Avoid the permanence of foreclosure and secure your future.
A short, plain-spoken guide for homeowners who owe more than their home is worth, can no longer afford the payments, and do not know what to do next.
Fresh Start for Homeowners was born in the wreckage of the 2007 housing collapse, when millions of families woke up owing more than their homes were worth and found that no one was coming to explain what to do next. Jesse Ibanez and Cherie Tiscareno had lived it themselves.
Rather than stay quiet, they founded Hope|against|HOPE, a nonprofit education and counseling effort, and began holding free workshops in the heart of the communities that needed them most.
This book is what those one-hour workshops could never finish. The information to escape foreclosure was already out there, buried in language only a lawyer or a full-time agent could love. What was missing was the connection, the people's voice, a path a homeowner could actually follow.
If you owe more than your home is worth, can no longer afford the payments, and do not know what to do, start here. You are not alone, not knowing what to do is the right place to begin, and there is nothing to be ashamed of.
The cover makes a promise, a fresh start in four steps or less. The book delivers it as a sequence you can walk, in order, at your own pace.
Before the how comes the why. A short clarity exercise, about fifteen minutes, helps you name what a fresh start really means for you and your family. Figure out your why and the how tends to follow. You even sign a short contract with yourself, because we are far more likely to finish what we put our name to.
An honest look at the numbers. The Cost of Staying the Course shows whether you are upside down, by how much, and roughly how long a recovery could take. In the book's own example, a family owing $350,000 on a $200,000 home does not break even for about 8.5 years, while the renter next door quietly saves over $100,000. The goal is informed decisions, not emotional ones.
Most homeowners only hear about the one option the bank wants to offer. This step lays out the real menu in plain language: loan modification, short sale, and yes, foreclosure, with the trade-offs of each, so you can choose with your eyes open instead of being chosen for.
A fresh start is not a feeling, it is a plan carried to the finish. You build a workable plan of action and take each step until your fresh start is real. The book stays your companion the whole way, so honest mistakes made trying to get ahead do not permanently disable your future.
Jesse and Cherie did not learn this in a lecture hall. They learned it at butcher counters and kitchen tables, in grass-roots, town-hall workshops where distressed owners told them exactly what they needed. The need outgrew one-on-one help, so the workshops were born. It outgrew the room, so came webinars. It outgrew their corner of California, so came this book.
Threaded through all of it is a single idea their mentor Joe Stumpf, founder of By Referral Only, gave them: help arrives as the higher truth in everything we do. So the method starts with clarity and vision, not paperwork. Figure out your why, see the outcome clearly, and the steps stop feeling impossible. Take what you need from the book, leave the rest, and start down the road today.
The real estate community should be leading the healing.Jesse Ibanez
Jesse is a Generation 3.0 real estate consultant who has served San Diego since 2003. His connection to foreclosure is not theoretical. As a thirteen-year-old he watched his family nearly lose their home, and in 2007 he lost his.
He could have let it define him. Instead he chose, in his words, to be better rather than bitter, and to be for others the ray of light he once needed. That choice became Hope|against|HOPE, and eventually this book.
"Rarely do you read a book that really tells it like it is. Jesse and Cherie have made a huge contribution to every homeowner who owes more than their home is worth and does not know what to do. Read it cover to cover, now."
"It was everything and much more than I expected. All I wanted was someone to help me understand my options, and this did that, then helped me move in the right direction. I feel more prepared now than ever before."
"Very clear and concise, covering all the things I had been through starting with the loan modification. A must for anyone starting out on this path and unsure what to do."
120+ five-star reviews on Google · 430+ on Yelp for The Greenhouse Group
"We were upside down and terrified. Jesse walked us through every option with zero pressure and helped us choose a path we could actually live with. We finally felt in control again."
"Honest, patient, and genuinely on our side. He explained short sales and modifications in plain English and never once made us feel ashamed of our situation."
"I thought foreclosure was my only option. Jesse showed me it was not, and gave me a real plan to follow. I cannot recommend The Greenhouse Group highly enough."
It is a short, plain-spoken guide for homeowners in distress, the kind who owe more on their home than it is worth, can no longer afford the payments, and do not know where to turn. Written by Jesse Ibanez and Cherie Tiscareno, it lays out a four-step path to avoid the permanence of foreclosure and secure your future, in under 100 pages and about five hours of reading.
Find your why and commit to it, assess where you really stand financially, understand your real options including loan modification, short sale, and foreclosure, then build a workable plan and follow it through to the end. The book walks you through each step in order, with simple exercises along the way.
Being upside down, or having negative equity, means your mortgage balance is larger than your home's current value. In the book's example, a family owing $350,000 on a home worth $200,000 is $150,000 upside down and would not break even for roughly 8.5 years even with steady appreciation, while a renter in the same situation saved over $100,000. The book includes a simple worksheet so you can run your own numbers and decide with facts rather than fear.
Homeowners usually have more paths than the single one a lender may put in front of them. The book explains loan modification, short sale, and foreclosure in plain language, along with the trade-offs of each, so you can make an informed decision rather than an emotional one. For guidance on your specific situation, it encourages working with a qualified professional.
No. Fresh Start was written to be understood without a law degree and read in about five hours. It grew out of the free community workshops Jesse and Cherie ran for years, and its whole purpose is to put clear, usable direction in a homeowner's hands quickly and at low cost.
Both are San Diego area real estate professionals who lived through foreclosure and short sale themselves and chose to help others through it. As co-founders of the Hope|against|HOPE movement, they have given away their time and expertise to thousands of distressed homeowners, for free, since 2009. Jesse is co-founder of The Greenhouse Group, Inc. and has served the community since 2003.
The book gives you the path. If you want a steady hand for your own situation in San Diego, Jesse is a phone call away.
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