What Happens If You Abandon Your Home and Let It Foreclose?
94What Happens if You Abandon Your Home and Let it Foreclose?
When you are facing foreclosure, it can be tempting to just give up and walk away from the home. Before abandoning your mortgage, you should consider the possible consequences of letting your home foreclose. Sometimes abandoning a house might seem like the best option, but foreclosing on your home often does more harm than good.
Besides losing your home and possibly having no place to live, allowing your home to be foreclosed will dramatically affect your credit rating and make it more difficult for you to qualify for a new loan in the future. There are also tax consequences of foreclosure that you should be aware of before you make the decision to let your home go into foreclosure.
So what happens if you abandon your home and let it foreclose? This article will help you understand what the consequences will be if your home ends up being foreclosed. It will also give you an idea of what to expect and offer some options for those who want to try to save their homes and avoid foreclosure.
The Effect of Foreclosure on Your Credit Rating
You may be wondering what happens to your credit with a foreclosure. You are probably aware that a foreclosure will hurt your credit score. How much it affects your score can vary, but keep in mind that every late payment will show up on your credit report. Also, when your home does go through foreclosure, an entry will be made in the section of your credit report that covers legal actions.
A foreclosure tends to affect your credit score more if you have very little other debts. If you have credit cards and car payments that are all up to date, this can help buffer the effect of the foreclosure on your credit rating. However, if you have few other items on your credit report, or those bills are also falling behind, the effect will usually be much greater.
The foreclosure and late payment record can remain on your credit report for up to seven years, but that doesn't mean that you will be unable to get a loan for seven years. As soon as your financial situation improves, you should start making an effort to pay every bill you have on time. Many people find that after as little as two years of doing this, they are able to qualify for a new loan.
After going through a foreclosure, it is likely that you will need a large down payment next time you borrow money to buy a home. Your interest rate is also likely to be higher. Keep in mind that government programs such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are unavailable to people who have had a home foreclosed within the past two years.
If your foreclosure was not caused by an injury or other unexpected circumstances that prevented you from being able to make your payments, perhaps you have issues with debt management that should be addressed. Companies like Freedom Debt Management can help you eliminate your credit card debt and eventually rebuild your credit so that you will be less likely to get in trouble with your debts in the future.
Deficiency Judgments
One question that is asked often is, "If my house is foreclosed, can they make me pay?" In many states, the answer is yes. This is happening much more often now that it used to. The reason is that real estate prices have fallen, so it is much more likely that your home will be sold for less than the amount of the loan. If your state allows deficiency judgments, the lender can come after you for the difference between the amount you owed on your mortgage and the price the house sold for at the foreclosure auction.
The Tax Consequences of Foreclosure
One thing many people don't realize is that there is often a tax penalty that goes along with foreclosure. What happens is, if the house sells for less than the amount owed, the rest of the loan balance is considered "forgiven."
The IRS looks at this as income because it is something you would have had to paid but are getting out of. As a result, you may be taxed on the difference between the amount you owed and the amount the house sold for.
It is a good idea to talk to an accountant or tax lawyer about the possible tax consequences before you allow your home to foreclose.
Other Real Estate and Property
One thing people often worry about when facing foreclosure is whether the lender will be able to take other property and real estate that they own as well. Because real estate loans are secured by the property that is being financed, that property is usually all that the lender can take. However, if you specifically listed another piece of real estate as additional security when you applied for the loan, that property can also be taken.
When your lender forecloses on your home, your personal property is not included in the foreclosure. The lender has no claim on any property that is not permanently attached to the house.
Options for Avoiding Foreclosure
Instead of walking away from the house, it's a good idea to contact your lender as soon as you start to have trouble making your payments to try to work something out. Many lenders have programs available to help homeowners who are going through short-term financial difficulties. By working with your lender, you may be able to stop foreclosure on your home.
Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure
If it looks like you will not be able to work out a way to keep your home, some lenders will offer a "deed in lieu of foreclosure" or "cash for keys." If you can get your lender to pay you to move out quickly and leave the home in good condition, that could help you pay the cost of moving into a new home. However, a deed in lieu of foreclosure usually has about the same effect on your credit rating as an actual foreclosure.
Short Sale
One alternative to abandoning your home is a short sale. Unfortunately, you need the bank's cooperation to do it. When you sell your house in a short sale, the bank agrees to accept the amount that the house is selling for as full payment on the mortgage. Some banks will not do short sales at all, and those that do will make you jump through a lot of hoops and fill out tons of paperwork to get the sale approved. As a result, short sales are rare. However, if you can do it, a short sale is better that letting your house go into foreclosure.
Loan Modification
A loan modification is an agreement between you and the bank that changes the terms of the loan. It is just about as hard to convince a bank to enter into a loan modification agreement as a short sale, maybe harder. If you pursue this option, it is a good idea to have an experienced attorney or loan modification company help you through the process.
How to Foreclose on Your Home
I see a lot of people searching for how to foreclose on a house, so I'll take a minute to address that question. Obviously, if you don't pay on your mortgage, your home will eventually be foreclosed, but I think if you are searching for information on how to foreclose your home, what you are really asking is whether you should tell the bank that you are letting your home go into foreclosure.
The answer to that question is that it is entirely up to you. You can tell your mortgage company that you can no longer pay the payment, or you can just stop paying it. If you notify the lender, you can expect the foreclosure process to start sooner than if you don't, so telling them may not be in your best interest. What happens when you foreclose on a house and can't find another house to move into before you have to vacate the premises? You will need both time and money in order to move. You may find that you will be better off if you try to delay the foreclosure while you save money for rent and moving expenses.
What Happens In a Foreclosure?
So what happens when you foreclose? That's a good question. First of all, once you have started falling behind on your payments, you will get a notice that your payment is past due. You may also start getting collection calls from the lender. The mortgage company may continue sending past due notices for two to three months before starting the foreclosure process, or they may begin foreclosing as soon as you are late on your mortgage.
Notice of Default
The foreclosure process varies from one state to another, but all states require some sort of notice before the bank begins foreclosure proceedings. This may be called a "notice of default," "notice to accelerate," or "demand letter," depending on where you live. In most areas, you'll have about thirty days to catch up on your mortgage before the lender can take further action to foreclose on your home.
Notice of Foreclosure Sale
After you have been sent a notice and the waiting period has expired, the lender can set a date to sell your house at a foreclosure auction. They may be give notice of the foreclosure auction date by mail or by posting at the home, but in most places it is done by publishing a public notice in the local newspaper. Once the notice is published or delivered, you will no longer be able to save your home by bringing your payments current. You will now have to pay the entire loan amount in order to stop the foreclosure.
The Foreclosure Auction
At the foreclosure auction, bidders will be given a chance to bid on the home. If the high bid is equal to or greater than the amount owed, the high bidder will take possession of the home following the redemption period, if there is one. Otherwise, the bank will end up taking ownership of the home.
The Redemption Period
In many states, there is something called a "redemption period" in the foreclosure process. How this works varies from one state to another, so you should check your state's foreclosure laws to find out whether you will have a redemption period, and if so, how long it is.
If there is a redemption period, you will have a certain period of time after the home is sold at auction during which you can come up with the balance owed on the home and redeem the home. The redemption period is often between 6-12 months.
This gives the homeowner a chance to try to find a buyer for the home in order to pay off the loan balance. Even if you cannot find a buyer, you are entitled to stay in the home during the redemption period. During this time, you are basically living rent-free in the home. It's a good idea to use this time to save money to rent another home or apartment.
What Happens After Foreclosure?
Now that you know what happens when you foreclose on a house, you might be wondering what happens after home foreclosure. Once the redemption period is over (if there is one in your state), the bank will assume ownership of the home. It becomes part of the bank's REO, or real estate owned, inventory.
Bank-owned homes are typically listed with a real estate agent just as any other home would be. Foreclosed homes usually sell for less than other homes because they are often neglected during and after the foreclosure process. As a result, they are typically in need of some TLC by the time they hit the market and do not bring as high of a price as other homes in the same neighborhood.
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I'm into property auctions which usually translates into "handling" houses already left by their previous owners. Though it's a good thing to stay away from homes of friends who lost their homes, sometimes that is not avoidable. That being so, I've always wondered how the previous owners dealt with the prospect of losing their homes. Your hub addresses exactly that, and I can only say I'm glad it does.
With so many banks not wanting any more foreclosures you would be crazy to not attempt to work out some kind of deal. Opening the lines of communication between you and your lender can actually keep you in your home and salvage your credit rating.
My wife is in a 7/1 interest only loan, and it starts to flex in 2 years, plus we will have to pay the principal. I can see already that our interest only loan is way over our heads once the principal does kick in. I expect our loan to go from about $2,500 to $3,500. I dont think my wife ever actually figured what she may pay after the interest only period ended. To make it worse, we live in a so/so area in a 2 bedroom 1 bath house for $385,000. I believe its a matter of time before we lose our house. I want to force the issue by missing payments and see if the bank will help us or if we foreclose and move into something we can afford. To this point we dont qualify for refinancing or a loan mod, nobody wants to help. I'm prepared to gamble, and lose if thats what it comes down to.
Brian,
It sure looks like you are in over your heads, but keep in mind that if you allow this home to go through foreclosure, it will affect your credit and possibly keep you from buying another home for two or more years. It sounds like this home is in your wife's name only. If that's the case, you may still be able to buy a home in your name if you lose this one. That depends on your income and credit history of course.
If you do end up losing this house, you may have to rent for awhile before you can buy another home. Since your mortgage payment is $2,500 per month, I think it's likely that you will be able to find a nice place to rent for significantly less. If you can rent for $1500 per month and save the extra $1000, then in two years you will have $24,000 to put down on your next home. Hopefully, you will buy something a little more modest this time so that you can keep up with the payments. Don't try to buy the most expensive home you think you can afford. If you lose your job and have to take something that pays less, you still want to be able to keep up with your payments.
my boyfriend and I purchased a home together a year ago ... the home is affordable with both incomes BUT he has decided to venture away from the responsibility and now I'm forced to worry that I can't keep the home and all the other responsibilities that go with the home with only my income. How many months can I go without making a mortgage payment b/c they will be obviously be late and therefore, will loose the home to foreclosure. This will obviously affect our credit on both sides regardless. Please help!
Worried in Texas,
I am not a lawyer, so take this as just one person's opinion.
If you are absolutely certain that you cannot afford this house, your only options are to sell it quickly for enough to pay off the loan (much harder said than done, and you will need your boyfriend's cooperation to sign the documents) or let the house go through foreclosure. If you let the house go through foreclosure, I recommend that you stop making payments completely. If you try to make partial payments, the bank will still continue with the foreclosure process and you will have less money to move into a new home. Stay as long as you can and save every penny for moving expenses and rent on your new place.
Yes, this will affect your credit. You probably won't be able to get a new home loan for at least two years if you go through a foreclosure. However, you should be able to find a place to rent.
The only other option I can think of is to share the expenses. It's unclear from your comment whether the boyfriend is still in the picture or not, but if he has moved out then perhaps you could find a friend or relative to "house share" and help out with the expenses.
Good luck.
I OWN A 3 UNIT APARTMENT IN WHICH I LIVE. AM AT THE AGE WHERE CREDIT RATINGS MEAN VERY LITTLE. HAVE RECENTLY GONE THROUGH BACK SURGERY WHICH HAS HAD ME UNABLE TO WORK FOR ABOUT A YEAR. HAVE HAD NUMUROUS DISSCUSSION WITH THE LENDERS, YES I HAVE A SECOND MORTAGE. I HAVE NOW MISSED FOUR PAYMENTS ON BOTH. I'M SURE THE PROCESS IS UNDERWAY I WOULD LOVE TO JUST STAY HERE AND PAY RENT. THE OTHER UNITS ARE RENTED ALSO. CURRENTLY THE VALUE OF THE PROPPERTY IS LESS THEN THE LOAN AMOUNT. WOULD THIS BE LOGICAL THINKING? WHEN BEING FORECLOSED ON?
Robert,
You could try calling local real estate investors to see if anyone can help you out. Depending on the amount of equity in the apartment building, an investor may be interested in the property. Try calling the numbers on "I Buy Houses" ads and signs to find investors who might be able to work with you. Just proceed with caution -- don't be afraid to ask them to prove they can make the payments if they offer to take them over, for example.
Good luck.
Great post Beth!
I've heard differing opinions about whether they can go after other assets. I recently was told by a bankruptcy attorney that the lender can actually go after other assets.
Maybe it varies by state?
Hi,
My husband switched careers in 2006 to real estate and gave up his own business. The market crashed and we ended up in bankruptcy in 2008. We have 3 loans on our house - 1st at $327,465 interest only which will become adjustable next January. A 2nd, for $169,784 that we renegotiated and is at zero interest and a 3rd renegotiated equity loan for $23,538 at 4.5%. A total of $520,787 is owed on the home. Our combined mortgage payments are $3,600. The value of our home is now far less than what we owe - by approx $140,000. Also, my husband is now back in his original business but his commute/travel expenses are $3,000 a month because that business is 4 hours from our current house. If we foreclose on this house, we could move back to the area where he works. This is an agonizing decision as this is our home, we have kids in school here, and we will be dishonorable if we walk. Given that we have already filed bankruptcy, renegotiated the second and third and are making our payments, does it make sense to allow a foreclosure? Will we even be able to rent if we do this? Feeling like I've been punched in the gut.
Alanaindigo,
Only you can decide whether it makes more sense for you to go through foreclosure or keep trying to keep up with the payments. Obviously, if you go through a foreclosure it will have a negative impact on your credit. Even with a bankruptcy on your record already, it can still get worse.
You shouldn't have trouble finding a place to rent due to the bankruptcy and foreclosure as long as you can find a place available to rent that suits you. You are probably not going to find any $500,000 houses for rent. Some landlords do credit checks and others don't so it may or may not affect your ability to rent a given home. However, there is a good chance that you would be able to rent something. If you are really concerned about whether you will be able to rent, try finding a rental first and see how it goes.
Since you have already been through a bankruptcy and renogotiated the loans, I am sure that will have some bearing on your situation. I don't know much about bankruptcy law, but you will need to consider what effect, if any, it will have on your credit and on the bankruptcy itself if you do not keep up with your payments as agreed upon in the bankruptcy.
I'm in a situation were I'm already 11 months late on my payment,guess I'm just waiting to get the foreclosure letter from the lender, but yet there's no sign of that letter. How will that play out when they don't give me the notice and just come home with a lock on my front door left by the lender....what happen to all my asset in the house?? please reply and shine light to this situatuion..
I don't know what state you're in, gix, but there is probably a law preventing the lender from putting a lock on your house without giving notice. You'll need to check the laws in your state to find out what is required. I'm afraid I can't help you any more than that without knowing where you are.
i live in Indiana. My boyfriend is buying a home and i am moving in with him. I have a house that we have been living in, i wish i could sell my home but i would have to put to much money in it that i don't have (unemployed). I'm thinking of letting it foreclose. I have the mortgage and an equity loan, what would happen to the second loan, would i still have to pay that? can i just get in contact with the lender and tell them i want to foreclose? how does this work?
Tammie,
It's best to avoid foreclosure if you can, but to answer your question about the second mortgage, once your house makes it through the auction sale, the second mortgage will be wiped out. There may be tax consequences for this. The IRS counts forgiven debt as income.
You can contact the lender and tell them you are going to stop paying the payments if you want to. That is up to you. If you do, I'd wait until after you move.
Overall, a good hub. Too bad that a hub like this is needed at all. But recent indicators are that we are not out of the woods on the foreclosure bit at all. The economy is still bleeding.
Great hub... lots of great info here.
Hi
The mortgage is just in my husbands name does that mean just his credit gets trashed or both ours? The house on the otherhand is in both our names?
Look forward to your reply many thanks in advance
Tracey
I am decided to abandon an apt I bought as an investmen alone, my wife does not appear as owner. also have a equityl line of credit over my home which is paid in full,and is on my and wife names. If I get a deficiency judgment
on the apt. can my equity line can be used by my creditors to collect?
genaro,
I am not a lawyer, but I would say no. An equity line is not an asset. I can't see how a court could force you to incur a new debt to pay off an old one.
So I own a home in Arizona. It's a non-recourse state. We have decided we want to let it foreclose and are o.k. with the credit ramifications. Should we tell the lender we are not going to make anymore payments and begin offering the deed. The house is in saleable condition and we do not live there. How do you suggest we discuss this with the lender? What do we tell the lender for the 2nd?
chrisnsd,
It's totally up to you whether you tell the lenders and if so, what and when you tell them. If you don't live there and you don't have any stuff stored there, I'd say go ahead and tell them. If they get the foreclosure process underway now, they will be able to sell the house sooner and there will be less chance of it being vandalized before they can sell it.
What an excellent hub! I am very impressed. I'll have to go read some more of your hubs.
After a divorce and the ex leaving me with the house, second mortgage, and the house in foreclosure...should I also file for bankrupcy? I am so scared! I understand that my credit will be shot... but I truly don't believe I have any other choice... no one is willing to work with me... the house is sitting empty... I am renting curretly...this is all new to me and I pray that I am never in this situation again... How does all this work... I have no help... and am very confused by it all!!!
Very Sad,
Whether you should file for bankruptcy or not depends. If you think you might be able to afford to keep the home after restructuring your debts under Chapter 13, then maybe. If you are stuck with a deficiency judgment after foreclosure (where you still owe the lender money), a bankruptcy might wipe that out. However, you should only file for bankruptcy if you really need to. Having both a bankruptcy and a foreclosure on your credit record is much worse than just having one or the other. Of course, you should consider talking to a lawyer about your specific situation. I am just a writer.
Good reading.... right now i am in a situation where i still owe 280 to the bank ,and my house is not worth more than 200 or less in the market... i had been paying this mortgage on time for almost 5 years now, and now, the situation in my life had changed and i have to move to another state.... from FL to CT.... I wont be able to sell, I wont be able to pay 2 houses, i am already thinking in let the house fall in the hands of foreclosure. what a problem in this market... if i rent the house i would get probably just 1/3 of the current mortgage payment....
I bought a home a year and a half ago from a real estate company. They hold the loan on the home. I'm finding some defects that were covered up by them or the previous owner covered up and also I don't want the home. I was in a desperate situation at the home. I bought it as-is. I've made all my payments on time. I'm considering just abandoning the home. Can the real estate company do anything to me legally besides take back the home?
Jake,
They can report it to the credit agencies and they may be able to go after a deficiency judgment, depending on the laws in your state. If you contact them, you might be able to work out a deal in exchange for signing over the deed.
Thank you for your response. What is a deficiency judgement? I was thinking of consulting an attorney. Have a nice holiday and thanks again.
If the lender goes through the foreclosure process and sells the house at auction and it sells for less than the balance owed on the mortgage, the lender can sometimes go to court to get a judgment to hold you accountable for the balance. This is called a deficiency judgment.
Consulting a lawyer is definitely a good idea.
I have a home I have had it on the market for 6 months. I have lowered the price twice and have had 0 offers on the home. I fixed the house up, new floors, new paint, new kitchen, and finished the basement. I owe a lot more than the house is worth and I can't afford this house and my new home for much longer. I called my mortgage company and they told me to foreclose. Any ideas?
Is your house listed for what you feel it's really worth or what you owe on it? If it's priced too high, it will sit forever. If you get an offer for less than you owe, you may be able to get the bank to accept a short sale if you can convince them that's all the house is worth. A short sale is where the bank agrees to accept less than the full amount owed as payment in full on the mortgage in order to get the house sold and avoid a foreclosure.
The only other option I can think of is figure out a way to make some extra money until you can get the house sold.
If foreclosure seems unavoidable, then it might be better to go ahead and get it over with just to get rid of the stress and get on with your life, but only you can make that call.
Our house is owner financed does the same rules apply like with bank mortgages... Need to know what happens to my principal after foreclosure and does it give me a lien on my property for my principal amount?
Curious,
If your seller holds a regular mortgage like a bank would, then the rules are probably the same as for a normal foreclosure. If it's a land contract, most states have different rules for those. I'm not sure what the foreclosure laws are for Florida, so you should try to find out what the laws are for your state. If you can't find them online, you could always consult with an attorney.
if i am goinng to foreclosed a house in ohio ,is this going to afect my child credit for college loan?
Adiman, it will not affect your child's credit at all. However, if you need to co-sign the loan or are looking at getting a parent loan, then it will affect your ability to do that.
this hub is very nice to have people see its not just them going throu it alone.it is sad to see our nation falling apart,maybe our leaders should not bailed out the banks hoping to help the little home owner,i hope thay (ceo@afo's)of the big banks get a bounas real soon.happy 2010
My Mom is facing a tricky situation. Her spouse recently deceased at the family home, and she cannot go back there. She is currently on disability for the loss of her husband, but could probably afford the payment of the home while she is staying with family, but feels like continuing to pay with scarce resources would be senseless. The home is un-rentable, or maybe rentable, but not for enough to cover the monthly mortgage, also, in the current market in the area, will not likely sell for enough to cover the owed mortgage. Looking at the possibility of a deed in lieu or maybe a short sale, we are wondering if the bank could legally take any assets (the cash left from the life insurance policy) that she would have.~Thank you
Widow's daughter - The answer to your question depends on which state the house is in. You need to do a little research (try Google, or talk to a lawyer) to find out what the laws regarding deficiency judgments are in your state.
My husband and I bought a house together about 10 years ago. During that time it was refinanced, and my name was removed from the loan. We were did not buy above our means, but we also did not foresee the crash of the auto industry, which we were both employed by. Last year we lost our home to foreclosure, we had a lender that was unwilling to work with us in anyway to avoid foreclosure. Since I was not on the loan, I was able to go on my own and buy a new house. We received a 1099 showing that the loan amount was 121k and the fair market value is 125k, which it is not. This was an FHA loan and is now being sold as a hud home. I am wondering am I going to have to claim the 121k on my taxes or the difference between the two. I am really nervous because I have no idea how we are going to manage such a large tax bracket with the little amount that we are now making. My husband had to take a 10/ hour job and I am unemployed now.
Thanks in advance to any advice you may be able to share
Michigan,
I'm sorry that I can't answer that question right now. I haven't really looked into the tax consequences much. That's something I may have to research for a future article. In the meanwhile, a good accountant may be able to help you figure out what you need to claim.
I currently obtained a loan modification on my 400k mortagag and am currently paying 2,300. However, I also have a second mortgage under my husband's name only that we have not been able to pay it. My husband is self employeed and business has been extrememly slow. Although my name does not appear on the loan (only on the deed) or second mortg. I have truly taught about walking away from my home. With my second mortg' and my mortg. we are under water by 130k. I do not know if is worth staying here, or just walking away. The stress of our financial situation has really taken a toll on my family and health. I even thought about starting over and purchasing a modest home under my name. It is nerve racking because we should be saving toward our retirement since were baby boomers but are not able to save at all. Florida
I am just extremely confused,
Florida
what is happening now is really very sad. i myself didn't think that we will be a victim of these said circumstances. both me and my husband lost our jobs. after the severance pay, our finances has gone down the drain. receiving $275/ week from unemployment is never enough. while still looking for a job, we cannot afford to pay for our house. we did try to refinance in 2008 but the value of our house has gone down. as far as loan modification is concerned, it seems like our mortgage company has been giving us a run around. we submitted the needed papers thrice and still they claimed they have not received anything by fax. i am just about to slap them with the fax confirmation. we tried calling and talking to a their modification department, they are telling us different things. plus you get to talk to people who don't seem interested in helping you. they told us to start paying our backpayments so we did and was told to just pay this much every month. then here comes a call from another agent from the company saying we still owe them from said month when we've already updated our payments.this time they were saying that we didn't pay the full amount of monthly payment due. we argued that someone from their company told us to just pay this much after we've updated our payments. then it just gets frustrating till we no longer have enough money to pay them. we started not to talk to them. with the money that we are making now we can no longer afford to pay them. mortgage company has been calling but what's the point in talking to these people when at that time that we were still able to pay and was asking for modification they didn't even listen to us? we are in the verge of forclosure.
what are the consequences if we don't answer the forclosure letter? we are trying to short sale the house thru a friend.
i know we can't save our credit score from going bad to worse. but at least we might be able to get some peace of mind, not thinking tomorrow or the next day our house is already locked up...
Dear Florida,
The laws vary from state to state, but there is always some sort of notice required before the house is foreclosed. It may be done through mail, posting at the property or publishing in a newspaper, depending on the law in your state.
Try searching for "Florida foreclosure law" on Google to find out what the process is in your state. I'm afraid I'm not that familiar with Florida's foreclosure law.
I hope this helps. Good luck to you.
Hello Beth. Great info here, and timely.
Own a studio condo in Florida, just one big room. Owe about 57K, worth about the same. HELOC is $4500. Needs new AC at about $3K. Now 3 months past due. Credit cards maxed out, one 3 months past due. I'm a writer trying to find work online, there's plenty but pays little. Exploring other online possibilities. Quit driving cab 4 months ago, burned out, stressed out, could not pay bills. Walked away before I wind up in the ER. This is one of the best Condos in my area, but nothing sold last year. Went through bankruptcy in 98. Not sure what to do. Any advice welcome. Thanks, and keep Hubbing.
FGual,
I have published another hub on how to make money writing online. You might find it helpful. Here is the URL:
Thank you for so much information. Be reading all your Hubs.
I MOVED OUT OF MY HOUSE 2 YEARS AGO AND INFORMED THE BANK, THEY PUT IT INTO A SHORT SALE, I HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING FROM THEM SINCE. I WAS FORCED TO FILE BANKRUPTCY AND AM UNABLE TO PAY THE MORTGAGE AND TAXES ON THE HOUSE. I HAVE WRITTEN SEVERAL LETTERS AND LEFT SEVERAL MESSAGES. I AM MOVING OUT OF STATE. WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
KSZ,
If you don't pay your payments, eventually the bank will foreclose. This will negatively impact your credit score and ability to obtain new financing for awhile.
Hello-
I have a house in AZ and I owe 193,000 and it is currently worth around 130,000. I bought it before i was married. We are going to have to relocate to Wisconsin for a job. If it gets foreclosed on will my wife's credit be affected at all, and will there be any out of pocket costs to us?
Also, can they garnish any money we have in other bank accounts?
Thank you
Jordan,
If your wife's name is not on the mortgage, her credit will not be affected by the foreclosure. There will not be any out-of-pocket costs to you if your house goes through foreclosure, with the exception of move-out costs.
Whether they can garnish money from your bank account depends on what the law is for deficiency judgments in your state. Some states allow them, but there are usually restrictions. You should do a little research to find out whether your state allows deficiency judgments.
If you do end up with a deficiency judgment, in most states the lender will only be able to garnish accounts that have your name on them if the mortgage was only in your name.
some great information here. A lot of people don't realize that allowing your home to go into foreclosure is the worst option over short selling, etc.
We owe a total of 247k on our home with the first and second mortgage. We can no olonger pay the payments of 1700 a month.We have already filed chapter 13 backrupcy in order to try and keep the house but we just can't do it.We know the effects on our credit will be huge but we have to try to do something so we can pay our other bills.What happens if we walk away?
Debbie,
If you walk away, the house will go through foreclosure. Before making this decision, be sure to check whether the state you live in allows the lender to file a deficiency judgment against you if the house is sold for less than what is owed.
We have been unable to pay our mortgage for 9mths and the modification paperwork has been in the hands of the 2nd mortgage bank for subordination for 6mths. We don't know if we will get the modification or what, it seems the bank on the 2nd is just sitting on it. Does anyone know of anyone getting a modification done and how long?
I'm sad and disappointed to see the irresponsibility of our generation--buying what one can't afford and quick to foreclose. It speaks to the haughty, materialistic society we live in. How can you get into an interest-only loan without fully understanding the payment increase? How can you get into a mortgage you have a hard time paying without pushing the limits. Shame on all whose recklessness caused this economic meltdown!
We moved to another location 3 years ago and was unable to sell our home. It is now 3 years later and our job hours have been cut so we are now unable to pay the mortgage on that home. We have another home that we are selling to get rid of car loans and some bills. What is a short sale due the market being so bad our home is worth 60000 more than we owe. No realtor will put it on the market.
I am sorry. I quoted that our home is worth 60000 more I meant less. thanks Diane
we recently had someone sign for a house for us to relocate. i have school loans, medical bills and just a few credit card debts. we moved out without telling the bank but told them a couple months prior that we couldnt keep up with the payments. recently traveled back and saw a lock and papers on the door. served with a civil action-law complaint in mortgage foreclosure. says i have 20 days to respond. they're NOT seeking a judgement of personal liability, but an IN REM judgement. we dont want the house and want to move on... does this mean we can just call the bank and give them the deed and it will all go away? we live in PA and i know of the recourse law, but just would like your opinion.
Dave understand this. This turmoil was caused by the banks, mortgage brokers, or basically the whole mortgage system. Due to thier irresponsibility many Americans trying to get ahead sold thier homes at a profit and brought thier second home at an inflated price believing the market was never going to stop going up. Now enter in the fact millions of Americans are going through a hardship at thier jobs. Loss of income, reduced pay, or worse no job at all. Now you believe the responsible stance to take would be to continuing to throw away your future over a home you paid $50,000 - $100,000 over market value for. I respect you have an opinion, you just have the wrong one.
We moved out of our house over 2 years ago, filed bankruptcy which was discharged a year ago February and included the house in it. A foreclosure was filed but was disposed due to inactivity and now the house is just sitting there with no further foreclosure activity. How do I get the bank to put the house back in their name? We want nothing to do with it.
Hi, I'm in NJ and am in a situation where I'm considering walking away from my home an allowing it to forclose. My wife and I bought the house during the boom and now are left in a small neighborhood where about 20% of the homes are abandoned or for sale. Most of the people with homes for sale bought them when prices were low and can afford to let them go for far less than we can. My taxes have doubled in six years and I pay tuition to send my kids to a better school. My wife and I can afford bigger and better but can't get out of this house. What do you think our options are?
Josh,
It sounds to me like you might be able to afford this house if you let go of some luxuries, like private school. Foreclosure is a credit nightmare that should be avoided if at all possible. Too many people look at it as the easy way to get out of a bad situation.
Your situation might be bad, but you got yourself into it, and it sounds like you could probably get yourself out without walking away from the home. Foreclosure should be a last resort.
Also, if you walk away from this home it is highly unlikely that you will be able to go out and buy a bigger and better one right away. Most banks will not lend to you for a mortgage until it has been at least two years since your foreclosure. Exceptions are sometimes made if you can prove your income was disrupted to due an unexpected injury or illness, not just because you feel like you're stuck in a smaller home than you want.
Beth, we can afford what we have and are not in over our heads it's just that i feel like I'm throwing money out the window with this house. Between taxes and tuition I'm putting out 10k every year that we are here. I bought the house with the intention of it being a starter that I could get out of pretty easy. When the market fell through my immediate area took a pretty good hit. We've had the house for sale for two years holding out hope but it's just about gone. With 6 abandoned houses near us that are starting to hit the market for way less than we owe it seems well never get out of here. Are there any other options because I don't think sticking it out is going to work much longer. I'm actually ok with renting for a couple of years. I'd really like to buy a lot and build a home. I honestly hate the thought of walking away and contributing to the problem but feel that my former neighbors contributed to my problem and I don't see any other way out.
I have been in forclosure for 1 month now. We stopped paying the mortgage since December due to me not finding a job in Sc. My husband had to change his tax bracket to meet all the other bills and car payments and had to pay IRS taxes. We are about to abandon the home and move back to the state we came from. Do we have to keep the utilities on. I am in contact with the bank trying to get a short sale or a deed in leiu, but it is taking a long time and we don't want to stay in this state anymore because he recieved a transfer and the job offers i am getting in my home(NJ) state. Should I inform the bank that we are moving out?
No, you don't have to leave the utilities on. Whether you notify the bank that you are leaving or not is up to you, but it could help them expedite the foreclosure process so that the home won't be left unattended for as long. Good luck with your new job.
will going into foreclosure affect my current credit cards and car payments? APR go up?
1-Lost job in 05 due to closures-had to relocate out of state
2-Moved and sold that house at small lost, purchased new house in 2005 when everything was at top end
3-Dec 07 another job office closure-lost job,got rehired by previous co 5 months later but 800 miles away.(still had house and making payments on it and apt(in apt had a mattress, coffee pot and lawn chair-all furn still in house-didn't see my house for 15 months
4-Got transfer back to Florida June 09 but still round trip is 170 miles-Creates a 3 1/2 hr commute -Work 10-12 days, so rent room during week, go home on days off
5-Purchased with 80/20, the 20 is for 48k interest only loan
6-Loan is 260k total and house worth 95 to 120
7-Health is starting to fail, completely stressed with all of this, 63 years old will be having to retire next Nov
8-Parents mid and late 80's out of state and need me
9-I will not qualify for bankruptcy or loan mod at current salary
10-I feel completely and utterly trapped and with each day that goes by I am more stressed by this and having to live like this. I get no pleasure from this house, it is like a anchor around my neck.
11-Do I have to wait until I retire and try to get out of this, I want my life settled. worked all my life, never take any vacations(only 2 in my entire adult life, go to the movies nothing. I even wrote a attorney on his website and he didn't even answer. I don't seem to fit in any area. I just cannot take this much longer. I will not be able to afford the house on my retirement. I make over the 31% margin for a modification at the present. Any help,advise somewhere to turn.
Thanks for bringing light to this subject. As a real estate investment firm in Arizona, we forward all tax and legal questions to our CPA and Real Estate Attorney...that way our homeowners feel comfortable with their decision to short sale over deed in lieu or non-judicial foreclosure.
I live in Georgia. My husband and I purchased a house in 2006. The mortgage and house is in my name only. If I allow the house to foreclose can I be held responsible for any difference after the house is actioned.
Thanks
tmac,
It depends on the laws in your state. Try Googling "deficiency judgment Georgia" to see if you can find out the answer to your question.
Beth
Good article about a bad topic. We don't have a big foreclosure problem here in New Mexico, but bank owned homes are starting to increase in our market.
my home needs a complete new roof. and is infested with black mold. needs exstensive restoration.that i absolutely cannot afford what should i do
Hi If I buy a new home and abandon my old home, can the bank go after our new house. our old house is worth 269K and we owe 410k on it, we have tried several times with lender to get modifications, all they would offer us is increasing the life of the loan, which does not help us.
Jack,
Most California foreclosures are non-judicial foreclosures. If your lender uses this type, they cannot go after any other assets. However, if they use the judicial foreclosure process (going through the court), they might be able to get a deficiency judgment, which would allow them to go after the other home.
I have another hub that might help you understand this better. It is called "What Happens if I Foreclose in California?" Here is the link: http://hubpages.com/hub/What-Happens-If-I-Foreclos
A year ago we had a bankruptcy. Our house was included due to the bank saying they don't reaffirm mortgages. They said as long as we pay the mortgage we keep the house. But the house is listed on our credit as included in bankruptcy. We owe 100,000 more on the house than its current value and are thinking of letting it go. Can they further damage our credit when it forcloses since the house already went on our credit in bankruptcy?
This is a wonderful site. We are currently living in an area of Florida that is about to loose several thousand jobs that will insure the value of our home drops significantly again. Purchased for 240k in 2004 and now valued at 140k. I recently lost my job with little hope of replacing it in this county and my thoughts are to move back to where we started. Our house is in both of our names and we currently have excellent credit scores. Would it be possible to purchase a second home and allow this home to go to short sale, ensuring we would still have a home to go to?
My husband is in education and he was recently moved from an admin job back to a teaching position. With this came a sizeable reduction in pay. In the meantime, I had an opportunity to go back to work with the govt although it is in our hometown. (5 hrs away from our house) We have had our house for sale for over a year and no bites. We are not behind or seem to qualify for any programs. We can't compete with the forclosures in our community. If my husband can find a job in our hometown then we have thought about letting it go back. See no other choices. We are willing to rent until we can buy again.
We are in an 3 bedroom house that we bought in 2006 for $175,000. There are currently 5 of us, 3 kids and my wife and I,but my wife is due to have our 4th baby in July. When we bought this house we only planned on living here until that baby was born and move into a nicer bigger house. Thats obviously not an option now. Our house is worth $90,000 at best in Idaho. Here is the issue. Money is not the problem. We can pay we just dont have enough room and we are paying $1300 a month for a house that is literally half the original value. We are in our mid 30s and I mean, I am not going to sit here in a cramped house paying 1300 a month for something I know will never regain its original value. Seriously I know its a unique situation but Im honestly considering foreclosure. Are there any other options? If we sell for less than the original price of the house are we going to owe the bank like $85,000?
I have owned a manufactured home on 2.5 acres for 10 years. Never missed a payment and have good credit. I rented the place and unfortunatly the renters trashed it. i have spent a lot of money cleaning up the property and put it on the market. Unfortunatly it doesnt qualify for FHA financing and buyers cant get financing. So I'm looking for a cash buyer. Its been empty a year and 6 months on the market. I'm trying to decide when enough is enough and when to stop putting money into it. I hate ruining my credit especially when i've never been late on any payment. But if it doesnt sell, value continues to drop because it is a manufactured. Do I turn it over to the bank and start the clock to better credit?? I owe 70k its valued at 84.
What to do,
What I would do is try to sell it as a rent-to-own home. You've already cleaned it up by the sound of things, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a tenant/buyer. Put up a rent to own sign and put an ad in the paper.
Require an option fee of at least $1000 up front. This is nonrefundable and gives the tenant the exclusive right to purchase at a certain price for a certain amount of time. You probably want to go with a 1-year option at 84,000, since that is the home's current value. Make the option automatically renew, perhaps with a slight increase in purchase price, as long as the renter is not late more than 2 or 3 times during the first year.
In addition to the option, you need a separate rental agreement. In the rental agreement, you stipulate that the renter is responsible for all repairs and maintenance on the home while they are living there. You explain to them when they are looking at the property that they are not just renting, they are renting to own. Therefore, you expect them to take care of the home as if it were their own, since any improvements made while they live there will add to the value of the home and their purchase price is locked in.
Once you get your tenants in the home, get the name of a good mortgage broker in your area and get the two of them talking. Most people can qualify for financing within a year or two if they know what to work on. The mortgage broker can help them with that.
Good luck.
I own a house in MD that has a mortgage split between 2 companies. The one loan balloons in 4 years and the added principle will be far above our ability to pay. We are also 65,000 below value on what we own for the house and 100,000 below on what we paid. Not to mention national news links my area with possible cancer related issues from the military base a block away. Since buying in 2006 my family has grown by adding 2 children. Plus, I try and rent the upstairs for extra income (very unpredictable as far as tenets)and this makes it difficult because the lending banks have this listed on the loans so they know about the income (probably how I was able to get approved for the loan in the first place). I have tried to get a modify but the banks aren't willing to work. Obviously cannot refi. Mine and my wifes current credit score are both in the 780 range. The problem - I'm worried about the families health due to recent news, I'm stuck and cannot move, without a monthly renter I will soon run out of savings to pay for the mortgage, I'm scared to walk away, .... what are my options? sorry about the venting * also, if my wife's name is on the house but not on the loan does this help in case of a forclosure?
Jay,
Right now you and your wife both have excellent credit. If there is anything you can do to keep from falling behind on the mortgage for now, I would do it just to keep from screwing that up.
I know things are tough right now but sometimes what seems like the easy way out can make things a lot harder in the long run. Is there anything you or your wife can do to earn extra income? Try reading "The Millionaire Maker" by Loral Langemeier for ideas and inspiration.
Here's a question that's probably not heard in these trying times. I've owned my home for 10 years, have a great conventional loan at a good interest rate, and I paid WAY less than market value 10 years ago. So today, I've taken a 65% pay cut because of job layoffs, I can't really afford my stellar mortgage now (and 20K HELOC)... BUT here's the kicker... I owe 160K but this property would likely sell for between 260-300K within 90 days. I don't think I can restructure my loan, it's already a really good loan, I've gone 30 days late twice, 60 days late once, but for now I'm caught up, but I can't keep living like this for much longer. The power will get cut off, and my car will get repossessed if this goes on much longer. The house desperately needs a new roof which is going to make it harder to sell, although technically, in this area, the house itself is worth nothing, the value is all in the land. I don't want to put a roof on this place and can't afford to anyway.
My question is... if I can't get this place sold, and I find myself in trouble with the bank and they did forclose, would they have to pay me the equity I've earned over the last 10 years after their costs etc?
Margeaux,
If the house is foreclosed, it will be sold at auction. If the price at that sale is more than what is owed including legal fees for the foreclosure then it is likely the bank will have to pay you the balance. You'd have to check the laws in your state to be sure because they can vary.
The thing is, most of the time, houses sold at foreclosure auctions do not sell for more than what is owed. In many cases, no one bids at all and the bank wins by default. In that case, there is no equity because the house didn't sell for enough to have anything left over.
It's always a good idea to contact a lawyer for specific advice about your case. Remember, I'm just a writer.
Beth
I live in GA and am now facing the very real possibility that I may need to walk away from my home in an effort to find something more affordable. I am wondering, if I do this, there is something called a ''Deficiency Judgment'' that is allowed in GA. My understanding is that the lender can come after me, and or any of my assets, in an attempt to seek restitution for the difference between what the original balance is\was on the loan and what the house actually sold for at auction. Is this an accurate understanding? Or have I misunderstood? If I understand correctly, what is to stop me from selling my personal items for next to nothing, to someone else, so that they are no longer ‘’mine’’ but still retain physical possession?
Also, if I do simply walk away, once the house is foreclosed on and sold, what recourse is there for the lender to pursue me (e.g. wage garnishment and or any other type of restitution)?
I have applied for a Loan Modification with my lender but it has taken far, FAR longer than I was told it would take and I still have no decisive answer other than, ‘’We’ll notify you by letter when we reach a decision.’’ I find myself wondering if the lender is simply dragging the process out to see what I will do. I am considering not making any further payments on the house until the lender comes back with an answer. Does doing so show hardship? Or would I fare better to continue stretching my finances and paying on time? Since my divorce, this has become an unbelievable monthly hardship and I am at my wit’s end.
Finally, if the lender does come back with a decision, but it is next to nothing in the way of actually helping me make my monthly mortgage payment, what recourse do I have? In short, do I HAVE to accept their offer vs. lose the house completely, or do I need to simply tell them it’s not good enough and they need to re-evaluate their initial offer?
Thanks!
TD,
You sure have a lot of questions. As for the deficiency judgment, it sounds like your understanding of how it works is correct. However, selling your things for next to nothing while retaining physical possession could be seen as fraud, so that's probably not a good idea. You should consult with an attorney about what the bank can come after as far as assets, but I think they normally just go after liquid assets such as bank accounts and garnish wages. It is not likely that anyone is going to come after your clothing and other personal effects. If it comes down to it and you end up with a deficiency judgment that is going to cause a major hardship, you should consult with a bankruptcy attorney to find out whether filing for bankruptcy would wipe out the debt and allow you a clean start.
Loan modifications are difficult to get approved. Many banks will drag their feet on them and then offer you something ridiculous that hardly helps at all. It's probably best to try to keep up with the payments until you have decided for sure what you are going to do but if you can find a lawyer who will give you a free consultation to help you understand your options, I would start there.
If you do decide that you are not going to be able to avoid foreclosure, don't keep trying to pay partial payments to keep the bank happy. You are just going to lose any further money you send to them at that point, so it would be better to set that money aside to help pay for rent and moving expenses.
Beth,
Thanks for maintaining such a helpful site. My situation is quite different than those posted already. My wife and I moved into our home in a suburb of Seattle in 2007, just before the economy tanked. It was already a buyers market when we purchased, but we're still probably 50k underwater and it's still dropping. We have a fixed rate loan (2 mortgages) and can afford our payments and we've maintained exceptional credit to this point, but I'm really looking for a way out.
Our situation boils to down us being stuck in a home and neighborhood which no longer feels safe to us. We have a neighbor who is erratic and violent (police are already involved) and we have a baby on the way, who we want to raise in a better environment. Compound that with the fact that we are throwing $2500 a month into a house that is depreciating and we're starting feel like we need a change.
We have no hope of selling, even to break even, for at least 3-4 years if the market recovers, and honestly can't put up with what's going on for that long anyway. The idea of walking away eats me up, and I know it will destroy the great credit that we have been so responsible about, but I'm running out of options.
I've done a bunch of research on short sales, but everything I read indicates that it will take forever, and isn't a sure bet. It will also hit our credit pretty hard and make it tough to get another home loan anyway.
We would be happy to rent a decent place in a better neighborhood for a couple years while we rebuild our credit, but I'm looking for a little more insight into the foreclosure option.
Any suggestions? Thank you
Beth,
My wife and I own a second house free and clear of a mortgage or liens. We have a second house that we owe a principal of 75,000. The selling price was 89,000. We've had the mortgage for approximately 7 years and have been trying to sell for 2 years this October. There is no collateral tied up with this loan so if we stop making payments we would simply hand the house to the bank to sell, correct? The only thing that would be effected is our credit, which I couldn't care less about because we have a HELOC in the amount of 30k for an emergency. Given our situation and the painful fact that we've wasted about 20k the past 2 years in a house we aren't even living in do you think we would be better off walking away?
I have not known anyone who has had a successful time in obtaining a loan mod.After 50 billion giving by taxpayers to The Making home Affordable program it is disgraceful.
Don't worry about your credit.In this economy a lot of people have bad credit and why would you want to buy a house for at least another five years.Dump the house and remove the stress. Def. not true that the banks want to help people save their houses. Read Gretchen Morgenson of The NY Times and Martha Brannigan of The Miami Herald and they will give the full facts. The big banks have given less than 10% of their upside down home owners a loan mod.
Even those with loan mods have been given a new version of the crazy loans and will end up having more added to the principal. It is a big scam. My bankruptcy lawyer friends are telling me horror stories of people using their savings to save their house as the bank strings them along. several months later they have no savings and no house. Please bail and don't worry about your credit rating. That is a big fear factor dangled by the banks and real estate agents.
Hello,
My father died on August 10th due to ALS or "Lou Gehrig's" disease. My mom is unable to afford the house payment of approximately $1200 a month. Plus there are all the other bills. She is only able to work 16 hrs a week because she lost her job having to take care of my dad. Thus, she will be making about $140 a week. She will, eventually be receiving VA benefits of $1154 a month. My dad's life insurance is for $60,000. We still owe money for funeral and medical expenses. My mom was wondering about what her options are. I don't think that the bank is going to work with her because they had already refinanced several times. The term is up to 40 years already. We understand that if she does a short sale or forecloses, her credit will be ruined. She would rent anyways. Then, when my husband and I buy a house, we are hoping to have her live with us. I know that the house is not worth what she owes. I would be surprised if a short sale worked because the inside of the house is in really bad condition. When my dad was alive, they had once had a real estate agent look at the house and discuss this. He said that they'd have to clean it up and put a lot of work into fixing things. My mom won't be able to do all that. If we foreclose, will the bank go after my dad's life insurance money. We live in Maine and I've read online that there are deficiency judgments. I know that my mom would go to court for a foreclosure also. We really don't know what to do. This is very stressful!
Ryan,
I am so sorry for your loss. I lost a cousin to Lou Gehrig's disease many years ago. She was just in her early 20's.
Reading through your post, it doesn't sound to me like there is any chance your mom will be able to afford this house long-term. I am assuming the principal owed is more than what will be left of the life insurance after the funeral expenses are paid. If that's the case, then your mom is probably better off letting the house go, as sad as that is.
Her credit will be ruined short-term, but if she keeps up with the rest of her bills and makes every payment on time, it should be good enough to buy another house within two years, especially if she has a couple of credit cards that are being paid on time.
If your mom does decide to let the house go into foreclosure, she has two options as far as timing. She can either stop paying and keep living in the house until she has to move, or she can contact the bank and offer to do a deed in lieu of foreclosure, which might speed up the process so her credit can recover sooner.
Thanks for your quick response, Beth. What is a deed in lieu of foreclosure?
And can the mortgage company try to take the life insurance money that my mom will eventually collect?
I appreciate the time you are taking to respond.
Ryan
Ryan,
A deed in lieu of foreclosure is when you sign over the deed of the house to the mortgage company so they don't have to go through the foreclosure process. It still messes up your credit but it's quicker than waiting for the whole thing to play out. If your mom just wants to get it over with and get on with her life, she might want to see if the bank will accept it.
In some cases, a mortgage company can get a judgment for the difference if the house sells for less than what is owed, but not usually. It depends on the state the house is in. It's best to ask a lawyer to be sure.
I recently abandoned my house , it sits on 2 acres in the country, the power is off...right now Im 3 weeks late on Payments. I developed HIV and progressed to Aids, since that time I lost my job and am on disability.....I dont care about my credit as my health is totally shot....I have managed to move to an apartment but I just want the house top go away...the stress of having HIV and the nosey redneck neighbors coming around make me wish that whole place never wexisted....I have cleaned out the house,, left the washer dryer, stove refrigerator which I bought myself....the house needs minor maintenance but is sound.....The payments are cheap but the environment was not what I expected (Its one family on the whole street going back 150 years) The drama on the street was enough to drive anyone insane.......I just want it behind me and to never look back...what should I do?
Dave,
If the payments are cheap, you can probably find someone who will take over making the payments if you are willing to sign over the deed. The banks don't like this arrangement, but it is often done. You might check with family members first to see if any of your relatives would be willing to take over the house. If not, look for some "I buy houses" signs or search "I buy houses" online.
I have another hub called Deeding Your House to Someone Else that explains how this works. Here's the URL: http://hubpages.com/hub/Deeding-Your-House-to-Some
For the past 3 years following a divorce in 2007 and bad economy hitting in 2008, I can no longer keeep my home. I would love to rent and save my credit, but my HOA says NO!!!! to any kind of lease to purchase option or renting. So now I have no choice but to let the home go back to the bank.
Now for my strange question, I have spent several thousand dollars on my yard over the past 9 years, one was 3,000.00 for sod that looks so pretty. Something that the HOA is eager and ready to start charging me $25.00 per day if the grass gets to high. My choice now is to take the Sod with me, for one the HOA can not charge me 25.00 per day that can add up to tens of thousands, I have already seen this done to other homeowners in the HOA.
Ny solution is simple, I paid for the sod, and I want to take the Sod with me, since like I said I paid thousands for it, does anyone have a idea if I could be sued by my HOA or Bank. The Covents has rules about the grass and weeds getting to high, but hmmmm nothing about the grass being gone. What do you think.
Curtis,
I don't really know the answer to your question, but I would guess that sod, once installed, is considered part of the property and expected to be left with the property. My advice to you is to leave it.
A lawyer could give you a better answer as far as whether it would be legal to take it with you. But as far ethical (which is not always the same as legal), I would say, no, it is not.
House is in foreclosure and going up for auction in a few weeks. Can I remove the light fixtures, stove, refrigerator and anything other than the doors and cabinets before I vacate the property?
Cleo,
The appliances are yours to do with as you wish, but light fixtures are usually considered part of the property.
I am having trouble paying my mortage. because my boyfriend and I have seprated we both brough the house under both of your our name three years ago. so he left. I have work with my mortage loan about a year now and they were trying to help me for a loan modication but only reduced about $200 dollar and that didn't help me much. i can't afforded the payment. no enough to paid for food or even cover the pament..I beleived my house is going to go foreclsed pretty soon. I have stop paying the payment since June. my question is if in the near future I save enough money to cash a house will my bank have the right to come after me.
my question is if I save enough money
@mn,
Probably not, but you should ask a lawyer to be sure. You need to find out whether deficiency judgments are allowed in your state and if so, under what circumstances.
Have you heard of HUD/FHA Partial Claim? If yes, my question is....we filed for a partial claim in Nov 2009 because we were behind in our mortgage. $15,000 roughly. Well times are still bad and we are short selling our home. We are now told by the lender that this amount must be paid in full at closing. On the title work it shows as a subordiate mortgage (2nd mortgage) but we have not paid it as a 2nd because I was in the understanding that it was applied to the end of our loan. Which is I talk to my lender that is correct. Well, we got the net amount needed for the shortsale everything was in place then we get hit that on top of the net amount need for the bank we have to pay back the $15,000 partial claim to HUD. I have search the internet and all I see is how to apply for the program not the "what if's". Any ideas? My attorney is clueless of this program also. HELP...
@FriendSC,
I'm sorry, but I haven't heard of that program. It's new to me.
Hello,
I have a situation like most of the others. I am curious to understand what happens should I decide to forclose on my condo. It has been on the market for over a year, I am not allowed to rent it, it is vancant, and I have good credit. I live with my partner who owns his own home. I cant keep throwing 1,000.00 a month down the drain on the mortgage. The cond is now not worth what I owe, and it wont sell, and I cant rent....What do I do? I am thinking hard about letting it go...do you have any advise?
Thanks
Heidi,
You're in a tough situation. Can you sell it on land contract? If so, you could collect a monthly payment from the buyer and add a little to that to make the mortgage payment. For example, if your buyer is paying $800/month, you could add $200 to that out of pocket to make the mortgage payment.
It's not an ideal solution, but it would save your credit and it's better than being out the full $1000 per month.
No land contract either, the super bad thing bout the whole deal is that due to others who live back there NOT paying their HOA fees, HUD took away FHA approval. So only cash byers or conventional buyers could buy the place, eliminating 75 % of people looking!!! I am stuck!
Thanks for response!
Hi, and thanks for all the info.
I'm hopeing you can give me some advice. I've been haveing some trouble keeping up, and my wife just lost her job. I've had our house on the market several times in the past several years, but the market is just killing me. I'm in KS. and I own property (very modest and still $15,000 shy of move-in ready but I own out-right) in the country I'd like to move to. I'm not too concerned w-credit scores, but woried about the aftermath.Could my wages be garnished, or could they go after my other property?
@Bgmn, It depends. If deficiency judgments are allowed in your state then they might be able to come after your other assets. You need to research the laws on deficiency judgments in your state.
I live in Arkansas and bought my house before my husband and I were married. We moved out of the house two years ago and rented it until earlier this summer. We don't want to be landlords and don't want to rent any further. I owe more on the house than it is worth and it isn't selling (it's been listed twice now). I am getting stressed out each month as I try to scrape together money to pay the mortgage on the house we don't even live in. If we let the house go into foreclosure and there is a judgement about the difference in price sold vs. price owed will they be able to garnish my husbands wages or will it hurt his credit? I really feel this is the only way for us to go but don't want it to hurt him. Thanks!
I live in NC have been in bankruptcy for 2 years now. I also have 2 moortgages. I pay them outside of the plan. Unfortunately I have missed a couple of payments and in order to not lose my home, my bankruptcy attorney arranged to have me make up the payments in addition to the regular payments. I cannot be 1 day late with my payments or the banks do not have to go through the courts.
I cannot afford to continue making these payments and I am looking at just walking away. Trying to sell my home in this market could last much longer than my pocket/savings. The difference between my bankruptcy payment which is automatically withdrawn and the 2 and 1/2 mortgage payments leaves me exactly $200 to pay regular household bills.(car insurance, utilities, phone, cable, internet, groceries)
It just makes sense to walk away from it and save the mortgage payments and use towards paying off the bankruptcy and fixing up my dad's home which he left to me upon his death.
Can I do this? I am already in bankruptcy. My credit is shot. What are my options?
In AZ... CONFUSED. My husband works construction, last year the bottom fell out, we were 2 months behind. TRIED calling B of A several times, with no allowance to partial pay until I could get caught up. Needless to say I panicked after two months of trying to figure it out, we went to see AZ Mortgage relief... They said they could help. They said b of A would not work with us until we were further behind. The lawyer wrote a letter. The bank ignored the request to modify, and or help with this process. One year later, we are losing our home. We have done everything. B of A never returns calls, the AZ Mortgage relief has been no relief. I am looking into bankruptcy, I don't know how to short sell, have tried asking for a forbearance... I don't know who to call. I don't know what to do, should I walk away? How does that effect me. We don't have credit card debt, we try to live by all the rules. BUT NO ONE IS LISTENING! Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks
I filed bankruptcy 4 years ago. When I filed I wanted to reaffirm my home. 4 years later I find out the lawyer did not do the reaffirmation. I continued to pay my mortgage up until 2 months ago when I found out about the missing paperwork. The last 4 years I continued to pay on time. The mortgage company has not reported my payment history to the credit agencies. I called to try and work something out but they told me I could continue to pay on the home and I would get the deed at the end of my loan. There was nothing put in writing to confirm this statement and no deal to refinance. I now want to walk away but I'm unsure if this is the right thing to do. Since I filed bankruptcy the mortgage company can not report my nonpayment to the credit agencies again. Any advice on what to do? How long do I have before they put me out of this home? I do want to downsize and I feel this is the right opportunity to do it.
We bought our home in 2006. Now we are owing 40K to the bank, as our home price goes down. I couldn't refinance/ /loan modification/any govt help. Recently my wife also loose her job. TX law supports deficiency judgments. TX law says "These judgments are limited to the difference between the fair market value of the property (regardless of what the property sold for at the foreclosure sale) and the defaulted loan amount at the time of sale.Fair market value is determined by appraisal."
So what's this mean, if I walk-away then still I need to pay the difference of 40K to the bank. I don't know what to do. I rather live in a one-bedroom apt. than keeping this house.
In reading just a few of these comments, those who haven't tried to modify have no idea what a mess it really is. I've been trying for 3-years to get mortgage co to modify - to no avail. 3-yrs ago - it would have been easy to move a few things around and get the payment lowered. Now - after waiting 6-8-10 months for them to "review" - calling weekly and begin told - "we're working on it - keep paying reduced payment amount" - only to open the mail box and find the notice of foreclosure - they closed loss & mitigation file and started foreclosure - they up to $17k in fees, interest etc - so by the time you add that up on the loan - I would be paying 3x what the home is worth - $20k more than the original purchase price.
Seems to be a fun game to the mortgage industry to just string you along, take whatever funds they can get and foreclosure anyway. My credit was gone - 3yrs ago when they foreced me to go 8-months into arrears while they "decided" - and then said NO - we won't modify!
Now - its a game of how long can we physically stay in the home and string along CitiMorgage (worst company ever) - just so I can screw them the way they screwed us! Don't blame the homeowners - its the mortgage companies who DO NOT MODIFY MORTGAGES - UNTIL THEY ARE FORCED TO DEAL WITH HOMEOWNERS BY THE GOVERNMENT AND/OR BANKRUPTCY COURT - THEY AREN'T DEALING.
GOVERNMENT SHOULD HAVE SPLIT THAT BAILOUT MONEY AMOUNG THE PEOPLE AND WE ALL COULD HAVE GONE MORTGAGE SHOPPING - WITH OUR MONEY IN HAND AND FORCED OR FOUND NEW LENDERS!
I need advice please! I own a vacant house in MI that I was unable to sell. I also have a mortgage in Illinois. I have always paid my Michigan property taxes once yearly with my federal tax return. The city never said a word nor did AHMSI the company that holds my mortgage. This month I got a letter stating that my mortgage holder paid my taxes which were 31 days past due and the taxes were 1800 and they slapped a forced escrow on my mortgage of over $4000 which has doubled my house payment. I can not make the new payment amount. I am trying for a modified mortgage...I am not behind on ANY of my debts including both mortgages...but I honestly am so disgusted with this company...I just want to foreclose on the property in MI. My question is: if I foreclose in MI...can they take my house in Illinois? I am so scared...I know I can not make this new mortgage payment...they never even sent me a letter...nothing...just put this large forced escrow on my account. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Patti
Patti,
The state of Michigan permits deficiency judgments, where the bank can come after you for the difference between what the house sells for at auction and the loan amount, so there is a possibility that the lender could get a judgment against you. However, if you can show up in court with proof that the home was sold below market value, the bank will not be able to get a judgment. The house must sell at or above market value for them to get the judgment.
However, I would not risk it. If you possibly can, you should try to keep paying your mortgage. If you end up with a foreclosure on your credit report, you score will drop significantly. Your mortgage payment went up by about $330/month, right? Why not rent the house for now to cover the difference between what you were paying before and the new payment? Since you are out of state, the best way to do this would be to find a real estate broker or property management company to handle the rental. They will take a commission and then send you the rest of the rent. Pretty much anywhere in Michigan, a house will rent for more than enough to cover the difference.
No Beth...the mortgage doubled...the house needs work...it has been vacant for several years. I can't afford the mortgage any longer...really scared here!
Patti, if you e-mail me at beth.parker.writes@gmail.com I might be able to help you a little better. I need more info to really be helpful.
It's been two years since we walked away from our damaged basement home. The house is still in our name and it hasnt been foreclosed on as of yet. The house has been setting for 2 years. We tried to do a short sale but nothing. How do we get this out of our name.
Damaged basement,
You can call your lender and ask if they will accept a deed in lieu of foreclosure. It will still show up as a negative on your credit report but it will get the home out of your name without going through the foreclosure process.
i have a interest only loan which i have been current on i attempted to get a loan modification from citi who led me on for 6 plus months before turning me down because i was not in default im now in default and because i can not pay my real estate taxes citi wants to set up a escrow account for me however they want me to pay 1625 plus my regular payment of 1700 this exceeds my income citi wants to charge me 5275 for hazzard ins when i usually pay 673 for the year i write to citi they dont respond to my e mails etc. what can i do to get a way to save my house
Hi Beth, I own a home in Michigan. Paid 151,000 and now houses on my street are selling for $60,000. I am engaged to be married in May 2011 and plan on moving into my fiance's home. My house has been on the market since April 2010 for a short sale. Only one offer came through, but they cancelled it before the bank approved or denied it. My fiance wants me to foreclose and to stop making payments now. I want to do it the right way and sell but no one is buying houses. Renting is not an option either because I could not rent it out for how much my monthly morgage is. I make good money so it is not a hardship reason. My reason is that the house will be emtpy. If I can't short sale, what is the next best option??
Christin,
In my opinion, your best option is to rent it for now. Even if the rent doesn't cover the whole mortgage payment, it will cover part of it and you can cover the rest until you are able to sell the home. Eventually, real estate prices will recover. If you can hold on until then and avoid foreclosure, you will be in a much better position if you and your fiance need to move and buy another home at some point in the future. If you go through foreclosure, your credit score will take a big hit and the foreclosure stays on your credit report for seven years.
My house, like so many other houses has been for sale for 16mos. I am currently divorced,and stuck with the mortgage until the house sells.The mortgage is in both of our names,and he will not agree to loan modification,or lowering the asking price. Allimony will run out in a few short months, and I will be unable to pay the mortgage if the house still isnt sold. I have contemplated letting the house go into forclosure,and save a little bit of money to start fresh. I welcome your opinion. Thank you
Lyn,
It sounds like part of the problem is the ex, so you might want to start by asking your divorce lawyer if there is a way to get the court to order him to cooperate since he's not paying on the mortgage. If the court has ordered that the house be sold, the judge may not like that he is (apparently) trying to keep that from happening.
Hey Beth,
Me and my wife are currently in a situation in which we are making trial payments for a Making Home Affordable program through the loan modification department of Bank of America. We are looking at options to sell our house or rent it out and move into another home. We can afford the payments now and could afford more so we are trying to move into something larger and closer to town. I did get discharged from a Chapter 7 in May of this year so as Ive been advised I cant personally file for another mortgage for at least another 30 months. My wifes name isnt on the first mortgage as we were not married yet. She has good credit but doesn't have an income so we are in a bit of a predicament. However, we have found several homes at the reservoir area in Brandon, MS to do a lease purchase with a few different homes. Given the fact that I have already jaded my credit for several years would it be a bad move to go ahead and let the house foreclose and just conserve our income for a more sizeable down payment on a lease/purchase agreement?
Thanks in advance for your response. I'm glad there is someone who is in MS that can help me and my wife make the best decision.
Morgan
Morgan,
In my opinion, it would be a really bad move to let your house foreclose if you can afford not to. When you are ready to start applying for credit again, prospective lenders will see not only a bankruptcy but a foreclosure too. Those are probably the two worst things you can have on your credit report. Lenders want to see that you have turned things around after a bankruptcy. They will often excuse negatives on your credit if you have a good reason (medical, injured and unable to work, etc.), but not just because you didn't feel like living up to your obligation. Why would anyone want to lend to you in the future if you don't live up to your current obligations?
I walked away from my condo in AZ. Unusual situation - the condo had no HOA when I bought it (and still doesn't). It turns out that title companies won't offer title insurance to condos that don't have HOA's now. Technically, it shouldn't have been sold to me in the first place. So, I decided to buy a new house and walk away before throwing away more money on it. I feel like someone should be held responsible for this. The title company isn't, but is it worthwhile to try to go after the banks to get my money back?
On a side note, I have an offer from someone who wants to occupy my empty condo. I haven't heard of anybody doing this and I want to know about potential repercussions before I allow "renters" in my abandoned condo.
Debbie,
I really don't know about the title insurance issue. I've never heard of a title company refusing insurance for that reason. As for renting your condo, if there is no homeowner's association, there's a good chance that you can rent the property. If you're not sure about it, your can check your deed for restrictions.
Beth,
Thanks for the quick reply. Assuming there won't be a deed restriction, there's no legal restriction on having renters when I'm not paying the mortgage?
Debbie,
I thought you were asking about renting as an alternative to allowing it to go through foreclosure. Renting the house when you are not paying the mortgage might not be illegal, but it's not ethical either. Just put yourself in the renter's shoes: how would you feel if you were paying your rent on time and one day the sheriff shows up to evict you? The tenant might have cause to sue you if something like that were to happen.
Good luck.
What if the potential renters are aware of the situation and just need a temporary place to stay while they get their finances sorted out?
My real estate taxes on my home are behind about 15,000. I have been trying to sell the home and no luck here. The tax people are calling and said if i can't pay them they will start the forecloser on the home. The mortage is up to date but I don't have the money to pay the taxes. I even called the bank and they said they can escrow it in, but I can't afford to pay any more then what I pay per month. Should I still try to pay my mortage. Also what happens to the balance on the mortage if it foreclose on taxes
Justin,
The most likely scenario in this case is that when it comes to the point where the city/county is ready to foreclose, the mortgage company will pay the property taxes to protect their own interests, then increase your escrow accordingly.
If the mortgage company doesn't pay the taxes in time and the property goes through tax foreclosure, that will probably wipe out the mortgage because property tax liens are almost always senior to mortgages. Check with a real estate lawyer in your state to be sure. However, at this point, the house will be sold at auction and you may or may not be able to buy it back.
Good luck.
Beth, looking into the hamp program. My home is an older home and needs much work. The city that I live in is getting worse by the minute. Alot of police and firefighters have been laid off.The crime rate is astronomical. We want to move, we bought the house for 67,000 which was a steal at the time. Now I will be lucky if it is valued at 30,000 with the economy and such. We are one month behind in payments. Never seem to be able to catch up. My husband has a good job but we have other bills that are affecting our means. I do not want to live here anymore and want to move asap. Any ideas on what to do?I am hoping this HAMP program will work out. Just started doing it.
We are both senior citizens,retired. We have come through a Bankruptcy, and have received letters from lender, of foreclosure. we found a mobil home we could buy outright but our home is not yet foreclosed. If we move out before the judicial hearing, we would be abandoning the home. Lawyer advises we stay in home until hearing,but we will most likely lose the deal on the mobil. we live in florida. Any advice will be helpful.
Thank you!
I'm not sure why it matters whether you abandon the home (you could ask your lawyer), but I think you can have it both ways. Buy the mobile home now, but don't completely move into it yet. Move everything you don't use often, but leave your most-used dishes, furniture, etc. and keep living there until after the hearing, then finish moving.
If I move our home to my wife's name solely....then allow it to be forclosed on, will it only effect her credit? Will it be fairly easy for me to get a new home on my credit alone? my credit is very good
Chris,
The foreclosure will appear on the credit report of everyone who signed for the mortgage, regardless of whose name is on the deed.
I am in CA my husband co-signed a property w/a friend to help him out to qualify, now this person is not paying the mortgage bec. he cannot afford it anymore. My husband signed a quit claim on the property (but not registered, does he need to register?). My husband have some neurological problems (cervical nerve) he went into 12 1/2 hours of surgery last year. He is in & out of work due to this, we almost lost our own house too. We were able to do the loan modification. Question is it true that this lender where my husband co-sign can garnish his earnings? How can we be able to pay our other obligations such as Mortgage payments? please advice...
Hey Bethparker, I have a question for you,
Both me and my sister are on the deed of my mother's house, and due to this economy she is not able to afford the house anymore, which will eventually go into foreclosure, will this affect mine and my sister's credit score???
Great hub! Wish I did not have to write but here goes: in 2009 my wife and me relocated from va to pa for job reasons. We rented the va property and found a house in pa. The va property was purchased via 80/20 loan. Bac is in first and chase home finance is in second. The rental payment was not enough to cover the first and we eventually ran into cash flow problems. With the advice of an attorney we stopped making payments on va property. This was august 2009. The va property is now in pre foreclosure. There is no sale date. The house has been on the market for over 120 days. We are paying all utilities and hoa. We have an agent navigating the short sale but have hit a roadblock. We have a buyer that is approved by the first (bank of a) but chase stopped it. They want 20% of the second loan (~20k). The property is underwater. Bac has agreed to pay chase 3500, the brokers will kick in 1500 and we can pay a max of 1500. Chase has charged off the debt (appears this way on credit report ) and they have it in collections. The collection agency is stating that its an unsecured debt and is 100% pursuable. We are stuck between a rock and a hard place. We do not have the cash chase is looking for and don't want to declare bankrupcty but fear this is inevitable. Please share your thoughts. Thank you
Higor,
If the mortgage is in your name, it will affect your credit. The name on the deed doesn't matter.
Dave,
A mortgage is not an unsecured debt, whether it first, second, or whatever. Many collection agencies will say anything to get you to pay. Your situation is complicated, and you're better off talking to an experienced lawyer. Make sure you are dealing with a VA lawyer since laws vary from one state to another.
Great site...There are a lot of very helpful post on here. I have a quick question. I bought a place 5 years ago on a 80/20 5 yr ARM on the first and a 15 yr balloon on the second... with the intention of a refi.. refi never happened and the bubble busted... I have asked over and over for help from the mortgage companies but since I have never been late or missed a payment no one will help...I am to the point I want to let the place go rent for a couple years and then buy something else... If I do let it go can the take my 401k that I have around 30K in? Also besides the hit on my credit score what other factors should I be concerned with? Will I need to file bankrupcy to clear the bad debt?
Thanks in advance
HELP:
me and my wife purchased a investment property (condo) 3 years ago, its on my wifes name. we purchsed it for $180K and the property is now worth 90K only. Also after 1 year the HOA fee's increased from 150 to 298, we hired a lawyer to see what we could do but there is nothing as its with a certain % of increase therefore allowing them to increase. The income of the property as also reduced and the management as got worse. We are not sure weather we shoukd just walk away from this property.
Beth,
I need your advice. I moved to Texas for work from Oh. I own a property there that suffered significant water damage and has been empty for over a year. At this point it will have to be torn down and rebuilt. My insurance denied my claim and I am in court on that matter. It is very difficult for me to maintain a home here in Texas and cover the mortgage on the house in Ohio. I dont want to file for bankruptcy but have been told to let the Oh home foreclose. I have never missed a mortgage payment and the bank, 53rd, tells me they cannot help until I have missed 3 payments. What do you think?
I don't think you should count on the bank helping you even if you do miss those payments. I have heard too many stories where the bank said that, then refused to modify or offered a modification that wasn't much help at all. You are in a difficult situation, but ultimately, you need to decide whether it is worth taking about a 200-point hit to your credit score to walk away from this house. That's something only you can decide. The alternative, of course, is paying thousands of dollars on a worthless piece of property. Neither option is appealing. You might want to wait until the lawsuit against the insurance company is over and see how that goes before making a decision.
Good luck.
My wife and I have had our home for 10 years now. Due to the economy, my job had to close down. I have been on unemployment for 7 months now with no luck finding another job. We have tried the federal modification with no luck because they said that "with the unemployment that I an receiving we should have no problem making our payments". Then, we tried the modification through our lender ( which is not allowed to use unemployment as a source of income ). They recently called us and said that, going off my wifes income, we would not even be able to afford the lowered price. We have been current this whole time and it is so frustrating that they are not even willing to help. So, here you go Freddie Mac have another one.
What is even more frustrating is that we have already paid them more than the loan amount in interest. Just confused and do not know what to do. By the way, thanks for the informative blog.
I am behind paments 3 months in my house. I finally got a better job again , but I have to move out of the City.What option is better get current with mortgage and try to sell, rent or rent to own?. I owe 10,000 over its value. I won't be able to afford paying 2 houses. I will rent where I am moving
Hi Beth
We are thinking of letting a property go into foreclosure.I live in Ohio and what does it mean 2 year statute of limitations on deficiency judgement,if I would decide to let it go to foreclosure. I have lived in the property but currently do not. It is a rental at this time.
Thanks
I filed bankruptcy and included house. Due to illness and loss of employment, I could not afford contantly rising mortgage and after dealing with NACA and BAC requesting Loan Modifications, after two years I am thru. Attorney informed me that I can walk away from the house since there was no reaffirmation. In Ohio how long does it take BAC to get thru foreclosure process?
I live in Washington State, and have a rental home that I am wanting to foreclose on. We have about $74,000.00 in negitive equity and the renters are undecided on how much longer they will be able to stay in the home. We are filing for bankruptcy as well so we are sure this is the time to let go of this house as well. What can we do with our renters... do we evict them, do we let them stay until the bank takes the house. Can we charge them rent if they do stay? We are letting them know next month that we are stopping payments next month, so I would like to know my options before I give them the news.
Hi Beth,
We live in California. We are up to date on our payments, but have only been able to make the lowest payment on our loan for years. We owe the bank over $200,000 more than what we think the house might sell for at this time. (A house on a short sale down the street from us is in escrow, and we don't think we would get any more for our house). The payments on our loan are set to go up in July 2012. When that happens, we will not be able to make even the lowest payment on the loan. We haven't spoken to the mortgage company yet, but we would like to do a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Do we wait until we miss our first payment in July 2012 to contact the mortgage company? Or, do we contact them a couple months before then, and tell them we won't be able to make the payments? Can we take all the appliances with us? While the "talks" go on with the mortgage company, do we try to keep our HOA dues current to prevent trouble with them? We are hoping to use the Debt Relief Act to keep from owing any taxes. Do you know when the last day to file for that is? How do we find an attorney who has handled Deeds in Lieu of Foreclosures? Thank You.
I went thru Chapter 7 so I don't have credit card debt,
but I still have a 125,000 mortgage, one equity loan for 80,000, and one for 60,000. I can make the payments, but wouln't I be better off foreclosing ?
I was told that one of our friends in NY has been in foreclosure for 5 years with his bank because he has small children in the home. He stated that as long as he continues to pay his taxes there is nothing they can do, is this right?
You are never better off foreclosing if you can afford to make the payments. Even if you are upside-down in your mortgage, real estate prices will go back up again eventually. How could it be better to have two huge negatives on your credit report instead of one? Pay those payments on time every month, and they will help you rebuild your credit. That's three on-time payments every month if you can keep up with all of them. In two years, you should have a decent credit score again, especially if you also have a credit card you are paying on time each month. You can use a secured card for this purpose if you need to. Use it to pay one bill each month, and then pay it off immediately when the credit card bill arrives.
If you have to foreclose on your house and move out would you continue to pay insurance on your cond'o'
Thank you for your Hub. What are your opinions with this situation. I have a rental trailer home and have had trouble keeping renters. All of the homes around it have been foreclosed. I am now 3 months behind on payments due and the bank is moving towards foreclosure. I have an opportunity to sell a boat to gain some cash. Should I continue to make payments on this rental property? Especially since I've have a difficult time keeping renters or finding interested buyers (using realtors, property mgmt companies and on my own) ? or would you take the foreclosure hit at this point? I feel like I am throwing money and an endless problem.
I'm in California and like most my home is underwater by about 100k. My job has me furloughed by 40% now so this loss of income has finally caught up to me and I am no loger goig to be able to make my current payment. I'm current as of this month, but will not be next. I'm planning to just start missing. I owe 243k and my parents have indicated that they would give me 125k cash to purchase the house outright. Is this something the lender will negotate and take? I don't want to do a short sale, just want them to mod the loan to 125k and then pay the note off. Do you think this is advantagous for the lender to take once I'm 3 to 6 months behind? I've heard it's expensive for them to forclose plus the comps in my neighborhood are around 115lk to 120k for the same home. Otherwise, they can simply forclose and I'll take the 125k and go by a slightly better home.
Hi. Some great info here. Here's my scenario.
I'm in Michigan. I've been in my current house over 20 years. Thru refinancing several times over the years i still owe 90,000 on a house that probably has lost it's value down to about 50 or 60. Basically i just want to be out of this money pit. If i buy a new house now and then walk away from my first mortgage what happens?. Or, what if there's another house that's in foreclosire that im interested in, why can't i just swap houses and let them have my house while i pay for the new one. I'm currently up to date onmy payments and wondering if i just stop paying and buy a new house could they put a lien on my new house..what are my best otions?... my current house will never be worth what it used to ne and i just want out...any ideas?
JP,
If you let your house go into foreclosure, you probably won't be able to get financing to buy another house for at least two years.
Hi Beth...I actually was going to try to finance a new house before the other house goes into foreclosure...if anyone will finance a new loan while i still have this house
My husband and I recently separated, when I moved out it was our verbal agreement that he will pay the mortgage instead of child support until we can sell the house which we've only lived in for 3 years. He refuses to sell the house, or pay child support. He's two months behind on mortgage payments and the bank sent us a notice saying if we don't pay within the next 2 weeks it could force our home into foreclosure. I have no plans on buying a house on my own for quite some time, and he plans on renting for a while. Since we live in PA, would it be better for us to just allow the bank to foreclose on our home? Thank you in advance for any advice you can give me.
Ash,
If you let the house go into foreclosure, it will affect both of your credit, assuming both of your names are on the loan. If you're sure that the two of you aren't getting back together, going ahead with the divorce proceedings will result in a court order that mandates what should be done with the house, and will probably give you a child support order as well. Once you have that, you'll be in a better position to make him follow through on whatever agreement you come up with. In the meantime, a verbal agreement only enforceable if you can prove it. Otherwise, it's his word against yours.
To summarize, my advice to you is: talk to a divorce lawyer as soon as possible.
Hi Beth! I understand it is best to avoid foreclosure at all costs..especially due to the fact that one will find it very difficult to buy a new home. I'm in the same situation as many others, possibley able to save the house, but it is not looking good. Do you know anything about lease to own/rent to own/ and flexable financing properties? We live in Wi. and there are several beautiful homes in the area that we would like to move our family to (we have been living in a different city for 9 years and had hoped to move back home 4 years ago). I will do everthing in my power to save our home if that is the best thing to do, even with all the repairs needed and years ahead that we do not wish to be here. However, if we are not able to save it, is a lease to own a good idea in Wi. or more of a dangerous scam? We talked to a contracter last year who had wanted us to allow our home to go through foreclosure so he good get us into his rent-to-own property. He sad he had done the same before, that there are ways to get those who have been through foreclosure into a home as renters, eventually selling them the land the property was on...this was his way of dealing with all of his foreclosed homes...re-selling them to financially stable people (like ourselves) who had just gone through a difficult time (like so many others who are in this situation, my husband had lost his job). I've thought of talking to a real estate lawyer but would rather not pay the extra costs if neccesary. Any advice would help. Thanks!
Selena,
I know quite a bit about lease to own. Maybe I should write a hub on that, but for now, here is a little info. A lease to own home will usually cost you quite a bit more than you would pay if you were getting a traditional mortgage, often around $25,000-30,000 more. This is not a scam; it is just the way the real estate investor makes money. Think about it: he is taking a chance on someone with not-so-good credit. He is not going to do that unless there is something in it for him.
Typically, in a lease to own situation, you will pay an option fee up front and a monthly rent payment. You will have a certain amount of time to buy the property for the agreed upon price. It can be a great way for people with bad credit to get back on their feet.
You might actually be able to use a lease option to save your own house if you act quickly enough, by putting a renter in the home and finding a cheaper place to live temporarily. If all goes well, your tenant pays enough to cover the mortgage and you find a place with lower rent that you can afford more easily until your circumstances change for the better. Of course, there is always the risk that the renter doesn't pay, so you need to be prepared to send an eviction notice as soon as the rent is late or things could get much, much worse.
Good luck.
Thanks so much. I think you should write a hub about lease to own..there are many out there and not everyone knows very much about them. With all that said, considering your advice and our situation, would it be wise for us to try a quick sale with the mortgage company, cutting our losses (is that to be paid back?) but avoiding forclosure, then finding a lease to own just to avoid not only a huge down payment (I know many of the down payments for these are the same amount as monthly rent), but also to avoid getting into another morgtage right away? With the amount of money needed to put into this house to not only catch-up but to repair I'm concerned our payments here would end up being more than we could afford, or affordable with no extra money to put into repairs. Many of the houses we found are newer, easier to maintain and very reasonable as far as monthly rent is concerned. Once again, I will not choose to go forward with something like a quick sale if it is a bad idea..we are trying to get ahead, not dig a deeper hole. Thanks again....I think I covered all questions this time!
Selena,
Do you mean a short sale? It's not a bad idea. However, many mortgage companies are really hard to work with and getting them to do a short sale is like pulling teeth. It can be a long, drawn-out process.
Beth
Yes, I meant short sale, I realized my mistake when I was discussing the issue with a friend. Our problem with renting is that the morgtage company has already told us to not make any payments, they've told us this since the process started. We went to being qualified for a repayment plan (once my husband was hired to a new job), to having to now see if we can re-qualify due to the fact that he has a different job (which seems funny since he now makes much more). Since this process has been delayed so much we are getting further and further behind. Not to mention that before he lost his job he did get a pay cut, at that point we talked with the morgtage company about re-financing, they also told us then (we were 2 months behind at that point) to not make any payments on the house because they would not be accepted. At that point I believe we were dealing with Countrywide, they somehow switched us over to Bank Of America. Now dealing with Bank of America we are still being told to not make payments. We don't even have the option of getting someone else in here, nor would I feel comfortable. Not only would I be worried about non-payment, but also about the house being foreclosed on anyhow. I guess we'll have to look into it all further and see how it pans out. I must say this market is much more interesting than I thought though!
14 years i bought a home for $125.00 cash. 2 years later i was diagnosed with bipolar. i was unaware that i had the disease. i bougnt the home in 1998. i married two years later. i went to a finance company and started borrowing money on the home. (my husband did not understanding what i was doing any better than i did. i was not suppose to make any desicions about spending money. first i was borrowing to repair home, then to pay off bills, taxes. then the loan officer would call and tell me if i needed money and he could give me another loan on the home. before i knew it i didn't own the home anymore they did. my bipolar illness was completely out of control. i know the loan officer knew i was sick because he told me his daughter suffered from the same illness. the home is now worth 197.00 i owe 153.00. i don't know if i have any equity in the home or if i have any thing to do with it other than paying the 900.00 a month. i am afraid to tell the morgaae company for fear they will sit me out. i went to tell them last year that i wanted my taxes included in with the house payments, they told me not to worry, that it was now against the law to have the taxes and the house payments separated. i feel like they new exactly what they were doing. my husband left me a year ago and i am left with the responsibility of all of the bills. i went to the mortgage company an signed an areement that i could pay 900 dollars a month, since i was in the alone. the taxes are not included with the house payments. i realize that i can't afford the taxes and the house-payments. i only have my disability check to live on. i am now 63 years old afraid i will get set out doors. no money to move on. would someone please give me some advice as to what i should do.
thanks very much,
katherine webster
Katherine,
It sounds like you will never be able to afford this house. If the house is worth $197,000 and you owe $153,000, then you have some equity. I would put the house up for sale. While you are waiting for it to sell, you need to come up with a plan for what you will do afterward.
Depending on how much your house sells for, you may end up with $20,000-30,000 after paying the real estate commission. If so, you might be able to use that as a down payment to purchase a much less expensive home. In many areas, you can buy a mobile home or doublewide on your own land for a very reasonable price. Another option would be to rent an apartment.
Five years ago I filed Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. I included my home in this. My credit report states that my mortgage is "filed in chapter 7 bankruptcy". I have continued to make the payments on this home and have kept it. I can no longer afford this. If I let the home go back to the mortgage company is it still under my bankruptcy or will I have a foreclosure?
Crystal,
You should ask your bankruptcy lawyer that question. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
I have question for my dad. I feel bad for my dad. HE struggle with house payments. He owed on house more than he could sell for. His house is in need alot TLC. He dont have left to fix up so he would sell. I told him I think he better off with that house. He can live with my brother when he could buy a house. (my brother current live in my father's house.) My brother never buy house before. It will be his first time buyer. My dad is 65 and I dont think he should worry about his credit score since he can live under my brother. I told him all that but he is worry that he might have to pay back big time and I dont know about that. Hope you can answer that. Tks.
Hi. Me and my fiance are thinking about starting a family and we really want to get out of the house we're in right now. She is the owner and we owe $170,000 but the house is only appraised for $145,000. We can both afford the payments but later on when the baby comes, we would be really tight on budget. If we sell this house for what its appraised for, we don't have the cash up front.
We really want to move into a smaller home and in a different area. If she can afford to have a bad credit rating and I will be the borrower for the next home, is foreclosure the best way to go? I've heard of deed in lieu and shortsale but not sure what would be best in our situation. Is it OK to go and sit down with our lender to see what they think we should do (if they know we can keep up with our payments but just want to get out of the house)?
Mike,
You shouldn't mention anything to the lender unless you are sure you aren't going to keep paying on the house, because they might start proceedings against you sooner. If you can afford the payments, you will probably be better off keeping the house.
If you go into foreclosure, depending on which state you live in, you may have to pay back the difference between what you owe and what the house actually sells for at auction. There are also tax implications to consider. It is not a decision that should be made lightly.
Hello there,
My hubby and i are thinking to sell the house.. We are up to date with our mortgage however we decided to downgrade and be able to save for the future by just renting.. Got the house for 420k now its approx worth 373k.. Need ur advice.. Does a short sale realistic? What will be the process if we decide to put the house on a short sale..
I'm currently going through a divorce & my ex left me holding the bag!! We paid 420.000 for the house 4 years ago! The mortgage is almost $ 3000.00 per month. He is court ordered to pay half of the mortgage & child support which I have used to pay the mortgage. I currently have $30.000 in credit card debt and just missed my 1st mortgage payment since owning. Is it better 2 foreclose or file bankrupt?
Beth,
We r thinking of letting our townhouse go into foreclosure. We live in Illinois and I would like to know if we would be responsible for paying the difference for what it sells for at auction (Owe 92K values at 30k) also would the lender have to give us notice to vacate or do we run the risk of coming home to our townhouse locked up with all of our personal belongings inside?
@Rowe,
Short sales are possible, but it usually takes a lot of time and effort to get the bank to approve them. Some mortgage companies are easier to work with than others. All you can do is try.
@MabearKLJ,
If your debts are a lot more than you can afford, it's unlikely that bankruptcy will end up saving the house. In a chapter 13, you still have to make payments on your debts. Many people who go this route end up losing the house anyhow. You should certainly consult a lawyer before making any decision, but my opinion is that you should either sell the house (if the value is high enough) or let it go into foreclosure. You no longer have the income that your mortgage payment was based on, so it's unlikely you'll be able to keep up with it.
@Jamie,
What happens in foreclosure in most states is that a notice is served letting you know when the auction is. Your possessions will not be locked up. However, if you don't leave in time, the sheriff might show up and physically evict you from your home.
I am about to leave the USA for at least 2 years. I am upside on my home and looked into renting but would have to fund the home to the tune of $1500 after collecting the rent. Seems that I should just abandon and let it foreclose. Also, if I keep the home I would have to file and pay CA tax but without the home I would not.
Not sure I have any other options? Can you think of any?
Seems like leaving the country for a few years would be a great way of getting this millstone from around my neck.
I have a ? My brother in law brought a house 5 yrs never was fixed mortage his intrest rate is 9.5 % he hardly able to pay his mortage he lost his f/t job he mortage payment went from 1296.00 to 1900.00 because BOA paid the taxes he been working. With BOA from last year almost 11 months past 3 month he stop making payment he send all the hardship doc to the bank no ans from them. Not sure what us the next step I call the bank every week no ans help want to give the house back to the bank I now it will effect my credit. Can they cone back after me for the diffencey balance. I leave in CT please advise thank u.
I live in Arizona. I have been living in my home for 5 years now and ow $210,000. My home is worth only $130,000 now and I cannot keep up with payments. I am about to go into foreclosure. My question is if i file a 1099C does that mean I dont have to pay the difference in what the current market value of my home is and what I still owe on the house. Like most people I cannot afford to pay that and if I could Id still be able to afford my home. Any help would be appreciated.
I live in Az and my husband and I bought a house for 205,000.00 and it is worth half of that now. We sold our other home to buy this thinking we would use the equity from this house to eventually retire. Since moving here I became ill with cancer and can no longer maintain this home. I lost my job but eventually found one that paid me half of what I was making before. It took me 6 months to find it which depleted our savings. Now that I make so much less we barely break even each month and are depleting our savings even more. I am 55 and want to buy a mobile home outright with the savings we have left. We have discussed short sales and foreclosure, but we are afraid if we buy the mobile home that they will come after it...we feel trapped in our home. Need advice.
Liz,
Talk to a lawyer first, but I'd use the savings to buy the mobile home. If the bank comes after you for a deficiency judgment, I don't think they can take your new home--only file a lien against it. That will only matter if you sell it. In addition, you should be able to eliminate the deficiency judgment by filing for bankruptcy if you need to. You will end up with bad credit whatever you do, but there are many things in life that are more important than credit. Good luck, both with your housing situation and your fight against cancer.
My condo is going in foreclosure due to a divorce. My question is will the divorce influence my chances of purchasing another property?
Bryant,
I don't know about the divorce, but the foreclosure will.
My husband and I own currently own a home in CA and are totally upside down with a crazy "pick and pay" loan. We are currently making the lowest payment option, but owe over $300,000 on the home with more being tacked on to the principal every month. The few homes in our area that have actually sold are selling for $130,000's and they are almost 1000sq ft larger than ours. We have tried for the last 2 years to negotiate w/our lender(Wachovia)regarding a loan modification, or anything that could help us, but they continue to tell us we don't qualify. We know that the paymet is going to balloon within the next 2 years, maybe sooner, and we'll have to pay the max payment then. That is why we were trying to work with the bank, but basically they're telling us that we need to miss payments before we get any help. Since we can't get any help, we would like to just walk from the house, ramifications and all, the stress has just reaked havoc on my health and well being. Both my husband and my credit is in the high 700's and we have always been current on all our payments. We would like to purchase a smaller, more modest home and with our current house payment, I think we can still qualify for a second mortgage payment, at the moment that is. Do you have any advice on how to qualify for the second home without divulging the fact that we plan a strategic default. Again, I was always against people who did this, but we have tried everything w/the bank and they are totally unwilling to help.
Hi Beth-
I have great credit. I'm in the process of relocating because of my job and because of this I found out that my house contains "Chinese Drywall". When I purchased the house this wasn't apart of the inspection nor do they inspect for it now. However, one of my real estate agents had a conscious (and didn't want to be sued yrs later)so she brought this up to me because there was other homes in my neighborhood that contain this drywall and I needed a special inspection. (google "Chinese Drywall" and you can get the history on this stuff - basically it give off a gas that is harmful to your health and eats a way at all metals in your home including all your wiring) I was confirmed to have this drywall. Now my house is now worth basically at the lot price. Finding out that other homes have it in my neighborhood and they can't sell their homes either and one actually foreclosed. The others can't move and are waiting on the settlement (if there is one)
So here is my problem...
1. I don't want to put the money nor do I have the money into the house to strip it down to the studs to fix it.
2. I have to be in my new location in less than a year and can't wait around for the class action suit to come thru years later to finally fix the house
3. I really can't handle two mortgages though I'm preapproved to get a second home.
So if I buy a new place in the new location first and then let my first one go thru forecloser will the bank come after me for the 2nd home?
I tried to work with my mortgage company to see if they would right off this house because the loan amount is very low nd the amount to fix it would be greater than the loan amount. But since there is no precedence to handle this the bank said they can't do anything until I start to stop payment on the house.
Any other suggestions can give me that I can do without ruining my credit would be greatly appreciated?
Hi Beth! This info has been so beneficial! Wondered if you could give me a little more detailed advise...my husband went thru bankruptcy about 10 years ago, has rebuilt his credit score to around 730's. I have always had good credit, at the time we purchased our home in FL 5 yrs ago his credit was still in the rebuilding stage, so the loan is ENTIRELY in my name. I am self-employed and my husband has been employed with the same company for 16 years. Due to the economy my business took some considerable losses over the last two years (about $1800/month!). We spent a solid year in an attempt to get a Loan Mod with our lender, (we had NEVER missed a payment or been late, and still haven't) after the year long process we saved a whopping $0.52/month! We were basically told it "hurt" us not "helped" us for having never missed a payment. So it is pretty much inevitable that we need to get out of this house, and out from under the almost $2000/month payment! We are considering the "option" of allowing a forclosure to take it's course. I know this would destroy my credit (which my score is in the mid 700's) but due to the fact that my husband has great credit and is NOT on this house loan, what reason would I have (other than ethical, and trust me I am burded by that!) to not just go ahead and buy another house in his name NOW and stop making pymt on my house and just let it go? Can the Lender come after me for $ after a forclosure? Also, let me mention, this is a BEAUTIFUL log home in FL (something that's a bit of a novelty here, hard to get comps for..and appeals to only a certain market), so selling it would entail alot of jumping thru hoops. What consequences should I be most concerned with.I would so appreciate your thoughts in our situation! THANK YOU!
living in Michigan and the housing values in the toilet am thinking of having the bank foreclouse on my house already have another place to stay...will only help with future savings...since the property value in lower than mortag amount...is this a goo idea
I have a house in CA. that I am in the processing of getting a modification. Only time will tell if I get it. I have two houses in PA. One of the houses I intend to keep. I raised my children in it and it is a nice home in a good area. The other house I bought in a not so nice area of town as an investment property. It is now worth much less than what I paid for it. I would like to let it go into foreclosure. How will this effect my other properties? What will be my penalties? I know it will hurt my credit but it already hurting because of the mod. Not sure what the laws are in PA. when foreclosing on a house
Currently, I am not behind in my mortgage payments. My house has been broken in to twice, my garage twice and my car twice. It is no longer safe for me and my daughter to remain in this house. So I have packed up and moved out. I have unfinished projects on the house and am not putting any more money into the house. I just want it gone. I have a health condition and my expenses are becoming too much, I also recently had to start repaying school loans. It is not an option to rent and I do not have any potential buyers. How should I proceed to get rid of my house with the least consequences? Also, If I let my house foreclose how do real estate taxes work for the current year?
I bought a townhouse in Florida for $140,000 which is now worth about $60,000, listed for 69,000 with no offers. Started renting it out a couple years ago at a loss. The house is under my name only. If I short sale, can the bank come after accounts that are in my husbands name only? We have some cash but are saving it for moving and paying the taxes we will owe from short sale ( talked to accountant. Since it's not my primary residence I have to pay a debt forgiveness income tax on the loss the bank takes). Anyone have experience with this?
@Underwater, if the bank accepts a short sale, they are agreeing not to come after you for the balance. They accept the sale amount as satisfying the mortgage. That's what a short sale is. So no, they would not be able to come after your husband.
Moved from out of state for a job. Can't sell my old house, though I just bought it in 2008. About 10% underwater on a $77k mortgage, and don't have enough money to take to closing if I sell at a significant loss. IRS forced me to pay back my first time homebuyer loan in full with this years' taxes, because the house isn't my primary residence any more. Had to set up a payment plan, which is very expensive. Savings are almost gone after a year of mortgage + rent, and now IRS payments added to the mix.
House is not currently on the market due to lack of cash to take to closing. Thinking of becoming delinquent, so mortgage company will negotiate a graceful exit. They won't discuss unless I'm 60 days late. Any suggestions?
@Drained, if you plan on letting it go, there is really nothing to negotiate. Negotiation is for when you are trying to save the house. If you stop paying the payments, the mortgage company will eventually foreclose, whether you talk to them about it or not.
I guess "come after" is the wrong phrase. I meant, can they pull his credit, and refuse a short sale based on the fact that his account has money? Or will they only see accounts under my name and ssn? Thanks so much!
@Underwater, they would need his permission to pull his credit. Also, bank account balances are not shown on a credit report. The only way they will know how much money he has is if you tell them.
Beth please help, our loan is with Citizens Bank. After filing out paperwork it took 6months but we were granted a gov. modification. 5/6 months later modification came and it lowered current monthly amount by 250.00. I called them and asked to have to modification paperwork reviewed hoping maybe the amount could drop a little more. They said it will take time. I called 7 times thru the next month always being told the same thing going take time. I stopped calling. 7 months go by no word, no call, they have been cashing trial checks and we get 30 day foreclosure letter. Pay 20 thousand or foreclose. Citizens said that since I didn't sign paperwork after 30days modification expired and loan went back to orginal amount. No letters, no calls nothing. What should I do? I am on SSD & W/Comp. Wife going to college,2 kids, dog, cat etc. House 3 years ago worth 210 now 130 and i owe 173
I own a house in Maine and recently married someone in Sweden. Since we have been paying for two houses while I tried to figure out what to do with the house we are at a point where 3 months down the road I will be out of money. I am scared to foreclose because I honestly don't understand what it does? Is it super embarrassing? I have a first time home buyers loan which requires insurance against foreclosure so does that mean the bank would get their money and everyone would be happy? I would love to try and sell it but I feel I will get in over my head before that happens. I have had numerous people tell me they want to rent my house. But I fear that if I rent it and it's a primary residence loan and something happens to the house the insurance won't cover it. Like say it burns. Is it better to gamble with renting or foreclose? I am not concerned about needing another loan in the United States in the next two years.
@dbarr, your story is sad but familiar. This has been happening to a lot of people who try to get the government loan mod. I really wish I could help, but at this point I don't think there's really anything you can do except stop paying, sit tight as long as you can, and save the money you would have put toward the mortgage to pay for moving expenses and rent.
@Katie, if your house was to go into foreclosure, there would probably be a foreclosure notice posted in your local paper containing your name and a description of the property. That's it as far as embarrassment goes.
Your first time homebuyer's loan may cause problems. If you took the tax break that was being offered for first time homebuyers, there may be tax consequences if you don't live there for a certain amount of time. Your concerns about the insurance may be justified too. You should try to get a copy of the policy.
Only you can decide whether to abandon your home and let it foreclose or to try to save it by renting it out. It would probably be a good idea to consult with both a foreclosure lawyer and an accountant before deciding.
Hi Beth,
My husband and I purchased our home eight years ago for $295,000. We put $65,00 down on the home, making our initial 30 year mortgage for $230,000.
We were given a $100,000 equity line of credit and spent all of it within three years. We then refinanced the total amount ($330,000) on a thirty year mortgage.
It has been five years and we have been slowly sinking into more and more credit card debt, even taking three withdraws from our 401K to cover expenses.
We are officially in over our heads and now want to foreclose on the property. We are wondering if the mortgage company can come after the $100,000 equity line of credit that we spent years ago and rolled back into our mortgage.
As it stands our we owe $311,000 on our house and it's worth approximately $230,000.
We live in Minnesota, a non-recourse state, if that matters.
Thank you,
Erin
@Erin, when you refinanced, the home equity line of credit was paid off with the proceeds from the new loan. It no longer exists. The $330,000 mortgage is all you have to worry about.
Hi Beth,
Bought an upscale condo in NJ in 2006. Market fell. I was always able to rent it out even though I've been taking a $1,000 loss each month. Now, the tenants are moving out. I can't get new tenants. Should I borrow against a credit card to pay my mortgage payments for a few months or foreclose? The mortgage is $3200 a month which I don't have. Can't sell it either. I owe 400,000 and condo is only worth $350,000.
@Kathy, only you can decide whether it is worth $3200 + credit card interest each month to save your credit. My opinion is no, it's not. You'll hit your credit card limit in no time, and then how will you keep up with the credit card payments?
Hi,
I had bought a house with my fiance almost 2 years ago, but now we are no longer. We have been trying to sell our home and are in the short sale program now. Even though we have been granted the short sale, things still aren't looking the best to sell our home. We are trying to look at other options, because we don't want to be tied to each other anymore. (We've been trying to sell our home for about a year). I know that foreclosure will affect one's credit score, but if we foreclose can they come after any money that we have saved or other assets? Also, I've heard about going into foreclosure after being in the short-sale program for 120 days. Will the penalties be less if we wait out the 120 days?
Thanks for your advice. I am currently trying to sell the property, but am going to stop paying payments I believe to start the foreclosure if I can't sell. Are foreclosure lawyers really expensive? Where can I find a local foreclosure lawyer? This is a great site. I appreciate reading all of the info, it helped me to think about my options and see what other people have been through. As far as the embarrassment that's pretty embarrassing!!!! But I guess worse things have happened and in the long run this is what is better for me. Thanks!
There is a house in another area that could be a great opportunity for my family. Good neighborhood, schools and such. We live in a house where we owe $90,000 but its worth around $40,000 now. I may have an opportunity to rent to own from a family member until I can get a mortgage. If I moved into the new home and let the one I am in go into foreclosure could they come after me for the difference? I cant afford anymore bills but can afford the ones I have. What could they go after?
Hello....My ex and I split up...The house ( deed + both Mortgages) are in both of our names. The mortgage is a 80 / 10 ..first one is $369,000 , second one is: $42,000 ...She just filed for bankruptcy and included both mortgages...What happens now...She is still on the deed...Am I just now responsible for the Mortgage...??SHould I file too....I dont know what to do
Also, I can afford the house , but since she filed and included the mortages, what do I do..? She is Listed as the primary mortgage holder, but it is in both our names.. What will the mortgage companies do now that she filed for bankruptcy and included them both..? Do they start foreclosure if I am paying, But why should I pay when she filed...I have to remove her from the Deed but is it worth it, or do I have to File Now too to protect myself....???
@Jordan, you need to talk to a bankruptcy lawyer. You have a lot of good questions, but you need to ask someone who is qualified to answer them.
We owned our home for 19 years and we refinanced 4 years ago. We went into a all interest mortgage.
We decided to do a loan mod and we were turned down twice. Then we decided to do another one and they accepted and put us in a trial period. After the trial they said that because we were currentwe did not quilify anf also since we have an all interest that we are considered unmodifiable.
Well I get a letter in the mail 6 months after our turn down of the mod that we owe 850 a month on our mortgage for tax escrow for one year and then it would be 400 extra a month for the rest of the loan.
Our loan mortgage is now 2900 a month and we can not afford it al all.
It goes to show you that theses mortgage companies dont want to help you at all!!
@Mary, if your mortgage payment is more than you can afford with an interest-only loan, then you just can't afford the house. You are not paying anything at all on pricipal, so you will never own the home.
In most areas, you could rent a nice house for a whole lot less than $2900 per month and you wouldn't be any worse off because right now, you are not earning any equity in your home anyhow.
A foreclosure will damage your credit, but it doesn't sound like you will be able to avoid it. My advice to you is to stay in the home as long as you can, stop paying on the mortgage, and save that money for moving expenses.
Then move into a house that is LESS expensive than you can afford so you'll have a little breathing room in case of an emergency. And take this opportunity to learn how to live below your means. It sounds like you are trying to keep up with the Joneses. You don't need a bigger house or a nicer car than everyone else.
My husband and I bought a bigger house due to growing family. We still have our old house, which is valued way less than how much we owed. We wanted to sell it but probably won't get enough to pay off the mortgage. Will the bank approve for a short sale if we can't afford to pay for both houses? We consider just walking away. Please help!
5276, it is hard to get a bank to approve a short sale, but not impossible. The only way to find out is to try.
My sister had her house foreclosed on in Arizona. She had an 80/10/10 loan, both 80 and 10 with Chase. Is she responsible for any part of the 80 or 10 loans? The house sold at auction last month for less than the mortgage amount. Chase just called her at work today and she couldn't talk to them there but is waiting for call back tonight. What should she expect Chase to ask for? The difference in sale price and 80 mortgage? The who 10 part loan. Any help you can give is very much appreciated. thanks.
Paula, I'm not sure what the law regarding deficiency judgments is in Arizona. Try Googling "deficiency judgment Arizona" and see what comes up. Other than that, I would advise your sister to tell Chase that they can not contact her by phone, only by mail. She has the right to do that. She already lost her house; she doesn't need the stress of being harassed by bill collectors. It would be a good idea for her to talk to a lawyer who is familiar with both foreclosure and bankruptcy. If Chase comes after her for a deficiency judgment, filing for bankruptcy may be an option.
I live in Ohio, I'm 4 months behind on my morgage, because of illness for my husband and I,He works but may get layed off in July. Our mortgage is 190,000, our ages 60 with ongoing health issues. We can't take the stress. If we foreclose, will the morgage co. be able to sell the house and make us pay balance owed.
@Maggie, here's your answer: http://www.foreclosure.com/statelaw_OH.html#6
My husband passed away in 2010. I am moving out of state to a home I bought myself. For the house we had here,I am not on the loan...but I have rights to the title. If I were to walk away from the house in his name, what would happen to me, my credit, etc.
@kramit, if your name is not on the loan, it will not affect your credit at all.
my home was going up for auction on april 1,2010, however, my mortgage lender was able to work with me & stopped my home from being auctioned off. they had approved me for a loan motification & everything seemed to be looking better for me.then on july 11(2010),out of nowhere i recieved a notice taped to my front door stating that my home had already been sold at aution on june 07,2010. immediately, i contacted my mortgage lender to find out what was going on, they assured me that they were still my lender and were still handling my case & said that i could probably expect soliciters doing things like that & they told me not to sign anything without letting them know first. four days later, after speaking with my lender, a "notice to evict the premises immediately", was found on my door. again i notified my lender & again they reassured me that they were still handling my case. than one week later, a 3 day eviction notice was tapped on the door & the following day a gentleman knocked on my door & served me with papers that said i would be given 30 days to leave & that there would be a police officer present on the last day of my eviction & they would be boarding up my house. once again, i called my lender. this time i got many of calls telling me different things like, "we're not sure who's handling your case","we cant seem to narrow down all the information regarding your account with us," "we will have someone from our dept. contact you back,within the hour." on & on, until someone from my lenders office said my home was now in the possession of REO propertise, & that my account with them had been closed & they officially had nothing more to offer or say to me. six and a half months later, here i sit,living with my oldest son,in his apt. four blocks from my home of 26yrs. & still i cant get any information about my home. what happened? who's got it? is their someone i can talk to about trying to get it back? i have to pass my home each time i go to the market, each time i cant stop crying & thinking, "what in the hell happened!"
Hi my question is if my home goes in forclosure will I have to pay attorney fees? I live in Indiana and I don't know anything.
HI. I currently have a townhome in Virginia that is $140k under water. Between savings and 401k I could sell this home for the lower amount and pay the bank however, it would wipeout everything my wife and I have worked for over the past 10 years.
Our situation is that we are still able to pay our mortgage payment (barley) but the townhome is too small for our growing family.
I believe Virginia is a state that allows a deficiency judgment and that makes me nervous about foreclosing.
Any advice?
Thanks in advance!
We vacated our NY home and moved to FL in May of 2009. Our original mortgage was for $70k with a 2nd for $60k with HSBC... THe property has gone to auction on numerous occasions and has yet to sell. I recently checked the County records and we are still listed as the property owners. How can this be?
We are in the process of moving back to NY again and are toying with trying to get the house back.
We filed for bankruptcy at the same time and the foreclosure was covered under it as well.
My question is, can this be done and what happens the 2nd mortgage?
Bethparker,
In 2007-2008 we began to have trouble financially. We were paying our mortgage payment, but had called the lender to see if they would work with us and lower the interest rate. They would not work with us as we had refinanced in 2006. I told them the situation and still would not help. My job cut my hours so bad, I left the job and looked for another. We were about 2 and a half weeks behind on the payment in May. I caught up the end of May, but they sent us a foreclosure notice and then retracted it the following week. Times were really tough, my husband wanted to leave and I did not, but we did, he called the lender and told them since they did not want to work with us, we were leaving. Within the next 8 weeks, my husband was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and never worked again from the short time after we left the home. He talked with the lenders again, and this time after he told them he was dying, they wanted to do the loan modification. I had found a job but was driving 70 miles a day to work, and just my income. We had to sell anything we had to eat and pay bills and other debt. I could not pay the other debts we had, so I wrote to them with certified letters. If my husband were not ill, the modification would have worked out and we could have went home. The other debtors cut the bills in half about 10 months later when my husband received disability. We moved again, to stay at a family home paying rent. Now, we were finally served foreclosure papers again in 8/2009. That day, my husband called the Lender and told them he was dying. The lender said there would still be a way that a modification could be done for me after he died. He told her my wife cannot afford any of that. So, the lender said don't worry about it, just let it go.
My husband has passed away 6 months ago. The foreclosure court schedule is in process. They said that the external conditions are clear as of last week. (?) don't know what that means. In the mean time, I am not working, and will be getting retirement checks in a few months under 900 dollars and can only make 341 a month as not to go over the amount standard by the govt. widow retirement benefits. (early retirement) I have nothing in assets at all. I can't pay back anything. I am barely living now with a roof over our head as the one I am renting from will not lower the rent a bit, so I may be looking at moving in the next few months to who knows where? I am financialy insolvent (if this is the correct word) I also have an 8 year old vehicle. Can they take that from me?
@Karen, worst case: you end up filing for bankruptcy to eliminate the debt. There are a few debts (student loans, taxes) that may not be eliminated by bankruptcy, but debt on a house is not one of them. If you file for bankruptcy, a Chapter 7 will wipe everything out completely. You are allowed to keep one vehicle and your personal possessions up to a certain value. Of course, you'll somehow need to come up with enough money to pay a lawyer and pay the fees for the backruptcy. That will probably be somewhere between $500 and $1,000.
I'm very sorry to hear about your husband. Good luck to you.
Hello, i have a question i was hoping someone to answer. 3 years ago i had a home go into forcloser, i been saving money and getting things in order to be able to secure an fha loan this year. I was able to bring my credit score from 520s all the way up to 800s in 3 short years by disputing my negative accounts. now on my credit report i dont have a single negative mark, including my forcloser. i went and applied for an fha loan and was honest and told the lender i had a forcloser 3 years prior. i even provided them the court document that cleared me from the property from may 2008. well the lender took that information and denied me my fha loan telling me i would have to wait 3 years from the date my forcloser sold. legally if it aint on my credit report then it didnt happen as it was removed for a reasson yes? so question is if i go to another lender and omit my forcloser from them, how likely would it be that they discover it?
@mo, the foreclosure happened whether it is on your credit report or not. If the lender doesn't ask, I don't think you have an obligation to tell them. But if they do ask, and you lie, I'm pretty sure that would be considered fraud. Your best bet: ask a lawyer to be sure. I'm just a writer.
Bethparker,
I am in a situation where my husband purchased a house in Indiana 8 years ago. We did not know each other then, so my name is not associated with the house in any way. His mother was the cosigner on his loan and she passed away a few years ago. We married and I secured a job and moved to Missouri two years ago. He joined me after renting out his house to tenants who paid enough to cover mortgage payments, but no extra. We have since purhcased two cars in Missouri (his is fully paid for in my name only, mine is in both our names and we are paying a note on it) and a house with the mortgage in both our names. We have never been deliquent in any payments and often pay more than the minimum payments - car, Missouri house, credit cards, student loan, etc. Our ultimate goal is to pay off our debt. Recently our tenants broke lease and abandoned our house in Indiana. They left the house in poor condition. We do not have the extra money to fix it up and are thus unable to secure new renters. We have not paid May's mortgage payment on the Indiana house yet because we do not have any extra money to pay it. We are paying all our other debts on time.
We've discussed letting the Indiana house go into foreclosure. We don't live there, already have a primary residence in Missouri, vehicles, jobs, etc. The cost to fix the house and the burden of being landlords (something neither of us ever wanted) is something neither of us wants. We owe $65,000 on the house. It's worth (in it's current condition) about $40,000. We don't want to sell the house for less and still owe the bank, plus we probably couldn't find a buyer in its current condition. I don't want to put any money into the house. Honestly, I just want the house and mortgage payment to go away. It was a bad decision made by my husband that he made when he was too young and too broke.
However, I'm concerned about whether or not the bank in Indiana can come after me for the mortgage payments on the Indiana house, even though my name is not on the loan or house. I am also concerned the Indiana bank could come after the things my husband's name is on - our Missouri house, my car, and our bank accounts. Finally, I don't know who to contact to discuss these issues and concerns - an attorney? An accountant? In Indiana? In Missouri? I'm not very concerned about my husband's credit, as the lender on our Missouri house wanted to put the loan just in my name, as I qualified on my own without my husband. (I'm kicking myself now for not doing that.) Plus, I don't anticipate us needing a loan for anything in the next 10 years or so. I read some of your above responses and am toying with the idea of having my husband just tell the bank that he can't pay them. I just don't know what my/our options are and if mine are the same as my husband's. I've even started researching how to get his name off my car note and our Missouri house and our bank accounts. (It seems divorce is the easiest way to do that.....)
I appreciate any help/advice you can give.
Thank you
@Samantha, are you seriously suggesting that you want to divorce your husband just to get his name off your house and car? That's crazy. A marriage is worth more than money. You don't break up a family to avoid financial problems. Family is the only thing that really matters when it comes right down to it.
Now, back to the foreclosure questions. Yes, Indiana allows deficiency judgments, so it's possible they could come after your husband for the difference. Talk to an attorney in Indiana who specializes in foreclosure to find out what your options are. It is Indiana law that will apply since the house is in Indiana, so you need a lawyer who is familiar with those laws.
As for your house and car, they are probably safe. The only way I know of that the lender could come after your current house and car is to force your husband into bankruptcy. That is highly unlikely for many reasons. If the lender gets a judgment against your husband, they will most likely try to garnish any cash accounts (checking, savings) and wages in HIS name. The lender on the Indiana house can't come after anything that is in your name only.
Deficiency judgments in Indiana are restricted to whatever was agreed upon in the mortgage agreement. You can get a copy of that document through the Register of Deeds office in the county where the property is located.
Here is a good article explaining deficiency judgment in Indiana:
Bethparker,
I purchased a home in North Carolina with a roommate in 2007. Both of our names are on the title and we did a separate tenants on common agreement that says that we will split the payments & profits on the house 40% (me)/60%(her). We had planned to sell the house after 2 years and make a profit, however the housing market tanked and neither of us wanted to take the hit.
Since then, she has gotten married (he contributes nothing to the payments) and got a dog (etc.) and the housing situation that I entered into has changed. In Feb. we agreed that I would move out in April and we would refinance to get my name off the title. At that time, she told me she thought she could afford the payments on her own and if not she had a roommate lined up. A week before I moved out her story changed that she had no roommate lined up and could not afford the payments on her own. Being that I had already signed a lease and arranged for a moving company, I still moved.
Since we know the house has lost value since we purchased it, we agreed to have it appraised and split the difference between what it appraised for and what we owe so they could refinance the house for less and my name could come off the title. When it was appraised, it actually come in $20,000 more that what we owe on it so she changed her story to not wanting to split the appraisal value- now she wants to split the true market value. The true market value (done by a local realitor) came back $80,000 less than the appraisal. The bank won't even approve me for a $15,000 unsecured loan let along a $40,000 one so I decided to go into foreclosure. She let me know that because she is in the military, she will lose her security clearance is she has a foreclosure on the house.
I contacted a lawyer and he said I can't be sued but she is telling me that if I don't come up with a realistic amount of money to give her, her lawyer will be calling me. Even if I didn't think her demands were unrealistic, I still can't get her the money because the bank wont loan it to me.
Do you know if there are any options here that we are not thinking of? Are there any foreclosure options (that are fair) that we may not know about?
Thank you so much for any advice you can give!
I don't understand why you are giving her money. Per your original agreement, you should be entitled to 40% of the profits, right? Assuming you have kept up with your end of the deal and paid 40% of the payments, it looks to me like she owes you $8000 at this point. If she doesn't want to pay that, then the two of you should sell the house and split the profits 40/60 after the sale closes per your original agreement.
I picked up on something here that you may not have thought of. If she will lose her security clearance due to a foreclosure, she might lose it from a lawsuit too. You could use this to your advantage. Have your lawyer write her a letter outlining what you want her to do to resolve this situation, while subtly implying that failure to come to an agreement may result in legal action. Then wait to see how she responds.
Good luck.
I moved into a home in vancouver wa with a friend of mine who did not pay his morgage the last 1.5 years. Its been 2.5 years since I have been here along with otherroomates. While others were paying rent to him myself and another friend were told by him if we kept the utilities up we could stay. He did not know that it would last this long. Now he wants money because he lost his job due to drugs. he does not live here the utilities are in my name and he wants us out so he can get someone in here to pay him money. Now its almost 4 years he has not made a payment is there a way I could contact the bank legally and let them know the situation without having him threaten me every other day?
@ric, landlord/tenant laws vary from state to state, but if he wants you to leave he can most likely evict you. It's best to just start looking for another place to stay. Whether he is paying the payment or not, the house is in his name. Your rights as a tenant are most likely limited to receiving a certain amount of notice (most likely a month) before you have to move out. Talk to a lawyer if you want to find out for sure what the law is in your state.
Just went thur a bankruptcy i ny. We now have enough money to buy outright a small mobile home in a senior park in flordia. All we will need to do is pay for our lot rent. Will we have any problems with them letting us pay our lot rent after we buy a mobile home in there community? Just trying to figure things out
Hi,
I would love some advice...My husband and I bought a house in 2006. In 2010 we had it sold and in the mean time bought a new house (we got a great deal with a short sale). Well, two weeks before the settlement of our old home the buyers backed out. So for the last year, we rented it. My tenant moved out in May and we are now having trouble finding a renter and selling it. I feel like a bad citizen just letting the mortgate go. We can afford to pay it, but at the end of the month it leaves me with about 150 for food and gas, and with three little kids that just doesnt work. So our situation right now is we have a home to live in (that we love) we both have cars and we are not really in need of anything so credit score is not really an issue for us. What is your advice if we would let our old house just foreclose? Thanks
I would love some advice. I own a condo (in my name) and a house (both in my name and in my wife's name). We lived in the condo for a few years and then decided to purchase a house for more space.
We listed the condo to sell and I had 2 different contracts (at different times) on the condo for the sale. The buyer's lender denied the loan in both sales because the other home owners in my condo complex are 25% late in paying HOA dues. Typically banks will not approve a lone if no more than 12% of home owners are late in paying HOA dues. Keep in mind that I pay my HOA dues each month and have never been late. We moved out of the condo because it was suppose to sell and we purchased our new house. We eventually ended up renting the condo. The rental is not HOA approved but I have after 3 months of having it rented, I am starting to think the HOA is digging around and might discover that I am renting.
I have a couple of questions. Do anyone think I can take any actions on my HOA for poorly managing home owners and costing me 2 sales? I'm afraid that the HOA will begin to fine me if they discover that I'm renting the condo out. Once my tenant's lease is up, I have considered just letting the property foreclose and releave myself of this headache. Any advise?
i bought a house in 2006 and in late 2009 i was having problems paying the mortgage so i decide to sell after four months of trying to sell it no luck so, i decided to do a short sale on the property. However, i have realtor prepared the short sale package in Feburary of 2010 for me she send it to the bank everything seems fine...well in October of 2011 we got a seller send in the paper works and the bank told her that a company buy the property without noticing me or the realtor...can the bank do this? so now i have a foreclosure on my credit report..
Beth, If i own a home and have a rental property and i were to default on the rental how would that affect the home i own????
we have purchased a time share and now i have lost my income and my husbands job is on the fence, so we are behind on those payments and they said they are going to report it to a collection agency and if no payment they will take it, but how bad is that for your credit, i really do no have a choice in the matter just wanted to get some info>????
Ok, here goes. I own a 3 br townhome in NJ. I put 40,000 down on my house. I regret doing that because the market tanked, my income decreased, I'm now in the beginning of the forclosure process and I'd like to know if I stay in the place as long as I can, and try to save my mortgage payments every month and sock the money away, can they come after the money I save?
Barb,
In New Jersey, the lender has three months after the foreclosure auction to file proceedings if they want to come after you for a deficiency judgment. If the house sells for less than the fair market value, you can use that as a defense in court, but you'll probably need an appraisal to prove the value. If you don't owe more than the fair market value, you shouldn't have any issue, so putting a large down payment on the home may end up working out in your favor there.
As for your savings: yes, they can come after it if they get a deficiency judgment. However, there is nothing to stop you from spending that money before the hearing. I assume you are probably saving up to move anyhow, in which case, you'll probably use up much of your savings before the lender can get a judgment.
Note: the above is based on research I have done, but I am not a lawyer. You should seek legal counsel regarding your specific situation.
bethparker,
GREAT articles here...just want to clarify...you told "Barb" that if her house sells for LESS than the fair market value, she can use that as a defense...didn't you mean, if her house sold for MORE...?
A couple of other questions I have are; if she uses her money for a down payment on ANOTHER home, can they put a lien on THAT home of hers? Or say, she used it on buying herself other tangible things, such as a car, boat, etc., can they take THOSE things from her?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP in answering these questions!
Nope, if her house sells for less than the FMV, she can use that as a defense. The law gives an allowance for the FMV. So, for example, if she owes $100k and the house is worth $90k but sells at auction for $60k, the bank can only get a $10k deficiency judgment because that is the difference between the FMV of the property they got and what was owed. They cannot get a judgment for the full $40k difference between the actual sale price and what was owed. This is a defense that has to be made in court, though. As in any court proceeding, if you don't show up you lose by default.
If the bank gets a deficiency judgment, they can attempt to collect it in any way that is legal to collect a judgment.
Hi, I live in Indiana and have a land contract I can't afford to pay on anymore. What happens when I stop paying and give the house back?
The home I was in is in the foreclosure process. Early stages so I was thinking of trying to do a short sale but according to the article they are rare. If I just let the lender do what thet do will I get sued by the lender?
We had gotten a mortgage based on MY credit, but w/my husband's disability income, since this income is sent in MY name FOR my husband's name, AND is being DIRECTLY DEPOSITED into a JOINT checking account. (This in come consists of; Soc. Sec. Dis. AND the major part of our income, which comes from a private dis. ins. he had taken out while he he HAD been working). Anyway, he's PERMANENTLY disabled, but this payment decreased SUBSTANTIALLY once he turned 65, in 4/10). [Note: I myself had been very ill, but have gradually become better, & have been taking care of my husband, our CHILD, & our home all by MYSELF, ALL THIS TIME, so I couldn't work out of the house.]
Anyway, just prior to the decrease in income, we thought it best (at the time) to try and refinance w/out letting our bank know of the decrease, so we called our banker, and he told us (ONLY VERBALLY I might add) that we COULDN'T, due to the fact that we/I hadn't had enough REVOLVING credit (DESPITE the fact that, that was THE SAME scenario when we applied for the mortgage ORIGINALLY...and, despite the fact that we had been paying our mortgage ON TIME EVERY MONTH...AND, my credit score was 714 at the time)!? So, we merely continued paying the higher rate, using the money from our savings! Later (in 10/10), we tried to refi AGAIN, but THIS TIME IN WRITING...to make a long story short, after our bank having done EVERYTHING THEY COULD to PROCRASTINATE with their answer, we were DENIED based on A BOGUS APPRAISAL! (Btw, it was only around this time, that I found out our mortgage had been sold to Fannie Mae...VERY SOON AFTER OUR MORTGAGE HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED, FOR NO APPARENT REASON.)
Now, in short, we ultimately STOPPED paying our mortgage just last June (NEVER having been delinquent even once, prior). Our bank finally sent us papers to apply for a FHA mortgage MODIFICATION. I NOW have several questions, which I'lll list below:
1) Can we be denied for a modification due to the fact that banking rules have recently changed, NOT permitting the use of MY credit with HIS income (even though the income is in MY name FOR him...as stated above)?
2) I JUST RECENTLY found out that MY credit score SUBSTANTIALLY DECREASED (I THINK, due to too many inquiries)...can THIS be a reason NOT to approve our modification application?
3) If we end up FORECLOSING, can the bank sue us for any "deficiency judgment" even though our ONLY income comes from Soc. Sec. and a disability ins.?
4) If the answer to question #3 is "yes", but WE HAVE MOVED OUTSIDE THE U.S., AND they win via "default", CAN they have the money taken out of out Soc. Sec. &/or dis. ins. payments (once we've already established that the country we've moved ALLOWS this type of income to be sent to us there)?
I'd GREATLY APPRECIATE answers to these four questions AS SOON AS POSSIBLE...THANK YOU VERY, VERY MUCH (in advance)!!!!!!!!! (Btw, we have NO relatives nor ANYONE we can depend on for ANY type of help, NOR due we have any future inheritance, AND as you most probably know, they have already began and will continue CUTTING Soc. Sec. & Medicare!!!!!!!!!!)
Please Help,
You should talk to a lawyer with experience in foreclosures in your state, but I'll give you the best answers I can as a non-lawyer.
1-2) It's hard to get a loan modification. It does happen, but most of the time the bank just strings you along while they continue pursuing the foreclosure behind your back. Sorry. :(
3) Maybe. It depends on what state you are in. If they do get a judgment, they will have any legal remedy available to them that they would for any other debt. Talk to a lawyer, find out what the law is in your state, and find out what they can go after.
4) I don't know the answer to this one.
Beth
Hi there, I live in california and I was about to let my home go into foreclosure when the bank offered to work me by allowing them to put the home on short sale in an attempt to save some of my credit as I had already declared bankruptcy. My family moved to another state while I stayed behind to finish selling the house. This was over a year ago, the house has had a lot of activity but the bank has not accepted any offers even when full price in cash has been offered by investors. I'm tired of just waiting and leaving my family for all this. Would it be too harmful to my credit if I just go forward with the foreclosure? Is there anything else I can do? How would the bankruptcy and a foreclosure affect me buying a home in another state such as Colorado?
My husband got a new job in NJ so we had to move out of house in MI. WE had our house on the market for a year and a half and had 2 offers for short sales. The bank was taking so long deciding that the sellers contracted their offers. Now our home is going into foreclosure and I know that it will affect our credit but can they come after us for the difference of the amount the house will sell for and what we owe.
My husband and I are foreclosing on our home currently. We are about 5 days away from the official 90 days late. I'll be looking for the letter in the mail anytime after that. A challenge we are facing, is looking for an apartment. We have found and gotten credit approved for one. However, they required some kind of documentation that we are no longer responsible for our mortgage payment as to qualify us by income. So far, the bank says it's a no-can-do. But I'm still working my way up the food chain there looking for an answer. I seem to have found a soft spot asking for a letter that says something like "If Kate continues in the foreclosure process, she will no longer be responsible for payments after this date" but still no success. Any ideas?
Dear Beth....after trying to negotiate a short sale and loan modification which fell far short of what we could afford....me and my family vacated the house and r now renting a 3 bedroom townhouse up the street (we live in Massachusetts). I received a letter from bank officially telling me that they denied my request for a short sale and I have 60 to do a deed in lieu. Well, bank called looking for payments...I told her that we are no longer in house and I have sixty days to do the deed in lieu. This was last week. Tonight we go to house to measure and make arrangements to collect OUR refrigerator and found the house has a lockbox and locks were changed! No foreclosure procedure has started. How do o get my belongings? Thank you.
@Deb, since the house has not been foreclosed, you would probably be within your rights to remove the lockbox by whatever means necessary and enter the house to retrieve your belongings. I'd talk to a lawyer who is familiar with foreclosure law in your state to be sure though. There may also be something in your mortgage agreement about what the bank can do if you abandon the home, and you did tell them you were no longer there.
Thanks Beth for all your answers. I have an interesting situation. My condo is still in foreclosure after I was unable to pay 2 1/2 years ago. It's a land lease property so I am being sued by the land owners. I have not been sued by homeowners yet. BOA might pay my land lease debt to recover their assets- I'm still waiting on their decision. Hawaii just past a law forbiding non-judicial foreclosures for a period of time. Its been said this will further delay the foreclosure process for another 5-7 years. Do you have any advice for me? Can't sleep, completley humiliated, and not sure what to do. I have relocated to find a job. Thanks
Hi Karen,
I'm sorry, but I am not familiar enough with foreclosure in Hawaii to help you. I think you need to talk to a lawyer. You will get clear answers from someone who really knows. I know that lawyers can be expensive, but how much is a good night's sleep worth to you? Having a clear idea of what is going to happen will help relieve the anxiety.
Hi Beth
After 6 months and 11 days from being served by my land lease I just got a letter in the mail today that the lawsuit was dropped. Apparently the land lease was obligated to tell BOA they were foreclosing and they paid off EVERYTHING to retain their assets, Now maybe I can just foreclose or maybe a died in lieu in foreclosure?
I have to share my story, at least part of it. Please understand I take full responsiblity for my mistakes but I think my mortgage loan was corrupt. My dad (who actually sold me the condo) took me to a mortgage company, I was young and disclosed everything. I had no money $6000 in debt, no job, and I have been living abroad for 3 year so had no tax returns, plus I had married someone from Scotland who wasn't legal in the US yet. Broker said no problem, literally said sign here and a week later I had a loan. I should have known better and yes, I am still talking to my dad.
At least I'll sleep tonight! Thank you Beth.
Hello Beth
I am 28 years old and my wife and I recently had to move into her parents home due to their illnesses. We have a home and are trying to rent but are unsuccessful. We are in a position where I have a good stable job but my wife is unable to work because she is taking care of her parents. Since she quit work the mortgage payment on the house is getting almost impossible to pay. And, like I said, we are having extreme difficulties in renting. (about to be at the point of offering for section 8 rental) I am at the point where I am thinking about foreclosing on the property. Unfortunately the property is both of our names. We do not have to buy a new house or even rent due to us living with her parents. So basically, would foreclosing, in your opinion, be the best idea for us?
Thanks!
Hi, Beth.
I am the oldest of four children living with my mother in New Jersey. My father left this past January, sold his business, and basically abandoned us all here while he went to live with his mother out of state.
It's been nearly a year since anything was paid on this house because my mother and I simply cannot afford it. It is under my father's name but he refuses to contact or help us.
Is there any way possible of saving this home?
If not, what will happen when we are finally forced to move out? Will we only have a few hours to move everything out or a few days? I would like to know if we should start moving a majority of our belongings now or if we would have enough time to when we are absolutely forced to leave as my mother and us four children have been trying to live in it normally.
We have assistance with paying the electric, gas, and water bills as well. So I don't know if that would raise our chances on being able to save the house with some sort of assistance.
My mother is working on getting a better job or more hours. Is it possible to lower the monthly mortgage payment so we can pay it off over a longer span of time to save this house?
Thanks in advance, I really appreciate it. It's been a tough time here and my mother doesn't seem to want to prepare or look into anything involving the foreclosure as it upsets her. I just want to know if there's anything we can do or get any advice on what we should do and/or what will happen.
Also, we live in NJ. Thank you very much and sorry for double posting.
Hi Brittany,
A lot of people lose their homes while trying to avoid facing the reality of foreclosure. I feel for you and your mom, but now that so much time has passed it will be virtually impossible to catch up on the mortgage. It will just take too much money.
Here is a link to some information on New Jersey foreclosure law that might help you determine how much time you have. Since court filings are public record, there should be a way to find out whether a lis pendens has been filed with the Superior Court and get a copy of it. There will probably be a small fee to get a copy.
http://www.foreclosure.com/statelaw_NJ.html
Good luck.
Like many others on this site I am able to pay my mortgage but am upside down nearly 40%. Bank refused to work on loan mod b/c we were not behind on payments. We decided to stop paying and hoping to get loan mod or short sale (still too soon). My question is that taxes and HO insurance are not escrowed. We pay separately for those and they are now coming due. If we lean towards giving up the house in a short sale, should we pay taxes and insurance?
I have a home that I use to live in but I rent it out now. It is worth 50k less then I owe. I have tenants in it but it is in pretty bad shape. It needs probablly around 10k in work. The floors are rotting due to tenant neglecting it. I have to pay extra along with tenants rent every month to make the payment. The property is in SC. I have no money to make repairs or to put with the payment anymore. Should I just let it go back?My neighbors house just foreclosed and sold for 90k less then I owe on mine.
Hi Beth, here's our situation, my husband and I had to relocate out of state because of his job, with no relocation help. We've had our house for sale but no luck selling it, it's worth more than we owe. We can't afford rent and a mortgage payment, we have now missed a mortgage payment. We also have a home equity loan of $4000. We don't want the house, nor do we ever want to be home owners again. The house is still listed. The utilities are still on and the house is still insured. We want it to foreclose, do we take it off the market? and can we now turn off the utilities? And, what about homeowners insurance, can the house sit there vacant with out insurance?
Thank you, very worried!
Karen
Karen,
If you turn off the utilities, make sure you tell the bank that you have abandoned the property so they can take measures to protect their investment. They'll need to winterize the house before it gets cold. As for the listing, call the real estate agent and tell him/her what's going on. What happens from there may depend on what your contract with the agent says.
my friend filed bankrupcy and it was dismissed. He gave us the key after he moved and said you can stay her in lieu of rent if you maintain and upkeep the place and pay the utilities until the bank comes and tells us to leave.We have done that for 7 months and now he is trying to kick us out. we have the utilities in our name and have maintained this house. Now he is bringing the cops to try and enter saying he owns the house by showing the old deed. Please can someone help me and tell me what i can do.can i file harrassment charges or a restraining order. This isnt just all he has a baby with my neice and now he hates the whole family..he doesnt have any keys and hasnt spoke to us in 7 months until he showed up with the police..please help me..
A tenant at a foreclosed house that we lived at for over 9 years. The landlord did not make a full mortgage payment in over 3 and a half years. yet he was there every month to collect his rent. he took out a loan for over 138,000 dollars and paid 3,100.00 in 3and a half years.
i didn't finish my other comment, the slumlord, left the apartment house without coming over after we were served the foreclosure papers the same day he was. he did not live at that address. even after the papers came from the supreme court of washington county new york he still claimed he was trying to do a short sale. He had the nerve to call up and fight with me and my husband over the foreclosure papers. Tenants need rights more rights than they have when a landlord takes thousands of dollars and doesn't pay the mortgage, water bill, and had most of his electric things that was suppose to be on his meter on ours. I think he should be charged with grand larceny. He stole our money. He told the bank that we were the only tenants in the building, the server was totally shocked to see that all the apartments were rented. all he had was apt.#2 which was us. i could right so much more that i have proof to back up everything i am saying here but i just get so ill thinking what a thief he is.
Hi Beth, It started when my husband and I wanted to do a loan modification. We contacted our mortgage company and they sent us the modification packet. We filled out all the papers and mailed it in. We were contacted to send in more information and we did. We called them two weeks later and they said that they didn’t receive a lot of the paper work and to re- send more information for them. Two weeks later they had contacted us and said that they didn’t receive certain information. They wanted us to re- send more information again and again. This went on for a while and then we got a letter saying they we did not qualify for the trial loan modification and to re- do the paper work at a later time.
We waited a couple of months and re-did the loan modification again only to have this whole thing repeat itself. We then gave up until I wrote to our senator about this situation and they expedited the trial modification for us and we finally got into their program for a trial for 4 months which later became a nightmare. The paper work that was lost and the inexperienced representatives that didn’t care much of your situation were very frustrating to deal with. We paid all the requirement payments on time and gave them all the info they wanted and still turned us down to say they couldn’t find anything for us and that we were un-modifiable.
Fine, I said and we continued to pay our expensive mortgage and were never late before the modification and after the rejection letter. Months later we then received a letter from our mortgage company saying that they were sorry that they couldn’t help us but at this time we are considered a liability and they would re- write our note and escrow our taxes 2 ½ years which would add an additional 1000 dollars a month to our mortgage payment making it 3000 dollars a month for our mortgage payment. At that time I had said to the representative that we couldn’t be able to make those payments and she said that if we don’t we would be in foreclosure and she said for me to short sale our home instead.
I did look into to a short sale only to find out that that could be a nightmare in its self. You have all kinds of people coming in and out of your home for many months on end to find a buyer the mortgage company could turn down if they did not like the asking price and then you would be in foreclosure anyways.
We did decide to contact a lawyer and explained our problem and he said to me that this is not uncommon with mortgage companies. He explained to me that I could be in my home for a year to a year in a half rent free and to save all the money I can and then move to a rental which you could save a lot of money and buy again in a few years. We are lucky because my husband is not on the note of the mortgage so his credit will be good and we can rent with no big down payment.
It’s a shame that it came to this…but we have to make the best financial decision for our family. Big businesses do this everyday, they walk away form multimillion dollars buildings because the equity decreased significantly and it is a financial hardship for them to stay. It’s called a savvy business decision for them and we are called deadbeats if we do it. And a least we do all we can not to go into foreclosure. It’s because of the banks that people find themselves in situations to make difficult decisions to unfortunately go into foreclosure.
Mary,
Did you have the lawyer look over your mortgage document? That document is a contract and they can't just change the terms for escrow unless the agreement states that they can. Read it over and have your lawyer read it over too. Having the mortgage company say they will "re-write" your note sounds fishy to me. They can re-write it all they want, but unless you SIGN something new, your existing contract with them (the mortgage) is binding.
Good luck.
Thanks Beth and yes there is something in the mortgage that we could fight but will cost me a lot of money and stress.Its hard to fight them and takes a lot of time and the house will still go into foeclouser.I have at the most up to 18 mons to 2 years in my house rent free and in that time I will save money and move somewhere less expensive and will have money again instead of being house broke. I am not ashamed of leaving my house because I can make my home anywhere i want. The mortgage company made that decison for me and now we have to move on and look for a better tomorrow.
I bought a forclosed HUD property in March of 2010, and financed with a rehab loan. There was a mold disclosure on the home when I came to see it. I was advised by the guys doing the rehab work and the guy that did the mold inspection that the rehab work should take care of the problem. It didn't. I moved into the home in May, and in October, I found mushrooms growing out of the carpet. Long story short, there is a serious mold problem. I have been sick for the last year with allergy problems including sore throat, respiratory infections, headaches, etc. on a constant basis. I cannot afford to refinance (closing costs, inspections fees, etc.) and cannot come up with the approximately $20,000 to correct the problem.
I don't want to walk away from my debt,and I am not going to sue the guys whose advice I took.
Are there any other options besides deed in lieu, short sale or forclosure? If there are no other possibilities, which of these is the best route to pursue?
Thank you for your time and advice.
@HelpinCinci,
I wish there was another option I could give you, but the only other one I can think of is to stay where you are, and I'd advise you NOT to do that. Your health is more important than your credit rating! That stuff can kill you.
As to which is the best option, here's my opinion:
Short sale - If you can get the bank to go for it, I think a short sale is your best bet. Make sure your hardship letter emphasizes the problems with the home and the cost to fix them. Get estimates from a few licensed contractors and send a copy of the most expensive one along with your letter.
It is hard to get a bank to go for a short sale, but in this case, the only person who would be interested in this house is an investor, and he/she is going to want to make $20-30K profit after fixing it up. So you have to convince the bank that it's worth as little as possible so there will still be room for a profit for the investor. That's why you give the bank the high estimates. The investor will probably use his/her own crew and get it done for much less. If there are other things wrong with the house besides the mold, list them out in your letter and get estimates for those too.
If you can't get the bank to do a short sale--or can't find a buyer--you're stuck with deed in lieu or foreclosure. It doesn't really matter which one. They both have the same effect on your credit.
Hello Beth, i live in Minnesota, and my house is in forclosure, i am schedule to leave the house in Dec. 27 of this year, but my question is, if i have other assets (saving, cd's etc.)it is a considerable amount, can the lender come after these assets? and y how long, and did they warn you about this?
thank you for you attention.
Conce,
Yes, they can come after your other assets. They will have to take you to court and get a judgment to do it. They can only get a deficiency judgment if the house sells for less than the fair market value BUT if you don't show up to court, it is likely that the judge will decide in the bank's favor. You should get an appraisal done to take with you so you can prove the value.
Hi there
Great article. My brother owes about 90k on his house which is now worth about 35k based on recent neighborhood sales. To top off the problem, we have discovered a fairly severe mold problem that we have determined is not fixable without a complete gut job. His insurance won't cover the mold problem. Any suggestions?
I live in Florida and I spoke to a finacial consultant about this situation, but I bought an illegal flip that is worth now only 16% of what my loan is. I was adviced to get an attorney. Short sale is out of the question because it's so underwater (worth 45,000 loan is 137,000) and lender wanted to send me a forecloser package, which I didn't say yes to cause getting an attorney about the fraud and unsure from there...but hoping lender will work with me. I'm current on loan. Is it a good idea to buy a second home, and if lender will, do a deed-in-lieu or foreclosure on my current home? I'm just afraid of losing a future second permanent home and our now two vehicles we are paying, also loans. We are actually trying to purchase a home that is a short sale that bank approved on sale price and no closing cost but now I need to find a loan & I only have %6,000 to put down.A lot of information but I would appreciate your opinion. Thanks
In case your wondering. Why we want to leave this house is because there is only 1000 sq ft, which is small for a future baby. Also my work is an hr away and I know I want to continue to stay in that different county. I know we don't qualify for hardship either.
am currently in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy. I have decided to stop paying my mortgage. I have held on to it for the past two years and through a divorce, by just barely scraping by each month. I have filled out the paper work several times to see if my mortgage company (Ocwen) could do anything to help me try and keep my home. They keep giving me the same answer. I make too much money each month to qualify for any assistance. This month was the straw that broke my back. Since I am in Ch. 13, how long will it take them to actually tell me to vacate the house? Thank you, gdog79 from Georgia
Hi Beth,
Great thread! Mine is a long story (which like most others here, has to do with being TERRIBLY VICTIMIZED by our bank)!!!
Anyway, I was VERBALLY TOLD my mortgage had been sold to? Fannie Mae (while asking for a preapproval letter for a realtor awhile ago)...then because I began having family health problems, I stopped wanting to move & never did ask for a copy of letter stating that our mortgage had been sold to Fannie Mae. To keep it brief, we've since, been having MAJOR $ problems, & have stopped paying our mortgage...HOW do we get a copy of letter stating it was sold to FM, & if FM DOES own our mortgage, is it possible that it could be a MERS mortgage (you've heard about MERS mortgages being null & void, haven't you)?
I ALSO should inform you, that I believe our bank BROKE (@ least) one banking law while writing up our mortgage...if this IS the case, being that they? sold it to FM (if they infact did), do I have any recourse?
Lastly, WHERE can I find an attorney to help persue any recourse (so far, I can't find ANY)?! THANK U FOR THIS THREAD & 4 YOUR RESPONSE (in advance)!
I don't know where those 2 extra "?" came from (in my last post)! :/
I am thinking of purchasing a property at auction. This properties' plantiff is the HOA for past due fees (16,000), the defendant is the previous homeowner, Felix. Previous to this (2010), the property was foreclosed on and is now owned by the bank according to tax records. This should have wiped out any previous liens. After the foreclosure, the HOA (2011) put a lien on the property with Felix as the defendant. The property was going to auction. Felix then declared bankruptcy and the auction was stopped. Now the property is again up for auction. If the bank owns the property, how can the HOA foreclose again and sell the property with the defendant being Felix? What am I missing? Is this a good property to invest in or is it a mess? Thanks.
My boyfriend and I purchased a townhome in 2006 in Minnesota and in 2008 we agreed I would move out since he could afford it. I've been renting ever since and found out on my own that he and his new girlfriend have abandoned the house to let it go into foreclosure. I found out about it and tried to contact him, he called me to let me know that he did abandon the our town home and actually purchased a new home. He will not communicate with me anymore since that call. I've tried to attempt to see if he would help me rent it out and/or try a short sale. He will not answer his phone. His girlfriend started texting me that she is upset that I have started talking to the banks and I should have just let it go into foreclosure and that the banks will not come after me or garnish my wages. I'm trying my best to at least "make the best" out of a horrible situation but without his signature I'm stuck. I'm wondering if I have any options or if the best idea is to get an attorney. A friend told me that I could put a lien up against his new home and property since he agreed to make the house payments and has ever since I moved out. But is that legal? I'm really scared and not sure what my options our in this case.
@John G: It depends on the laws in the state the property is in. Generally, liens are given priority in the order that they are recorded. So, for example, if the HOA lien was recorded after the mortgage that has already been foreclosed, then the HOA lien would be wiped out. However, in some states, certain types of liens are given elevated priority. So you need to check to see whether homeowner's association liens are given special treatment in your state. When in doubt, talk to a lawyer.
@heather, since your name is on the mortgage you should be able to talk to the bank and find out how far along in the foreclosure process it is. But realistically, it is difficult to get a loan mod or short sale so most likely you will either have to pay the back payments to catch up the mortgage (if you still can - you can't once the process is too far along) or let it go.
Wanted to get some advice if possible. I have been in my home for five years now and in 09 I was approved for HAMP. shortly after that my baby took sick (and the state CDC told me that she can not go to daycare and had to be quarantine)until she is negative of her disease. so I went without an income for almost three months, when I finally found someone to watch her in my home I went back to work only to find out that same week that my job was laying off the last group of people that they hired. Because I worked for the federal govt. my unemployment didn't start right away it was a 3 week delay at this point I was very behind in my mortgage. Now I am so far behind I actually didn't know what month I was paying for when I was able to come up with my mortgage. My mortgage was suitable but because of the series of bad luck I was so far behind that catching up was extremely difficult. I finally called the bank and had to get a foreclosure counselor because the bank was giving me the run around. I can afford my mortgage when I am working, since then my income has changed I am receiving unemployment and child support now and could possible have someone move in with me to help me with the bills. I am hoping that the bank would do some kind of modification for me, for I am able to pay my mortgage now but the default amount is whats dragging me down. I have three kids and don't know exactly what to do, I don't want to walk away I love this house so very much! I purchased it on my own with just my income alone. Well, the other day the housing counselor and I called the bank together and my loan account manager told me that she would fedex me a packet for the AG program and see if I am approved or not, that was a week ago, I have not seen a packet yet. My baby is well now and I am looking for work again and going through the process of losing my home, I am not sure exactly what to do or what road to take because its so much to deal with all at once, basically by my self. Please give advice for I feel that I have let my kids down...Thank you
Oh, I forgot to mention that I am not in foreclosure as of yet but its soon to come.
My dad recently passed away on August 1st, 2011. His home was going into foreclosure but his car was on a loan with ~$6,000 balance. My question is, if I pay off the car with money received from his life insurance, can the mortgage company go after the vehicle? Can I just pay it off under his name and bring the title to the DMV and switch it to my name, or should I try and switch the loan to my name before I pay it off? Thanks for any help.
@Badyear: If you're not in foreclosure yet, you may still be able to save this home. It sounds like you just need a way to make some extra money for now. Check out my hub on making money writing online at http://bethparker.hubpages.com/hub/Writing-Money-T I recommend that you start with Textbroker. You can make a decent amount of money there if you select your assignments carefully. Try to choose articles that don't require too much research because the writing will go faster and you will make more money per hour. Textbroker pays twice per month.
If you'd like to brainstorm other options for making extra money, feel free to contact me using the "Contact" link on the right sidebar.
@Tyler: I am not familiar with laws regarding a person's estate so I don't feel I am qualified to answer that question. Maybe someone else will come along who knows.
We live in TN and our mortgage payment is slowing beginning to bury us because of job changes and lower income. We have a 264k balance and with the market in our area cannot sell for what we owe (was appraised at 292k two yrs ago). Is a short sell an option we can look at? Is TN a deficiency judgment state?
Hi Kyle,
A short sale is possible if you can find a buyer AND get the bank to go along with it. Short sales are often difficult to pull off, but not impossible.
Yes, Tennessee allows deficiency judgments. Here is a link to more information about Tennessee's foreclosure laws: http://www.foreclosure.com/statelaw_TN.html
Hello Beth, We have 6 unit apartment property that i refinanced to get cash out and buy a home together with my parents. We had 5 yr intereset only loan on my home with wells fargo. Our payments just went up after 5 years from $3000 to $4300 not including property taxes or insurance. My home is worth around $350,000 and we purchased it for $615,000. I also have home equity line of credit with boa For 100k. My first mortage principal balance with Wells fargo is $520,000. At the current time we no longer can afford to make the $4300 monthly mortage payments. My dad only makes 20 k year and i make 40 k. We are 4 months behind and have been assigned to underwritter to assist us for workout plan. My question is if we dont get qualified for loan modification and are forced to do short sale. As result, making us move to our aparment. Can both our banks come after my income property?? I am in the state of california btw.
Hi raytesh,
Here is a page that tells more about California foreclosure laws. I hope it helps. http://www.foreclosure.com/statelaw_CA.html
How does having PMI affect a foreclosure?
Thank you so much, Beth... I will keep everyone posted as to what happens.
@Kyle,
That is an excellent question. If you have PMI, the lender receives a portion of the money they were owed from the insurance company. I think the insurance usually pays up to 80% (if I remember right).
Your question makes me think of another question, which is, how does PMI affect the bank's ability to come after you for a deficiency judgment? Can they still come after you for the difference between the auction price and the amount that was owed if they were able to recover part of it from the insurance? I honestly don't know the answer to this, but I will research it and write a hub on what I find out after we get settled into our new house (we are moving this week).
Beth
Hello Beth,
My wife left me in January of 2011 and that was the last she contributed to maintaining the house. I have been making a 1600.00 a month mortgage payment on my own since February. I now am at a point financially where it is nearly impossible to continue. I have missed one mortgage payment now. I have also been unable to pay my Credit Cards since January and am going to file a chapter 7.
My soon to be Ex-wife and I are both on this mortgage. I know foreclosure in imminient in this situation. I cannot refinance it in my name due to my credit and she cannot afford it either. She will likely have to file bankruptcy as well I am guessing once the home is foreclosed on if they seek a deficiency judgement.
My question is this. Should I vacate the house immediately after my bankruptcy is granted or should I continue to live here while she goes through hers? At least the house will not be vacant until the bank forces me to leave.
Mike,
You should get a consultation with a lawyer who is familiar with both bankruptcy law and foreclosure law. It will be well worth the $$. I'm not really sure, but I think your best bet might be to wait for the bank to foreclose and THEN file for bankruptcy.
Here's what I would do (but talk to that lawyer first to make sure I've got everything right!)
1. Apply for a loan modification with your lender through the Home Affordable modification program. This MIGHT cause the lender to wait longer before starting the foreclosure process, buying you more time to be SAVING money.
2. In Michigan, you can stay in the home for at least 6 months after the foreclosure sale. In some cases, you can stay for 12 months after the sale. It depends on the acreage of the property and other factors. Plan on staying for most of the redemption period to save even more money. Moving is expensive.
3. This is where you need to check with your lawyer. I used to be a real estate agent in Michigan, so I'm fairly familiar with the foreclosure process there, but bankruptcy is another matter. I'm assuming you'll do a chapter 7 since you're not trying to save the house. This will wipe out all of your debts (except certain ones, like taxes) but I'm not sure what effect the bankruptcy will have on the house. Before you file for bankruptcy, make sure that doing so will not result in you having to leave your home sooner. You want to have as much time as possible to save money before you move.
P.S. I have been in Mississippi for almost 4 years and am moving back to Michigan this weekend. I'm so excited! I'm going home! :)
Beth Parker
Thanks Beth for the reply,
I will take your advice nd start saving. So your saying I should move prior to filing bankruptcy then is what I am getting and wait as long as I can before I file.
Hi Beth,
My wife bought a condo in her name only about 3 years ago. We recently added a new addition to our home and need to move closer to her parents and have a much cheaper mortgage than we have now. I am depleting my savings account as we speak, by making my payments. I spoke with our bank and they agreed to a foreclosure, but my payments have to be 31 days delinquent. My question is what would be the difference in missing 1 payment or 5 payments on her credit score? She has never missed a payment on anything we own, and everything is her name, and nothing in mine.
my son bought his first home in mo. 2 years ago, but now is in the federal pen. He has let his home go into foreclosure. His Dad and I were/are unable to make payments, so could not help him. How long will this affect his credit? He has no other debts.
We can no longer afford our home! We already got a modification, but even with it, we cannot keep up with the mortgage and all our other expenses since my husband was laid off for 2 yrs we fell behind on everything! We stopped the foreclosure once by borrowing $ from family, it went as far as us being served papers. We decided to move in with my parents in a couple of months, pay off all our bills while living there and hopefully start fresh in a couple of years! My question is, do we have to be present in court during the foreclosure hearing? Also, can they come after us for $ sinvr we owe more than what it's worth! We live in WI! We're currently 1 month behind and don't plan on making any more payments! Also, since we live in a condo, what happens to the association fee? Thanks.
Great information here!! So here is my situation......
My wife just recently was dx with MS and the medical bills are pouring in and will continue if we get her the medical help that is necessary. Right now our credit is good we have lots of it but all is paid on time and currently we do not have any car payments so it's just credit cards, and etc. We own an investment property and our primary home is located in WA state. So I have been thinking of letting the primary home go back to the bank and then we would move into our rental house. Is there something I should be thinking about? From what I have read here the bank can't do anything to my rental home unless it was used as a security on the primary loan.
Looking forward to any thoughts you might have regarding our situation.
Thanks
I been asking many people for senders on these matters and many don't know. So as of right now I currently have a home owing like 125k. There was a house sold.in front of mine sold for 90k so I know I Wount get what I owe if I were to sell it. So I was thinking was, buyin a new home before letting mine go to foreclose. Is.that a good idea?
Because.I know.if.I let my house foreclose.I will.not.be able to buy a new one for a while. So as of right now I think.that's my best opition. For.one.because my payment is 1,000 monthly on my home and I will.be.paying 603 for new home.
just read my previous post and mis typed. My bank agreed to a short sale not a foreclosure. thanks in advance
Hello. My parents filed Chapter 13 in December. They are struggling to make ends meet while paying off their debt. They are thinking about letting the house go into foreclosure to ease the burden. Will they be penialized if they let the house go into foreclosure since they are currently in Chapter 13?
Hope the move went ok. Welcome back just in time for winter ;-). I spoke with my bankruptcy attorney and he said that he just senta letter to another cliens mortgage holder regarding freclosure. This client stopped paying over two years ago and they have still to foreclose on him. He has moved and since he is no loger maintaining the home he gota blight ticket from the township because the bank has not foreclosed.
The attorney said there is no reason that I cannot live here a year or longer during the process. When we file for bankruptcy after the home goes into foreclosure we buy between 2-4 more months.
I actually have a question rather than a comment. Can you tell me if you are still liable for the property taxes on a home that is in the foreclosure process? Any info would be great
DO YOU KNOW IF DEFICIENCY JUDGEMENT IS IN TENNESSEE
@MikeHinMichigan, Thanks for the warm welcome back to the cold Michigan weather. I am really glad to be back. :)
@just me, check with a lawyer but in most states, the county can take the property back if you don't pay the property taxes. However, if the house is in foreclosure, this is really the BANK'S problem, not yours. If they don't pay the property taxes and the county takes back the property, it's possible that the mortgage may be wiped out in the process.
It's unlikely that a bank would intentionally allow that to happen, but some banks are so overwhelmed with foreclosure paperwork that one could slip through the cracks. Most likely, they will notice in time to pay the taxes. However, if they don't, you may be able to pick your house up again at the county tax auction--minus the mortgage.
@Margeart Rector,
In Tennessee, the lender can get a deficiency judgment if the house sells for less than the loan amount. More info: http://www.foreclosure.com/statelaw_TN.html
hi miss beth! im from the philippines my home is already over the 12 month redemption period. but me and my wife really want to save it & because some of our relatives promised to help us for the finance. we had an ongoing talk with the bank asking for a bargaining agreement. at what percentage do you think the bank would charge me? could i get it at the same rate as per the loan amount granted to me? ived been a good payor fos a year & a half.
Beth:
Amy ideas as to my previous question regarding PMI affecting a foreclosure? Thanks. Hope the move went well.
Kyle
@Kyle,
As far as I can tell, having PMI does not affect the foreclosure at all. The bank is only able to collect on the PMI after the foreclosure has been completed and only if the house was not sold for enough to pay off the mortgage.
Here is one for you Beth. As of now I have a home that I owe 77,000 on. It currently appraises for 78,000. Keeping up with payments and bills with a wife and a two year old little girl. My wife's grandfather passed about six months ago. Her father bought out the participants in the home and is offering to sell it to us for 100,000. INTEREST FREE. This house is beautiful. An extra bedroom and bath over what we have now. Not to mention a much better area to raise my daughter. A few years ago I has a vehicle re-possessed. So my credit isn't all that as it is. I have put the home we are currently in for sale at 85,000 to cover the loan along with the real estate agent's fee. When the time comes that we can move into her grandfathers house, I am unsure what my move will be. My current interest rate on the home is at 8%. That puts me paying it off in another 24 years. If I buy the grandfathers house it will be payments directly to her dad at no interest and i can pay the home off in 8 years. I hate to foreclose on my current home but this to me seems like a no brainer. I think personally that foreclosing on something that will take me 20+ years to pay for would be the right choice so i can take advantage of getting a bigger better home that will only take me 8 years to pay for. Screw the credit....Thats my opinion. What do you think???
Beth:
How would the PMI affect a deficiency judgement?
Thanks
Kyle
Hi
I am in the market to sell my home but i am unable to sell it and its alost 1.5 years now, also i am investing lot of money on the house since its an old house and the value of the house is also gone down .So what are my options? we are planning to move to a different state .
Kindly suggest
Thanks
@filipino pride,
If your house is past the redemption period, then it is either owned by the bank or someone else. At this point, the law has nothing to do with it. If the bank owns the property, it is between you and them to negotiate a new agreement. They can basically do anything they want with the property--including refusing to sell it to you at all if they choose. If you want the house, you'll probably have to agree to their terms, whatever they are.
in process of going through losing our home. I have 3 daughters and make good income. (it was a case where we had perfect credit, my husband lost his income, our renters moved out, ended up: we couldn't make both house payments, couldn't sell and were house poor, because the current house is too large percent of our income, and value was inflated!!Over appraised!! NOT OUR IRRESPONSIBILITY, just sucky circumstances. I am an RN and he's now employed, but no one will touch us, will we end up in our car?????? Freaked out mom, sad too, especially so many homes vacant/ declining. BANKS SHOULD DO RENT, LEASE, CONTRACT or something, we can now make payments! need affordable family home!
CourtneyR,
I'm sorry to hear about your situation and hope you are able to find something soon. It's frustrating to see so many good people losing their homes because of fraudulent lending practices that were not even their fault.
You should think about talking to a lawyer who specializes in helping people who are facing foreclosure to find out if there is anything you can do about the fraudulent appraisal.
thank you beth, it's so frustrating, I just wanted folks to know we tried and tried and tried to sell. That's when it got ugly, because the market was tanking and we bought for $150,000, barely woth now $100,000, but the mortgate still owed was like $130,000.
In the past, I too, would have thought of people who default on loans as irresponsible, but I've worked as an RN for past 10 yrs and now I see how many (including ourselves) are hardworking and generally RESPONSIBLE find themselves in situations they would not have seen coming.
I also don't even begin to understand all the legalities of this stuff. For example, how does one find a lawyer that specializes in helping people w/ foreclosure? What could they accomplish?
Your thoughts and support are appreciated, nice hub!
Beth:
How would the PMI affect a deficiency judgement? I have tried twice already to get this question answered.
Thanks
Kyle
Hi Beth,
we just filed for bankruptcy. And we’re beginning to realize that we may not be able to make mortgage payments. The value of our home is way under the amount of the loan, if we allow foreclosure, can the bank come after us for the rest of the money owed? ...eventhough we filed for bankruptcy?
Thank you.
@Kyle, I don't know the answer to your question.
@Ricke, it depends on which state you live in and whether your mortgage was included in the bankruptcy.
Beth,
My wife and I live in a studio condo in Atlanta and just now found out we are having a baby, such great news! However, being that we are in a studio we do not have room to raise our child. Unfortunately we are also low on the "rental" list for our condo complex (some people have been on the list for 4yrs. I am the only name on the mortgage would it be wise to look into a short sale or a foreclosure? Then just rent until my credit improves?
Sam,
If you just found out you are having a baby, you have some time. I'd list the condo for enough to cover the loan and see what happens. If you get a low offer, see if your lender will accept a short sale. It can't hurt to try.
Keep in mind that babies do not really need their own rooms immediately. In fact, many parents prefer to keep the crib in their room to keep the baby close by for nighttime feedings. You can get by without a room for the baby for at least a year or two if necessary. By then, perhaps property values will start to recover.
Selling on a lease with option may also be a possibility, depending on the HOA rules. You can often sell for a higher price when you do a L/O because you are most likely selling to someone who has had some problems with their credit in the past and can't get a traditional mortgage. They have fewer options, so they are willing to pay more in order to have the opportunity to buy a home.
Good luck.
Recently divorced, we both live in the same house. We have tried to sell it for 3+ years (no luck). Our credit is good and we've tried to do the responsible thing! However, now we are faced with foreclosure. In Wisconsin, what will happen - can wages be garnished, other assets taken away, etc.? (I keep reading such conflicting articles...it's so confusing.)
We know that achieving a loan modification is a better option if you are serious about saving your home than short selling your property. With a short sale there is a chance that the bank will seek the deficiency. Any further questions, visit our website www.pinnacle-fc.com
We live in Arizona and we are having trouble making payments.
My question is we don't have a mortgage, we have two home equity loans instead.
the original mortgage was paid off some time ago.
Can the bank still foreclose on us?
We had also filed for the homestead act many years ago as well.
Thank you
Yes they can still foreclose on your property since the your home was used as collateral when you were approved for the loans.
I walked away from my home 6/10 and have had many addresses since then. I am meeting with an attorney next week to file bankruptcy but I keep getting a message of someone trying to deliver papers and says if I do not get them he will file the docket as a missed apperience for refusal to sign. I am afraid to call back because he makes it sound like there could be a bench warrant out for me. Can they issue a bench warrant for me if I have never been served?
Hi I live in NJ, my husband and I bought a house. We are no longer together and I can't afford the mortgage payments. I am on the deed, but not the mortgage, I have tried to keep everything going, but it is taking it's toll on me. I owe way more than it is worth and I see no way out. I feel "locked up" in this house. If I give up and walk away, what will happen? Besides getting my credit ruined. My estranged husband wont help, I need to know if they will come after me for the mortgage?
The bank will not come after you for the mortgage because you are not on the note. Furthermore your credit has not been affected since you are only on the dead. If you have any other questions visit our website at www.pinnacle-fc.com
Thanks, John. That's absolutely right. Locked up, since your ex-husband's name is on the note, it will be his credit that is screwed up. The right thing to do would be to call him up and say, "Hey, I can't afford this house anymore." Maybe he will be willing to pay part of the monthly payment to save his credit.
My redemption period is about to expire and I am moving out of the home. Who do I give the keys to? Do I need to contact the lender? Knowbody seems to be talking about this. What do I need to do when it actually comes time to leave.
I lost mu house because i could not keep paying, the house was not finished but...almost, i had a lot furniture there... one day i went to check tha everything was fine and i relaize there was no longer my house... they changed the locks, later confirmed it to me. I very sad because i work 20 years hard for nothing... and my furniture what?? the neighbors told me some guys took everything they work for the bank. is that's right?? the bank said they don't know nothing. what i can do?? please help
I lost my job due to health issues. I landed a new job that required us to move far away. we have an apartment now, but are still paying for a mortgage back home. What affect would that have on foreclosing on our property, knowing we already have a place to live and have steady income that wouldn't effect our way of life, with the exception of paying our mortgage until our house sells? Also, we do have it listed with a realtor, so how would that work?
Thanks
Beth and everyone else here I wanted to say thank you so much for all of the information! This blog has had the most honest answers about the foreclosure process.
I started out doing great, had money in the bank, got married, bought a house,(202,000) had 2 kids. Then we got divorced. In order to keep my house i agreed to take on all the debt (40,000) My ex liked to spend all my money and use up the credit cards and not pay bills. at the time i was not packing up two babies and looking for a place to live. i make pretty good money so it seemed to work out okay, for a while. i refinanced the house and the debt together at a higher rate because my credit was shot from bills being in my name and not getting paid. then my car died and i needed a new one. i financed a used car at another high rate. i paid my mortgage first every month, was never late. all my other bills not so much. i started to use my open line of credit thru my credit union to pay the utility bills and food shopping etc. things spiraled out of control and i ended up with a $1700 a month mortgage, $350 car payment plus utilities and food shopping plus now a loan payment close to 350 a month also. i was late paying my loan one month. i had all my bills directly debited from my account but the credit union did not do automatic payments for loans.. so that one month that i was late the bank put a hold on my account and none of my bills were paid at that time. i didn't know, i had no notices to inform me of this. next month same thing. now everything is past due and i can't access my money. i spoke with the bank they took their payment, plus another months, and i had insufficient fees from every which way. my minimum payments all escalated. my income did not.
i worked extra shift but it was never enough. i went to my bank and asked if there was anyway to refinance any of my debts.. i was told because of my credit there was nothing they could do for me. i asked to split my payments to twice a month instead of all at once and was told if its not the full amount due each month it wont be accepted as a payment at all. the bank was taking money out of my account and not paying any of my other debt. they took money out of my kids accounts and once out of my ex husband's. it was out of control, i went to a debt consolidation program which i joined and am still paying. i have another year and the bank will be paid off. in the meantime the bank sued me in court, put a lien on my house.
in the meantime, i had a fairytale turned make believe and was single and pregnant again, with not a cent in savings. unable to afford my mortgage payments any longer with my girls in school and no longer getting support from my ex. i spoke to my mortgage company and decided to try to sell my house. i put it up for the amount i owed $250,000. wound up having to re-list as short sale at $180,000. had a buyer all ready and the lovely credit union refused to lift the lien on the house even after negotiations with my mortgage company, they were told that the bank wants the house to foreclose they do not want to settle at all, no matter the amount. so...i was told to stop paying the mortgage to qualify for the short sale etc. but do not qualify for deed in lieu because of the lien.
i walked away from my home as soon as i found out the bank refused to let me sell it. it had been abandoned for almost a year.
my mom asked me this morning what i wanted for christmas, and i said "for my house to forclose" imagine that. but i need to move on and rebuild. i got my letters today. finally foreclosing. i went to the house to grab the last few things, the front lock is changed and my shed is pad locked. i was able to go in thru the back door tho.
it is not my home anymore, and hasn't been in a long time. i did feel morally wrong when i first stopped paying. but now i know there is no other way for the four of us to get by.
I own a property in the US but I am not a citizen or live in the country. Can the mortgage company come after me or sue me for not keeping up with my payments? Can they wreck my credit if they do business in my home Country?
I have a owner financed home. I need to move out of state. What happens to my credit if I walk away from this home? I pay a mortage company my payments and have never been late. I have thought of renting it out, but I am afried being out of state I can not "look" after it. I have great credit and would like to keep it that way. It is owner financed as it is a double wide mobile that is not ground set. It is not consitered real property.
@Dee Luttrell,
If the home is in a mobile home park, I would check with the manager and see if they offer rental management services. If they don't, then check with a property management company. Either way, you will pay a percentage of the monthly rent in exchange for property management services. This will allow you to collect rent on the home without being actively involved with finding tenants and collecting rent.
I am in a position where I owe 250k On a home in colorado that is probably worth 150k. I have already put about 70k into the home over the last five years and I am not sure what to do. I can make my payments currently, but as work is very erratic I would like to stage myself so that I am prepared. I also own an office that is paid off and I would like to protect that.
I am also interested in the option of letting my home go and moving into another investment that might have some potential for growth. I know that they can come after me for a deficiency, but it seems like this is a speculation and that most people are getting away with this. Do you have any advice on how to consider these options?
I've been in "talks" with my mortgage company for 4 years! I have tried short-sale and have asked on several occasions and filed paperwork to do a "deed-in-lieu"...with no follow up from the bank. They just keep sending me letters about options to avoid foreclosure.
Within the last year I have constantly told a collections caller that I haven't lived in the home in 4 years and that I've been trying to end this relationship.
Why do you think they are taking so long to foreclose? I spoke to a representative yesterday who didn't even know that the home had been winterized...2 years ago! What legal options do I have to "speed up" this foreclosure. I could've been 2 years out of foreclosure by now, but instead, it seems that the bank is overwhelmed.I'm in Maryland and the bank is in California.
I need to leave my home. I am positive on the 1st mortgage by about 18%. I have a second on my home for about $43,000. If I quit making payments, my house will probably sell for the price of the first. What will they do to me about the second? I do have mortgage insurance.
We are in the middle of foreclosing on our home in washington state. We've had a 26k heloc for a couple years now reserved for emergencies and has gone unused. My husband has lost his job and I have not found employment yet and we could really use the money from the heloc. Can the bank come after us for the money if we take it from the heloc? By the way, both the first mortgage and heloc are from the same bank. Also, would we have to file for bankruptcy to protect us? Is taking the money illegal?
@Danielle,
At this point, you have no intention of repaying the money, so taking it would constitute fraud.
Beth thanks so much for the information it's been so helpful. 9 years ago my ex husband and I bought a home together in North Carolina when we divorced I wanted the house, with thoughts it would sell, however with the fall of the market the house has been on the marked for almost 3 years. Moving on with my life the house will be vacant 1 year in March 2012. The House appraises for $230,000 I owe $190,000 and have it on the market for $210,000. This house isn't going to sell anytime soon. I am financially able to continue to make the payments but I'm done with the house period, financially I could do so much more with my $1,500 each month like pay off my school loans, and my $8 grand in credit card debt. I do not want this property and do not plan on ever moving back. I feel obligated to make the payments due to "old school" mentality. I am not so much worried about my credit as I am with the possible backlash having to pay out money to the bank or taxes! I would like a more clear understanding of that portion of foreclosure. I'm confused frustrated and just want to make 2012 a get out of debt year for myself.
Beth, if mom owes lots of secured money, she will loose all her rental property. But will sons keep their houses? Thanks, Terry Bob
Mandy,
In North Carolina, the lender can get a deficiency judgment for the difference if the house sells at auction for less than what is owed BUT if you can prove it is worth more, you can use it as a defense.
The key here is that you have to show up in court with your appraisal or the judge will side with the lender automatically. So if you decide to go through with the foreclosure, be sure to show up at any court proceedings so your side can be heard. It would be a good idea to have a lawyer with you.
My house was foreclosed on. The balance was $140,000. The bank sold the house for $189,000. The bank says I still owe them $140,000, because I agreed to pay that amount in my paperwork. This is in Franklin, Tennessee. Is that correct?
Jenn,
If the bank sold the home for more than you owed, you don't owe them anything. In fact, it's possible that they owe you. Talk to a foreclosure lawyer.
I'm from Louisiana. My husband and I are considering letting our house go back - we bit off more than we can chew and our house note is too much for us. We have put it on the market before and never got a single call on it. We are in the process of refinancing now but our note will not lower b/c they are including prop taxes & insurance in our monthly note & if we have to bring money to close we will not be able to refinance b/c we can't afford to do so. I have another piece of property w/ a home on it (inheritered land/house - that I did use a collarteral when we were building but now I have the deed for it) - if we let our current home go, can they take my other home/land (it's family)?
hi my husband and i had bought a house in 2005 in 2008 he lost his job and couldnt afford the payments we called and talked to them the house was sold at auction in april of 2008 we never did know what they sold it for well in 2010 when we filed our taxes they took all of our federal taxes we contacted them and they said we owed 65,000 for the house we asked them how that could be cause we had paid on the house for three yrs a 650.00 a month they could not answer this is there anyway that u would know of how i can find out how much the house went for i live in michigan i file injured spouse every yr so i can at least get my portion of the taxes back if there is any ideas u could give me it would greatly b appreciated i dont believe we owe as much as they say we do i just think they r out for the hard earned money we earned i know we owe it but not the whole dang loan
st1975,
When you pay on a mortgage, most of what you pay for the first few years is interest and very little comes off the principal of the loan. So if you only paid for three years, you probably owe close to what you borrowed.
LA Mama,
If you used the other house as collateral on the loan for your current house and there is still a mortgage filed against it, then yes, the lender can take both homes when they foreclose.
If the house has been removed from the mortgage, they can't foreclose on it. They may be able to get a deficiency judgment, but that does not allow them to foreclose the other house.
My husband died in our home four years ago, a year ago I found out that my name was not on the deed so I hired a lawyer and had that taken care of, now my name isn't on the mortgage even though I've been making payments on the house. I want to walk away from the house, too many bad memories and it's not worth what I pay monthly, how bad will this affect my credit and what is the best way to go about this?
Gwen,
If your name isn't on the mortgage, it won't affect your credit. The best way to handle it, in my opinion, is to check to find out how long the foreclosure process normally takes in your state first, just so you know what to expect. Then I would stop paying the mortgage and start saving that money to put toward another place. I'd plan on starting to look for a rental at least a month before you HAVE to leave. That way, you won't have as much pressure to find a place fast.
It's a good idea to contact the mortgage company a few days before you move out to let them know that it will be empty so they can take measures to secure the property against the weather and vandalism.
Hi Beth,
I bought a duplex about three years ago for $77,000 and after losing my job about two years, I have been doing everything I can to make payments up until now. I have been renting it out for the last two years to cover for the mortage. One of the tenants just moved out and I have on tenanat left.
I still own $72,000 on the duplex and can't seems to find anymore money to cover for the mortage. I'm looking into foreclosure but unsure of what to do. Even tho I know for sure I can't keep up with payments anymore but I'm afraid of the consequences after I forclose on the duplex. Could they go after me for money years down the road to keep on collecting money for lost on the house. I live in Illinois. Thanks for much for your help.
Thanks,
Joe
Here is my situation. I got married and bought a 2 bed/ 1 bath condo 4 1/2 years ago for $175K in illinois. My intent was to live there for a little while with my wife until we started having a family and got my wife's credit improved. The mortgage and title of the house are in my name only, after the whole realstate bubble popped, my home has lost value dramatically, places like mine are selling for about $43K to $63K, so I cannot refinance to get a lower payment and possibly rent the place while I buy another place, we have one kid now and plan to have more, but need a bigger place. I did 100% financing on the place so I pay a PMI and do not qualify for the HARP program with the debt to value ratio of the home. I'm thinking of letting it go into foreclosure, but I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do. I have a steady job and so does my wife, but it seems a waste to keep paying on a mortgage that is not going to improve anytime soon, it is just a bad deal that I'm chained to. If I let it foreclose, can my wife still buy a house under her name? what will be the ramifications for me if I do? any advise will be greatly appreciated.
Joe,
If I were in your place, I would try to find another tenant.
In Illinois, the bank can come after you for the difference if the house sells at auction for less than you owe. However, they can't do that in the case of a consent foreclosure or deed in lieu of foreclosure. Read here for more info: http://www.foreclosure.com/statelaw_IL.html
Mario,
If you go through foreclosure, it will not affect your wife's credit. However, for her to buy a home using her credit only, she will most likely need enough income to show that she can afford the payment on her own. It would be a good idea to sit down with a mortgage broker and find out how likely it is that she would qualify before you make any decisions about the current home.
I am making my mortgage payment and into debt management our problem is were behind on utilities facing shut off.
What do we do now when we can't make the payment they want to keep the utilities?
My parents and I have borrowed against their home for a business. It was their home originally and almost paid off but they wanted to go into business with me but unable to borrow as pensioners. I was added as 1% owner in order to apply for the loan. The business went belly up and my parents are now losing their home. They are stating now that they did not know what they were getting into and that because of me they lost their home. Can they sue me?????? Help.
Hi Marian,
If you're worried about your parents suing you, I think you have more serious issues than just the money. I hope it all works out, but remember that family relationships are usually more important than financial repercussions. Try to preserve your relationship with your parents whatever the cost.
Good luck.
Beth
I live in Kansas. I purchased a home three years ago when I had a full time (+ overtime) job. I have became disabled and lost my job because of it. I am now on social security disability. I am no longer able to make the 1400.00 house payments. In fact, I am considering moving to another state because I have children there that will be able to help me due to my disability and they keep telling me to "come on". I have always paid my bills but have had to let one of my parents (who moved in with me after I bought the house), and my roommate help to pay monthly bills beyond what they were use to. I have had the house on the market for almost 200,000.00 but it is not selling. I feel guilty walking away but I am at the point that I am just further and further in dept and physically not able to pay anything else since my monthly check has gone to 1/3 of what it use to be when I was working. It will never change as I am now in a wheelchair. I could sure use some words of encouragement and advice. Do I walk away, call them and tell them I am walking? My annual salary is below poverty level now and I have no insurance. I could not ever pay off the difference between what is owed on the house and what the bank would sell it for.
I bought my condo right before the housing market crashed, and am now $140k underwater. My name is the only one on the deed, so can my husband buy a home? We want to sell it (if its even possible, which we doubt)...are we able to roll the remainder of the condo's loan in with a new loan? Or no?
Molly,
You have no reason to feel guilty. Your circumstances have changed. If I were you, I would stop paying on the house and start saving that money for moving expenses. Check the laws in your state to get a good idea of how much time you have before you have to move and take advantage of that time to gather together the money you will need to pay for a U-Haul, gas, etc. to get moved to wherever you're going.
Hi me*o,
It's unlikely that your new lender will want to finance a home that is $140k underwater. That's a big risk for the mortgage company.
As for whether you husband can buy a house, the name on the deed doesn't matter. What counts is whose name is on the mortgage. If it's in your name only, then going through foreclosure will not affect his credit, only yours. If both names are on the mortgage, it will affect both of your credit scores.
Keep in mind that for your husband to qualify for a new mortgage without you, he must have enough income on his own to convince the lender that he can pay the payment.
Was in foreclosure and had a sell date on the home but in the middle of a workout option with the mortgage company.
Sent all information requested EXCEPT the hardship letter (Although they had dozens on file because I had been in this situation before... nothing new to me)...I hadn't heard from my preservation specialist in a week or so... I called to find out what was going on, she claims she did not receive anything from me (and didn't bother to call and let me know)...
Sent the information again... EXCEPT the hardship letter... she miraculously receives it this time with no problem... I repeatedly told her I had hardship letters on file and nothing has really changed (but according to them, the date on the letter needs to be updated).
Was told when I send in the hardship letter, it would stop the foreclosure.
My computer had been in the shop which contained the original hardship letter (same one that was sent a dozen times before)... computer tech called, told me computer was ready come pick it up. Did so.. came home to NO HOME (house caught fire).
House and possessions are now gone.. so now time is ticking have no way to get in touch with preservation specialist.
Insurance company came out and within a few days cut a check for the property.
Finally received a letter from the mortgage company... dropped everything and contacted them on the spot to let them know what happened. Asked the representative if they could please connect me with my preservation specialist... they did not know who she ways (after pulling up my file). So they connected me to another specialist whom I've never spoken with. I did leave her a message to please give me a call it was very urgent... She never did...
I called every single day.. several times a day asking to speak with my original preservation specialist... or anyone who could stop the foreclosure because the house burned (plus I had the check from the insurance company)... Still the rep never budged and would not allow me to speak with the specialist... He told me, (the day of the foreclosure) “Ma'am it looks like the only thing you need is your hardship letter... and the preservation specialist is the only one who can stop the foreclosure, there is nothing I can do for you. But if you can send in that hardship letter before 10:00 AM (the time of the sale) its possible we can get something done.” I asked him to transfer me to the new specialist I was assigned to, but again she NEVER EVER returned my phone call... EVER...
Now the house has been foreclosed on and I still continued to call... Found out that the house never sold in the auctioned and that I owed $47,000 (that's how far I was behind). I was told this by several representatives.
Just wanted to insert here, every time and everyday that I called I made sure I started off with “We had a house fire... or the house caught fire...”. To this day according to their reps, they don't know that the house caught... and never knew it did.
I also receive a letter from the mortgage company stating they have put insurance on the house on my behalf because I didn't have adequate enough insurance to cover the home... (when did that happen!) Now, its mighty funny how they have put insurance in my name on this foreclosed house for the same amount as the insurance check... (wow). Called back to let them know about this... rep stated, “That should have never happened. It must have been a mistake.”
Okay.. still continued to contact them every day to see what else I could find out... and told them again, the insurance company had issued me a check.. (This check has their name on it, my husbands and myself ) They shuffled and scuffled on the other end and continuously placed me on hold... then connected me with someone in loss prevention... This rep told me to sign the check and send it to them.. I asked them what they were going to do and how this worked... she said, “I don't know what is going to happen and I'm not sure what you owe... but you need to go ahead, endorse the check and send it in. We'll let you know in two weeks time after you send in the check...” (uhm.. no!)
A few days later we took the check to their bank branch to see if they would endorse it... The bank manger herself called around to find out what was going on... At first she found that I owed $110,000 which was the loan amount... but after further digging.. she found that I owed $47,000... several people gave her that very same number. They then gave her the number to their foreclosure attorney... who called back and confirmed with both me and the bank manger that the payoff amount was $47,000 and she sent in a request to have them put in writing before she could move forward.
I waited to hear from them for two months and called them every week to find out what the hold up was... Finally received a letter from the attorney's office in December stating the pay off amount was $157,000!
I spoke with a local rep and she called the office for me and told them she needed a correct amount because clearly this is not right... the rep from the mortgage company was so snotty and rude. We bid her a good day and hung up.
What do I do? Where do I go from here? Can you help?
Thank you kindly for responding to my post. It really helped but I have a question about how to find the information you wrote about. You said to look up the laws in my state to see how long I would have to remain in the house without paying the house payment. That would help as I was not sure where that money was coming from. I tried looking up forecloser laws but not sure what else or where else to look. The forecloser laws were really confusing to me. Thank you again for all your help. My stress level has been so high lately and it has just seemed there was no way out. Molly
Andria,
Your situation is very unusual. You should definitely think about talking to a lawyer.
I live in MI I bought my home in 08. We are now in the process of foreclosure. We are still waiting to find out how much it would be to get current with or loan. But my problem is this it's a small 4 bed 1 tiny bath house we have 3 kids and waiting to find out if there is another on the way. About 5 months ago I had a student loan garnish my wages so that what put us behind. The house is not worth the mortgage. The loan is for 69,500 the house is only worthy 35,500 so way under and not in a wonderful area. We really want to move but will happen?
Hi,
I live in Georgia. My parents live in the suburbs in a 3bedroom 3bath house and they have lived there for about 16 years. They now are venturing out for a place bigger. Money is not a problem, but if they buy a new house then what will happen to the house they live in currently? I guess what I am asking is if they wait a year (which the bank will no longer own) then would it be possible to sell the house back to the bank? This might be a stupid question,but I am a orthopeidic doctor and I know little about housing. I just want my parents to avoid foreclosing.
Thank you very much for subscribing!!
What happens if we leave the state, with no forwarding information? I know it costs about $35K for the bank to do its foreclosure paperwork, so is there a chance the bank would simply take the house, and not bother finding us, in order to garnish wages? We have added a second bathroom, replaced the roof and windows, and the house is in great shape.
Hi,
I'm in quite a situation on my home. I bought it in November of 2007 right before the housing crash. I recently got divorced and my ex-wife decided I couls keep the home. I have since discovered about $10,000 worth of Foundation damage in the home. I called the company that did the orginal foundation repair and they only did half of it. Apprantly the previous owner decided to take the cheap way out and covered up all the crack and just fixed it enough to make it look good.
As it was over 4 years ago and I am upside down on my house as it went from 140k to 130k in an appraisal I am seriously considering just walking away from it. I can save $$ and live in an apartment for 2 years or until I decide to maybe re-marry or buy a house on my own.
What worries me is what if the house sells for a significant amount lower then what I owe. To sell it now woudl cost me around 25k in restoration and realtor and closing cost fees. I'm almost thinking to just walk away. There are so many issues with the house that an inspector should have caught and I do not want to sell the house knowing that the issues are there and not fixed.
Thanks.
Here is the situation that I am currently in. I live in a city in Az that has the highest foreclosure rate per capita of any city in Az. Also the market hit us second worst in the country. It appears financially the only option is to foreclose.
Home facts
Original Cost $325,000 in Sept 2007( right before bubble collapsed)
Paid $15,000
Loan $310,000
Mortgage 2358.37 per month 6.25%
PMI 176.00
Currently paid in 52 months 122,512
Current owe Jan 2012 291,332
Principle paid 18,668
Paid to PMI/Tax/Interest/Insurance
103,844
Ins 674.00 annually
Taxes 1200 bi- annually
To pay down to 20% to get rid of PMI amount owe has to equal 260,000
Projected date to be at 20% current payments Oct 2017
Total PMI paid at that time 21,120
Current home value approximant - 114,000
Depreciation since moving in 21.13% annually
If current value started now to appreciate value of home at 5% annual increase in 25 years $375,000(projected if market turns)
Total amount paid at that time $849,013
Total loss on property
$474,000
In the short term would it not make sense to foreclose. Rent at 700- 1000 per month cheaper. Save money for 5 years. Walk in with possible 60K down.
Basically I am renting now and have negative equity.
At no time in the near future will I have any equity in my house.
Projected date of equity if market corrects is in 2025.
Even if bank were to lower interest I would have to pay down at 1% per point. To get it at 4% it would cost me about 6k plus closing. I can not refinace with another bank because I am 170k flipped on the house.
BTW- I have never missed a payment.I am financial secure. Credit fine.
In this situation does it make sense to even try to negotiate with the bank? I have been turned down by the bank three times when attempting as “I earn too much". The bank's words not mine.
All this information is cute and all but there's one thing left out: it presumes you want the house. I've been thought this. After you fall behind, the mortgage company will be relentless in collecting. They harass you to no end. By the time I walked away, my credit had long been gone so I didn't care about credit. Once you fall behind (in my case I lost my job) this is very little way to get caught up. The house is gone. Period. once you been harassed by the mortgage company as long I was, I didn't want the house and property anymore. I didn't want to deal with them. The rude, mean, crude, unwilling to work with me and that tells me they would rather have the house. Ok. Now it's theirs. I wanted to work with them, they refused. The mortgage companies in America have NO right to complain or act as though they are the victims. They are NOT. I don't want another mortgage from any of them, anywhere. They will get their rewards by going broke in the end. GOOD! Let them.
LogicWorks,
If you're going to lose your house, why run from the deficiency judgment? Talk to a bankruptcy lawyer to find out what your options are as far as the debt goes. Your best course of action may be to wait until the bank files for a deficiency judgment (if they even do), then file for bankruptcy to wipe out the debt legally--and the rest of your debts along with it. Your credit will already be shot after the foreclosure, so there's no reason not to get a fresh start if you need it.
Good luck.
You are right, Tom. The banks could make this situation better for themselves and their customers too if they would just have a little compassion and try to work with people.
Ok. Why would I want to pay a deficiency? It's not my property anymore. Paying it will gain nothing. It will not improve already shot credit rating. Besides, I , like so many others who find themselves unemployed, have other notes they can't pay either. Like a car not. If you're going to file bankruptcy, relieve yourself of all debts, then start over. BTW, when you file, your debts from an entity are wiped out; past, present and future. You're done with them. You don't have to wait for a deficiency judgement from any creditor.
Hi Tom,
I think you misunderstood what I said. LogicWorks was talking about leaving no forwarding address so that the bank would not be able to find him/her to collect. My take on that is just what you said--file for bankruptcy and be rid of the debts. After a foreclosure, your credit can't get too much worse, so why not take this opportunity to wipe out all of your debts through bankruptcy and start over with a clean slate? It's way better than living in fear that the bank is going to find you and garnish your bank account.
I am legally married, we live apart, neither one of us can afford a divorce, he lives his life, I live mine. My question is this, the home I live in is in my name alone. I have been laid off and can no longer afford my home. I want to move back in with my parents and give the keys back to my mortgage lender. I can not do this anylonger...I live in MI, can u tell me what will happen to me when I call my lender and tell them this? Can they go against me for anything if I don't have anything? The house was in my name alone!
Tenants and Foreclosure: On Rent Control and "Just Cause" Eviction
Here's an interesting situation: We have rented from the owner of a condo unit. He owes is HOA for past due fees. The HOA puts a lis pendens on the property, but he walks away from the property. The HOA received an Order of Possession, and we were forced into a lease with the HOA. During our second lease, the unit was sold, and we were receiving notices of sale, and purchase. We also received notice of possession from the new owner, along with notices to vacate. We notified the HOA and gave them copies of the notices.We were told that there was nothing that the new owner could do, due to the lease being in place. Well, we are now being evicted (court ordered) due to BOTH leases being invalid/void because the HOA had no right to enter leases. Could I possibly get my money back, and if so, how?
Also, even after being told of the ruling, and confirmed by the bank, the HOA is still trying to collect rent. Can they do this?
Ok. My bad. I haven't read all the messages. But yes, that's what I did. I'm starting over. Personally, it's just hard at my age..47. I just wanted to live to retire at fairly young age and enjoy life. Now I don't think that's going happen. I'm not a deadbeat. I've worked hard all my life and did not need to loose everything. I try not to be hostile about it but it comes out every so often. I'll get over it but it's still rather fresh.
Hi z,
Unless things have changed since I took the real estate course in Michigan, you have at least a six-month redemption period in which you can stay in the house AFTER the foreclosure, maybe longer if you have a lot of land. If you call the lender and tell them you are leaving, you could lose out on that extra time. Your best bet is probably to just stop paying and start saving the money toward a new place. Even if you don't wait out the entire redemption period, you could still save up enough money to cover a security deposit, first month's rent, and maybe even a U-Haul by the time you're ready to move.
Nikki,
Wow, what a messed up situation. You need to talk to lawyer who has experience dealing with landlord-tenant law to find out if you can fight this. It's possible that it may be too late since there is already an order for eviction.
Hi Tom,
That's totally understandable. It's always hard to start over again. Good luck to you.
I was divorced last year and am the only one on the mortgage note. My ex-wife is on the deed though with me. My question is if I walk away from the home will it ruin her credit as well since she is not on the mortgage note?
No, it won't.
My husband and I are considering walking away from a house we dont live in anymore. We bought another house about 1.5 years ago, and rented out the other. We tried selling it before that, it didnt sell. It is now become a liability to us and we are making No money on it. The rent doesnt cover the 1st and 2nd mortgage. We are scared. We have never NOT made a payment. To just stop paying is so foreign to us. The roof is 27 years old. It makes NO sense to continue to pay on it. Will we be ok?
Stacy,
It will take at least two years to rebuild your credit, but you will be OK.
I have a house and credit card is with same lendor. I'm paying on the credit card but can't afford the house. Will they take the credit card from me that I owe on or allow me to continue to pay on the credit card which is nearly $9000 that's owed
what happens if i forclosed on my home and i ckecked and it sold for more than i owed about 10 grand more
We live and rent in California. My wife has a rental property in Arizona. She pays 1000 a month. We don't see the value going up any time soon and the renter currently only pays us 300. we end up paying 700 additional. We're thinking about walking away from the house, but I'm worried that when we do buy our own home in CA, will the bank will come after our property or savings, CD, 401k?
I have seen that Arizona is a non-recourse state, so i just wanna make sure that the banks cannot go after us once we let the house foreclose. Do you have any insight on this BethParker? I appreciate any insight.
Hello Beth, very informative and helpful info. How long should we keep paying our first and second mortgages while we wait to sell our underwater house in the short sale process ? Also can the bank go after our fishing camp property if we go on to a foreclosure on our main residence ? We are thinking about putting the camp property in our children's names if we have to. Please clarify if you can. Thanks.
I am pregnant and give birth to maturity for me tomorrow and we rent the house , and said today that on Saturday come see buyers House,they make me so quickly emptied the newborn?sorry if I ask, not here but do not know what to ask and where,thank you
TK in PA,
Don't count on the short sale going through. Sometimes the banks will string you along while continuing the foreclosure process in the background. You can find a link to the foreclosure laws at the bottom of the foreclosure.com site to find out whether a deficiency judgment is permitted. If not, then the camp property should be safe as long as it's not secured by the same mortgage.
Whatever you do, don't put it in your kids' names right now. That looks like fraud, whether it is or not. If the bank gets a judgment, most of the time they can just put a lien against your other properties, not foreclose on them. Check with a lawyer to be sure. Also, check to see if you can eliminate the deficiency judgment through bankruptcy.
Ingridia,
I am not sure I understand your comment, but the baby has nothing to do with the foreclosure timeline. Having a baby does not give you any extra time.
Good luck.
I do think we as homeowners can make a different ourselves?
Lets help those who are close to short sale,or foreclosures.
My IDEA is to exchange properties?
Make a deal with another homeowner who has a manageable mortgage you can afford and have a roof over your head. Then there is the consumer out there with job security wants a bigger house,who could afford that mortgage you know longer can pay.?
It is just a matter of getting these people together and
all will be happy and maybe we can start something and keep people in a home. I believe we can do it? Lets keep
out government and realtors and just make the deal with a lawyer? Watch the WEB trying to get soething out there on this idea!!!
My husband and I are paying on a mortgage in texas. I'm receiving bdisability but cannot get any other benifits such as medicare,medicaid because we have a home. Our credit is good
From texas, My husband and I are considering foreclosure. Weome for 11years and we have always made our payments ontime. I'm now on disability and we can't afford this home. House is in need of repairs and aside from that. I can't get benifits such as medicare, medicaid because we have a mortgage. So what's more important. My health or this house. I hope you can offered some advice..
my husband and i are recently going through a modification on our house. We recently was looking into the process of a short term. i think it would be better for us. My question is can we do a short sell even though we are going through a modification or is it to late?, and if its to late can we wait a couple months and do it later?
do i retain ownership of my home, after i file the 1099c?
No lender is going to send you a 1099c without foreclosing on the house first, unless they made a huge mistake. No, you don't keep the house. A 1099c is issued if there was still money owed on the house after foreclosure and the lender decided not to go after a deficiency judgment to collect it.
IF THE BANK FILE FOR DEFINCIENCY JUDGMENT WHAT THAT MEANS THEY WANT TO AFTER ME FOR THE BALANCE OF THE LOAN ?
CAN SAME ONE HALP ME TO UNDERSTAND , IF I CAN;T PAY NOW HOW I CAN PAY AFTER I DONT UNDERSTAND , WHATS I NEED TO DO FILE BANKROPCY ?
Hi Mark,
Yes, if the bank is filing for a deficiency judgment, that means they are trying to collect the balance of the loan. I'd talk to a lawyer to discuss the possibility of filing for bankruptcy.
Hi. My husband and I currently own our home, but are about 40-60,000 upside down. We can afford to make the payments, but it leaves us very little room. I am only working part time after having our first baby. We have recently been in a situation where we could pay cash for another home under $100,000 and we would love to move with a house with property. But... we are stuck here where we don't want to be. Would it make sense to foreclose???? We do not want to rent our home. We can't short sale, as I was told the bank would come after all our assets, and we definitely can't sell it for what it's worth. Our only option is to foreclose but I feel so awful and wrong about it..... please help!
Great article! I'm trying to deal with the aftermath of the foreclosure. I had a first and second mortgage. Both of them have been sold to other companies. They have been contacting me for a while to pay the balance. I don't have the property and they still want the money. Is this something that can be ignored or should i try to work something out with them? I know of them offered to bring the amount down to $5,000 from $56,000. Will they be able to garnish my wages in the future if i don't do anything? How this affect my future credit if I don't do anything?
DOES THE STATE OF GEORGIA HAVE DEFICIENCY JUDGMENT LAW?
should i file for bankruptcy first or should i let the house go into forcloseur,then file for bankruptcy?
Definitely wait until after if deficiency judgments are allowed in your state. Wait until the lender gets a deficiency judgment so you can get it wiped out. If you file for bankruptcy first and then they get a deficiency judgment, they can still come after you for the amount of the judgment.
Yes, Georgia allows deficiency judgments.
Your credit is probably already screwed either way. But yes, if they have a deficiency judgment against you, they can garnish your wages. Your choices are bankruptcy (to wipe out the debt), settlement, pay the full amount due, or take your chances with them coming after your bank accounts and wages.
after you foreclose how long does it take for the mortgage company to do a deficiency judgement,and so if am foreclosing on my house i should just wait till i get a deficiency judgement on my house before i file for bankruptcy??
if i just file for bankruptcy wont that wipe out everything?
It depends on whether you include the house and mortgage in the bankruptcy. Talk to a bankruptcy attorney to be sure.
beth I recently graduated and am not a homeowner although I look to become one in the next few years. I just googled this page to learn what foreclosing meant and other terms. I just think it is so great of you to be providing advice here. So many people have to go through this trying experience of losing a home and going into debt, but it must mean so much to them that someone is willing to hand out professional advice to guide them thru the mess. thanks so much
I AGREE WITH WITH THE PERSON FROM VIRGINIA THANKYOU,
OK, SO IF I FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY AND INCLUDE THE HOUSE AND MORTGAGE CAN THEY STILL COME AFTER YOU FOR A DEFICIENCY JUDGEMENT ?
If the mortgage is discharged in bankruptcy, they will not be able to get a deficiency judgment. However, the house will be sold by the bankruptcy court to satisfy your debts. It's usually better to wait until after foreclosure to file for bankruptcy because in most states, you can stay in the house for several months while the foreclosure is in process and use that time to save money to help you start over again somewhere else. You should discuss your options with an attorney who is familiar with both bankruptcy and foreclosure to help you determine what is best.
My fiance and his ex wife had a house together, in the divorce the court gave her the house and said she had to get his name removed from the mortgage. His name was removed from the deed but she moved out of the house stopped paying the mortgage and this is going on two years ago. His name is on the mortgage and now they are calling him saying he owes them 15,000.00 dollars and if he doesn't pay that he has to at least pay to clean the house out, which is her stuff not his. She refuses to deal with the situation at all and we have no idea what to do we would like to someday buy a house but with this house situation it seems we will never be able to. Do you have any idea what he can do because he was told he is not liable by the divorce court.
Hi Hope,
He really needs to talk to a lawyer who specializes in foreclosure. The bit about paying to clean the house out sounds really fishy; I've never heard that one before.
I have a question... my bf bought his house before market went down its a small 2 bedroom 2 bath.. he owes like 120 on it but now its most likly worth if were lucky 80.. he recently lost his side job which pays half the monthly pmt.. weve been looking into what we can do to save it but the bank so far is not very helpful..
Thanks
My husband and i owneda house in FL. 3 mortgages totally 330,000. Husband got cancer and filed bankruptcy. (I was not on the loan..only on the title). Bank of America started foreclosure procedings in 2008. STILL NOT FINAL. BofA changed the locks immediately while we were in PA dealing with cancer treatments. I have been unable to get into the house to retrieve personal belongings. What can I do? BofA will NOT change the locks and used scare tactics on me "if I chose to do that"... Do I have any recourse...?
Talk to a foreclosure lawyer.
My husband bought out home 6 yrs ago now obtaining a mortgage and a ballon rider mortgage. The ballon was modified 2.5 yrs ago in order to extend the period before payoff. My name is no where on the house. We just got married this past Dec. and we are in a situation. The payments are high and the ballon needs to be paid off in 2.5 yrs which is impossible. We tried to refinance in order to combine the loans but our house came in $65k lower than 3 yrs ago. If he forcloses on the home and I purchase a new one for us to live in... Can they come after my new home? This foreclosure will only affect his credit, not mine. We live in IL and there are so many foreclosures around us we don't know if it's the smartest option. We just know $2,600 a month plus having to pay a lump sum of $38k in 2.5 yrs is not an option any more. The banks refuse to help us since we owe $280 total and it's only worth $250 now. Any advise is appreciated!
realestateuk 3 years ago
Very helpful hub. As someone into real estate myself, I've spent time with people who had lost or who were about to lose their homes. It's good to know there are articles like yours, concisely written and paced well, that aim to help such people. Your perspective is much appreciated.