The idea of foreclosure frightens most people. Current government policies encourage homeownership and there is a nearly endless array of mortgage options to choose from making buying a home easier than ever before. All it takes is missing a couple of mortgage payments to set the foreclosure machine in motion. Then, the home you worked so hard for is suddenly taken away from you. Even worse, you may still end up owing money on the house if the home sells for less than your loan. Add to that, the utter devastation of your credit rating and you have a very sad scenario.

There are steps you can take to prevent this unhappy event.

First and foremost, make your mortgage payments your top priority before any and all other considerations, except health-care. If you are in financial trouble, don’t worry about credit card payments, personal loans or other unsecured debts until you pay your mortgage. While falling behind in these bills can cost you money in fees and even damage your credit, it is not nearly as damaging as a foreclosure. Cut out extravagances such cable TV, entertainment, memberships to gyms, etc. Make pizza at home instead of eating out. Curtail extra spending everywhere you can.

Never simply ignore the problem. The farther behind you get on your mortgage, the harder it will be to catch up and the more likely you are to loose your home, despite any last minutes efforts you may make.

Contact your lender as soon as you realize that you have a problem - you are laid off or fired, you have an illness that means you will be out of work for a time, any other reason you may be temporarily set back financially. Your lender doesn’t want your house. More importantly, lenders have options that will help borrowers through difficult financial times.

Open and respond to all mail from your lender. First notices will offer good information about foreclosure prevention. Later correspondence may include information about important legal actions. Failure to appear in court will not excuse you from a foreclosure.

If you have any assets that can be sold to raise some money - a second car, jewelry, a whole-life insurance policy, a valuable gun collection - go ahead and sell them. Is there someone in your household that can get a second job for awhile? While it may not raise enough money to get you out of financial trouble, it will show your mortgage company that you are making an effort, you are making sacrifices to save your home.

Avoid foreclosure prevention companies who charge you a fee for helping you with foreclosure prevention. Use that money to pay your mortgage, instead. Most of the companies will provide information that you can get for free from your lender or from a HUD approved housing counselor.

Don’t loose your home to foreclosure recovery scams. If a company approaches you and tells you they can prevent your foreclosure if you sign a document, do not sign. You may well be signing your home over to a total stranger and you will become a renter in your own home. There are many options and resources to help you.

Your lender is always a very good place to start. Don’t fail to contact them because you are scared of what they will say or you are embarrassed. Not talking to them is likely the worse mistake you will make.

Perhaps even selling your home is a good step for you.  FindBuyers.com is a unique system that matches buyers and sellers much the same way a dating site works.  Give them a try and sell that home before you have to face foreclosure.

Foreclosures are mounting all over the country. Foreclosed homes in Washington and the surrounding Seattle area have stayed relatively low until just recently. The housing market is beginning to decline like much of the country. As prices fall it could be time to contact your Redmond Real Estate Agent

The number of households ensnared in the foreclosure crisis grew by more than 70 percent in the third quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2007, according to data released Thursday. Many Homeowners find themselves in a position where they cannot continue making their Home Mortgage payments. New foreclosures almost doubled in Seattle in the third quarter as the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression continued to deepen, the online real estate data company PropertyShark.com reported.

New foreclosures in Seattle rose to 501 from 251, the second biggest gain in the study of four U.S. cities including New York and Miami. Nationwide, nearly 766,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice from July through September, up 71 percent from a year earlier, said foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc.

Seattle hasn’t been hit as hard as other parts of the country like California, Nevada, Georgia, Florida etc.

King County saw its foreclosure rate drop sharply in September, according to RealtyTrac, a national foreclosure tracking service. Foreclosures in King County dropped 42 percent from August to September and fell 13 percent from September a year ago. Currently one of every 1,630 homes is in foreclosure in King County, RealtyTrac data show.

RealtyTrac’s third-quarter statistics put Washington 26th in foreclosure activity. Of the 100 top metropolitan areas, Tacoma ranked 40th and Seattle/Bellevue/Everett ranked 77th for Mortgage Home Loan foreclosures during the third quarter.

In Washington state overall, foreclosures dropped 38 percent from August to September and declined 16 percent compared to September 2007. Washington state was recently ranked 34th for foreclosure volume.

If you have started receiving foreclosure notices in the mail and want to save your home, then you are going to have to learn how to stop real estate foreclosure. There are a few helpful tips in particular which will be useful to you here and which will assist you in stopping real estate foreclosure.

How to Save Your Home

Here are a few things that you are going to want to make sure you do, if you want to stop real estate foreclosure and avoid foreclosure auction.

Do Not Ignore the Problem

When it comes to avoiding real estate foreclosure you cannot ignore the problem. This is one of the most important things you need to remember. You are not helping the problem if you take the letters and toss them to the side. If you want to stop the situation before it gets worse, you are going to have to deal with it.

In fact, the worst thing that you can do if you want to avoid real estate foreclosure is ignore the company. You want to contact them immediately, and let them know that you are aware of what is going on and that you are willing to take the necessary steps towards coming to some sort of an agreement with them.

Forbearance Agreement

Another issue that you want to be aware of is the Forbearance Agreement. This is an agreement that the lender may offer you if you are unable to pay the delinquent amount in full. This agreement will allow you to rollover past due payments to the end of the loan, but of course you will only be offered this agreement if you are keeping the lender aware of your situation and not avoiding them.

Just make sure that you keep up your end of the agreement, otherwise you are going to end up in the same place you started.

Of course the best idea is to make sure that you pay all your mortgage bills on time so that you do not have to worry about coming to any agreement with the lender. However, sometimes we fall into financial troubles and at least if this does happen to you, you will know what to do and how to keep from making the situation even worse, by staying in touch with your lender.

For those people with mortgage problems, check out this awesome piece of writing on How To Stop Real Estate Foreclosure. To browse more piece of writings on foreclosures visit, http://www.foreclosures.jsgenterprises.com.