DAVIS COUNTY — There are a certain few homeowners that are in a much better situation now with their home than they were a month ago.

But for some the topic of foreclosure is a constant worry and threat.

Home foreclosure takes place after the homeowner has been unable to make their mortgage payments for several months or more.

Filing what is called a “Notice Of Default” is the lender’s first step in foreclosing on the property. The entire process takes several months but in the end the homeowner still loses their home.

Many homeowners often question what the next step is once a Notice of Default is filed, particularly whether the home will be foreclosed.

“Absolutely not,” said Theron Morrison, managing partner and attorney at Wright and Morrison Law office in Ogden. “There are a lot of different ways to help people stay out of foreclosure, but lenders don’t always make all of the options available to them.

“Instead, they’re told they have to sign their property back over to the lender in what is called a ‘Died in Lieu of Foreclosure’ (which just means you give the property back rather then they take it), or the homeowner sees no other option than to file for bankruptcy protection, and in the worst cases, the homeowner just gives up and gets foreclosed on.

“Loan modification, however, is another avenue made available to homeowners,” he continued. “Which can allow them to stay in their home and become current on their mortgage”.

Morrison, along with Tim Cella and Kevin Stephens (who serve as Certified Personal Financial Counselors and live in the Davis County area) work with banks and other lending agencies in order to provide new terms for the owner.

“In many cases, we have been able to provide the owner with lower interest rates and a longer term,” he said. “This way the homeowner is able to stay in his home with more flexible finances.”

Although Morrison, Cella, and Stephens, have only combined their efforts in helping people avoid foreclosure and bankruptcy for a short time, their combined experience runs 25 years deep.

Morrison stated that the majority of the time, people are unaware the program even exists.

“Banks are willing to do loan modifications now, people just have to be aware of it,” said Cella. “We’ve seen lenders do loan modifications and repayment plans where the terms were something that was not in the best interest of the homeowner.

“Eventually the homeowner will be right back in foreclosure. Having an attorney represent the owner means making sure that the plan offer and requested is always in the best interest of the homeowner.

“We are not setting people up to fail,” he said. “We are setting them up to succeed long term.

“We had a customer not long ago that came to us looking for a loan modification. We were able to take his mortgage payments down from $1,050 a month to around $720 (per month).”

The main thing, according to all three, is that a loan modification is not the same as filing for bankruptcy, refinancing, or foreclosure.

“Refinancing requires that you have credit,” said Cella. “While the market made refinancing work for a long time, the downward trend is starting to show some owners that this option really isn’t working anymore.

“Especially if you have an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM). When the market goes down, the ARM goes up to 20 percent or higher.”

According to Morrison, foreclosures are devastating to a person’s credit. In many cases it will be difficult to get another home loan for at least four years, possibly more.

“We’ve seen many times where we’ve studied cases and said ‘a loan modification could have worked here,’” said Morrison. “However, since they didn’t know about their options, they were forced to foreclose and now don’t have a home and a damaged credit rating.”

They believe that with the proper knowledge of loan modification, homeowners that may be in financial trouble could look toward loan modification as a first resort, rather than a last.

“It’s a tough situation to be in,” said Cella. “But that’s why we’re here. We want to be able to tell people that there is another way, and this is it.”

Cella stated that the office will be offering courses soon at their current office, as well as their soon to be open office in Clearfield. As part of the course, homeowners will learn, among other things, what a loan modification can do for them.

“Just the term itself is something new to people,” said Morrison. “As a result, we feel that the more we are able to educate (homeowners) about this program through our course, the better.”