Alot of people are surrendering their houses...

[Brookamy]

From now on, I'll try to use the cash for gas and groceries so it doesn't go through my (or his) checking account. That should help with the money trail...

[JRScott]

Yeah don't deposit the cash from his PT job. Just use it to fund gas and groceries .

Keep the house 6% 30 year rate is hard to beat. Between the two of you you can afford that house .

[TEW]

[JayJay]

I was about to suggest leasing a car instead of financing but then you mentioned using your car for your job which is probably a lot of miles (doesn't mix well with leasing)

[Brookamy]

JayJay...leasing doesn't work for me with my job. I put on about 1,000 miles when I'm at work alone.

As far as my house goes...I can't imagine walking away from it. We wouldn't have a place to live and it would hard to find a place that would work for us (me, hubby, daughter and two dogs) that is cheaper than what we pay now. Plus, I would like to kepp the BK private and giving my house up would be hard to explain....

[Martha13]

Hi Brookamy, It is a very heart-wrenching decision to let a house go, but it does all depend on a lot of factors, and a lot of "crystal-ball" stuff (always wishing I could predict the future, i.e. the housing market!).

From what you've described, it sounds like keeping your home will work for you. Like TEW, it's not just the mortgage payment itself that's difficult, but all the additional costs on top of that--particularly the property taxes. Coupled with the housing market decline, it made all the sense in the world for us to lose ours, and barely any financial sense to keep. (I kept thinking maybe we should take the loan modification, hold on for 3-5 years, blah blah..but I KNOW that would just be delaying the eventual bad ending--a house that's still worth much, much less than it could sell/refi for.)

If your home hasn't lost value, and the cost to maintain, keep the mortgage current, pay the taxes, etc is within your budget, I'd say keep it! p.s. your neighbors wouldn't really know you'd had a bk if you just surrendered it, though, the most they'd figure is that it was a foreclosure, but you can explain that as a business decision on your part. Good luck to you whatever you decide!