Bankrupt? tell me all you know about doing it?

[1mommahen]

Quote:
I dont ever want to be one after this whole mess. All though we do rent our cabin out for weekly renters vacationing

this will be the first summer doing that-

Ok...I've kept my mouth shut through this whole thread, but the comment about having a vacation cabin you rent out was the kicker for me.

Whatever happened to people living within their means?!? Time and time again I see people racking up bills that they have no prayer of paying whether it's credit cards or real estate. Meanwhile some of us buy what we can afford and pay our bills on time and don't spend more than we have. I'm sorry but I think bankruptcy is a cop-out. I've had family members who've declared it simply because they kept spending more than they made.....now they get a fresh start...How is that fair to the rest of us who don't buy everything we want, only what we can afford? I'd love to have a cabin to vacation in, but you know what I can't afford it so I don't.

Katy, I know Sonew is away, but in her defense, I think the cabin is on the same property as the house, just a little bungalow.

 

[jerseygirl1]

Quote:
I dont ever want to be one after this whole mess. All though we do rent our cabin out for weekly renters vacationing

this will be the first summer doing that-

Ok...I've kept my mouth shut through this whole thread, but the comment about having a vacation cabin you rent out was the kicker for me.

Whatever happened to people living within their means?!? Time and time again I see people racking up bills that they have no prayer of paying whether it's credit cards or real estate. Meanwhile some of us buy what we can afford and pay our bills on time and don't spend more than we have. I'm sorry but I think bankruptcy is a cop-out. I've had family members who've declared it simply because they kept spending more than they made.....now they get a fresh start...How is that fair to the rest of us who don't buy everything we want, only what we can afford? I'd love to have a cabin to vacation in, but you know what I can't afford it so I don't.

My feelings are that unless you are in the same situation, you really don't know all the details, so it is best to just bypass this post...............there may be more than you know going on, and to pass judgemen on others just based on what is written, is very unfair.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Ok...I've kept my mouth shut through this whole thread, but the comment about having a vacation cabin you rent out was the kicker for me.

Whatever happened to people living within their means?!? Time and time again I see people racking up bills that they have no prayer of paying whether it's credit cards or real estate. Meanwhile some of us buy what we can afford and pay our bills on time and don't spend more than we have. I'm sorry but I think bankruptcy is a cop-out. I've had family members who've declared it simply because they kept spending more than they made.....now they get a fresh start...How is that fair to the rest of us who don't buy everything we want, only what we can afford? I'd love to have a cabin to vacation in, but you know what I can't afford it so I don't.

My feelings are that unless you are in the same situation, you really don't know all the details, so it is best to just bypass this post...............there may be more than you know going on, and to pass judgemen on others just based on what is written, is very unfair.

I don't think it's unfair at all. They put it out there for the world to see.

 

[twentynine]

Nope I don't know all the details, all I know is what has been posted. To say that I am confused is an understatement, to say that I am totally amazed, just about covers it.

But a couple ideas, questions, pauses, whatever!

Three houses- she bought one, husband bought one, bought one together, that either came with a vacation cabin or not. So they have 4 structures that are liveable, right? The question remains, she had a house, he had a house, before purchase of the third house did not some one add all this up and see what it was going to cost in worse case scenario? Why not live in the she house or the he house, they were already committed to pay for. Why obligate yourself to pay for yet a third and fourth house?

Oh well. I guess you guys are gonna have to whoop on my butt too.

I agree with Katy.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Ok...I've kept my mouth shut through this whole thread, but the comment about having a vacation cabin you rent out was the kicker for me.

Whatever happened to people living within their means?!? Time and time again I see people racking up bills that they have no prayer of paying whether it's credit cards or real estate. Meanwhile some of us buy what we can afford and pay our bills on time and don't spend more than we have. I'm sorry but I think bankruptcy is a cop-out. I've had family members who've declared it simply because they kept spending more than they made.....now they get a fresh start...How is that fair to the rest of us who don't buy everything we want, only what we can afford? I'd love to have a cabin to vacation in, but you know what I can't afford it so I don't.

My feelings are that unless you are in the same situation, you really don't know all the details, so it is best to just bypass this post...............there may be more than you know going on, and to pass judgemen on others just based on what is written, is very unfair.

What? Now I have to make a personal call before I post? To get all the details? I did read every post, and I do feel very sad for the OP. But I disagree with the way the situation has been handled from the start, and thought I could say there is a better way than not paying taxes for 3 years, etc. But I guess now that we have established that I am not a personal friend of the OP I can't offer any advice. And I had some good, workable ideas.

So I guess that my opinion is now a moot point. I didn't know this thread was only for friends or psychics.

Dang, I thought people started topics because they wanted opinions. All those years of working with lawyers was a waste.

Good luck to the OP.

 

[Chicky Tocks]

I am a Bankruptcy Attorney's paralegal. I do bankruptcies every single day. If you have any specific questions, PM me.

Oh and I just wanted to say FTR. Bankruptcy is not actually a copout. People are reduced to filing for many reasons, be it medical, legal or other. That "wiped clean" feeling you get isn't all it's cut out to be. You see...there is the fact of ruined credit for at least 10 years. Picking up the pieces after a bankruptcy is not so easy to do. Just because someone has a vacation cabin, it's not the immediate answer to sell a source of income to pay what's piling up.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Several people that I know who've filed seemlingly haven't been very affected...they still are living beyond their income, still have credit cards and it doesn't seem like much has changed for them, other than their debt was wiped clean and they got to start over.

 

[TipsyDog]

Quote:
My feelings are that unless you are in the same situation, you really don't know all the details, so it is best to just bypass this post...............there may be more than you know going on, and to pass judgemen on others just based on what is written, is very unfair.

What? Now I have to make a personal call before I post? To get all the details? I did read every post, and I do feel very sad for the OP. But I disagree with the way the situation has been handled from the start, and thought I could say there is a better way than not paying taxes for 3 years, etc. But I guess now that we have established that I am not a personal friend of the OP I can't offer any advice. And I had some good, workable ideas.

So I guess that my opinion is now a moot point. I didn't know this thread was only for friends or psychics.

Dang, I thought people started topics because they wanted opinions. All those years of working with lawyers was a waste.

Good luck to the OP.

My feelings also. By the way, the extra houses won't rent out to cover the bills because there was inadequate downpayments involved at the purchase of the property. I know that because I've been in real estate a really long time - it's what I do. Had the proper downpayments been made a property will pay itself by renting, OR you waaay overpaid in the first place. It's simple math though, either way!

Personally I am convinced there is a big problem in America called innumeracy. It means a person is illiterate in math. How else can anyone explain people signing mortgages, credit card agreements, etc., without knowing what the interest payment and costs are? Don't even get me started on adjustable rate or ballon mortgages! And those home equity loans!!! I'm still in shock when someone tries to tell me it was those "evil" bankers who did this - really? People really need to buy a calculator and learn some math!

 

[twentynine]

Yep! Not paying taxes for three years sounds real bad, specially to people who pay their taxes.

Husband is a contractor, but ain't to good on paying his bills, taxes and paperwork, ugh, ugh, gee whiz. No easy way to say it. If you can't maintain your business, i.e. paying bills and taxes, how in the world do you stay in business?

$600 taken out of your check for taxes and health insurance-- that ain't garnishment. Health insurance is a good thing.

Nope I am not looking at the vacation cabin as a item to be sold off to pay off the debt. I am looking at the cabin as a luxury aquisition that put them further behind the debt eight ball. I owe no bank a dime, no mortgage, no car loan, no credit card, nothing--- and I ain't got a vacation cabin. Not looking for one either.

I think I will refrain from responding any further.

 

[schellie69]

I did file for bankruptcy over 15 years ago not due to living outside my means but by using credit cards due to the business that my DH was working for closed and did not pay their workers while he was out of work, and getting caught up we also used one credit card for a down payment on a trailer, so most of debt was CC's since then we have never had another card, we paid cash for everything we did get a couple of small loans co-signed by my step-dad to help rebuild credit. we ended up being able to bought the lot we had our trailer on that was one of the loans we got, but it took time and work on our parts to rebuild our credit we have since bought a house we made sure that we could afford the house on one income which is good since I have become disabled. I am not sure why the OP ended up with 3 places but if I was her I would let the 2 go back to the bank and work on keeping the one she has, if she does file for bankruptcy then they will have to work hard at rebuilding their credit also I would not have any credit cards again except the visa/debt card which comes out of the bank account which is what DH and I have. there are no easy answers for anyone that gets behind the 8 ball I am sure that the OP did not mean to have this happen but I am sure that hindsight is 20/20 and now knows the mistakes that got them here. with the way the housing market went I am sure that they owe more then the houses are even worth I know that happened to us, we could have sold our house last year for over $35,000 more then we paid for it. but we didn't and now the county say's it is worth less then what we paid for it. so we are kinda of stuck right now like a lot of people I am not sure what we will do. but I do know that just because some one files bankruptcy does not mean that they are bad people there are people who do it and think oh now we can just start over and do it again but they can't and it will catch up with sometime. and if the vacation cabin is on their property and they can get some money out of renting it to help pay the mortgage on that place then by all means rent it out. if its another property they might want to start selling things to help pay the dept not filing taxes is not a great thing to do, but the fear of more dept and owing the IRS could make sane people do silly things I would get a tax attorney and a bankruptcy attorney and start getting this taken care of you can also call different credit help places they can help get Credit card companies to settle debts for less and stop the interest. I hope that they can find away through this hard time and I am sure that they learned some big lessons.