Surrendering home, walk or stay

[diggityds]

I filed chapter 13 back in Nov 2011, and am now faced with a difficult decision regarding whether or not I should walk away or keep my home. I hope someone can fill me in on any advice you might have or personal experiences. I filed chapter 13 with a matured balloon mortgage and now my bank wants to claim the whole amount into my bk payments monthly since I technically have no mtg. I have a court date in a few weeks and my lawyer says I only have a few options. Surrender the home to the bankruptcy and either walk away or maintain payments and possibly look for a modification or a refi. Since I have been denied a modification in the past and I refinance with another bank could be rough however i did speak with another bank and they said they could do a refi but only a year from my chapter 13 filing. So either gamble and throw money into a mortgage that might not be refi'd with time being a factor, or just walk away. The only think keeping me from walking is that i'm only around 20 to 30 thousand underwater and the house is in a good school district. If I walked I probably wouldnt afford rent in the same area and I dont know how difficult it would be to get a new loan for a new house since i'm still in a Bk. If anyone can help with any advice it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[AZNoName]

My attorney asked flat out if I loved the house. Frankly, the house was too small for my family, not a great school, wierd neighbors, etc.

Another thing we took into consideration is that after the BK was done with, what would our home value be? Even with stripping the 2nd mortgage, I figured in 5 years we would STILL be underwater. I couldn't justify coming out of BK and STILL being underwater on that house! There was no reason to stay, so we took the plunge and included it in BK.

[Guest123]

We did the same. Unless it is absolutely your dream home then it would be in your best interest to let it go so you can start fresh after your BK.

[diggityds]

Thanks for all your posts it will truly help in my decision. When speaking with my lawyer and financial adviser they both told me it would be better to stay. I guess what worries me is the impact on my credit and how much I'm going to have to pay after we do walk as far as taxes and association dues on the property until the lender figures out what to do with the house. Also how hard will it be to find a loan for another home with all this impacting my credit, I'm only 5 months into my plan and it will be done in 3 years. How did you guys find another place?