BOSTON -- A new brochure was released Monday in an effort to educate homeowners on how to avoid foreclosure.

"Protecting Your Investment: Understanding Home Financing and Avoiding Foreclosure" offers guidance to consumers who are considering purchasing or refinancing a home and offers tips to homebuyers who are having trouble paying their mortgage. The brochure also outlines remedies to avoid foreclosure and details the devastating impact foreclosures have on the economy.

Attorney General Martha Coakley's Office together with the Massachusetts Association of Realtors collaborated on the brochure.

"Financial literacy plays a critical role in the home buying process, and in many instances education can help homebuyers avoid the financial nightmare of foreclosure," said Coakley. "We hope that this brochure will help consumers to inform themselves about the home buying process and their options if they find themselves in financial trouble."

"This brochure highlights the tools available to consumers to help them stay in their homes in addition to precautions all homebuyers should take prior to signing a mortgage," said Massachusetts Association of REALTORS Susan M. Renfrew.

Since taking office in January 2007, Coakley has made addressing the foreclosure crisis a priority of her administration. In addition to her office's outreach efforts, the Attorney General's Office has also implemented regulations banning foreclosure rescue schemes and barring unscrupulous mortgage broker and lender conduct in the commonwealth.

Last fall, the Attorney General's Office filed suit against national lender Fremont Investment and Loan, a sub-prime lender that originated thousands of loans in Massachusetts and whose risky loan-selling conduct significantly contributed to the foreclosure crisis in Massachusetts.

Homeowners who are having trouble paying their mortgage or anticipate problems in the future are encouraged to call the Homeownership Preservation Foundation Hotline at 888-995-HOPE (4673).