Saving your home from foreclosure is increasingly a do-it-yourself project.
Lawyers are scarce and free legal assistance is overwhelmed in New Mexico, so a community center here is offering an hourlong class in how to download the correct forms, decipher the lingo and mount a defense, however tentative and primitive, against a multibillion-dollar bank. ?I don?t see success for someone like me who doesn?t understand the law,? said Skylar Perea, a senior care aide who fell behind on her payments during the eight months she was out of a job. ?But it?s better than nothing.?
In New Mexico, New York, Florida and the 20 other states where foreclosures require a judge?s approval, homeowners in default have traditionally surrendered their homes without ever coming to court to defend themselves.
That passivity has begun to recede. While many foreclosures are still unopposed, courts are seeing a sharp rise in cases where defendants show up representing themselves. One factor driving the increase is the changing nature of foreclosure.
When people went into default in 2008, it was generally because of the exploding cost of a subprime loan. Unable or unwilling to handle sharply higher payments, the homeowner walked away with little protest.
Now many defaults are prompted by stretches of unemployment like Perea?s. These owners do not have the resources to come up with all their missed payments at once. But if they can persuade their lender to restructure the loan instead of seizing the house, they have a chance of staying put.
Young and old, solo and in couples, the homeowners in Anaya Allen?s class were all in breach, clutching special-delivery packages from their lenders announcing that the machinery was now engaged to evict them. They took notes, asked questions ? is the courthouse the building on Fourth Street with the blue roof? ? and were resolute if not quite eager for battle. ?I?m not sure where I stand, but I just don?t want to let the house go,? said Perea.