There are three things that you should do immediately after being served with a Notice of Intent to Foreclose:

1. Take action to avoid foreclosure by all means possible.
2. Take action to avoid foreclosure by all means possible.
3. Take action to avoid foreclosure by all means possible.

Foreclosure is a bad thing. A very bad thing.

It can eat up the equity you've built up in your home. It can become a huge flag on your credit history. It rips the control of your life from your hands and puts it into your lender's.

But a foreclosure doesn't really occur until the very moment that your property is auctioned. Up until that moment, it can be avoided. It is truly in your best interest to use the time you have been given to take that control back. Action equals control.

There are a multitude of things that you can do after being served a Notice of Intent to Foreclose. The very worst thing you can do is to ignore it. These things don't just go away.

By taking quick action, you can avoid potential disaster to your credit history, which is likely already in poor condition. You can avoid losing all of the equity you have built up in your home. Many times, you can avoid losing your home at all!

In most cases, by the time you receive a foreclosure notice, your lender has sent you many notices. They likely have made other attempts to contact you by phone or in person. These efforts have not given them the results they were looking for, so the decision to foreclose has been reached.

This is not a decision they take lightly. Foreclosure is a waste of money and effort. If a lender forecloses, they now have a property that they must sell in order to get their money back. They have to maintain the property. They owe taxes. They have to pay a broker. Of course, they'll pass as much of these costs on to you as they can, but they don't always come out ahead.

What the average lender would far prefer is to have someone else own the property, and for them to pay the loan off all at once, or over time. This is what they are in business for. They are lenders, not landlords.

So what they like to see after serving you with your Notice of Intent to Foreclose is some ACTION! A call to them. A loan payment. A "For Sale" sign in the front yard. Something to let them know that you are listening.

If you start working with a lender, they will generally try to work with you. I'm not saying that they'll just say you can stay in the house, but they may just extend the deadline they gave you. I'm sure you've heard that time is money, and this is no exception. The more time you can create, the less money you'll be likely to lose.

Taking early action gives you time to use some of the equity in your house to your advantage. The $5,000 you owe in late mortgage payments seems like a huge mountain. But you may have paid a good-sized down payment on your house. Maybe you can refinance the house to take advantage of the increased property values in the area. The increased value or down payment are equity, and using it can get you out of a jam.

It seems odd that a lender will allow you to borrow more money in order to pay what you already can't afford, but it happens every day. Again, banks are in the lending business -- not the house owning business. By lending you enough to get back on you feet, they can sometimes turn a bad loan into a performing one.

Just use caution. Many times these refinancing packages are at high rates. Look for financing that makes it easier to move on. When possible, you want to decrease your payment, while adding to the loan. This works best when you originally borrowed at a higher rate, or when you've paid on you loan for several years.

Don't use this refinancing to buy a new car, or pay off other debts. This one is strictly to avoid the foreclosure. After you've caught up the mortgage, you can work on your other problems.

If your situation is one that isn't likely to change, you may be better off to take the equity out of your house by selling it. You can sell in one of three ways. Each has their own pros and cons.

By using a realtor to sell the property, you'll likely sell it faster, and for more money. Just as banks are in the lending business, realtors are in the selling business. It is what they excel at. The downside of using a realtor is that they normally get a commission of 6%. That commission comes out of your end. If you don't have enough equity in your home, you might walk away with nothing.

You can also sell your house yourself. This is know as "For Sale by Owner", or FSBO. You'll put a sign in your yard, show it yourself, list it in the newspaper, etc. There is no commission, but the advertising isn't free. The biggest downsides here are that not as many people will know the house is for sale, so you'll typically take a lot longer to sell the house, and you may not get as much money for it.

The final method is to sell to one of those "We Buy Houses" companies. They normally work quickly. You'll be asked to sign the property over to them in return for some quick money. They will deal with the lenders. Many will set you up in a new apartment, pay a couple month's rent in advance, and even pay the moving company. The downside here is that you won't get much money, and what they do give you is based upon their profit potential.

By taking action as soon as you are served with a Notice of Intent to Foreclose, you can choose the method that will work best for your situation. Now get going!