You’ll never find a little starry-eyed 5-year old child say "when I grow up, I want to go into foreclosure" but nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of families are facing the unthinkable today. Many times, one or more people involved would rather deny the reality of their financial situation, which may have been how they got there in the first place. However, denial only leads to delay, which perpetuates the disaster and leaves you with fewer options. Your other alternative is to be courageous enough to face reality and work through it making your outcome much more favorable and your family much stronger. Here are a few ways denial can affect foreclosure:
1. Stop The Madness
If you don’t realize the propensity of the situation, you will continue to borrow money that you can’t pay back, live beyond your means and dig the hole deeper. Once you get beyond denial, you can do a 180 and begin a new focus- financial freedom.
2. Negotiate in Truth
Banks and lenders are not prepared to negotiate with those who are perpetuating their financial crisis through denial. By recognizing the truth, you can begin to avoid foreclosure through negotiated methods. The lender does not want your house, they would much rather have your payment. They are usually willing to work out a realistic payment plan to keep you in the mortgage. Another option is a short sale, where the lender agrees to discount the loan balance in exchange for you selling the home and giving them the proceeds. Get out of denial and on to negotiating.
3. Relationships Need Truth
When facing any type of financial crisis, the whole family feels the effects. By denying the situation, your family and relationships learn an important lesson- "when things get tough, deny they exist." When you face it with courage and deal with the truth openly by learning from your mistakes, your family learns an even more important lesson. When denial and lack of communication exists, relationships begin to deteriorate under the pressure.
When foreclosure is a threat, don’t become a victim of denial. The sooner your face the truth, the sooner you are on a road to financial freedom.
