Lets face it, history has shown us that the best investment for the average consumer throughout history has been real estate. Not stocks, not bonds, not mutual funds but real estate. That's not to say there haven't been bumps in the road in the overall market. This time though, there seems to be a triple witching affect that has the ability to take almost 2 million homeowners over the edge and into foreclosure.

1. Low introductory or "teaser rate." Programs

2. Under qualified borrowers

3. Overaggressive banks and lenders.

If you or someone you know has gotten swallowed up in the teaser rate storm, there is help available and there are ways to avoid foreclosure. But you have to know what you're doing and you have to act fast. Your ability to dig yourself out of this hole and save your home from foreclosure is going to depend largely on the reasons why you have fallen behind on you're mortgage payments in the first place. For instance, are your reasons temporary? Do you know when you will begin to make steady payments again?

If you can provide to the bank solid evidence that your finances are going to be turning around shortly, there is a way you can save your home from foreclosure.

Simply asking your lender and about predefined "grace period" during which your monthly payments are lowered is a quick alternative to losing your home and believe it or not, it is done all the time and even has a name. It's called a "special forbearance". The primary factor for qualifying for this program is going to be your ability to provide your lender with specific details on how you expect to get caught up on your mortgage with specific dates in the future.

Another option to consider if your lender isn't being as forgiving might be to take out a home equity loan. If you've lived in your home long enough, and made enough of your payments on time to accumulate significant amount equity, this could be a way to go. If you bought your home in the real estate bubble of the past few years, you may not qualify so check with your local bank or lender.

Understand that the equity in your home is determined by the total amount of cash, which would be left if the money you still owed on your mortgage were to be deducted from a current appraisal of your home's value. Taking home equity loan to avoid foreclosure means that you will refinance your existing mortgage with a new one, cash out home equity, and use it to pay off the balance of the earlier mortgage.

If you don't have the equity in your home to be able qualify for a home equity loan and your missed mortgage payments haven't affected your credit rating yet, you might still have an option to consider a traditional loan to avoid foreclosure. If this is available to you, limit the amount you're going to borrow to the amount it's going to take pay off your existing mortgage.

If, however, your score has already been damaged by your failure to make your payments on time, and you have tried all of your resources including family and friends, you may have to accept the fact that you will lose your home. But you can still avoid foreclosure!

How? By finding a way to sell your home while you're still in the pre-foreclosure process. True, you will give up your home, you may not walk away with any cash in hand, but if you can keep a foreclosure off your credit record, you will be in a much better position to get another mortgage in the future.

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