Will fiing BK stop a court house sale of our home?

[Nancy]

Long story short, we have been in the foreclosure process for 13 months, where we haven't made any mortgage payments.House is worth about a third of what it was - we currently owe around $200,000 for a house valued at around $80,000.

Apparently we were not notified properly and "the" hearing took place months ago, we just received notice our house will be sold in less than two weeks. We have talked with three different attorneys and all say something different.

1- let it go, file bk later
2. pay them $850 (than another !,650) and they can maybe , 50-50 chance of stopping the sale - their costs don't include bk
3. we see her again tommorrow, but her asst told us over phone today, that a bk will stop the sale

we hope to have a couple of more months to save money and to find a decent place. When we first got notice of the sale we went out looking for rentals and were so shocked to see what was available (they were disgusting!!) and in the best neighborhood.

Would appreciate any thoughts, thanks in advance.

[HHM]

Two statements don't add up, "we just received notice out house will be sold in less than two weeks" and "when we first go notice of the sale..."

Obviously, you knew this day was coming eventually.

To answer your question, yes, a BK will stop the foreclosure TEMPORARILY. A BK typically buys you about 45-60 days, maybe a little longer depending on how quickly the bank moves to restart the foreclosure. But you have FILE the bankruptcy before the foreclosure sale date.

[Nancy]

Yes, we did know the day was coming eventually, but were under the understanding that we would have been served notice of hearing. We were not and have been waiting on that to attempt to negoiate a principal reduction.

We received notice of sale on Saturday last, ten days ago, we have spoken to two attorneys, one atty asst (we had spoken with that attorney early on and will see her tommorrow) and looked for another house in that time. We were in the thought to move but then someone else said and the second atty did also, it was not handled properly - which he could file to stop the sale based on and give us another 6-7 months (but what he was talking about did not include a bk)

[ccsjoe]

Yes, we did know the day was coming eventually, but were under the understanding that we would have been served notice of hearing. We were not and have been waiting on that to attempt to negoiate a principal reduction.

We received notice of sale on Saturday last, ten days ago, we have spoken to two attorneys, one atty asst (we had spoken with that attorney early on and will see her tommorrow) and looked for another house in that time. We were in the thought to move but then someone else said and the second atty did also, it was not handled properly - which he could file to stop the sale based on and give us another 6-7 months (but what he was talking about did not include a bk)

I believe what he was talking about was stopping the sale due to improper service. I did it myself when the house we were renting went up for auction but lender failed to serve proper notice on the property itself. It was a simple motion (at least in CA) and sent lender back to square 1 to having to serve notice properly, etc, all in all about 50 days. Hopefully your state is a clear cut in this as CA.

Correction: I told our landlord about this and HE did it, I did not file the motion myself. Don't want to misconstrue something here. He apparently did it and the clock started ticking from 1 again.

[Nancy]

Yes, that sounds like what #2 attorney was talking about, however, he said it would buy us 6-7 months; you only got around 50 days? was that 50 days until you had to move out or until you were served that there was a hearing?

[ccsjoe]

About 50 days until they posted a notice properly on the property. In this case it was an investment property (not primary residence), loan amount was 378K, prop value was 117K, BofA/Fanie Mae moved very aggressively. Came to learn that they tend to move faster when they're dealing with an investment property...or at least they did a few months ago. My move out was actually negotiated with the lender's representative post-sale (cash for keys).

[Nancy]

Gee, sounds like our property value depreciation's here. I have recently heard about BofA being aggressive, they are our second mortgage and have already sold the loan on it. Chase is our first and has a horrible reputation.

Thanks for your replies - it will be interesting to hear what the attorney says tommorrow.