We have finally hit a wall where we can no longer live with the stress and fear of creditors calling nonstop, or calling our family to 'locate' us. Both my wife and I have been laid off in the past two years, and although we survived and are working in good jobs, everything has finally caught up with us because we had no other choice than to rely on our credit cards at times to survive. We have two young children and they are feeling the effects of our stress, so we've decided it's time to swallow our pride and are going to meet with an attorney regarding filing.
We moved almost two years ago to another state for a new job for me. The housing market in our old state is a disaster and we had the house on the market for nearly a year without a single offer. It is now rented to a nice family, who has been late with their rent several times, but have been good tenants otherwise.
We rent a house in the new state and would like to stay here (we have been here for two years). We have always paid our rent on time and although we have had a returned check twice, we made good on the funds almost immediately. We have a good relationship with our landlords (it's a private rental) and don't want to move.
The house that we own has no equity and we just received a modification through our mortgage company, which shocked us because we were convinced that it wouldn't happen as it is a rental property. However, even with the modification, it hasn't decreased our mortgage enough to allow us to pay our other creditors. We know that there is a very slim chance of actually keeping the house, though we are hoping the mortgage company will allow it, as it is current and has renters who are reliable. Our main concern is what and when to tell our renters. We feel terrible that they will be affected by our problems if the house is surrendered, and would like to make sure that we keep them apprised of the situation. There is a chance that they may want to purchase the house in the future, but are not in a position to do so right now. So how do we handle it with them? Do we tell them prior to filing? Do they continue to pay rent so that we can continue to pay the mortgage in the hopes of keeping the house, or should we tell them to stop paying so that they can save for an inevitable move? And if we are not able to reaffirm the loan and keep the house, how long does it typically take before they will be evicted? To be honest, if it weren't for the renters, we would surrender the house without question.
We also rent our current residence and have a good relationship with our landlords. Our lease does state that we can be evicted if we file bankruptcy but it's a generic lease that our landlord pulled from the internet and we don't think they will actually follow through on it. Again, we want to be honest with them, and as they will be listed as a creditor, they'll find out anyway - do we tell them prior to filing that we will be filing, but we would like to remain in the house and continue as we have for the past two years?
We have realized that we're out of options at this point and filing is inevitable. But we also feel an obligation to our renters and to our landlords to be honest with them, and an enormous sense of guilt at the fact that our renters may be evicted due to no fault of their own. We have reached out to several attorneys for the initial consultations, but these are the two major issues that are really bothering us.
Thanks for any advice you can provide.
We moved almost two years ago to another state for a new job for me. The housing market in our old state is a disaster and we had the house on the market for nearly a year without a single offer. It is now rented to a nice family, who has been late with their rent several times, but have been good tenants otherwise.
We rent a house in the new state and would like to stay here (we have been here for two years). We have always paid our rent on time and although we have had a returned check twice, we made good on the funds almost immediately. We have a good relationship with our landlords (it's a private rental) and don't want to move.
The house that we own has no equity and we just received a modification through our mortgage company, which shocked us because we were convinced that it wouldn't happen as it is a rental property. However, even with the modification, it hasn't decreased our mortgage enough to allow us to pay our other creditors. We know that there is a very slim chance of actually keeping the house, though we are hoping the mortgage company will allow it, as it is current and has renters who are reliable. Our main concern is what and when to tell our renters. We feel terrible that they will be affected by our problems if the house is surrendered, and would like to make sure that we keep them apprised of the situation. There is a chance that they may want to purchase the house in the future, but are not in a position to do so right now. So how do we handle it with them? Do we tell them prior to filing? Do they continue to pay rent so that we can continue to pay the mortgage in the hopes of keeping the house, or should we tell them to stop paying so that they can save for an inevitable move? And if we are not able to reaffirm the loan and keep the house, how long does it typically take before they will be evicted? To be honest, if it weren't for the renters, we would surrender the house without question.
We also rent our current residence and have a good relationship with our landlords. Our lease does state that we can be evicted if we file bankruptcy but it's a generic lease that our landlord pulled from the internet and we don't think they will actually follow through on it. Again, we want to be honest with them, and as they will be listed as a creditor, they'll find out anyway - do we tell them prior to filing that we will be filing, but we would like to remain in the house and continue as we have for the past two years?
We have realized that we're out of options at this point and filing is inevitable. But we also feel an obligation to our renters and to our landlords to be honest with them, and an enormous sense of guilt at the fact that our renters may be evicted due to no fault of their own. We have reached out to several attorneys for the initial consultations, but these are the two major issues that are really bothering us.
Thanks for any advice you can provide.