June is Home Ownership Month, and with so many people celebrating by purchasing a new home, it can be easy to forget the darker side of home ownership that many North Carolinians are facing: foreclosure. In 2015 alone, 29,201 foreclosure notices were filed statewide, with many North Carolina homeowners ultimately losing their homes.
What is foreclosure exactly? In short, it is the process by which lenders have the legal right to recover their loan by repossessing the mortgaged property and reselling it to recoup their losses. This process usually begins when borrowers miss their mortgage payments.
In the United States, one out of every 1,308 households face foreclosure. Many different reasons exist, but the top culprits are divorce, medical difficulty and job loss. While foreclosure is a grim reality for the thousands of North Carolina homeowners who face it, it is not just the homeowners who suffer when a house is foreclosed. Foreclosure can negatively impact the local, state and national economy by lowering property values and slowing the housing market. And the cost is staggering—estimated by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress to be $77,935 per home.
If you are a North Carolina homeowner facing foreclosure, the best way to try to save your home is by contacting a HUD approved housing counselor agency. A housing counselor can help you
- Explore your options, such as selling your home before it is foreclosed on
- Negotiate with your loan servicer for a loan modification
- Get help through state and federal programs, including the NC Foreclosure Prevention Fund
The NC Foreclosure Prevention Fund, administered by the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency using funds provided by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund, has helped more than 22,000 North Carolina homeowners keep their homes after suffering an eligible financial hardship through mortgage payment assistance, principal reduction assistance and veteran assistance. The fund may be able to help eligible North Carolinians who:
- Lost jobs through no fault of their own
- Lost their jobs, are now re-employed, but are earning less or on a fixed income
- Are transitioning from military life to civilian careers
