The trick to getting a mortgage fixed

Foreclosure prevention is a messy business - more art than science. Here, an inside look at why some people get a loan workout and others don't.

And so begins the complicated and time-consuming foreclosure prevention process. Working together are mortgage servicers - the companies that manage the loans - and the borrowers, with foreclosure prevention counselors often acting as go-betweens.

"The common objective is to fix the loan," said Alan Goldberg, vice president with the home owner assistance division of Genworth Financial, a mortgage insurer that has collaborated with servicers in completing more than 2,800 workouts in the first quarter of 2008.

But what's best for a borrower isn't always best for the lenders, who weigh the cost of every workout against the cost of foreclosure. Whether or not a homeowner gets help boils down to the numbers.

If keeping an at-risk borrower in their home is going to cost the lender more than a foreclosure will, that homeowner is usually out of luck. The good news is that foreclosures are expensive - at least $50,000 according to the Center for Responsible Lending.