How long until trustee checks out my house?

[FloridaFiler]

Response to Gunner01

Hello FL Filer,

Who did you hire to proform your appraisel? I am in the Middle District of Florida (Ft.Myers/Naples) and on the pacer I have seen where the TT has ordered an appraiser to contact us. This just posted to the pacer on 3/5/10 so, I am sure I will be contacted soon. I have heard that the appraiser looks at your shoes, brand name of clothing, opens drawers, and the list goes on... Is this true? I would like to thank you in advance for sharing!

Gunner01

There are 2 approved appraisers in the Ft Myers area as I recall. Since the TT has ordered an appraiser I think you'll have to go with who ever you get..

The appraiser, a lady, went room by room, didn't open many drawers, but was fairly thorough in her inspection. Clothing, shoes, etc., she didn't seem to care about and lumped them together for about a $150 for the 2 of us.
Engagement ring and jewelery were assessed and appraised at current spot prices. As I said, she didn't miss much, but our items were priced over "Tag sale" prices. Not replacement value but certainly not distress sale prices.

The value of our personal property that exceeded the allowed exemptions, are being bought back from the TT over 14 months at 0% interest. All the property remained in our possession. No haggling allowed!

Hope this helps.

FL Filer

[gunner01]

There are 2 approved appraisers in the Ft Myers area as I recall. Since the TT has ordered an appraiser I think you'll have to go with who ever you get..

The appraiser, a lady, went room by room, didn't open many drawers, but was fairly thorough in her inspection. Clothing, shoes, etc., she didn't seem to care about and lumped them together for about a $150 for the 2 of us.
Engagement ring and jewelery were assessed and appraised at current spot prices. As I said, she didn't miss much, but our items were priced over "Tag sale" prices. Not replacement value but certainly not distress sale prices.

The value of our personal property that exceeded the allowed exemptions, are being bought back from the TT over 14 months at 0% interest. All the property remained in our possession. No haggling allowed!

Hope this helps.

FL Filer

Did you try to negotiate? If they(TT) said no; did you tell them "take it" for any particular item?

[ironpirate]

Is this Florida district the worse in the US? Sounds like they want all they can get. I bet a lot people have to pay for their belongings.

[olivies]

Is this Florida district the worse in the US? Sounds like they want all they can get. I bet a lot people have to pay for their belongings.

Guess I'm lucky, cause we are FL middle district too. Or maybe since we have no assets (house or owned vehicle) we weren't flagged for an inspection...although I'm quite sure our beat up, worn down, some of it broken, furniture and consignment shop clothing, ten year old 20" clunky televisions and 7 year old computers would not have garnered much attention or value. One look at our brown leather couch with black permanent marker drawings on it (thanks to my then 2yo son) and DH's favorite dirty gross beige recliner which he refuses to throw out and the appraiser would have probably felt badly putting a value to any of it because it could almost be viewed as an insult. LOL

[gunner01]

Is this Florida district the worse in the US? Sounds like they want all they can get. I bet a lot people have to pay for their belongings.

Just the Middle District of Florida; it seems.

[beachymama]

I was not told at the 341 meeting that I was being appraised. My 341 was in September. I just happened to look at PACER and saw the OBJECTION notice in October. When I called my attorney, she seemed surprised as well. The appraiser came out in December. She was nice, asked me mostly about my electronics. I have a 4BR + office home, no antiques, jewelry, etc. She appraised my furniture alone at $8900. I have nice stuff, but for stuff that is almost 5 years old?? I put garage sale prices on my bankruptcy forms but the appraiser did not.

Nothing happened after that. Then in late February, on PACER, I noticed a demand for my money in my bank account, my vehicle, my furniture and a piece of land that I own.

I called my attorney asking WTF! Turns out the appraiser gave the report to the Trustee in December and the Trustee responded with a deal for me to pay back $833 a month beginning in Feb to buy back my stuff for 14 months. The thing is nobody told me, nothing was filed in PACER. So the demand was because I did not start paying I guess.

So I asked my attorney what to do, she asked me for $250 to negotiate with the trustee. I told her she could have the furniture, I just need to keep my money and car.

The hearing is on 3-26, and my attorney says that I do not have to attend. Not sure what they are negotiating, but my argument is that the appraisal is not realistic for furniture that is 5 years old and has been used daily by myself and 4 kids.

I have the male trustee in Ft. Myers.

[beachymama]

Guess I'm lucky, cause we are FL middle district too. Or maybe since we have no assets (house or owned vehicle) we weren't flagged for an inspection...although I'm quite sure our beat up, worn down, some of it broken, furniture and consignment shop clothing, ten year old 20" clunky televisions and 7 year old computers would not have garnered much attention or value. One look at our brown leather couch with black permanent marker drawings on it (thanks to my then 2yo son) and DH's favorite dirty gross beige recliner which he refuses to throw out and the appraiser would have probably felt badly putting a value to any of it because it could almost be viewed as an insult. LOL

I heard that if your house has an appraised value (county appraisal) when you file of over $300,000 that you are flagged. My county, Charlotte, appraised my home last year at $368,000. This year, it was $259,000. Not sure if this is true though.

[spanky]

It's so odd. You don't hear about this appraisal process happening in California. Is it because of the way the household exemptions are done?

[StartingOver08]

It's so odd. You don't hear about this appraisal process happening in California. Is it because of the way the household exemptions are done?

Combination of extremely poor exemptions in Fl and a very agressive Trustee.

[DeadManCrawling]

Trustees in FL are following very strict interpretations of BK rulings, in these cases that involve appraisals.

Legally, I suppose any trustee in the nation COULD choose to do the same, but they never have. Only Florida, and usually just 1-2 districts and particular trustees, so this is not something most of the country even has to think about.

Since they are paid per case, and also get a percentage of any money recovered, I think it is very easy to demand appraisals whenever they can. It costs the trustee ZERO dollars to say "I Want an appraisal". They don't really want your stuff. They want to say, "Your stuff is worth 9k, how much you willing to pay to keep it?" as happened in a previous post.

In most cases, the answer is to simply say: Fine, come get all this stuff. 99.9% of the time it is all a bluff. They have the appraisal part well rehearsed, but trustees are not equipped with vast warehouses to store your cookbooks, oven mitts, and cleaning supplies.

If you have cars, land, and other "hard value" items, they will definitely take those, and you should be serious about negotiating if you want to keep them.

But for "household items" I would call their bluff in nearly every single case.

Another reason this is more common in FL is the exemptions allowed here. 1k is extremely low for personal property, and trustees know it, and use it to their advantage. With the new wildcard, I expect to see fewer appraisals in the future. The wildcard only applies if you are not claiming a homestead, but the foreclosure wars here are so severe that many people are letting the house go.

[gunner01]

I was not told at the 341 meeting that I was being appraised. My 341 was in September. I just happened to look at PACER and saw the OBJECTION notice in October. When I called my attorney, she seemed surprised as well. The appraiser came out in December. She was nice, asked me mostly about my electronics. I have a 4BR + office home, no antiques, jewelry, etc. She appraised my furniture alone at $8900. I have nice stuff, but for stuff that is almost 5 years old?? I put garage sale prices on my bankruptcy forms but the appraiser did not.

Nothing happened after that. Then in late February, on PACER, I noticed a demand for my money in my bank account, my vehicle, my furniture and a piece of land that I own.

I called my attorney asking WTF! Turns out the appraiser gave the report to the Trustee in December and the Trustee responded with a deal for me to pay back $833 a month beginning in Feb to buy back my stuff for 14 months. The thing is nobody told me, nothing was filed in PACER. So the demand was because I did not start paying I guess.

So I asked my attorney what to do, she asked me for $250 to negotiate with the trustee. I told her she could have the furniture, I just need to keep my money and car.

The hearing is on 3-26, and my attorney says that I do not have to attend. Not sure what they are negotiating, but my argument is that the appraisal is not realistic for furniture that is 5 years old and has been used daily by myself and 4 kids.

I have the male trustee in Ft. Myers.

Hello Beachymama,

Are you keeping your homesteaded home? I can't understand the high month payment back to the trustee....this is what scares me. We have a 707(b) meeting on 3-26 as well. We were told we do not have to attend. $250 for your attorney to negotiate isn't so bad. We have to pay our attorney an additonal $2,000 for being selected for a 707(b). I have no idea what we will be charged for the rest of this process. I haven't been contacted by the appraisal company yet but, it is in the pacer that the trustee has appointed them. I expect a phone call any day now.

We plan on keeping our cars which already has us paying back $5,000. I am very concerned about the appraisel process. We have a large home as well but, like you said the stuff is 5 plus years old. We will have to keep each other posted...

Best Regards,

Gunner01

[gunner01]

I was not told at the 341 meeting that I was being appraised. My 341 was in September. I just happened to look at PACER and saw the OBJECTION notice in October. When I called my attorney, she seemed surprised as well. The appraiser came out in December. She was nice, asked me mostly about my electronics. I have a 4BR + office home, no antiques, jewelry, etc. She appraised my furniture alone at $8900. I have nice stuff, but for stuff that is almost 5 years old?? I put garage sale prices on my bankruptcy forms but the appraiser did not.

Nothing happened after that. Then in late February, on PACER, I noticed a demand for my money in my bank account, my vehicle, my furniture and a piece of land that I own.

I called my attorney asking WTF! Turns out the appraiser gave the report to the Trustee in December and the Trustee responded with a deal for me to pay back $833 a month beginning in Feb to buy back my stuff for 14 months. The thing is nobody told me, nothing was filed in PACER. So the demand was because I did not start paying I guess.

So I asked my attorney what to do, she asked me for $250 to negotiate with the trustee. I told her she could have the furniture, I just need to keep my money and car.

The hearing is on 3-26, and my attorney says that I do not have to attend. Not sure what they are negotiating, but my argument is that the appraisal is not realistic for furniture that is 5 years old and has been used daily by myself and 4 kids.

I have the male trustee in Ft. Myers.

Hello Beachymama,

Sorry one more question... In the appraisal process, who determined
the date they came to your house...you or them or ??? It is my understanding that I will be contacted by phone; is this the process?

Gunner01

[ironpirate]

I bet a lot of people hide their property before they come out to the house, especially if the appraisers are over valuing everyone's property.

[beachymama]

Gunner. The appraiser called me and I told her my work schedule and she worked around it for me.

The reasons my payment is a bit higher than just the $9000 in furniture is because they also have me over my exemptions for some cash in my checking account and my car, so it all totalled almost $12000 or so.

Iron: I should have hid some, but I foolishly believed that they also used garage sale valuations. They will even value your knic knacks, rugs, pictures etc., these are things I got from Marshalls and TJ Maxx for cheap.

It is totally a game for the trustees to get more money. I posted a blog article that was written about this district and trustees knowing that $1K for furniture when we live in 3-4 bedroom homes is not enough to cover so they just go for it. Nothing for them to lose, just the debtor lose.

[Jackdog]

Quick question. All of you that had them come out to your house (I'm in central Florida also but East Coast) Was your home worth a decent amount. I live in a neighborhood where houses are now only selling for 50-100k 100k if your lucky. I owe 60k on my house I paid 99k for it in 02. The thought of someone coming through my house and putting a value on everything scares me. I'm the one filing bankruptcy and I live with my boyfriend. Not everything in the house is mine to begin with. So I'm wondering do they tend to do this with higher end homes? All my debt is unsecured. If the Trustee wants to come out when I file, I have no choice but it's creepy thinking of someone going through my things. I have nothing to hide but the thought of it ugh.

Wanted to add I do have nice things. Nothing really crazy but my TV's. One is over 3-4 years old but it's an LCD. I have a 61" DLP that is almost 3 years old and a nice leather sectional that is about 4 years old. I would cry if I had to part with them. I'd get over it but I'd still cry