Need help Pre-BK strategy in NC

[HelpneededNC]

I just became unemployed in Oct 2011. I was making $45K and my wife is making $22K but is about to go to grad school in Jan 2012. I have filed for unemployment which is $470 per week/$24440 per year. Not sure if I will get approved or not. I am new to this. We were already getting into financial trouble before I lost my job. Our primary residence is a house we bought in 2006 for $210K payments $1000 a month. We have been current on this loan. We owe around $150K on it and refinanced in August 2009 with a different lender to lower the interest rate. This timeline seems to exclude us from the HAMP program. We also have an inherited property in Florida worth $50K but we inherited it in 2006 then valued at $250K, and we owe $87K. We haven't made a payment on that property in 6 months and are trying to short sale it. It has been on the market since 2007. We also have around $30K in credit card/unsecured loan with Discover. We have a leased car $250/MO and another car with a payment of $300/MO and would like to keep the cars and the primary residence. No savings, no 401K, and around $500 in stocks. We live outside of Charlotte, NC.

I am in need of any advice before I consult with an attorney. I am living on the last of my credit cards (around $3500) We are thinking about Chapter 7 because of the good chance that our income won't get back to previous levels for at least 3 or 4 years.
Thank You in advance.

[keepmine]

How much equity in your primary residence?
At the end of the day, you have to be able to afford the mortgage payments and, the car lease payments to keep the property.
Filing bk is the easy part. What comes next is harder. While your debts are discharged, you still have to support yourself without credit cards.Is your wife still going to work while in school?
At a minimum, I'd not file until someone has a job with health insurance benfits.You don't want to file and get disharged and 6 months later you get sick or have an accident and run up huge medical debt you can't pay and you already played the Chapter 7 card.

[HelpneededNC]

Appraisal 2 years ago had the house at 180K but Zillow.com has it at 165K. So I'd say about 15K - 20K in equity. Were are also looking into a bank remod and NC has a program that is an interest free loan that pays up to $1000 a month for 3 years, then is repayable at an income based payment for 10 years. My wife is going to try to work 20 hours through grad school, and grad school pays a stipend of around 12,000. The real wildcard is me finding a job. The bank mod and NC loan are based on income (no more than 31%) I believe.

[Drazil65]

Welcome, read all the stickies at the top and then read them again. Lots of great info and that will put you on the road to preplanning very quickly. Make appointments with at least 3 Bk attorneys for free consult, if you are not comfortable with at least one of them keep looking! The initial consults should all be free and you will get a very good idea of what you are looking for in an attorney. Research "Google Voice", read through it then sign up (its free!) and will be one of the best things you will do for your family during this process. All those phone calls in one nice neat place. Has been a life saver for us and made the process bearable! If you have not already, STOP using all your credit cards and STOP paying all your unsecured debts (once you make the decision to file you would only be throwing money away). You should then (hopefully) have the money to live on because you are not paying the creditors. You should also use some of that money to pay your attorney once you retain one, most of them take a small amount upfront then you can do payments until paid in full (keep in mind you will file until the attorney is paid in full). Decide if you can afford to keep your house and cars (or whatever secured debt you have) and make sure you put plenty of time between the last time you used your credit card(s) and filing, that will be a huge factor in when you will actually file. This is all stuff you can get started on and you will actually feel better once you start to feel like you are taking control of your life back. Its a business decision, thats all, a business decision! Good Luck!