Attorney says convert to 7 and let house go
I am so glad I found this forum because there is a wealth of information here. Even so I still have some confusion over my situation.
I have been in chp 13 since Mar 07 and have made most payments on time. The one's that were missed were due to my job forcing us to take unpaid time off and a paycut. My attorney modified my payments to a lower amount and said he cannot lower my payment anymore and I will have to live with it. I am about $1500 behind in my payments to the courts which he says that I can make up if I were to stay in the 13.
Okay here comes the problems. The summer before last a huge tree fell on the back of my house and I had to come up with $1000 deductible. The gas price surge in the last year sent my budget out the window. I had a leased SUV which was costing my $120 bucks a week in gas and of course the courts didn't care about that for anyone. Don't count the record gas bill for my house because that didn't matter either as far as the courts were concerned. The bricks under my front porch caved in 3 months ago and I had to pay $800 to fix that. I have a sewer problem that has cost me about $1000 over the last year and half and keeps growing. My child support of $500 bucks ended in August 09, and my kid went off to college and preparing to send her with all the stuff she needed cost me an arm, leg, eye and lots of hair. And the final blow is that my mortgage resets this March adding an additional $300 per month.
Oh yeah and imagine this? I ain't got enough money to pay my property taxes and I am just stressed to the hilt. I purchased my home in 2005 for $252K and depending on which online appraisal you choose, is worth about $120K to $150K. The home next door to me just sold for $80K
Anyway I am robbing Paul's mother to pay Paul and Peter! I talked to my attorney about it and he says let that anchor of a house go. He says that I can convert my 13 to a 7. He says that I can live here and save up my mortgage money for a rental 6 to 9 months. With me being so intimate with my new best friend, Mr. Murphy's Law, I almost welcome walking away from this money pit. Funny thing is that I really did love my home when I first bought it but who in the heck foreseen this economic travesty that hit everybody?
I have read many stories of people converting but I thought if you made over a certain amount of money that you couldn't file a chp 7. I want to believe what my attorney said but I am just a bit nervous that there is something that I don't know. I mean in summary, what happened to my income and expenses from the time I first filed is that my income has been decreased about $600 per month and my expenses will increase about $350 starting in March with my home.
Is there an income limit on converting from a 13 to a 7? Is there any particulars about converting to a 7 and surrendering the house I should be aware of? Am I even thinking clearly by entertaining letting my house go? I am so confused I just don't know what to do.
I have been in chp 13 since Mar 07 and have made most payments on time. The one's that were missed were due to my job forcing us to take unpaid time off and a paycut. My attorney modified my payments to a lower amount and said he cannot lower my payment anymore and I will have to live with it. I am about $1500 behind in my payments to the courts which he says that I can make up if I were to stay in the 13.
Okay here comes the problems. The summer before last a huge tree fell on the back of my house and I had to come up with $1000 deductible. The gas price surge in the last year sent my budget out the window. I had a leased SUV which was costing my $120 bucks a week in gas and of course the courts didn't care about that for anyone. Don't count the record gas bill for my house because that didn't matter either as far as the courts were concerned. The bricks under my front porch caved in 3 months ago and I had to pay $800 to fix that. I have a sewer problem that has cost me about $1000 over the last year and half and keeps growing. My child support of $500 bucks ended in August 09, and my kid went off to college and preparing to send her with all the stuff she needed cost me an arm, leg, eye and lots of hair. And the final blow is that my mortgage resets this March adding an additional $300 per month.
Oh yeah and imagine this? I ain't got enough money to pay my property taxes and I am just stressed to the hilt. I purchased my home in 2005 for $252K and depending on which online appraisal you choose, is worth about $120K to $150K. The home next door to me just sold for $80K
Anyway I am robbing Paul's mother to pay Paul and Peter! I talked to my attorney about it and he says let that anchor of a house go. He says that I can convert my 13 to a 7. He says that I can live here and save up my mortgage money for a rental 6 to 9 months. With me being so intimate with my new best friend, Mr. Murphy's Law, I almost welcome walking away from this money pit. Funny thing is that I really did love my home when I first bought it but who in the heck foreseen this economic travesty that hit everybody?
I have read many stories of people converting but I thought if you made over a certain amount of money that you couldn't file a chp 7. I want to believe what my attorney said but I am just a bit nervous that there is something that I don't know. I mean in summary, what happened to my income and expenses from the time I first filed is that my income has been decreased about $600 per month and my expenses will increase about $350 starting in March with my home.
Is there an income limit on converting from a 13 to a 7? Is there any particulars about converting to a 7 and surrendering the house I should be aware of? Am I even thinking clearly by entertaining letting my house go? I am so confused I just don't know what to do.
. I guess I will just have to deal with that because at this point I do want a fresh start. I don't want another credit card EVER! Obviously I haven't been the greatest financial planner so it's best to stay away from those. If I don't have a nest egg in place with some spare cash to buy what I want then I don't need it. 
)!
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