Any Advice? I'm in a pickle!

[Teddy]

Ok, first let me state that I have done something stupid!

I filed BK in March - discharged in June. Intent to reaffirm house, but I never signed papers.

In October, we moved into another home all in my husbands name.

Meanwhile, while I quit making payments, I had the house up for sale (had it up before we moved, with no offers).

Finally, I decide to ask bank to do a deed in lieu - they were working on that and I have a feeling it was almost complete when I got a very lowball offer on the house. Realtor turned it into Citi, they rejected it saying they needed about 9k more. So, we got that offer and it's been submitted.

Now, I'm still having to pay utilities at the house. It is still in my name.

What do I do? I need to get it out of my name ASAP b/c I can't keep paying utilities. Since we are in the middle of a short sale, am I just screwed?

Again, I was very dumb! But now I'm trying to figure out how to get out of the mess I've made.

[justbroke]

First, relax... I'm assuming you filed Chapter 7? Great!

Now, all you need to do is... nothing. That mortgage was discharged because you never did a re-affirmation. You owe nothing and you can walk away.

Tell the Bank that you have abandoned it and they should start foreclosure proceedings or do a deed-in-lieu of immediately.

This should speed up the process.

Let them foreclose on the property. There is no recourse on you because the debt is discharged.

After having a mortgage discharged, there is no benefit to you doing a short sale or, really, even a deed-in-lieu, or anything like trying to sell it. Just walk away.

Where's your lawyer?

[Teddy]

I haven't contacted the attorney b/c I didn't think I needed to.

The house is still in my name I guess b/c I have not told the bank to take it out? I am just confused.

And, yes, it was C7. I was just trying to be a bit more "moral" I guess for myself to try and get a deed in lieu or sell the house. I guess to myself, I felt better about it than just letting them foreclose. They should have the short sale approved any day I'm guessing but that still puts me out another month before it closes (probably) and more stupid utility bills.

I know, I made a big mistake not contacting the bank right away and just telling them I left. My mom put a guilt trip on me b/c her & my dad helped me with the house and my mom just couldn't believe I'd just let the house foreclose.

[BassBoy]

The bank will not just take your name off the deed. The bank must either foreclose, short sale or DIL and that can take time. Until such time when either of the above mentioed events takes place are you no longer reponsible for the home, property taxes, insurance and utlities. Even if you called the lender when you left and you had the utilities turned off, you may still have service charges to pay. I got these when we left our home and turned off utilities. Maybe not all charge these, but where I'm from, they do.

In any case, you should keep the utilities on since you have a Short Sale in progress.

[Teddy]

ok, that clears it up. My husband keeps saying that I am not responsible b/c I bk'd the house. I think that the short sale offer will be approved, since Citi flat out told me what they needed to net so the buyer made that offer. I just thought if I could get off of the house sooner, that I needed to.

Thanks! Hopefully this short sale closes soon. Citi does seem to be working pretty quick actually, and the 2 contacts I've dealt with email me back very promptly which is nice. I'm just getting tired of paying for it when I don't live there.

[Teddy]

I got notice today from Citi that they approved the short sale and we hope to close within 2 weeks. Yeah! I will be done!!! I don't think I did what was in my best interest along the way but it will be finished finally.