How To Walk Away From House

[ullysses]

Thanks all for the help in the past. Our CH7 was closed and we did not reaffirm. I have searched and read the forums but am still a bit unclear as to how to walk away from our house.

- We decided to move to an apartment this June
- We stopped paying the mortgage last month and will be banking that money for the move.
- Our insurance and taxes are prepaid for 6 months.
- My wife wants to call the mortgage company and tell them we will not be paying and will move in 5 months.
- I prefer the stall technique?

Some Questions:

1-Will Indy Mac call us and ask why we are not paying? If they do, do we just tell them we are not going to pay and will be leaving in June? Will this accelerate the foreclosure process?
2-Do we string them along with excuses for our nonpayment and promise to try and catch up? Maybe ask for a modification as a stall tactic.
3-Will we just sooner or later get paperwork notifying us of a foreclosure?
4-When I do choose to leave should I call Indy Mac and tell them the keys are on the counter and they should turn on the electric so the sump pump keeps the basement dry?

Wait for foreclosure notice?
Will Sheriff be at door before we receive foreclosure notices?
Do I even tell the mortgage company I am gone?
Turn off all utilities?
When do I cancel homeowners insurance?
Notify the Sheriff that the house is now vacant?
Mail the mortgage company the keys?

I guess I am looking for some type of checklist or outline as how to physically leave the home in a secure manner and get on with life. I apologize for the disjointed way to elicit information but I am a bit disjointed at the moment!

Thanks.

Al...

[Floridagail]

Al
Do not be stressed, your bankruptcy is over and discharged. You decide to walk away by not paying your mortgage. No need to tell the bank anything. Just enjoy the free rent until they go thru the process of forclosure in your state. We are in same boat as you we are walking away from a upside down mortgage. Our mortgage company took about 18mos to start and still not finished , We intend to stay in our house and get free rent until it is out of our name shortly after the sale. You have legal rights to stay in your home until then. The process server will bring the legal papers eventually , it takes time, Once the house is out of your name is the time to move and of course turn off everything. Maybe your attorney could tell you how long forclosures take in your state. But it just depends.

[tobee43]

ditto on way floridagail has stated.

how fast this is going to go will be determined on whether you live in a judicial and non- judicial state. the process is quicker in those states that do not have to go through the court systems to remove you from the house.

either way you'll know by the notices you begin to receive and they will have deadline dates for you. we called our atty when we were served with the first NOD (which chase never carried through on anyway)...but it gave us 30 days to answer and fight it or leave, we left. although in that state; and it's been 5 years now, that property is still NOT foreclosed on, is a judicial state and must go through the system prior to the process. could we have stayed all these years?, yes...and those are the stories you hear about people in their homes for years prior to the foreclosing actually happening.

we had been working on a loan mod over 18 months when we got served. our atty said just lock it and leave it. but i wrote the loan officer an email to let him know we were securing the house (it was also on the market at the time we left). it just made me feel better, but didn't mean anything.

i would stay as long as you can to save as much money for your move. we actually secured a place within a week in another state. packed up after over 30 years and left.

we planned, so i called all the utility companies of the date to turn everything off. we even winterized the place since the wind chill factors hit -30 many winters. we left the keys on the kitchen table since the realtor had one. we took numerous pictures of every room to show we left it in PERFECT condition on that day. we also put so many keep out, NO trespassing signs all over the property....enter at your own risk etc. in that state our homeowners will not cover a non owner occupied premise so the bank immediately (we later found out put the house on their umbrella policy).

do not call the bank, the sheriff or anyone else. actually we told each neighbor we spoke too, since the for sale sign was still up, that we hadn't sold but were moving and we told each one of them a different state. we left no forwarding addresses, no phone numbers not a trace. the reason we did this was we were moving to another state and needed to establish a min residency to get a wild card exemption so we literary went "underground" for those two years and didn't get a one collection call, a piece of mail, nothing....of course after we filed two years later everyone knew where we were since it was on the petition, but it was too late for any suits or legal action. (we still had an ap or two on our corp, but that's a different story, which we won).

the bottom line, is, it's what and how you want to handle the situation. best of luck moving forward! it was the BEST decision we ever made.

[keepsmiling]

STAY as long as you can and keep saving cash.
However... learn from those on the board who have posted... once the property is turned over, make sure you take EVERYTHING out.
Leave so much as an old sock around, and you may have an eviction on your account.

[tobee43]

we left the hot tub!!! oh and the pool and the ponds LOL!

also, good point, that's why it's so important to take the pictures. we did of a nice cleared out CLeAN house. nothing in it at all. i just clarify that it was the kitchen counter we left the key and not the table...we sold everything we needed the money for the move plus had no place to put all the things from a 10 house!

[keepsmiling]

Also, just want to point out that by staying you also are doing the bank a favor.
And, if you stay long enough, you may be able to work out a cash for keys deal.
If you are in a judicial state, just think about how much cash you can save over the next... oh, possibly as much as three years.

[tobee43]

Also, just want to point out that by staying you also are doing the bank a favor.
And, if you stay long enough, you may be able to work out a cash for keys deal.
If you are in a judicial state, just think about how much cash you can save over the next... oh, possibly as much as three years.

another excellent point. and, had it not cost so much for the electric and oil bills, we may have done that. however, just those two bills pays every living expense where we live now, so it made no good sense to stay. i think one needs to think it out completely to see what fits their needs and where they may come out whole.

now, had be stayed these past 5 years we would have had a good amount of money, but it wouldn't have done us much good, as we most likely would have froze to death! LOL!

[Floridagail]

Definately take everything when you finally leave. If you move out the bank could change the locks. So stay put and you will be fine. Do not be surprized if someone drives by your place. My bank BOA had someone drive by every month to see if we were still there. I never saw them but I saw the bill on my forclosure paperwork 15.00 a visit.
My nice neighbors let their house go, they decided to help the bank out, so they moved out and put house up for shortsale. Dumb mistake. The house sold and b4 the closing they discovered their garage items were taken and the people moved in b4 closing. The bank refused to make the new owners give back the stuff. The bank said since they had no PMI , it is not their problem. They lost a brand new REF and Microwave.

[ullysses]

keepsmiling,

We will be moving into an apartment and were planning on leaving the appliances and some furniture. (no garbage or messes) Could you go into more detail on how and why they would start an eviction when nobody lives there? Spite? I guess I could sell stuff or put it out to the street for the garbage.

Al...

[keepsmiling]

Do not leave furniture! I guess appliances would depend on if they were built in or not. Why not try to sell whatever you were thinking of leaving, or even freecycle it.
Someone recently reported that they had evacuated long before, yet were still served with eviction notice and had to go to a hearing because they left a few things behind.
Tried to find the post earlier but no luck.
Better to be safe than sorry.

[tobee43]

yes we donated everything out....including our trees ( a GREAT way to get a tax deduction since remember next year no property tax or mortgage insurance deduction!)

we found state and local county charities to give everything too. when we filed our bk, the donations where so large but all receipts came from the state or county and we attached them to our bk petition. the following year was the largest tax return refund we ever had! also since the trustee knew and understood we left our home of 30 years and were basically homeless at the time we filed there was not a questioned asked.

[Floridagail]

I think it is a individual case basis, If the realtor for the new owner goes to the house and thinks you are coming back for your stuff , they could do a eviction. However my sisters both bought 2 shortsales and both house were full of belongings left behind and no eviction taped to door , only forclosure notice on door.

[tobee43]

I think it is a individual case basis, If the realtor for the new owner goes to the house and thinks you are coming back for your stuff , they could do a eviction. However my sisters both bought 2 shortsales and both house were full of belongings left behind and no eviction taped to door , only forclosure notice on door.

yes, we see much more of that here in florida...in our sub division as well, we don't have many evictions, but i think that's because cash for keys and all that has been seen more here and maybe az than other places. i just guessing, but again, the few houses we looked at before we purchased this one had furniture and boxes etc. one had a fully stocked bar!! LOL!!!

[DWA134]

I called the bak's lawyer to tell them we were leaving the house. They didn't even care. We took or sold what wasn't nailed down too! I would've loved to been a fly on the wall when whoever bought it at sheriff sale walked thru the first time!

[ullysses]

Thank You All!! My Wife and I have cried many nights and you always seem to pull us out of the blues and help us into our big people pants. We will be staying as long as possible. We are already consolidating our belongings and putting them in storage. (Mom & Dad have a basement and live 5 miles away!) We know what we are taking and will either sell or donate the remainder. Mo save the hassle. Maybe I can locate a company that will buy the total belongings left in the house and haul it away saving us the hassle.

I don't know who said it, but time does heel all wounds. One thing I especially learned is not to over-think the process and make up possible scenarios in my head that just keep rerunning like a bad dream. Also, I am an alcoholic and I plead with any alcoholics going through the BK process---Call someone before you pick up a drink. Hell, contact me!. The feeling of making it through this BK process sober is indescribable

Thank you all for your help.

Al...