All of us have times when one thing seems to go wrong after another.
For Juanita, one of these times took place before and during the pandemic. First her partner passed away. As she was dealing with her grief, she experienced another blow. Her job cut salaries across the board because work had slowed down because of the pandemic.
Then when she thought things couldn’t get any worse, her home, which she was renting out, was in danger of foreclosure because the renters had stopped paying rent. Since there was a moratorium on evictions during the pandemic, there was nothing Juanita could do.
However, she saw a glimmer of hope when she heard about HomeFree-USA and the work they did on behalf of homeowners and homebuyers.
Juanita called HomeFree-USA. She spoke to Homeownership Advisor Gary Plummer, “and he started advocating for me,” she says.
At first the mortgage company refused to give her a modification, but Gary continued to make her case. One day, when she’d just about given up, “we got a call because Gary had worked something out with them,” she says. The mortgage company had approved her modification, which would allow her to keep her house.
The biggest lesson she learned during that experience is that fighting foreclosure isn’t a task you want to take on alone.
“People lose their homes in foreclosure every day,” she says. She believes that part of the reason is because some mortgage companies don’t want to listen to what borrowers have to say. She admits she felt unheard by her mortgage company.
HomeFree-USA already has relationships with mortgage companies and they know what types of programs are available for consumers who are struggling financially. Armed with that knowledge, Gary knew that giving up would have been a mistake. So he kept making her case until Juanita was approved.
Today she’s continuing to rebuild her life, and she takes comfort in having her home as a stable foundation. “It’s my first home and it’s the place that for me is comfortable,” she says. “If it wasn’t for Gary being my advocate and really fighting for me even when I gave up, I wouldn’t have gotten this blessing.”
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