Ventura County homeowners, a growing list of whom are among the highest number of Californians facing foreclosure in more than a decade, needn't panic because a variety of strategic options are available to them ranging from curing financial obligations to the sale of the property.

This was the central theme advanced by Paul Stansen, executive vice president with Troop Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of Troop Real Estate, Inc., during a recent free seminar that drew a capacity gathering of Ventura County homeowners to the Marriot Courtyard Hotel in Oxnard.

Reporting that Notices of Default (NODs) were filed on 1,059 houses and condos in Ventura County during the second quarter of 2007, up 134 percent over the year's earlier quarter, Stansen declared that homeowners who are having difficulty making their mortgage payments and are in the pre-foreclosure "timeline" can benefit from workable options.

"Homeowners who have not yet missed a mortgage payment but who expect to default, those already behind on their payments, who received a notice of foreclosure, are having trouble communicating with their lenders, or who realize they need legal and tax advise in order to strategize should immediately seek experienced legal and real estate representation to communicate with your lender or lenders," Stansen told seminar guests.

Stansen, an attorney and real estate broker with 22 years experience, explained that his firm's objectives in assisting homeowners approaching or actually in preforeclosure include:

Defining a homeowner's loan status and obligations; knowing where the homeowner is to determine where to go next; exploring/exhausting all available options that could allow a borrower to retain his/her home, or some other disposition including selling the home, and mitigating the negative consequences associated with defaulting on a mortgage.

"Once homeowners provide Troop Solutions with the necessary mortgage documents, we provide them with answers and strategies tailored to their particular circumstance within 72 hours — time is of the essence," Stansen said.

Among the key options available to homeowners who have defaulted, he said, are: 1) Reinstatement — curing/paying the lender what is owed; 2) Repayment Plan — a written agreement between the borrower and lender to help the homeowner make up missed payments; 3) Mortgage Modifications — changing one or more terms of a mortgage, including reducing the interest rate; 4) Special Forbearance — structuring repayment based on financial condition (requires hardship) and 5) List/Sell your property.

"Sometimes, there is no workout where the lender is not receptive to any plan presented. In this case a homeowner's only choice is to list and sell their property."

Stansen said that Troop Solutions and Troop Real Estate, Ventura County's largest independent brokerage, are prepared to help clients who have special mortgage payment issues.

He also underscored that another option may be a pre-foreclosure Sale/Short Pay, which allows homeowners to sell their property and pay off their mortgage loan to avoid foreclosure and damage their credit rating. As a last resort, under certain circumstances borrowers may be able to voluntarily "give back" their property to the mortgage company. "This won't save your house, but will increase your chances of getting a future mortgage loan."

Stansen also cautioned that there are significant tax and legal ramifications of such transactions and that attorneys and/or tax professionals should be consulted. He said, for example, a homeowner may be forced to recognize both capital gains and/or ordinary income from the cancellation of debt (COD).

"Because of our legal and real estate background, Troop Solutions is able to offer our clients a comprehensive analyses to assess which factors will empower good and informed decision making," he said.

Stansen announced that he plans several other free seminars in the months ahead.

For information on Troop Solutions, call toll free at (888) 529-6632 or visit www.troopsolutions.com.