Sombody just took a photo of my house.

[gonebroke4no]

Since I am six months behind in my mortgage (I owe about $180,000) and I am about 2 to 8 months past due with about 10 credit cards (I owe about $100,000), I still have not been severed any summons over the credit cards as of yet. However I am very worried, because about 1 hour ago, a car drove up in front of my house (with 2 people in the car), the person in the passenger seat took a photo of my house with their cellphone, then they drove to the middle of the block (my house is the 3rd from the corner and I live on a long street), then they turned around and drove off. Any idea what might be going on?

As luck would have it, I heard a noise outside. So when I looked out of the window, I could then see a car drive up my street. Whoever was driving the car, seemed to know exactly where they were going, and the car stopped in front of my house. So whoever was driving did not drive slow as if to be searching for an address. The driver drove a regular speed and purposely stopped in front of my house, then that is when I witnessed the passenger taking a photo of my house.

[DebtEnder]

You have just had a verify occupancy inspection done, that or a pre-foreclosure/drive-by appraisal. The bank could be looking to see if it worth moving forward with a foreclosure or not.

[gonebroke4no]

Thank you DebtEnder.

[frogger]

You have just had a verify occupancy inspection done, that or a pre-foreclosure/drive-by appraisal. The bank could be looking to see if it worth moving forward with a foreclosure or not.

Or, someone looking for other assets. Could be looking for vehicles, ATVs, lawnmowers, anything that might be bought and paid for that could be seized. Lots of reasons that houses get their picture made.

[gonebroke4no]

Thanks Frogger. With being past due on both my mortgage and the credit cards, it did cross my mind that someone could be looking for assets.

[HHM]

Probably just the mortgage lender.

Or, if the foreclosure has officially started (that is, it is now public record) could be some investor doing a drive by to determine if house is worth picking up after the auction. Most likely, just a verification of occupancy.

[gonebroke4no]

HHM, at the moment, I do not think that it was an investor, because it seemed that the two people that drove up, wanted to take a quick photo and leave. From the time I heard a noise outside in the street, I saw the car drive up the street from the corner. Then the car stopped in front of my house, a photo was taken, then they drove up the street to the middle of the block and turned around, then they drove down the street and out of sight. So the entire event took about 1 ½ minutes.

Yet since the driver seemed to know exactly what house they were going to, I wonder why they drove to the middle of the street to turn around, since they could have more easily turned around in my driveway or the next door neighbors’ driveway. Yet I noticed that when they turned around and drove down the street, that the driver never looked at my house . . . yet they drove at a regular speed down the street, yet they did not drive away at a high speed to try to make a quick getaway either.

[goodyphilips]

Well it could be any thing, could be an interested investor or people from the lender bank, who might be preparing for the foreclosure of the property. I think you should prepare yourself for the worst case scenario.

[Babybear]

Maybe it was someone who liked your landscaping and wanted to get ideas ! I did that when I was landscaping my front yard last summer because I loved how the people around the block decorated so I drove up and got out of my car and took some pics and drove off............lol.

[frogger]

Yet since the driver seemed to know exactly what house they were going to, I wonder why they drove to the middle of the street to turn around, since they could have more easily turned around in my driveway or the next door neighbors’ driveway.

Because when you're out taking pictures, you do not go on private property. People get paranoid when you start taking pictures of their house, so you do it from the public roadway. Once you get off of public property, it's called trespassing.

[Flamingo]

It is either reps of the mortgagor or any of your creditors or your house/outside or any house on your street is being cased. If you fear the latter, call the police. Remember you are in breach of contract/default on your mortgage and all credit cards so creditors and your mortgagor are going to act.

[mike22]

It may also be realtors that are preparing to contact you about marketing your home as a short sale. It more common these days than it has been in the past.

[gonebroke4no]

Everyone, thank you for your additional input, as it gives me food for thought. If I get any updates on this matter, I will report back to the forum.

Thanks Everyone : - )

[BrokeinMD]

1 or 2 days before I received papers from my 1st Mortgage PNC Attorney to Lift the Stay to Foreclose, my neighbor spotted a car drive by and take pictures of both my front and back of my property. Receiving those papers was rather rattling, but I'm current now. Are you planning on walking from your house, GoneBroke? If not, from what happened to me, I would say be prepared for some papers in the mail. Have you filed your BK yet?

[gonebroke4no]

BrokeinMD, thank you for sharing what happened to you. I am glad that you were able to get current. How far behind were you before you received your papers? How did you end up with a Stay to begin with? About how much time were you given to vacate, in the papers? As this is all new to me, however I know each state has a basic foreclosure timeline. Yet in my case, I knew that mine would only be delayed by a month or two, since my lender is Bank Of America, and they were caught in that robo-scandal. I live in California, by the way.

At the moment, I still have not decided what I want to do. I am still deciding about all of this (the house, BK 7 or BK13).