Question by : Should I let the bank foreclose on my house (a little long F.Y.I.)?
I’ve been unemployed for almost 7mo now and haven’t been paying my mortgage for this time either. I have gotten a notice for the bank to auction my house on Feb.8th 2010. I have no job prospects at this time so it’s not that I’ll be able to get current on my mortgage any time soon. Also, viagra dosage case I haven’t been able to pay my credit card payments and those have all run up one card is about 1800 and the other is about 5000 that I owe. Since it’s less than a month now before my house goes to auction, should I even bother trying to save it? These are the conclusions I’ve come to as to help of some of you folks answer my question.
I don’t particularly care for my house, the community or area anymore(it’s a nice, new development, but the surrounding area is not. Often times there is graffiti, empty shopping carts, broken locks on the pool gates and parties in the parks when I’m sure the ppl throwing them have not reserved the areas with the HOA which also leads me to believe that they don’t live here either. So the combination of all this has not let the stress of foreclosure hit too hard. My original mortgage for a 1650sqft., 10x25ft back yard 2 car garage 3bd 2.5bath house is $ 1,517 plus 112/mo HOA fee. I bought my house for $ 195,000 and I believe is only worth maybe $ 120,000 now. Typing this seems I’ve already answered my own question….If I called the bank on monday to see if I could do anything/if I could….to save my house (give me another month or two to find a job) should I? Also, I was going to take a traveling job which paid me about 1000 more a month than I was originally making would they even have refinanced me? Please help me to decide, I just don’t know what to do anymore.
Best answer:
Answer by sassy25
Your first priority is to get a job. Without an income you have no hopes of saving your home.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Yes, you pretty much answered your own question! If the auctioneer is coming to your home, you might want to save that monthly payment for another place to live and/or storage fees for your possessions because it sounds to me like it is too late in the game to save your home without picking 6 numbers.
It is correct that you have answered your own question about the house, but there are other steps you should also take. If you loved the house and really wanted to keep it, you could contact “legal aid” (free or very cheap lawyers) and force the bank to back off, even at this late date. But you do not love it. What needs to happen is to get your financial affairs in order so that you can pull yourself out of the hole you’re in. Look into debt counseling (you can get this through public assistance agencies) and see what can be done about the credit card accounts. Having a foreclosure on your financial records might create some problems, but the debt counselor can help you deal with that as well. Next, you need to find out why your job search has not been successful. You might need to consider kinds of work you have not previously thought about. Search out the public assistance organizations in your community and let others help you with advice and assistance. It may take some time on the phone to locate the right agencies, but they exist, do not cost anything, and have been paid for by your taxes for many years. (And be extremely careful about getting involved with people who want you to pay them to help out. It is not necessary for you to pay for debt counseling or help in getting a job. If they ask for money, you have not reached the right people.)
Each state has different law’s governing how foreclosures are handled. But I’d say if you’re 7 months behind, this could be the final foreclosure notice and you will need to make some arrangements for other living accommodations. I am sorry this has happened to you, I know it is not easy. I lost my home last year too. What you could consider is filing bankruptcy, which could give you some more time in the house, but again it would depend on the law’s in your state. I suggest you yahoo search foreclosure law’s in your state to see if you can determine the amount of time you have left before they force you to move. It’s possible that they would rent it back to you for a period of time. Doesn’t hurt to ask for that. But again, you’d need to be able to pay them that rent.
The cold hard reality sets in.
Do you have a place to put all the stuff that is in your house and garage? If not then get moving on selling it or if you have friends ask them to ‘take it use it, but I might want it back if I can find a new home’. If you take the traveling job you may not want to have a home for a while.
Take bankruptcy. I assume you owe about 180,000 on the house and when the bank sells it you’ll get maybe 100,000 off your bill; leaving you with a 80,000 debt. Bankruptcy will also take care of all your other unpaid bills. Around here lawyers that specialize in bankruptcy usually charge $ 3,000 to take care of it for you.
Best of luck
If it’s gone this far, I would not bother trying to save it. Especially if you owe more than it’s worth. I would seriously consider filing bankruptcy so the bank can’t come after you for a deficiency judgment.
I don’t think you could obtain a new mortgage if the property is worth less than what you currently owe. Very few banks will accept a short pay-off, and no one will underwrite a loan for more than the property is worth.
If you have any type of income coming in you might qualify for the Making Home Affordable program. This would also depend on who your investor is. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as many of the large banks, i.e. Wells Farge, E-trade, and Citimortgage all participate in the program. This program will reduce your monthly payment to 31% of your gross income by lowering the interest rate down to 2% for at 5 years, extending the term of your mortgage to 40 years, and deferring a portion of the principal. After 5 years, the interest rate will begin to step up, 1% a year to the current market rate. If any principal is deferred, you would have a balloon payment due on maturity.
This would give you a chance to save the home, re-build your credit, and hopefully buy you time to allow the housing market to re-build itself to previous levels. The program will allow you to use unemployment income as long as you can prove you will be receiving the unemployment for 9 months from the date of the final modification, so it would have to be 12 months from the date of application as you will have to complete a trial period of 3 months.
A short sale might be your best answer if you can find a buyer. The bank might allow you to sell the property for what it is currently worth and accept that as satisfaction for the mortgage. Talk to a realtor who specilizes in short sales.