Who is liable for the frozen/busted pipes at our surrendered house?

[tobee43]

so, tobee, the bank did hire someone for your place? that is great....they keep trying to make me believe that it is my responsibility to keep insurance and electricity. ... i am so done. i am going to check into how much it will cost to get it conveyed to an LLC, since we no longer are responsible for the debt itself. If it costs too much I guess we just let it all run its course (that does not sit right with me still, trying to convince myself that is what we will do).

NO way...we turned OFF everything.........immediately............and in the state the property is in...no one would touch insurance on a non owner occupied place....

yes, the bank hired someone...LOL!! but we heard from someone the pipes were already gone....and frozen solid!!! too little to late maybe??

[keepswimming]

What makes me so mad is we were only ONE day late with our payment that put us 91 days late where they could start foreclosure process. That one day was a bank holiday. So we did not even know all these rules, etc. Otherwise we could have just stayed one or two payments behind while we tried to sell, rather than having the bank involved at all.

We had perfect credit before boa made an ERROR on our credit report two years prior and that sent our business creditors (advanta) into the gouging mode, 39% interest, etc. We tried to keep that all going while i proved boa's error, but by then BOA and the credit system broke us. Then they broke the sale we had pending because they wanted one thousand more on the offer/?????wtf????? Then they broke the house itself by ruining our pipes (I told them we would winterize ourselves cuz we knew how to do it, but they insisted on hiring a clown.) So game over. Who won?

[tobee43]

What makes me so mad is we were only ONE day late with our payment that put us 91 days late where they could start foreclosure process. That one day was a bank holiday. So we did not even know all these rules, etc. Otherwise we could have just stayed one or two payments behind while we tried to sell, rather than having the bank involved at all.

We had perfect credit before boa made an ERROR on our credit report two years prior and that sent our business creditors (advanta) into the gouging mode, 39% interest, etc. We tried to keep that all going while i proved boa's error, but by then BOA and the credit system broke us. Then they broke the sale we had pending because they wanted one thousand more on the offer/?????wtf????? Then they broke the house itself by ruining our pipes (I told them we would winterize ourselves cuz we knew how to do it, but they insisted on hiring a clown.) So game over. Who won?

no way....only a day late...??

well, if it makes you feel any better we were right in the middle of doing our loan mod with Chase when we got the summons ....so one hand doesn't know what the other is doing anywhere anymore...

but remember we surrendered our house....we left...we won...now they can have the house and all the problems...they most likely will just knock it down!

we also had perfect credit in the 800s before job loss and illness hit us hard....33 years in our house...life changes in a blink..and sometimes we just have to go with where it takes us. i know it's difficult to stop worrying, but it will work out...

[keepswimming]

so one hand doesn't know what the other is doing anywhere anymore...
That is either the understatement of the year, or they work it that way on purpose.

And you did win. I hope we do too. I just hope we can find an owner financed home that works for us. Obviously fha will be out of the question for two-three yrs AFTER boa gets their head out of their butts, which could be a decade or more.

[keepswimming]

That's another thing that kills me....people that have been good homeowners, for 20, 30+ years, and perfect credit all along getting no breaks. We will all be sitting so pretty by the time we retire....wait, we can't retire. What am i thinking?

[tobee43]

so one hand doesn't know what the other is doing anywhere anymore...
That is either the understatement of the year, or they work it that way on purpose.

And you did win. I hope we do too. I just hope we can find an owner financed home that works for us. Obviously fha will be out of the question for two-three yrs AFTER boa gets their head out of their butts, which could be a decade or more.

you will..you'll do just fine...i know it's really hard now! but believe me...i hope you'll be better off. many people are...bk is not the greatest to go through...but sometimes it's the only way out..

[keepswimming]

lol, well i can tell you that even if had enough money to pay 36.99% interest rates to banks, i would rather flush it down the toilet than give it to them. crooks.
so, just knowing that they don't get my money, at least not from me, that is...is one way i feel like we won.

[helpme2010]

This is proof that not only are the banks crooked bastards, but they're also really, really stupid. Instead of spending maybe a few thousand to keep a property up for potential renters/buyers, they literally let them go to hell. . .thus lowering the value of the homes surrounding it. . .thus having thousands and thousands of dollars lost due to lower values. . . not to mention the worse a house gets, the less chances that someone will want to buy/rent it, making it sit longer. . with no property taxes being paid. . .and growing more horrific by the minute. Then come the squatters, and no one wants to live around there anymore. . . yeah, that's a great idea. Winterize the pipes and mow the damn lawn you bank idiots. God knows with the high unemployment rate, there are plenty of people out there that I'm sure would be willing to help keep up abandoned homes. They could create a ton of jobs! Oh wait. . .greed. . that's right, they don't want to spend the money. (BTW, for all of you that type "B of A" - everytime I read that I literally read it as "Bunch of A&&holes" LOL)

I agree. It's like the banks want to punish us for going bk on them. But had they tried to work a little more with many people, perhaps a large batch of them would not have gone bk in the first place. But yes, if you don't have buyers ready to purchase the place, then by all means, work with the current homeowners by letting them stay longer, perhaps even working out a rental price that is fair to both sides. At least this way the house will be taken care of.

[tobee43]

lol, well i can tell you that even if had enough money to pay 36.99% interest rates to banks, i would rather flush it down the toilet than give it to them. crooks.
so, just knowing that they don't get my money, at least not from me, that is...is one way i feel like we won.

amen to that!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!

[keepswimming]

Spent most of last week on phones with Bank of America. Someone from executive offices called me back yesterday. I told her how BofA ruined our credit, ruined the short sale and now has ruined the house. She listened and sounded like she cared (excuse me while i peel this wool off my eyes).....She, like so many others before her is Checking on some things and is supposed to back to me by Wednesday. Trying to get deed in lieu going.

By the way, the bank tried to get me to carry their expensive insurance for the empty home back in October. I found one myself that was actually less than when we lived in the home. I paid one month of that premium, and then BofA paid the whole policy without even telling me. I did get a refund for the one month we paid. It would have been nice to know they were taking that over. Now I need to get them to put the electric in their name too. Hopefully a deed in lieu will actually happen. In the mean time she told me to keep trying to sell it, as a short sale. (as if any one will pay full price for a home with no heat, thanks to them).

[tobee43]

the only scary part....is the REAL answer can change daily..LOL...

we HAD frozen pipes...toliets.....which caused flooding and we were not responsible...but who knows...what bank will do what....it's scary...although...if one surrendered the house in the bk ...the house is the actual collateral and it's now the banks!

and again...if we think about it...what is the bank going to do, one surrenders the house....is bk...what sue you.. for what??

[keepswimming]

UPDATE for anyone who is interested:

It has been two months now since the pipes froze and broke at our house. The bank did respond right at first by saying they are obligated to fix the heat since their property preservation dept is liable. Well, in the mean time we have still been trying to market the house, and without knowing if there will be HEAT in the home (details, details...!) it has been difficult to price. We lowered the price 20K and kept trying to get bank's advice and all regarding the heat. No answer.

I have been trying to expedite a DIL, and miraculously, it was "approved" on Monday. Same day we got an offer. I told them to cancel the DIL process while we switch back to Short Sale mode.

We did end up with an amazing offer this past weekend....an AS IS offer that has no contingencies and is for the same amount the bank was about to approve before Christmas, when the heat was not broken. (They did not approve it for the fact that they wanted supposedly one thousand dollars more????whatever. also our bk was open so i suppose it has to get discharged) Anyhow that buyer walked and now this new buyer wants it for the same amount, but is not asking for anything, not even heat.

So we are trying to upload the offer on equator. Meantime, I call bank to find out status of heat. Come to find out, two months later, they "FOUND NO FLOODING OR BLACK MOLD." Apparently they went to look for black mold and gushing water in a home on frozen ground and no water even hooked up. They did not even look at the PIPES that are still sitting there, busted!!!

I have a couple of questions. 1) Am I crazy to even be trying a Short Sale at this point? We included the home in our bk and were discharged in Feb. 2)Will a short sale be better than a DIL? 3) Do I have a leg to stand on by pushing for this and getting the bank to no report us on the credit? After all, they broke the heat and technically now, this is not even a short sale, since the difference in what is owed is more than made up by they BREAKING the house. 4) I still want to join the class action lawsuit I have been talking about...but if we do the sale, then my chances of winning the suit would likely be diminished. If I join the suit, then all sales/actions will need to stop until suit is finished.

The antics of this bank are almost comical at this point.

[debee]

I don't think there's an appreciable difference between the DIL and short sale when it comes to your credit report. Personally, I would do the DIL so I could ditch the hassle and move on with my life. Whatever you end up doing, wish you best of luck.

[tobee43]

UPDATE for anyone who is interested:

It has been two months now since the pipes froze and broke at our house. The bank did respond right at first by saying they are obligated to fix the heat since their property preservation dept is liable. Well, in the mean time we have still been trying to market the house, and without knowing if there will be HEAT in the home (details, details...!) it has been difficult to price. We lowered the price 20K and kept trying to get bank's advice and all regarding the heat. No answer.

I have been trying to expedite a DIL, and miraculously, it was "approved" on Monday. Same day we got an offer. I told them to cancel the DIL process while we switch back to Short Sale mode.

We did end up with an amazing offer this past weekend....an AS IS offer that has no contingencies and is for the same amount the bank was about to approve before Christmas, when the heat was not broken. (They did not approve it for the fact that they wanted supposedly one thousand dollars more????whatever. also our bk was open so i suppose it has to get discharged) Anyhow that buyer walked and now this new buyer wants it for the same amount, but is not asking for anything, not even heat.

So we are trying to upload the offer on equator. Meantime, I call bank to find out status of heat. Come to find out, two months later, they "FOUND NO FLOODING OR BLACK MOLD." Apparently they went to look for black mold and gushing water in a home on frozen ground and no water even hooked up. They did not even look at the PIPES that are still sitting there, busted!!!

I have a couple of questions. 1) Am I crazy to even be trying a Short Sale at this point? We included the home in our bk and were discharged in Feb. 2)Will a short sale be better than a DIL? 3) Do I have a leg to stand on by pushing for this and getting the bank to no report us on the credit? After all, they broke the heat and technically now, this is not even a short sale, since the difference in what is owed is more than made up by they BREAKING the house. 4) I still want to join the class action lawsuit I have been talking about...but if we do the sale, then my chances of winning the suit would likely be diminished. If I join the suit, then all sales/actions will need to stop until suit is finished.

The antics of this bank are almost comical at this point.

glad to hear at least you have some movement going on!

it a hard choice i think what i would do is the easiers slide out the door...a short sale with an AS IS works for me. and as hard or difficult as it is, really don't think about how it's going to be reported...as everything will be on the report for 10 years at this point anyway.

best of luck...and you are a lucky one to even get an offer!

[enuffznuff]

A short sale is the same on your credit report as a foreclosure or DIL. Same hit, points wise.

A very dear friend of mine works in loan underwriting for a large regional bank, and when I was trying to decide what to do with mine, (I had a second so DIL wasn't an option) that there was really no benefit to me of doing a short sale, their bank looks at it the same in underwriting, too, and so did every other bank he was familiar with. He said a DIL can be a great option bc it saves time and you sometimes can get cash, but between ss and foreclosure, he said no advantage to ss.