Common Reasons People Go Into Foreclosure
Learn some of the most common circumstances that can result in foreclosure.

Friday, July 21, 2006
By Lucy Landley

Common Reasons

If a family loses their home in Foreclosure, it is easy to critically speculate and assume that they must have been irresponsible with the loan payments or they bought a home way out of their league. Despite the fact that those are possible reasons for foreclosure, truth be told that there are many other reasons people foreclose on a home and many times it is out of their control. For any reason that a person or family forecloses on a home, there is always hope and someone to help. This is why it is necessary for knowledgeable and equipped investors to be on their toes, ready to help those in pre-foreclosure or those who already are in foreclosure. Those who have defaulted on a loan could have suffered from any of many life changing events, such as the following:

Divorce
Divorce is a life changing issue and a split in a household can cause people to lose their home in foreclosure. A frequently used statistic today is that one in about every two marriages end in a divorce, and sadly it’s true. Divorce is undeniably a reality of our society today. Depending on who keeps the house is the determining factor of who will take over the monthly dues of the house. Unless arrangements are made in a prenuptial agreement, it is not a given who becomes the home proprietor and the legal process of a divorce takes time. The cost of a divorce itself can be the main cause of losing a home in foreclosure. Poor communication in a divorce is a factor which leads to unintended negligence and defaulted payments as well. Naturally, there are many different divorce scenarios that lead to home foreclosure.

Medical Reasons
Unexpected illnesses lead to a surplus of uninvited bills and many people can’t afford these expenses or do not have the insurance coverage to save them. Nobody plans to foreclose on their home, just like they do not expect to pay thousands of dollars in hospital bills. Ideally saving money out of each paycheck to cover potential medical expenses would be great, but that is not always an option. Many Americans live paycheck to paycheck, barely making the home loan payment. When a medical emergency happens within a family, the monthly mortgage payment is put on the back burner. Reason being that an illness can cause emotional stress, or disable someone from working (which leads to the next topic…)

Job Loss
Job loss is a frequent cause of home foreclosure. The economy strengthens and weakens, and in conjunction with that the workforce moves up and down in numbers. As the unemployment rate goes up in a city it is safe to assume that foreclosure numbers will raise as well. Again, ideally one might hope to have saved enough money over the years to cover the home loan, credit card bills, electricity, etc in the case of job loss. However, this is not a social reality. The many Americans who have suffered job loss cannot pay monthly dues and they result with a default home loan, fall in to debt, and in many cases are foreclosed on by their mortgage lender.

Death
Death is single handedly the most detrimental happening for a person or family. Death can, in many ways, cause a family to lose everything…including their home to foreclosure. Take for instance, if the sole provider of the mortgage payments has died, then it is very likely that the rest of that family will lose their home in foreclosure. Unfortunately, the other spouse may be disabled or unable to work and sadly that person is in a seemingly out of control situation. This is where a qualified investor specializing in foreclosure will step in and help him/her get control again.

Conclusion
The reason a person or family goes into foreclosure is important for all to understand. As a homeowner one can be prepared for such a situation as the aforementioned, and as an investor, one can be informed as to what causes foreclosure and how to be of service. Death, job loss, medical expenses, and divorce are a few of the most common reasons people foreclose on a home. These factors are real and an everyday part of society.

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Lucy Landley :   Lucy Landley is a writer for the National Association of Foreclosure Prevention Professionals, and regular contributor of foreclosure related articles.