Are you facing foreclosure on your Hawaii home?

Join Abe Lee of Abe Lee Realty and Abe Lee Seminars, Scott Sakata and Jeff Orig of The Hawaii Real Estate Report on  OC16 and Abe Lee Realty and special guest Sheri Kagimoto on Radio Tiny, this Thursday, March 26 from 8:15am – 9:00am.

Radio Tiny” airs on BOTH RADIO & TV simultaneously on K108 – AM1080 and OC16 from 7-9am.  It also streams live on the web.  So tell anyone you know who doesn’t have cable, lives on the mainland, or overseas… that they can still watch the program live from 7:00am – 9:00am Hawaii Time on www.oc16.tv.

Sheri Kagimoto came close to losing her home in 1998 when a workplace injury left her with no job, multiple credit card balances and a young child to support on her own.

After explaining her situation to her lender, she worked out a plan to lower and extend monthly payments for one year without destroying her credit score.

Today, the mother of four runs a counseling service, Mortgage Assistance & Mitigation Group, to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

“Back in 2007, I saw it coming,” said Kagimoto, who has real estate and mortgage solicitors’ licenses. “I was screaming at the top of my lungs telling people that foreclosures were going to happen, and everybody said no. Now, they’re hunting us down asking for help.”

Kagimoto, who receives at least three calls daily from homeowners seeking advice, said more than half of borrowers think foreclosure is their only option when, in fact, there are alternatives.

The alternatives depend on a homeowner’s financial situation.

In a loan modification, new payment amounts and interest rates are negotiated, similar to home refinancing.

In a forebearance arrangement, the lender and borrower agree to a temporary payment plan — or no payment at all. Forebearance usually is for borrowers with temporary setbacks, such as job loss or income reduction.

Short sales and “deed in lieu of foreclosure” are two other options in which the home is sold for less than the mortgage amount, and the homeowner walks away without being foreclosed on. However, lenders may require borrowers to cover the difference between the mortgage balance and the sale price, sometimes by taking out a new loan.

Banks and other lenders say they do everything they can to avoid foreclosures because they are expensive and time-consuming.

The average amount of time between a first missed payment and a foreclosure proceeding is at least 90 days.

Roughly 30 days after a missed payment, the lender sends the homeowner a letter and attempts to contact the homeowner by phone.

If payments still are not met 30 days after initial contact, the lender sends the homeowner a notice of default, and the homeowner has 30 days to respond.

Foreclosure proceedings occur between three months and one year after the first missed payment.

Judicial foreclosures, involving courts and attorneys, can take between nine and 12 months to complete. Non-judicial foreclosure proceedings, handled by the lender only, can take between three and six months.

When Kagimoto started her counseling service two years ago, Mainland lenders responded faster than Hawaii institutions with requests for modifying their loans.

“Now local lenders are more open to assistance being provided to aid the homeowner — it’s more mainstream,” she said.