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The housing market continues its deep decline. But even while we are approaching the worst time in history for the housing market since the famous Great Depression, some Judges are actually taking one for the home owner’s team.

Apparently with the huge number of foreclosures being issued by the lenders, lots of mistakes are happening on the paperwork. In fact, some foreclosures are even trying to be pushed through the court system before the lender even has the right to foreclose on it.

Judges in many states are getting in on the act and dismissing these foreclosures causing the plaintiffs to go back and fix the errors or questionable information and then resume the process. Unfortunately, this won’t help every state because only some states require that the foreclosure process even go through the legal system.

However, the states that do require it and have some on the ball Judges working for them, may not see as much of an increase in foreclosures as the rest of the country will.

The real estate market is far from booming but if you are still interested in making your way forward in that market there are still some possibilities out there. While the single home family market may be deep in a downslide, other types of real estate sales are remaining constant or actually increasing a small amount.

For instance, rural markets are remaining steady and in some cases beginning to rise. With environmental concerns in the forefront and the increasing need to get away from some of the crime and complexness of life in the city, country real estate is well received.

Interestingly, foreign real estate and the dock markets are still increasing.

Another type of real estate that is actually rising in its use is the good ole timeshare. Remember how we all used to dislike them! Well, the tables seem to be turning and these less expensive alternatives are being rethought.

It seems that it will be the bankers that may be taking the hit to pull approximately 400,000 homeowners out of foreclosure by allowing them to refinance into affordable, government-backed loans.

By reducing the amount that is owed on the home, the banks will be taking a loss on the loan. The banks are initially agreeing to stick to this plan but it is hard to say if they will actually follow through on what they are saying now. There doesn’t seem to be much incentive for them to comply with the program.

They may be forced to comply if the housing market continues to decline. With lawmakers already pushing for this to begin, if the market continues to decline there will be even more pressure on the banks to take the losses. If they don’t, many people are going to be faced with paying mortgage payments that have doubled or lose their homes.

There are two fairly straight forward ways to avoid foreclosure on your home. Unfortunately, neither way will prevent you from having to give up your house and neither will be much better for your credit. The two options will prevent you from having an actual foreclosure on your credit report and you will be free of any mortgage debt.

The first option is to short sale your house which means sell your house for less than what you owe on it. This amount is agreed to by your lender and they usually forgive the difference from what it is sold for and what you actually owe them for it.

The other option is giving the deed to the mortgage company in lieu of foreclosure, which basically means you just give the lender your house and you walk away. Again, the lender will forgive the difference between what they resell it for and what it is worth.