When you know that things in your life aren’t going so well, one of your first reactions might be to just put your head in the sand and pretend like everything is going okay. This can work for a while but there’s going to come a point where you really are going to have to just deal with the consequences of your actions. Now, we’re not trying to be harsh here. There are a lot of reasons why you mind be in debt right now. There are a lot of reasons why you might be hurting right now. Medical bills, a death in the family, and even a new baby could all be causing you financial problems. That’s perfectly okay — once you realize that there’s a problem, you have all of the power in the world to fix it. It is only when we run away from our problems that we find that we really don’t have a lot of power to take care of anything, which means that things just get worse and worse from here.

So, how can we turn things around? Well, if you own a home, you need to address your home before almost anything else. If you don’t have anywhere to live, you’re going to find it very difficult to actually get back on your feet. It’s much better to make sure that you can focus on the larger goal rather than all of the smaller goals getting in the way. This is where true power lives.

If you have a steady job and just a bit of debt, a loan modification program is definitely something that can really help you out. You’re just going to have to figure out how to get it underway.

Getting organized with your financials will help you with applying for the loan modification program, but you will have a lot more work than that cut out for you. The biggest mistake that many homeowners make is that they file the loan modification paperwork, and then they just wait for the mortgage lender to get back to them.

You need to make sure that you’re keeping up good communication from start to finish and then beyond. In other words, it’s not just enough to apply, nor is it enough to even be approved for the loan modification. You’re going to need to keep in touch with that lender and make them realize that you really are doing everything that you can in order to have your loans taken care of properly. If you miss a payment, you’re going to run the risk of having your entire modification revoked and the monies owed called for in full — or there will be foreclosure proceedings.

We’re not trying to scare you off or make it seem like it’s inevitable for you to lose your home. There are some things that you can do in order to keep your home and turn things around. But you are going to have to make sure that you communicate as much as possible while everything is happening.

If there is a change in your income — you need to make sure that you have that documentation ready. If there is a medical emergency, you need to make sure that you have that documentation ready. Now is not the time to try to bury your head in the sand. Now is actually the best time to take control of your finances and protect the greatest investment that you will ever own in your life — your home!