almost 3 years after bk- can we still walk away from house?

[tacomatom]

We are about 3 years after our bankruptcy and have recently inherited some money and another house. Our current house has a $200,000 mortgage on it $160,000/$40,000

Our plan was to pay off the second and try to refi the first to get the payment low enough to keep the house and rent it out. BTW our new house is much smaller and not a viable place for us to live, we want to rent that one out as well and buy a new house.

The problem is the mortgage company does not seem interested in refinancing us and ofcourse because the house is only worth about $130,000 no one else wants too either.

So what rights do we have? Can we still walk away from it penalty free? Our second did a loan mod before did that lose us any rights?

[keepinitreal]

tacomatom, I looked at your earlier posts and saw that you did not re-affirm either mortgage.

After you filed, if you only modified and did not re-finance either mortgage I believe you're in the clear to walk away from the house without being held personally responsible for any deficiency or penalty.

[BobMango]

Hey tacomatom. Sounds like you're off the hook for the mortgage if you did not reaffirm, even with a loan mod. That said, I'm not sure what funding options you have for getting a new place, given that you now have two properties. My personal concern about buying another house is that I have a house that I owned before filing, did not reaffirm but have been been renting it out. The payments are current and it is slightly underwater right now but it is cash flow positive by about $600 a month. My plan is to have a few years of solid rental history on this place before I apply for a new loan on a new place. In addition I plan to have at least 25% for a down and a solid six months expenses in a savings account before filing.

All of that being dependent on what the real estate market does. I'm thinking that you'd want to wait before buying another place. We've been renting for two years now and I really haven't had a lot of downside from that experience. Given that I think we are heading for the second dip in real estate I'd seriously advise waiting to buy again. I think you're on the right track but I'd find a nice place to rent for now and see if you can get the financing worked out on your other property to make it a marketable rental property. Stop paying the second and see if you can settle that one for cents on the dollar. Good luck.

[tacomatom]

Im wondering how hard would it be to finance a new house if we put down $100,000 on a $250,000 house? Even with a forclosure i would think we could do it. I just need to find out what the best way to figure out if we CAN walk away or not. I doubt the motgage company is gonna tell me.

Also is there any way for them to come after us for the money now that we have some?