Foreclosure is a very frightening term. You have poured your blood, sweat and tears into turning your house into a home.

Now, hard times have hit you. Maybe you lost your job, divorced, became disabled got transferred or downsized. Your mortgage holder has rules about your payments.

Threats about losing your home are in the air.

Did you know that there could be a solution? I will give you 7 tips that I heard about that may help you out.

But first, you must talk to your attorney about them. I am not an attorney nor do I pretend to be one. I am also not giving legal advice.

So on with the tips.

1. Contact the mortgage holder and work out another type of payment plan. The worst that can happen is they say "no way".

2. Contact another lender and refinance.

3. Contact a Real Estate agent to sell your home.

4. Sell your home yourself.

5. Sell your home to an investor.

6. Claim bankruptcy.

7. Deed the house back to the bank.

If you do nothing you will get evicted.

I don't know if you realized that apart from being evicted your credit is messed up for up to ten years. Any equity you have is lost. You walk away with no money from this investment.

If you are going to sell your house yourself (For Sale By Owner), consider the following points.

• Make sure your house looks nice both inside and outside. Some people get so depressed about what is going on that they let things go.

• Begin by walking around your house with a garbage bag and gloves. Pick up all the bits of junk, papers, dead plants, everything that makes your yard look messy.

• Take the time to trim plants and bushes. Make your yard look really nice. Even plant some pretty bright colored flowers that don't cost much.

• Do whatever you can to do some touch up painting on the outside. At least make sure that the front door looks great. Please don't have any peeling paint showing.

• Inside your house, have it looking spacious by removing clutter.

• Get rid of any pet odors.

• Get rid of cigarette smoke. Make sure ashtrays are clean.

• If you want to have some scent in your house, be sure that it is a light scent.

• Make sure that you don't have cracked and peeling paint anywhere in the house.

The suggestions above will help to show the buyer that you have taken care of your property.

Other points to consider;

You must find out how much your house is worth on the open market. You can easily get this information about real estate prices in your area by going into your favorite search engine and entering property appraiser and your county, or you can choose to hire a property appraiser. You could contact a Real Estate Agent for information but chances are they might try to talk you out of selling your house yourself.

Get a real estate lawyer you really can't get by with out one. This will cost you some money but it is worth it. The real estate lawyer can help you and save you from making serious mistakes. They will also help you to draw up your contracts etc.

You will need to advertise in some manner that your house is up for sale. At the very least put up a For Sale Sign on your front lawn. Contact some non profits agencies to see if they can advertise for you.

On a final note, do allow buyers to comfortably examine your property in a relaxed environment. Don't appear over anxious.