ERIN EDGEMON, Business Editor
Posted: Sunday, February 1, 2009 7:15 am

TMP photo by Kelly Hite. Tina Pritchard talks with Joe Hafner and John Jones of John Jones Real Estate. Hafner and Jones helped Pritchard sell her home before she lost it to foreclosure.

When Tina Pritchard found herself falling behind on her monthly mortgage payments, the single mother feared she would lose her home and tarnish her credit history.

“That was my biggest fear, arriving home one day and the doors being padlocked and not having a place to live,” she said.

But before that could happen Pritchard was referred to John Jones Real Estate, who helped her sell her home and stop the foreclosure.

Joe Hafner, managing broker, of John Jones Real Estate recently became the first real estate professional in Middle Tennessee and just the third person in the state to earn the Certified Distressed Property Expert designation.

The real estate company can help homeowners hurt by mortgage rate adjustments, loss of employment, illness, divorce and other factors stop the foreclosure process and sell their home.

John Jones Real Estate has set up a free Web site located at www.thehomesaverguys.com and a toll-free foreclosure hotline at 800-239-2513 ext. 2047 where homeowners can learn more about the foreclosure process.

“The biggest obstacle to overcoming foreclosure is often fear,” Hafner said. “When people get behind on their mortgage payments, the fear can become overwhelming.”

He said homeowners should seek help “the moment they know their situation is untenable.

“The moment the house payment is in jeopardy,” Hafner added.

Jones said banks don’t want to take away people’s homes, and they are typically willing to work with the homeowner.

Hafner and Jones will sit down with homeowners and help them understand what they are up against and show them what options are available to them.

And, for no money out of the homeowner’s pocket, the pair will help prepare documents to present to the lending company to stop the foreclosure and allow a short sale, which is where a home is sold for less than what is owed on it.

“We sit down with people, help them understand just what they are up against, and usually show them that they do have options other than foreclosure,” he continued. It’s pretty amazing and gratifying to see the fear replaced with hope.”

Over the past year and a half, foreclosures in Rutherford County and across the country has have risen largely due to mortgage rate adjustments and unemployment.

In the Nashville metropolitan area, which includes Murfreesboro, foreclosures increased by 0.6 percent for November 2008 compared to November 2007, according to First American CoreLogic.

Only 0.14 percent of homes in Rutherford County are in foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac.

A foreclosure can destroy a homeowner’s credit score, lowering it by 250 to 350 points. But if the foreclosure can be stopped and the house sold, a homeowner’s credit score will drop 50 to 150 points.

“You help save their dignity,” Jones said when foreclosures can be stopped. “There is something about a foreclosure that sticks with you.

Pritchard, who is now living with her eldest daughter in Smyrna, said John Jones Real Estate worked with her and around her schedule.

“I felt like they were a part of my family,” she said. “They did everything to help me. They were there whenever I needed them.”

Erin Edgemon can be reached at 869-0812 and at eedgemon@murfreesboropost.com.

John Jones Real Estate
239 John R. Rice Blvd.

1-800-239-2513 ext. 2044
www.thehomesaverguys.com