreclosure, the lender also must provide more complete information about options available to homeowners.

If keeping your home is not the best option, consider the following:

• Short Sale—Owing more than your home is worth and the lender may allow you to sell your home at the lesser amount as paid-in-full.
• Fair Market—Having equity in your home and the lender may allow you time to sell.
• Deed in Lieu—Signing your home over to the lender and they forgive the mortgage.
• Seek professional advice from a nonprofit organization.

Partners

The Department of Housing and Community Development works with partners to help homeowners deal with the crisis of mortgage foreclosure and to prevent home mortgage foreclosures. This effort will help keep neighborhoods healthy and prosperous for existing and future residents.