Let the house go at 48 months in?

[toojerm]

Long story short, I relocated for work last year. The house I own sat on the market for 3 months, after which I considered letting it go on the advice of my lawyer. Ultimately, I decided to rent it out (losing another $250/mo in the process) in a situation that relied on the rent payment to meet the mortgage. Now my renters seem to have bailed. Now, I'm less than a year from completing my 100% plan, and I can't afford to make the house payment, and I'm tired of being a long distance landlord just to keep throwing away another $250/mo I don't have. Here is my question. Will a foreclosure or a deed-in-lieu prevent my discharge (Which I'm actually on pace to pay off in the spring) at the completion of the 100% plan. Washington is a nonrecourse state. Also, should I just not contact the lender like the lawyer suggested, or should I call them and ask for a deed-in-lieu? I would appreciate any help from the forum.
>$81,000 paid in. <$24,000 to go. The mortgage is paid outside the plan. Thanks.

[martians8u]

Quit making payments and ask your attorney to file a motion to "surrender" the home, the lender will get the hint. What it does is informs the court that you no longer have any financial interest in the home. Mind you, it does not remove your name from the title or anything close to that...you still retain liability and also have to go through a foreclosure process...depending on you're location, the foreclosure process can take a while. So be prepared to have that house with your name on the title for a while. However, none of this will prevent a BK discharge.

[spidge]

Keep fighting to keep it rolling man. I mean 1 year is not that long. I don't know your entire situation, but 1 year is not that long to retain ownership. Can you dig any deeper into your budget for that time? I do think in the long run you may come out ahead if you can keep the home and rent or sell it.

Your so close.

[toojerm]

I would love to, especially since it is a VA loan (I don't want to lose that benefit in the future). However, I pay 2251 into the plan now, which leaves about 2432 a month. Rent is 1400, plus utilities (I cancelled cable) , mortgage is 1293, car payment is 360, other car is paid off, 120 for car/renter's insurance for me and the wife, 2 toddlers, and 300 in child support. I've already cashed out my 401k from the previous job to survive to this point. This has been just another punch in the gut, in 4 years of punches in the gut. As you can see, even with the renter in there, it is tight. I don't have the resources to make the home ready for new renters, and attempts to refi before I moved fell through because of slow response of lawyer/court/mortgage company. Originally my payment was 1150/mo, then
it jumped to 1606 early in year too, finally right after I quit my job to move they bumped it to 2251. The trustee is going to rake in over 7k by the end of the plan (he's averaged 7% throughout).

[ValleYum]

Gosh, toojerm - it has been a rough ride for you guys. With the mortgage, car payment and CS - you didn't qualify for a Chapter 7 or did you have a reason to file a 13?

Also, if you don't mind my asking, where in WA state is your home located?

[despritfreya]

If the property does not support itself and has no equity, dump it. Stop making the mortgage payments. At some point the lender will file a Motion to Lift the Stay (probably before you complete your case). At some point the lender will foreclose. If WA is a non-recourse state and there is only one mortgage and that mortgage is subject to the anti deficiency statute, there is no need to modify your Plan to show the surrender unless you want to run up additional legal fees. Just make sure you pay the HOA if you have one until the property is out of your name (foreclosed).

Des.

[toojerm]

I was working all the OT I could to prevent this 4 years ago. That made income way too high for a 7. The house in is Richland, WA. A nice little city on the Columbia River. I probably should have stayed at the old job until this thing was over. Thanks for the replies. I'll give it some time before I make a definite decision, and just miss the July payment (First payment ever missed in anything). No HOA (House is 60 years old).

[ValleYum]

Richland is pretty! Wrong part of the state for us, though - looks like we will soon be rental home shopping - LOL thought we may could help each other out! That would have been too funny.

I, personally, would so convert to a 7 if I was currently eligible - even with lawyer costs and plane fare to a 341 (both @ ~2k so ~4k total) you'd still come out ahead wouldn't you? You could likely be d/c'd before the holidays...

Take care and keep us posted on how things go for you.