Foreclosure Information

In addition to helping members of the Colorado community with bankruptcy issues, Weselis & Suchoparek LLC also helps individuals understand the Colorado foreclosure process.

If you have received a notice of foreclosure proceedings and are unsure of what to do, please call our office to speak with an attorney today. The Colorado Foreclosure laws have recently changed and we may be able save your house if you contact us immediately.

Our attorneys can negotiate with your bank lender to try and save your house. This process is fairly straight forward because we know the questions to ask and the options to seek. More importantly, this will not cost you much at all in attorney’s fees. Some of our attorneys used to represent the banks in foreclosure proceedings, so we know exactly the way the banks think and the options available to help you under Colorado law and bankruptcy law. Below you will find a brief summary of some of the options available to you:

Strip off Your Second Mortgage

In some circumstances, you can get rid of your second mortgage or your Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) by filing bankruptcy, which will help you make smaller payments on the house in the future. This is one of the benefits of the new bankruptcy law that a highly trained Colorado attorney can help you with. Not every state has this option so give us a call before the law changes and we can see if this is an option for you.

Loan Modification

A loan modification seeks to avoid foreclosure in Colorado by negotiating with the lender to modify the terms of your loan. This option makes sense in a situation where a homeowner has experienced a decline in income and can no longer afford the original loan but could afford the payments with a little adjustment. Examples of loan modifications include lowering the interest rate, extending the loan period, or adding the delinquent portion and fees back onto the principal of the loan to be repaid overtime.

A Repayment plan

Oftentimes, a repayment plan is better suited to a homeowner who has had a short-term financial hardship but is now getting back on their feet. Although a homeowner is recovering, they may be several months (and thus several thousand dollars) behind on their mortgage payments and they need time to bring this amount current. Once a Colorado foreclosure has been initiated, a lender often will not accept any further payments less than the entire delinquent amount (this is so that they do not jeopardize their rights under the current Colorado foreclosure proceedings). A repayment plan requests that the lender stop the Colorado foreclosure process and structure a repayment schedule in a more lenient fashion to allow the recovering homeowner time to catch up on their loan and save their home.

Forbearance

A forbearance is a request that the lender stop proceeding any further with the Colorado foreclosure for a short period of time. This is usually done in conjunction with other relief efforts. For example, a lender would issue a forbearance while the homeowner tried to sell their home to cure the debt via a short sale.

Short Sale

A "short sale" is the best solution when the homeowner is "upside down" in their home due to a decline in the local real-estate market (meaning they owe more on their home than it is worth). By doing a short sale, the homeowner is asking the lender to discount their mortgage principal to a level that can be discharged by selling the home at market value. In other words, if the homeowner owes $210,000 on their mortgage, but the home is only worth $200,000 due to current real estate conditions -- the homeowner would request that the lender accept the $200,000 (less closing costs) to payoff the loan. To complete a short sale, the homeowner must find a realtor or service that will be able to market their home as a short sale (often with reduced commissions) and is skilled at competently following up with the lender to handle all the details. However, please keep in mind that if there is deficiency from what you sold the home for from what was owed on the loan, you will be held liable. Many people do not realize this.

Deed in Lieu

Under a "deed in lieu" workout, a homeowner surrenders their property to the lender in exchange for forgiveness of their mortgage. The borrower also avoids the public notoriety of a Colorado foreclosure proceeding and may receive more generous terms than he would in a formal foreclosure in Colorado.