The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

Foreclosures have become a plague across the country, sickening the economies of small towns, the general contractor industry and even the commercial real estate industry. No facet of the real estate world has gone unaffected.

Whether your home was foreclosed upon or your mortgage lender granted you a short sale (negotiated permission to sell your home for less than what is owed), it was probably considered a tremendous relief to drop the proverbial financial anchor tied around your neck.

However, thousands of Americans once in the same boat are now finding that the tide is again rising around them, as banks and lenders are coming back months later for the remainder of what is owed on the home.…

Inside a typical house in a pretty ordinary neighborhood, a husband and wife sit at their kitchen table well after dinner, staring stoically at one another. Scattered in front of them is an array of half-torn envelopes and perforated slips of paper with bold red type. Words like “urgent” and “past due” and “collections” stand out like blood on snow. While outside, a person casually strolls into their driveway and stops at the family minivan. A key is inserted into the lock. Moments later, the couple notices headlights wave across the kitchen and the confused silence is broken by the sound of them hurrying through the house to see what’s happening outside.…