In Wonderland, Alice would have said, "It's getting curiouser and curiouser."

The last session of the Oreon legislature made some changes to the foreclosure statutes. Here're a few of them:

1. When a lender sends out a Notice of Default, which it does when it intends to foreclose, a letter stating the borrower's right to ask for a loan modification must be included.

2. A loan mdification request form must also be included. The borrower will need to return this form within thirty days. It's unclear whther this form should be sent to the trustee or to the borrower. I'd advise to end it to both.

3. The beneficiary (lender) must respond to the loan modification request within forty-five days. The borrower may request a meeting and the lender must do so in person or by telephone.

4. Here's a change that's kind of a weird one. If  lender owns both the first and second trust deed, which it does on a piggyback loan ("80-20," "90-10," etc.), and forecloses on the first oan, it can't foreclose on the second and can't pursue the borrower personally on the second note.  Moreover, foreclosure on the second lien may prohibit the borrower from foreclosing on the first.

There are other changes, and you can read a summary here. If you're behind in your mortgage payments and thinking about what to do--try for a loan modification, offer a deed-in-lieu or simply go to short sale--it's helpful reading.

By the way--a lot f these changes expire in 2012 and things go back to the way they were.