surrendering the house?

[jimisbroke]

We will be filing chapter 7 sometime this March, April or May. We decided that we will include the house as we are underwater and want/need to move eventually anyway. The lawyer told us that to stop making our payments on the credit cards AND the house. He also said it takes 1-2 years for the banks to foreclose and that we can go on living in it until it does foreclose. Really? I trust him but....really??? I guess I was assuming that we could stay in until it was discharged but didn't realize it took so long to foreclose. We live in the Orlando area. Any words of reassurance would be greatly appreciated!

[OhioFiler]

Listen to your attorney. he knows of what he speaks. I'm sure it's at least 2 years in Florida from the point of non-payment to eviction.

[mizg]

It is true for the most part....It is a lenghthy process and you will get notice. You figure that if you save all the money that you would have for rent, you could move easily. Plan on at least 8 months....you don't want to cut it so close.

[BananaCabana]

We stopped paying on our FL house in May of 2009. They just auctioned off our house in December of 2011. I have heard that foreclosures in FL are moving a little bit faster than in the past but not by much. I imagine the actual timeline really depends on where in FL your home is located, what mortgage company you have, etc. Looking back we could have lived in our home rent free for another year. We got nervous and moved into a rental too soon. That money we could have saved may be a lost opportunity but I am not really upset with our decision as we moved to a better environment/neighborhood/location than our old home.

[basketsbears]

If stop paying before filing Ch 7, I would assume that you don't get the housing allowance for the means test? I have thought about surrendering our home too, but am not sure. We have never been late on mortgage and it is kinda scary to me to stop paying. We do have a rental home (BOA) that we stopped paying on approx. Oct. 2010, and still have not foreclosed on (that is main reason we are filing BK - we just rec'd notice on their intent to foreclose this month). If that would have been our residence, we would be $ ahead. Our bank is Union Savings Bank - anyone dealt with them?

Also, our homeowner's and taxes are in escrow - how do we make sure they are covered? I am thinking we would still need liability. My husband cancelled the homeowners on the rental property.

[tobee43]

basket, this is really interesting...we are in the same district as jimisbroke and they counted our mortgage payment into the means test even though we were surrendering the house!!! i know our atty also had all our credit card payments listed on there and i argued with them...you can't do that we aren't paying them anymore.

apparently the trustees office felt the same way as i did, however, the firm argued and the amounts were kept in??????? to this very day i don't get it.

when we stopped paying our mortgage with chase and we had an escrow account as well, however, when it ran out, chase covered the taxes and insurance we didn't. although, if we had had rental property and still had tenants in there, i might have been a bit concerned.

we had never been late in over 30 years...talk about scared!!! but after taking all that money and putting it away for our move, while scary, it was the right thing to do. we left our home after 33 years and all i can say is home is most certainly were the heart is and not any walls or bricks.

also when we got a summons from chase we left, we were only there a short time that we actually paid and stayed, now looking back it's 4 years and we could have STILL been in the house since they have yet to foreclose. that was in nj. we moved to florida and they seem to be just a slow although jimi, if you have been watching the news since we live in the same area, they are hiring more judges or taking them out of retirement to clear the courts of all the pending foreclosures, so it may begin to move a bit faster. florida is still a judicial state and must go through the court process to foreclose, buying most people a bit more time. but remember if you in a HOA you are still responsible for those dues and the maintenance of your house or they can hit you hard in the end and even a bk will not get rid of that one!

[jimisbroke]

I might be thinking in the wrong direction but I don't see how they couldn't count it. The mortgage payment I mean. Because unless you move in with family or friends you are going to have a housing payment, right? I don't know, this is all so hard to figure out!

[pathfinders]

2 years no problem, I have a friend in orlando that is going on 4 years now BOA, they are just now going to auction, just make sure if you want to answer the LIz pendence you will get that may be 6-9 months after you stop making payments. down the road you may want to hire your lawyer as fourclosure defense. kick the can down the road .......

if you want to stay for 2+ years rent free and save it is very possible, only down side is that if you are looking to buy again the clock starts to tick when the bank takes the house title, from that point it is 3 years FHA, the chapter 7 does not matter... it is 3 years from the bank takes title. you can try a DIL if you can get them to take it back when you are reay to leave. that is hard to do, we did it took like 9 months after we left the home. you can go convential but you would need 20% down. so food for tought as you figure out your 2 5 and say 7 year plan post BK. You will be in the drivers seat.

as far as renting no worries all we did or had to do was just give 1 extra month security, if you stay for a year or 2 no CC and No house paymnts no worries saving up the extra payment. with the robo signing mess in FL. there are hundred of thousands of homes where people have not made a payment in years.

PS you DO have to keep paying any HOA dues, as far as Insurance onthe home that is your call. the bank will more than likley put INS. on the house when you insurance lapses , it will be miniula, the only thing would be if some one gets hurt than they can sue you. we did not get Insurance we let it ride ,,,,, just my 2 cents. Property Taxes not your problem, they go with the house banks problem,

[chiwawa]

My attorney said we can stop mortgage payment 1 month before we file. My mortgage is in an escrow account the lender paying insurance and taxes. I continue paying HOA until my name no longer on the tittle. I filed CH7 Nov/2011 retained the house as current so that I can stay if I want to be current which I am not planing on that, does not reaffirm the loan so I can leave when I want to, and if the foreclosure take some time I am just get my free rent here. The house is under water 125k and a 200k balloon payment when lender modified the loan in 2010, I took the loan modification to buy time to file ch7. 341 meetings completed Dec/2011 Trustee said you done. I am now waiting for my discharged another 14 days to go. Exemptions all 401k/IRA account. Will buy a place later hopefully with cash. We in the age get ready to retire.

[tobee43]

I might be thinking in the wrong direction but I don't see how they couldn't count it. The mortgage payment I mean. Because unless you move in with family or friends you are going to have a housing payment, right? I don't know, this is all so hard to figure out!

well,i was figuring since we were not paying it, how could it count. makes perfect sense with respect to the mortgage payment ...but the credit card payments they got in there too!!!

however, i guess it didn't matter much since all our income was protected and exempt under the ss act...a pension, ss, and at the time our county covered unemployment insurance as exempt income as well. that varies from place to place.


Path:

2 years no problem, I have a friend in orlando that is going on 4 years now BOA, they are just now going to auction, just make sure if you want to answer the LIz pendence you will get that may be 6-9 months after you stop making payments. down the road you may want to hire your lawyer as fourclosure defense. kick the can down the road .......

if you want to stay for 2+ years rent free and save it is very possible, only down side is that if you are looking to buy again the clock starts to tick when the bank takes the house title, from that point it is 3 years FHA, the chapter 7 does not matter... it is 3 years from the bank takes title. you can try a DIL if you can get them to take it back when you are reay to leave. that is hard to do, we did it took like 9 months after we left the home. you can go convential but you would need 20% down. so food for tought as you figure out your 2 5 and say 7 year plan post BK. You will be in the drivers seat.

as far as renting no worries all we did or had to do was just give 1 extra month security, if you stay for a year or 2 no CC and No house paymnts no worries saving up the extra payment. with the robo signing mess in FL. there are hundred of thousands of homes where people have not made a payment in years.

PS you DO have to keep paying any HOA dues, as far as Insurance onthe home that is your call. the bank will more than likley put INS. on the house when you insurance lapses , it will be miniula, the only thing would be if some one gets hurt than they can sue you. we did not get Insurance we let it ride ,,,,, just my 2 cents. Property Taxes not your problem, they go with the house banks problem,

great advise!!!

[tobee43]

My attorney said we can stop mortgage payment 1 month before we file. My mortgage is in an escrow account the lender paying insurance and taxes. I continue paying HOA until my name no longer on the tittle. I filed CH7 Nov/2011 retained the house as current so that I can stay if I want to be current which I am not planing on that, does not reaffirm the loan so I can leave when I want to, and if the foreclosure take some time I am just get my free rent here. The house is under water 125k and a 200k balloon payment when lender modified the loan in 2010, I took the loan modification to buy time to file ch7. 341 meetings completed Dec/2011 Trustee said you done. I am now waiting for my discharged another 14 days to go. Exemptions all 401k/IRA account. Will buy a place later hopefully with cash. We in the age get ready to retire.

in calif. the process usually, and unfortunately goes faster than in florida. even tho calif is both a judicial and non-judicial state, the lenders usually opt for the later which means one is out a lot sooner than later but not ALWAYS!

[basketsbears]

Does anyone know how long it takes to foreclose in Indiana if the house is not reaffirmed and we stop paying?

We have a rental with BOA that we stopped paying on Oct 2010, and just this month received notice on their intention to foreclose - but haven't received anything else. Our residence is with Union Savings Bank - I don't know how aggressive they are. Do banks act quicker if you stop paying and have not reaffirmed the mortgage? Do they consider late - one day late, or is there still the 15 day grace period before late charges, or do they start proceedings after 30 days?

I just want to know options so we can determine what is best for us. It will be a few months before we file. This is a house we can afford (payment $1100 including PITI), but it isn't one we had planned on staying in forever - but we could. We are in our 50's and would like to use this BK to get ourselves in better position for retirement.

Tobee - your answer to my post is so helpful - especially knowing that it is possible to have a great house after.

[Floridagail]

We will be filing chapter 7 sometime this March, April or May. We decided that we will include the house as we are underwater and want/need to move eventually anyway. The lawyer told us that to stop making our payments on the credit cards AND the house. He also said it takes 1-2 years for the banks to foreclose and that we can go on living in it until it does foreclose. Really? I trust him but....really??? I guess I was assuming that we could stay in until it was discharged but didn't realize it took so long to foreclose. We live in the Orlando area. Any words of reassurance would be greatly appreciated!

We are in Lakeland Area, going on 25 months since our last pmt on our house to BOA. Got LP Nov 2010. nothing since. We had hoped they would take the house by now, ready to move on. My stepson is on 4 yrs since he left his house in Brooksville area .
So not sure how long we hve. But I check official records online courthouse once a month or so.