HOA is coming after me

[shipo]

hosing prices are crazy right now. with the sellers getting crazy and the buyers getting crazier. i would never buy a house now let alone build one with lumber sky rocketing

Some of us may not have much of a choice. A few months ago my wife and I were "this close" to signing on the dotted line for a new home in a 55+ community currently being developed. Had we opted to go ahead with that purchase, we would have been effectively locked in and either had the option of absorbing the lumber cost increases (which we didn't know were coming at the time), or walking away from our 5-figure deposit. We initially opted to take a pass on the house as our daughter thought she might be moving to the DC-Metro area sometime this year to complete her Masters Degree down there, and she wanted us to move with her. Then the U-Mass system made her an offer she couldn't refuse, teach under graduate classes, collect a nice salary, AND get her masters program fully paid for.

So here we sit, still renting, probably for at least another year, maybe two, then time to reevaluate.

[Rozi]

Hello! Here are the answers to the questions down below:

What kind of condition is your HOA condo in? It needs to be updated but it's still livable.

Is it resellable now or does it need lots of work? It needs to be updated a bit but it's not too bad.

Will you come out with any money in five years?(Hard to predict now, I know.) I should come out ahead because I only paid 69K for the condo and its's worth about 130K now in our current market.

Do you have family or friends nearby?Are you a native? I am from Georgia so my parents still live here and so do a lot of my friends. I would have options if I had to move.

Where would you like to live? I would love to live in Key West or in Ft. Lauderdale if possible.

Could your job be transferable? My job is fully remote except for the occasional guest appearance in the office.

Most BK13 debtors prefer staying where they are and do not like change - do you really want to remain in your condo or not? That is the bottom line! I really do like my condo but the crime in the area is going up and I am ready to be in a house and away from people. I do realize if I file bankruptcy I will have to remain for 3 to 5 years but I am 41 years old and single and don't see that changing anytime soon so I could do it. The real question is will I be able to handle it. The only other hurdle is if I file Chapter 13 will I be able to keep my two cars because I just brought a newer one last year and I don't want to mess anything up. I have submitted a letter to their HOA Lawyer and the board. I looked at my account and I only owe 8,900.00 the rest of it is coming from Attorney fees and what not. I have no problem paying the 8K but I don't want to pay the attorney fees. It's just a mess. Thank all of you for your suggestions! I'll be making a decision this week.

Hi Rozi!
I did look up your public BKForum profile and other posts . It does appear you have done two BK7s in the past but no BK13s.
IMHO the two chapters are wildly different -BK13 (my one and hopefully only bankruptcy experience) involves a 100% surrender of all financial assets as dictated by the court for up to five years until the trustee and creditors are satisfied you have repaid the maximum amount your income allows. Certainly not the "easy " way out of a 16K debt! (again only my opinion!)
Perhaps you could pay the maximum monthly and be done in less even than three years. (It is only $16,000 after all!)
But one thing did cause me to prick up my ears - you mentioned I believe, not liking or wanting to stay in Georgia. If you are already unhappy , your location misery will only increase over a possible five year stint in BK13 purgatory.
Questions to consider :
What kind of condition is your HOA condo in?Is it resellable now or does it need lots of work? Will you come out with any money in five years?(Hard to predict now, I know.)
Do you have family or friends nearby?Are you a native?
Where would you like to live?
Could your job be transferable?
Most BK13 debtors prefer staying where they are and do not like change - do you really want to remain in your condo or not? That is the bottom line!
Again best of luck and may you find the right path going forward.

[flashoflight]

Most BK13 debtors prefer staying where they are and do not like change - do you really want to remain in your condo or not? That is the bottom line! I really do like my condo but the crime in the area is going up and I am ready to be in a house and away from people. I do realize if I file bankruptcy I will have to remain for 3 to 5 years but I am 41 years old and single and don't see that changing anytime soon so I could do it. The real question is will I be able to handle it. The only other hurdle is if I file Chapter 13 will I be able to keep my two cars because I just brought a newer one last year and I don't want to mess anything up. I have submitted a letter to their HOA Lawyer and the board. I looked at my account and I only owe 8,900.00 the rest of it is coming from Attorney fees and what not. I have no problem paying the 8K but I don't want to pay the attorney fees. It's just a mess. Thank all of you for your suggestions! I'll be making a decision this week.

You can't refuse to pay the attorney fees if the lien is filed or if you keep the condo. When you go into the 13, there will be even more attorney fees added by both the HOA and your mortgage company. Because of the added fees in the 13, you will eventually fall behind on the mortgage and be past due until you pay the many "corporate advances" and other fees your lender will charge you left and right after filing the 13. If the HOA lien isn't filed yet and you surrender the condo, you don't have to pay the pre-petition HOA fees and the pre-petition lawyer fees beyond what the unsecured class will pay. This is assuming you have sufficient homestead exemptions to exempt the net proceeds of the condo. Your lawyer needs to do this math of what happens if you sell vs. keep. Don't wait around too much longer because the HOA's position is much stronger once the lien is filed. I hope you did not tell the HOA lawyer you might file BK otherwise it's a race to the respective courthouse and the first one to file wins.

You can have two cars, but none of the expenses for the second car will count in your budget. You also have to exempt both cars, which may or may not be an issue keeping in mind that used car valuations have gone up a lot.

Crime is going up everywhere, including wealthy neighborhoods. I've heard periodic gunfire in upper middle class neighborhoods which would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. I don't think this is just a California thing.

[shipo]

I've heard periodic gunfire in upper middle class neighborhoods which would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. I don't think this is just a California thing.

LOL, here in semi-rural, semi-affluent New Hampshire, gunfire is nearly a daily thing; heck, we have two rifle ranges "out-back", one behind our upper hay field, and one across our largest hayfield at the base of Mount Misery.

[justbroke]

... Mount misery.

lol! I'll assume (and have visualized) that Mount Misery is a pile of cow excrement.

[shipo]

lol! I'll assume (and have visualized) that Mount Misery is a pile of cow excrement.

Quite honestly, I'm not at all sure why that local geographic feature was named Mount Misery (probably so named back in the 1600s when this area was initially settled), but there it is. I was out working in one of the hay fields a few years back when two hikers came up the trail, I asked them what they were doing and they told me they were looking for Mount Misery, that was the first time I'd ever heard the name and directed them to another prominent geographic feature a few miles east. Yeah, my bad.

I started doing lots of travel back in 2019 and started taking Lyft and Uber rides to and from the airport and lo-and-behold, the receipts showed the farm where I live as being the epicenter of Mount Misery. I'd lived here for some six years before I ever discovered the name.

[joshuagraham]

Hello! I need some advice... I brought my condo in Atlanta Georgia back in 2014 and was fine and great with the HOA. I had some hard times in 2017 and had to stop paying the HOA for a couple of months. My HOA fee is around 169 a month. I am now current but the back arrears are back to haunt me and now they have hired a lawyer. I have 30 days to cough up 16K or they will place a lien on the condo and take away my amenities. I am torn on what I want to do. I don't want to file Chapter 13 because I would only be filing because of the HOA. I thought about selling it and just taking the lost but then again I can't buy anything else because the housing market is just crazy here. Do I have any options? Should I hire a lawyer? Do I just suck it up and file Chapter 13 and stop my life for three or 5 years? Any comments or suggestions would be very helpful. I am legit stressing out over this. Thank you in advance!

$169/mo, and how you own $16K? YIKES, that's like 7-1/2 years worth of payments!