Here I go again... I mentioned in one of my very earliest posts that I was afraid I'd hired the wrong lawyer, tried to get out of it, but since he was keeping half of his fee, for one day's work, I had no choice. Thought I would make the best of it.
When I went to sign the papers, I struggled with the reaffirm or not question. They said I could do nothing except for the choices offered me on that sheet. I could not check 'other' retain and pay. If don't reaffirm, I have to surrender. In the end, I selected the reaffirm but I have no intention of doing anything with the paperwork when it gets to me. At that time, I'm wondering if the lawyer was capable of standing up for me if I chose not to reaffirm.
Fast forward to the paperwork from the lawyers office coming in the mail. I finally sat down and went thru it with a fine tooth comb, especially the trustees lists of paperwork he requires. (99% was already at the lawyers office already) We used the assessed value taken off my real estate taxes, because they were more recent than the appraisal done by the bank when I refinanced a couple years ago. However, the RE taxes are much much lower than the appraised value the bank gave me. (How else do you think they could justify refinancing?) Looking over the trustees sheet, there was a section that mentioned bringing the RE taxes AND an appraisal. I wouldn't have been concerned if it had just said 'or'. Using that appraisal, could possibly put my house out of the exemption range.
So i called the office today and talked to the assistant and told her my thoughts on this, because I cannot go into my 341 and lie. She said it won't matter because you're reaffirming. I said I haven't decided on that yet. She said well then you'll have to surrender it and it won't matter then either. She said I was going to have to do one or the other. (Here we go again). I said there's no way I'm surrendering the house to the bank when I'm current on it. We went back and forth a bit and I finally said, there's a 99% chance that I'm going into the 341 with no plan to reaffirm and Mr. X better have a plan for me if this appraisal thing comes up. I'm not going to see him again til the 341 so he needs to be in the loop. If he has any questions, he can call or email me. End of conversation.
I figured I hired this guy to protect my best interests, not his. I'm not going to make his job 'easier' for him by going exactly by the book. If I can not reaffirm, pay and stay, then that's what I want to do, until it's not feasible anymore. I don't want to rattle his little world but he's just gonna have to do his job.
Sorry for the long rant, (once more) but I was so angry after I hung up, I was in tears! I feel like I have two adversaries. Him and the bank...lol
When I went to sign the papers, I struggled with the reaffirm or not question. They said I could do nothing except for the choices offered me on that sheet. I could not check 'other' retain and pay. If don't reaffirm, I have to surrender. In the end, I selected the reaffirm but I have no intention of doing anything with the paperwork when it gets to me. At that time, I'm wondering if the lawyer was capable of standing up for me if I chose not to reaffirm.
Fast forward to the paperwork from the lawyers office coming in the mail. I finally sat down and went thru it with a fine tooth comb, especially the trustees lists of paperwork he requires. (99% was already at the lawyers office already) We used the assessed value taken off my real estate taxes, because they were more recent than the appraisal done by the bank when I refinanced a couple years ago. However, the RE taxes are much much lower than the appraised value the bank gave me. (How else do you think they could justify refinancing?) Looking over the trustees sheet, there was a section that mentioned bringing the RE taxes AND an appraisal. I wouldn't have been concerned if it had just said 'or'. Using that appraisal, could possibly put my house out of the exemption range.
So i called the office today and talked to the assistant and told her my thoughts on this, because I cannot go into my 341 and lie. She said it won't matter because you're reaffirming. I said I haven't decided on that yet. She said well then you'll have to surrender it and it won't matter then either. She said I was going to have to do one or the other. (Here we go again). I said there's no way I'm surrendering the house to the bank when I'm current on it. We went back and forth a bit and I finally said, there's a 99% chance that I'm going into the 341 with no plan to reaffirm and Mr. X better have a plan for me if this appraisal thing comes up. I'm not going to see him again til the 341 so he needs to be in the loop. If he has any questions, he can call or email me. End of conversation.
I figured I hired this guy to protect my best interests, not his. I'm not going to make his job 'easier' for him by going exactly by the book. If I can not reaffirm, pay and stay, then that's what I want to do, until it's not feasible anymore. I don't want to rattle his little world but he's just gonna have to do his job.
Sorry for the long rant, (once more) but I was so angry after I hung up, I was in tears! I feel like I have two adversaries. Him and the bank...lol
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