How to verify your house is in foreclosure

[holding on]

I live in Virginia. Is there a definite way to find out what part of the foreclosure process your home is in say by going to the county courthouse and looking your home up? In a consultation with my lawyer he says the lender sends you and official registered letter in the mail saying you are now in the foreclosure process. he also said he nows instances where people have ignored it or said they never got that you have mail notice you get when no ones home and then it was too late when people tried to do chapter 13. So I'm trying to make sure nothing slips by.

on a side note, here was an interesting conversation I had with the lender. They were telling me that after today they would send the account to the lawyers:

me: sorry if I had that much to pay I really would pay to keep
the house out of foreclosure.

lender: well then what will you do sir?

me: besides hitting the lottery my only other option is
bankruptcy.

lender: you dont want to do that sir. I mean you will have to pay
a lawyer, then you will have to pay trustee fees and
interest, and then that just puts you further in debt.

A bit quizzical I asked to verify what department I was speaking to and they said the foreclosure dept. they also said there was an option of a deed in lieu but once the account went to the lawyers that option was off the table.

[I want out]

RE: how to verify

If they're saying that after today, they're sending it to the attorney, then they haven't begun the process yet.

If you want to be sure, Call your lender's foreclosure department and ask if it's in foreclosure.

If they say yes, ask for the name and the phone number of the FC attorney.

Call the FC attorney and ask them if a sale date is scheduled, and if so, what the date is.

It's not clear to me whether you want to keep your home or not, but if you don't have a lot of debt outside of the mortgage, Ch 13 is like killing a flea with a bazooka- often unnecessary, and a LOT of collateral damage. If the only issue here is the size of the arrearage, then you might want to try to get a workout first, and save Ch 13 as a last resort.

[holding on]

Thanks for the info, I will definitely do that within the next week when they say they will send it to attorneys. yes, I definitely want to keep the home. And I have explained to the lender the missed payments were temporary due to massive medical and elderly living bills. I have tried a workout plan and have the means to pay monthly now and a bit extra, but the lender is saying they want $ right now. So that's why Ch13 may be my only option.

[SubPrimeME]

I live in Virginia. Is there a definite way to find out what part of the foreclosure process your home is in say by going to the county courthouse and looking your home up? In a consultation with my lawyer he says the lender sends you and official registered letter in the mail saying you are now in the foreclosure process. he also said he nows instances where people have ignored it or said they never got that you have mail notice you get when no ones home and then it was too late when people tried to do chapter 13. So I'm trying to make sure nothing slips by.

on a side note, here was an interesting conversation I had with the lender. They were telling me that after today they would send the account to the lawyers:

me: sorry if I had that much to pay I really would pay to keep
the house out of foreclosure.

lender: well then what will you do sir?

me: besides hitting the lottery my only other option is
bankruptcy.

lender: you dont want to do that sir. I mean you will have to pay
a lawyer, then you will have to pay trustee fees and
interest, and then that just puts you further in debt.

A bit quizzical I asked to verify what department I was speaking to and they said the foreclosure dept. they also said there was an option of a deed in lieu but once the account went to the lawyers that option was off the table.

I was looking to see if Virgina had a redemption period, and it appears there is not, but then I saw that you could get court ordered... Here's a link to the process time, not sure if it's 100% accurate, but it should give you a rough idea of what you're looking at!

http://www.mortgage-investments.com/Investors_in_Real_Estate/foreclosure-real-estate.htm

[I want out]

Re:

So that's why Ch13 may be my only option.

Ch. 13 should always be your LAST option... and it's often not a good one.

PM me and I will walk you through this.

[imaloser]

hi - having just been through this - you need to talk to the loss/mitigation department. there is a federally mandated "stay" on foreclosures right now - so she's full of it. may i ask who your lender is and what kind of loan you have and is this a 1st and do you have a 2nd. they are modifying loans right now - you should not have to pay a penny out of your pocket. also - do you know if you're mortgage is "under water" or not. the fed chief just today announced that lenders and investers must move in the direction of a principal reduction and this will be a major help to a lot of people (including myself).

[FreshLikeADaisy]

Agreed with imaloser (no you're not!!! ) that the person you spoke with at your mortgage co. is not giving you correct information. They seem to be holding out a deed in lieu as a carrot, but I would not waste another thought on that unless I saw it in writing. A deed in lieu gives them your house in exchange for canceling the remainder of your debt; they do NOT want your house in this market. I think that person you spoke with was just trying to pressure you. Also, even if you filed 13, you could refile 7 at any point you qualify... he was not being honest with you.

There is a great deal of pressure on lenders now to do workout deals, which they *hate* to do but are being forced to now by the market and by the gov't's refusal to offer them a taxpayer bailout. But you are a prime candidate for one, so if you're savvy I think you'll get better results, especially if you really are going to file bk. Call and say that unless they are prepared to do a workout deal now, that does not increase your payments or require a huge sum up front, and submit it to you in writing within the next two weeks, you will have no choice but to bankrupt. Also mention the moratorium on foreclosures, and how you will be sure to complain to all who will listen (HUD, atty general, senator, whatever you can think of) that they refused to work with you in spite of your repeated offers to work something out short of bankruptcy. Add that you will not consider anything they are unwilling to put into writing.

This is your OWN version of "taking it to the attorneys". I had a friend recently who was 5 months behind on his mortgage, the lender flat out refused to work with him, and then suddenly two weeks ago the overdue pmts were all tacked to the end of the loan, just like that, after a year of wrangling and no results. I think you can do better than what you were offered on the phone, honestly. Good luck!!!

[gophermn]

holding on - I had the same issues you just talked about. Basically the timline went something like this for my rental house.

August 2007 - stop making pymts
December 2007 attorney represent mortgage sent letter for upcoming Sheriff sale
January 2008 Sheriff Sale called off because of CH7 filing
March 2008 Relief from Stay Motion sent (basically they want the house back)
6 month redemption for MN (but I might ask to waive that)

I worked with the Loan Mitigation dept and they DID hold off on foreclosures if I was able to make a partial pymt. I took out some hardship money on my 401K to get my head above water and now my mortgage pymts are on time which is the 1st time in like 2yrs. So call them back and hopefully you will get to work with someone else.

[I want out]

[QUOTE=imaloser;143266]there is a federally mandated "stay" on foreclosures right now QUOTE]

This was a suggestion, not a mandate.

If you read the fine print, they're neither obligated to do this, nor do they have to do it on all loans.

AND, the timetable is fairly strict.

That said, it's easier to get results now than ever before, but most homeowners are still getting it wrong.

[I want out]

Call and say that unless they are prepared to do a workout deal now, that does not increase your payments or require a huge sum up front, and submit it to you in writing within the next two weeks, you will have no choice but to bankrupt. Also mention the moratorium on foreclosures, and how you will be sure to complain to all who will listen (HUD, atty general, senator, whatever you can think of) that they refused to work with you in spite of your repeated offers to work something out short of bankruptcy.

Just because you ask for a workout, doesn't mean you'll get one. And even if you get one, it doesn't guarantee that it will work out for you in the end. For those who do avoid foreclosure, depending on the type of solution, 50-85% end up back in foreclosure AGAIN within 24 months.

I'm not sure that the posture here is going to work. The people answering the phones are looking for ANY reason to get off the line and get to the next call. Their very jobs depend on spending as little time as possible with any one caller. If you're too aggressive, you'll get about the same results you do with any other customer service rep... CLICK!

Threatening to file complaints with any regulatory agency you can find? Hey- take a number and get in line... it's a long one. All of these agencies are swamped, and most of them don't have jurisdiction, depending on the mortgage company's charter. Nearly all of the complaints filed with the AG's, etc. are either baseless or not within their jurisdicition. They spend more time throwing files away than solving problems. Even when there IS a case, by the time they were to get around to you, it's game over.

And even with these new federal "programs" (all of which have proved to be ineffective), the fact is that a LOT of these houses are going to be foreclosed anyway. So, if you mysteriously "fall through the cracks" because you're a PITA, you're just a number here. As long as the servicers match the industry standards for loans repaired vs. loans foreclosed, one loan makes absolutely no difference. Trying to dictate protocol and impose your own timeline will increase your odds of being one of the ones that "didn't work out."


If you're going to call, be firm if you like, but don't forget your manners.

Best of luck.

[lovescats1956]

I hope you aren't with HSBC. They absolutely REFUSED to work with me. I was told that it "really doesn't cost us that much to foreclose". (BTW - the guy I spoke to was nasty). When I asked if they were going to force me into bankruptcy, he told me to do what I have to do. The really weird thing is - HSBC appraised my house at $140,000. I had a short sale guy offer them $100,000 and they refused, so I didn't feel too bad when they foreclosed. God only knows what they got at the sheriff's sale. They could have gotten a majority of what was due on the note and since they refused, they got screwed.

[holding on]

Yes, lovescats, it is HSBC! And the original reason for the post...I don't trust that some shenanigans might not happen in due process for foreclosing. Thus the question of how can I verify if my house was in foreclosure. I have a fixed rate mortgage, and from what I've researched, those kind aren't even on the radar compared to adjustable arm's right now. And the hold on foreclosures is indeed voluntary by the participating lenders, of which HSBC is not one of them.

If we don't come to a workout agreement, I want to properly plan my 13 and that's done by knowing the timeline and stage of foreclosure i'm in. Thanks to all the great info!

[nazstar]

Hahaha. HSBC can kiss my butt. I called them WAY before we were ever late and said that things were getting tight for us and I wanted to re-evaluate our mortgage. This was about 8 months ago. The guy on the other end of the line looked up some stuff and then basically snorted at me and said, "Yeah, nothing we can do. Sorry. Good luck". Whatever. I tried. Then we make the decision to file for BK and surrender the house and they start with all of these plans. By that point, we were 4 months behind on the mortgage and had used the money to pay first, last and security deposit on a rental while I credit was still bearable.

BTW, we got served last night with a summons notifying us they were starting to foreclose. Last mortgage payment was in November and we are in the state of Florida.