surrendering my home and avoiding foreclosure?

[majormistakes]

My chapter 7 BK case was recently discharged on June 6th . It was my full intention to keep my home at first but it is just not possible for me to do so. I am at least 4 months behind on my mortgage and now of course that the bk case is discharged the mortgage company has been ringing my phone off the hook wanting to know what I plan to do about the house.

I finally got to talk to the right department this morning and she is telling me I still have options.

1. I can STILL put the house on the market and sell it. The unfortunate thing is that my home is about 4 - 5 thousand away from being able to put on the market so this is out of the question. Not to mention that there is no telling how long it would take to sell the house and Im not sure that I could even get what is owed anyway by the time a realtor got their cut.

2. I can simply turn the house back over to them under the bankruptcy and walk away. The only thing is that the hosue has to be completely empty and cleaned up and I also have to fax a request to them in writing asking to do this so they can get it approved. (There was no reaffirmation agreement signed on this loan.)

3. I can sit and do nothing and they will start foreclosure procedures and of course that involves the sell on the courthouse steps and all that.

I have chosen to simply turn the house back over to them as part of my bankruptcy but I have a couple of questions?

Is this normal for mortgage companies to do and also, if she is telling me I will avoid foreclosure procedures does this REALLY mean I will not have a double whammy (bk/foreclosure) on my credit report if I do choose to do this? She is telling me this is so but do I REALLY believe her? I have left a message on my atty. voice mail to see what he says.

I have already moved about 90 percent of my belongings into an apartment and am no longer living at the house. I figure I can be totally out of the place by the end of this weekend. I have been told by my atty. that my refrig and stove are exempt and I can take those without any issues from the mortgage company but the dishwasher has to stay because its hardwired and is now a part of the house. Has anyone ever heard of this to be true about appliances?? When I bought the house, there was NO appliances and I had to pay cash for them.

Also, why are they being SO nice to me? Believe me, Im not complaining at all but I figured I would get treated like a dirtbag once my case was discharged.

Any opinions or answers anyone has on this situation are welcome.

[JeepMom]

No legit mortgage company would have google ads, free cell phone offers, or ringtone offers on their front page.


RUN from the poster!!!!


Have you thought of For sale by owner?

Yes, you have to leave the dishwasher it's wired into the house.

Not sure about the rest.

[Minnymouth]

If you did not reaffirm on the home during the bk process yes you can walk away and owe nothing as the debt has been discharged.

Yes, you can take your stove, frig, washer, dryer etc as long as they are not built-ins.....

You need to send a certified letter to the mortgage company and let them know your surrendering the home and where to send the keys and what date you will be out.......

The only thing that should show on your credit report is "included in bankruptcy" involving the home......

Beware of advertisers sliding in and posting on this site...... some are legit, some are scams......

[SinkingFast]

When the Lender says they have to sign agreeing to let you turn the house back over to them, they are talking Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure. And Yes, the Lender has to agree and give their permission for the DIL before the paperwork is ever drawn up and signed.

If you go the DIL route, you're best off to have an attny involved to protect your legal and financial interests. You do not want them slipping in a clause that says you can be held liable for any deficit balance they incur. Even tho you've already BK'd on the loan, a post dated contract could constitute the creation of a new debt.

A lot depends on the Foreclosure Laws of the State you live in, AND your actual Mortgage Contract. If you have a Right to Sale Clause in there. Yah de Yah de Yah. Exactly how the process will be handled.

If the Lender Forecloses, you will have a double whammy on your Credit History. Both BK and Foreclosure are a matter of public record. The Foreclosure will show for 7 years.

Re the appliances,......... It probably goes according to what's the custom where you live. If it's customary to leave appliances behind, including the stove and the fridge, then you should leave them. If people typically sell the house with only the dishwasher in the kitchen and buyers provide their own stove and fridge, then take them with you or sell them. Unless, as Minny noted, they are built-ins. Our oven was a wall unit built into the cabinets and our cooktop sat flush with the countertop. No way could we take those.

[SinkingFast]

Beware of advertisers sliding in and posting on this site...... some are legit, some are scams......

I thought there was another poster on this thread.

Minny,........ Your magic fingers up to their old tricks again??!!

[Minnymouth]

ME??????????

WOULD I DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?????? NOT ME!!!!


YEAH, SURE.........................

[SinkingFast]

Bad Minny!! Bad, Bad, Bad Girl!!

NOT!!

[SinkingFast]

Wenderful,...........

I can't say as you really took the easy way out, so much as you took the smart way out.

We were in Foreclosure, a week before the Auction, when we got an offer come from out of the blue. We thought, key word there THOUGHT, we'd be better off to sell than have a Foreclosure on our Credit histories. So we worked a deal, got the price together between us, the Realtors, and the buyers, and got the house sold. Now I learn that we really didn't save ourselves a thing by selling instead of Foreclosing.

Read on Page 3 of this thread:

http://www.bankruptcyforum.com/t7813...ankruptcy.html

Foreclosure with BK is considered one event rather than 2. Even selling the house after being in Foreclosure, many lenders will see it as a Foreclosure anyway.

Isn't that a kick in the teeth. Hoping to salvage something of our dignity and didn't really anyway.

So what you did, Wenderful, was the SMART thing to do.

[Lesa13]

I am currently in the exact same situation, was going to keep the house, finally had to come to the reality that I couldn't and moved out.

I contacted the Mortgage company prior to doing so and they said there was nothing they could do for me....

....Selling the house and doing a DIL means the house has to be cleaned and "market" ready -- yeah, I'm gonna spend 1 week solid cleaning 10 years of dirt and grime and getting it market ready so everyone else can make money off it but me -- NO WAY! I realize I sound harsh and uncaring, but trust me, I didn't start this process with this attitude -- I had to "acquire" this attitude for my emotional survival.

The bankruptcy protects me from any further obligation or cost for the mortgage, so I just walked (and cried for two solid weeks). I did NOT clean the inside of the house and while I moved most of my things out, there are still some items that are left in the garage which I plan to just leave there.

My husband and I discussed this at length for days through lots of crying and arguing. Yeah, we took the easy way out, but hey if there is nothing in it for me why bother spending my time to make everyone else money? I don't care about the double whammy -- my credit report could not possibly get worse than it is now and I don't plan on using credit for awhile.

Someday, I'll start working on the clean up from the nuclear bomb that hit my credit report, but I want this entire situation a year in my rear view mirror before I have to visit it again.

I am also in this position - "giving" the house back. Mortgage company won't work with me (and attorney also checked with them) so at some point in the future they are going to foreclose. So far, haven't gotten anything though - and I am moving this weekend.

I think it comes down to, ultimately you have to look out for yourself and what is best for YOU and not what is best for mortgage company, BK court or your "credit report."

Lesa

PS- glad to know I am not the only one out there going through this!

[Spiritwovles_2]

When I layed out my options on paper, every option available to me was gonna cost me money -- since I'm in BK, I have NO MONEY! LOL

Walking away was LEGAL, EASY, AND FREE! I don't have to worry about bank legal fees, the stress of trying to sell, and any closing cost associated with selling a house with little to no equity.

I'll clean up the aftermath at some point in time, but for today, I'm happy, I don't need credit and after two years of pure hell watching my business go down the toilet, losing my house, losing all of my valuables (sold to make ends meet), and my dignity, I just want to live stress free for awhile!

reading these posts has helped ty so much
You had the same concerns that we had do a dil or incl in bk and let foreclose or not incl in bk and let foreclose lol to do or not to do that is the question lol ok seriously now those were our concerns too, we didnt want a double whammy on our credit report but i guess in reality it doesnt matter much.
It is a very stressful sad process you have to go thru, when it is discharged that is one monkey off your back to breathing a lil easier, we lost our vehicles, biz,home of 16years, all we want at this point is to live stress free also so amen to that!

congrats to you, sounds like you have all your 'ducks in a row'
Somehow we'll ALL get thru this.....

[Spiritwovles_2]

teehee key word there is 'somehow' lol
we may lose a lil sanity in the process but hey were ok haha

"Somehow we'll ALL get thru this....."

Agreed! But if you had asked me that 6 months ago, I'm not so sure I would have believed you!

But today, I believe -- I believe!!