Thank you to for the advice. I don’t have any equity in the (the loan amount is 535,000 but according to zillow.com my house is worth 515,000) so I know my options are short sale or foreclosure. I have come to terms with that I was just trying to see if anyone knew of someone who has experience with the pre-foreclosure process. Someone that will be able to help my family through the process. A loss mitigation specialist is apparently someone who will negotiate with the lender to lower the rate on the loan or work out some kind of payment plan. It’s basically someone getting paid to do something we can do on our own. And yes, I have already tried with my lender and they offered the forbearance but my payments are already so high that we would never be able to catch up. I live with my sister and we take care of our parents. She also has 3 kids. We bought our home in 2004 but in 2005 my dad was hospitalized for 4 months and due to missed work we made the mistake of using credit cards to pay some bills. In 2006 our 2 year fixed rate adjusted and it went from 5% to 8% and our credit score was in the 600s by then & we’ve been struggling ever since. This is definitely not a scam to play on anyone’s sympathies during this time. I started the process of looking for help early last week. I am already in credit counseling to work on my credit card/loans and am looking for someone who can help me with this part. I know I am going to lose the house – I just wanted to find someone who can offer some guidance. It sounds like a real estate lawyer is my best option.