In all fairness to homeowners in foreclosure, some will need professional help more than others. One borrower may be willing and able to negotiate with the lender until a solution is reached, while another will be terrified of even picking up the phone, let alone calling the mortgage company and explaining the situation. Every family facing foreclosure, though, should first determine their need for professional assistance.

To begin with, the homeowners themselves need to establish that they have a clear need for a loss mitigation or legal assistance company. Discussing the issue among the family members and with various financial professionals is the first step in this determination. Of course, every foreclosure help company the owners speak with will be of the opinion that professional assistance is recommended, but the borrowers must be the ones to make this choice.

If the homeowners decide to move ahead with an assistance company to help them stop foreclosure, then the second factor is an issue of “want." Everyone knows how important this factor of “want" can be; for example, half of the cars on the road are there because people wanted to purchase them — not because they needed them. If homeowners do not know what they want to do with their house, then no professional will be able to help them achieve nebulous, undefined goals. There are numerous solutions to foreclosure, but the most appropriate ones will be determined by what the owners want to do with their house.

Obviously, all the borrowers may know at the earliest stages of the process is that they want to save their home, avoid foreclosure, or get their credit back on track. The actual ways of going about this may be unclear in the early going, but this fleshing out process is exactly why they have decided to hire a loss mitigator or other help. The homeowners expect the professionals to provide accurate and timely advice, as well as information that is better than information they could obtain anywhere else.

The importance of experience and knowledge on the part of the assistance company can not be overestimated. Of course, no company will be 100% effective in helping homeowners save their properties, due to the ever-changing circumstances of the average foreclosure case. But borrowers should also not be expected to hire a company and then watch their money flow down the drain chasing after incompetence or finding out they have been working with a fly-by-night foreclosure scam.

The role of the loss mitigation company should be to make sure homeowners have a clear understanding of exactly what to expect from the parties involved in the foreclosure action. This means explaining what the local government will do in following the local and state foreclosure laws, what the bank will require for any negotiated settlement, the role the assistance company will play, and what exactly will be required of the borrowers themselves. If debtors interview companies who do not seem to understand the process or will not walk the family through exactly how the company will end the foreclosure, then it may be best to consider other solutions.