Keeping Your Home: Who to Call Before You Call Anyone Else

When you fall behind on your mortgage, the phone gets loud. Everyone claims to help. This guide is about who to call first. It is education, not legal advice.

If your goal is to keep your home, three calls come before all others. Make them in order. Make them early. They cost little or nothing. They are the honest starting point.

Call one: your lender. Or more exactly, your loan servicer. This is the company you send payments to. It sounds strange to call the people you owe. But they often have options. They do not want an empty house either.

Ask about your choices. There may be a repayment plan. There may be a loan change, called a modification. There may be forbearance, a short pause in payments. Each option has rules. But you cannot get help you never ask for.

While you are on that call, ask about reinstatement. This is a plain and powerful word. To reinstate is to catch up. You pay the past-due amount, plus fees, and the loan is current again. In California, that right runs until five business days before a scheduled sale (Civil Code §2924c). Ask your servicer for the exact figure and date.

Call two: a HUD-approved housing counselor. HUD is a federal agency. It approves nonprofit counselors across the country. Their advice is free. Let me say that again. It is free.

A HUD counselor knows the programs. They can review your budget with you. They can help you talk to your servicer. They work for you, not for a fee. You can find one through the HUD website or by phone. Ask for a HUD-approved agency by name.

Call three: an attorney. If your situation is complex, get legal advice. Some owners qualify for free legal aid. A lawyer can read your notices. A lawyer can spot errors. A lawyer can explain your rights under California law. This is the advice this article cannot give you.

Those are the first three calls. Lender. HUD counselor. Attorney. In that order, or close to it. Notice who is not on the list. Not the flashy letter. Not the urgent caller. Not the stranger promising a miracle.

That brings us to the traps. They follow a few patterns. Learn the patterns and you can spot the trap.

The first pattern is the up-front fee. Someone asks for cash now to handle your foreclosure. In California, taking an advance fee for this help is against the law (Civil Code §2945). A real counselor is free. Walk away from anyone who demands money first.

The second pattern is the deed transfer. Someone asks you to sign over your title. They promise to let you rent and buy back later. Too often, you lose the home and the equity both. Never sign your deed to a stranger. Show any such paper to your attorney first.

The third pattern is pressure. "Sign today." "This offer ends tonight." "Do not talk to anyone else." Real help does not fear a second opinion. Pressure is a signal to pause, not to sign.

The fourth pattern is the payment redirect. Someone tells you to send your mortgage money to them instead of your servicer. This can leave you further behind. Send payments only to your real servicer.

Here is the calm truth under all of it. California law gives you time. The clock from a Notice of Default to any sale is at least about 110 days, often longer. You have room to make three careful calls before you make any hard choice.

If, after those calls, you decide that selling is your best path, that is a valid choice too. A sale on the open market can protect the equity you built. At that point, licensed California real estate professionals can walk you through a normal sale.

To understand your timeline first, use the simple tool at /tools/foreclosure-timeline. It maps the dates to your own notice.

For a calm overview of every option, including keeping the home and selling it, read https://www.williamscap.ai/foreclosure-help.

Start with the three honest calls. Lender. HUD counselor. Attorney. Make them before you call anyone else. The right first calls protect you from the wrong ones.