Walking Away From Home

[gello]

Hello all, well our case was finally closed last month and we did not reaffirm our home and planned on staying. Thank god we did not. My wife and I our now separating after 7 years of marriage. Neither of us want, nor could afford the home and it is under water in a pretty depressed market. House next to us has been for sale for 4 years. Now I understand I can just walk away and I am not responsible for the debt as it was discharged in our Chapter 7. My question is how do I do it? Do I just call Chase and tell them I am surrendering my home? How do I give them the keys? We had planned on perhaps one of us staying through the foreclosure process, but that is not possible due the circumstances and we both want to move on. Thank you in advance for any replies/advice.

[keepmine]

Sure.
Just give 'em a call and ask for instructions on where to send the keys.
I'd not sign any documents unless your lawyer says it's OK.

[tcreegan]

good move not reaffirming

Hi gello,

Good move to not reaffirm !!

I have seen a couple posts on the forum mention a "cash for keys" option from the lender. Basically, you vacate early, left the property ready for market, and sign the deed over to the lender (deed in lieu of foreclosure I think). Another guy here in Colo got money in the 4 digit range.

I called my lender, GMAC mortgage and they just gave me one digit.....

Doesn't hurt to ask though....

Tom in Colo

[ccsjoe]

Tom, I just negotiated a cash for keys last April/May and received a good chunk. Let me know if you want to know more details about how it works, etc.

[gello]

Tom, I just negotiated a cash for keys last April/May and received a good chunk. Let me know if you want to know more details about how it works, etc.

I would love to know more details as that is what I am going to attempt to do. My mortgage is through Chase and has been discharged in Chapter 7. Thanks in advance.

Gello

[ccsjoe]

Gello,

Here is my experience with cash for keys. Bear in mind you will likely have less time or less money because you are a homeowner.

A few days after my landlord got foreclosed on, we were approached by the realtor to whom the lender had assigned the property. The realtor initially attempted to establish occupation of the premises, and provided identification and written verification that she indeed was acting on behalf of lender (everything by the letter of the law). Upon informing her that we were not the owner, but renter, with a valid lease, and that we were aware of our rights under PTFA of 2009, she immediately went into negotiation mode. How many people are here, any children/minors, how long do you estimate it would take to find a replacement rental, how much do you think it would cost you, etc. Some answers were factual, such as how many people and minors, others were high-balled. I knew we could probably find a rental within a week (I started looking upon receiving the Notice of Trustee Sale), but told her about a month, as far as how much I told her I would expect Security deposit plus first month's rent plus moving costs (U-Haul, not full service), so around $4,800. She said she'd be back in touch shortly and at that time she would request a walkthrough of the house to determine condition. She called back within one week offering 2 1/2 weeks to surrender house in exchange for $4,100. She also requested an appointment for a walkthrough and went over what she expected of the condition of the house to be in upon surrender (definition of broom clean, etc).

Where you differ is that under Federal Law now tenants have greater protections against evictions due to foreclosures than the actual homeowners. You will need to check your state's foreclosure eviction civil code statutes to determine legally how long you have, and attempt to use that to negotiate your cash for keys. Generally speaking, the less time a lender has to give you, the less amount of money it will negotiate. For me, under PTFA, they would have had to give me a minimum of 90 days to vacate or until the expiration of my lease, whichever was longer (provided lender did not intend to use house for primary residence, and other caveats).

In your case, because foreclosure has already happened (I assume lender has title now) and if you are ready to move/surrender home, then contact lender to begin negotiations. Treat this as a straight-forward business transaction offering surrender by XX date and house in good condition, clean, etc. That's how you begin.

Hope this helps

[tcreegan]

cash for keys

Thanks for posting your experience cssjoe !!

I saw in another post that the negotiations really began w/ contact of the realtor for the lender.

You have inspired me, I will try again.

Tom in Colo