Foreclosure advice

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
That applies to people that are just simply walking away from mortgages because they have taken out seconds and what used to be equity is now a severely upside down house. Walking away is the financially sensible thing to do. It is not morally correct though. Funny how the corporations that control these notes have no morals or feel any responsibilities to anyone but their share holders. Yet many people feel that it is so terrible when the tables are turned.

If you simply can't make your mortgage because of job loss or some other financial catastrophe, then you shouldn't be criticized in any way. Hopefully the OP is able to stay in their house long enough to put some money aside for a deposit on a rental and to try to get things together.

The days of the friendly banker who knows you and everyone that walks through his door giving you a mortgage and trusting you to pay it back are over. These days it is a faceless corporation that sells your mortgage to someone else as soon as you sign the note. Instead of telling you to pay what you can for a couple months till you can get another job they sell your house to a rich investor for 1/3rd of what you owe them on it. Yep it would sure keep me awake at night worrying about their loss.

 

[flnatv]

Quote:
My advice... be careful and make sure you get a receipt when/if you send in the money.
About 8 years ago... I has a house on some "everyone wants it" property... I was undermined... paid what the bank said and they sold it out from under me anyway... returning my money.

I had 24 hours to move out and didn't even know it was sold out from under me until the new owner called!!!!

I agree that they are NOT willing to work with homeowners... and I was divorced with 2 small kids, not getting child support!!!


Good luck to those who are going through this... It is hard enough these days, but to lose your home when you are struggling so....

 

[chickened]

Would it be the same if YOU were the lender?
Quote:
That applies to people that are just simply walking away from mortgages because they have taken out seconds and what used to be equity is now a severely upside down house. Walking away is the financially sensible thing to do. It is not morally correct though. Funny how the corporations that control these notes have no morals or feel any responsibilities to anyone but their share holders. Yet many people feel that it is so terrible when the tables are turned.

If you simply can't make your mortgage because of job loss or some other financial catastrophe, then you shouldn't be criticized in any way. Hopefully the OP is able to stay in their house long enough to put some money aside for a deposit on a rental and to try to get things together.

The days of the friendly banker who knows you and everyone that walks through his door giving you a mortgage and trusting you to pay it back are over. These days it is a faceless corporation that sells your mortgage to someone else as soon as you sign the note. Instead of telling you to pay what you can for a couple months till you can get another job they sell your house to a rich investor for 1/3rd of what you owe them on it. Yep it would sure keep me awake at night worrying about their loss.

 

[Dunkopf]

If I underwrote a mortgage for someone using my own money like they used to then yes it would be different. If I was the CEO of a company and looking at he books and seeing that we had made 15 billion dollars in gains and had losses of 3 billion dollars due to default. No it wouldn't make a difference. If someone came to me and said hey I lost my 60k a year job and can't get more than 33k now, can you redo my note so I'm paying 1200 a month instead of 1700 a month and then I sold the note to someone that was going to add it to their portfolios of rentals for half of what the other person owed on it. No I would feel like I cheated the other person. It would make a difference to me, but I'm sure that most in the business could care less. As long as they still have a roof over their head life is good.

That's why they have D's and R's. people fit in one group or the other.

 

[Gardengirl 2011]

heathersboers I hope you can hang on. The stress level with what you're going through must be unbearable. Here in Florida my county is still sitting at just over 13% unemployment. Short sales and foreclosures are sky high.

The government (ie: we the people) bailed the banks out. Now they toss the people out who saved their behinds. The banks don't work with anyone anymore. I have friends that have been TRYING to work with the bank for over 6 months now. The bank keeps telling them to send the same document which they have sent over a dozen times. They won't return calls, won't correspond in any manner. So what did they do? The only thing they could at that point. Stopped paying the mortgage and moved out. It's disheartening and sickening that it has come to this for so many.

Before anyone harps on the "responsibility" issue, keep in mind that the economy is tanked! It's not like people WANT to lose their homes. Heck, they've worked their hearts out for the "American Dream". Yes, a LOT of people bought more than they could afford and knew it, but the banks convinced them otherwise. I'm NOT blaming the banks 100%, the responsibility still lies on the homeowner. However, I feel that most were responsible in their buying of homes and due to the economy have lost or are losing them. And my heart goes out to these people!

 

[mom'sfolly]

I don't have any advice, other than if you are working with restructuring a loan, make sure someone else in the same bank isn't working to foreclose. I would also ask for certain things before they evict you, including a certificate of ownership. I believe that without one, they cannot legally evict you.

I now have two foreclosed homes on my cul-de-sac of 11 homes, with another coming soon, unless they manage a short sale. This is a middle class neighborhood, with nice homes.

Two of the families initially got into trouble when the escrow accounts set up by THE BANKS had a huge shortfall. This shortfall translated into almost a years worth of doubled payments for these families. They could not swing the doubled payments, and went into default. So due to a BANK error, they went into default. It really isn't that hard to figure out what the escrow should be, but the loans got sold, and the banks didn't figure things right and trouble was the result. Again, it was not the borrows fault.

In one case, the family worked for months with a loan restructuring agent, while another branch of the bank was working on foreclosure. Two days before they were foreclosed on, they were told the restructuring was going through. NOT!!! I would have said that the bank was not operating in good faith. Within a week, attorney generals of several states had stopped foreclosures due to robo signing by the lenders. Each case is supposed to be individually reviewed, but instead lenders were signing thousands a day.

This house has been empty since October, it is not currently for sale. My suspicion is that they can't find the certificate of ownership, and so can't list it for sale. This benefits no one. The house will deteriorate, the previous owners kept it meticulously; the previous owner's credit is ruined, the housing values in the neighborhood fall, and the bank loses money. I cannot see how anyone, bank included, gets out of the situation better off.

The second family, I'm not so sure about, because they didn't talk about it, they just moved. But he had been out of work for months, and they had gone through a bankruptcy about a year to a year and a half ago.

The third house will be empty soon. This again this started as an escrow issue. They tried a short sale, started the restructuring process, and have worked with the bank. They were told, by the bank, to stop paying while the restructuring process was going on. What they were not told is all those payments, the unpaid escrow and any fees, etc all get rolled into the new mortgage...so the new mortgage is at least $50,000 underwater. They aren't stupid enough to take that deal. So they are trying to get a short sale done, otherwise they will walk away.

Two of these homeowners had been in the homes for over ten years. One is a more recent. In the case of the more recent one, the sellers weren't sure at all about the financing deal worked out for the new owners. I told them that they had an offer, the bank had written a mortgage, and it wasn't their problem anymore. My friend said it might be a problem for me later on, and I said I'd deal with it. In this case, my friend the seller, knew that the loan terms were dodgy and that the new owners would have trouble paying, but the bank loaned them the money anyway. The bank loaned them money anyway, and now is foreclosing.

Something is very wrong with the system. If the average seller can see that someone is a poor risk, the bank should be able to as well. In many cases, the banks have caused this problem, loaning money to people who should never have qualified, and allowing mortgages for interest only, and other things.

I feel for anyone going through this process. I've seen what has happened with my neighbors. Each of my neighbors has acted in good faith, and has tried to fulfill their bargains, but I'm not at all sure that the lenders have acted in good faith.

To the OP...try to find some sort of expert legal help, it will probably be worth the money. Make sure you know what the banks need to do before they can evict you, and I would say, sit tight until they come to throw you out. When the time comes to go, have a team to help you. We moved one neighbor out it about 8 hours. The deputy came on a Friday, and said he would be back on Monday. By then they had found a new place, in our neighborhood, and had moved.

 

[Dunkopf]

I heard about all the robo signing and the foreclosures being put on hold because of it. Why did someone on this thread say that only liberal states were trying to stop that. Has Tx turned into a liberal state?

My first house was purchased in Texas. The only reason we got in was because of a fair sized down payment and the mortgage was assumable. That was back in 89 when you had to have 20% down and above average credit to buy a house. It was a Reagan era loan at 12% interest. Not saying he caused the high interest rates. It's just that was where they were at back then. 545 a month for a 38k balance including the escrow items. That was pretty high for a 38k mortgage.

We've had quite a few foreclosures in our area. Comparable s are hard to find in the country and when you only have 5 that are approximately the same SF and bedrooms and land and 2 have been sold for half of value because of foreclosure it really lowers values. It's a tough situation. You would think rentals would be at 100% occupancy. Instead what is happening is that 3 generations are living in the same house. people aren't getting divorced as much either. They can't afford to have 2 households. So they just put up with each other. I guess that's ok as long as abuse isn't involved. Just get a bedroom in the basement and have your girlfriend or boyfriend come live in the basement with you. Separation American style.

To the OP. I would ride it out as long as you can. Stop paying everything except utilities and money you owe friends and family. Foreclosure is the worse thing you can have on your credit record so what's the point of paying on a credit card. Save that money so you can pay first and last month on a rental as well as any utility deposits. If you have a car payment dump it too and do a BK. Start fresh and leave the mess behind you. Even Dave Ramsey would give that advice.

 

[booker81]

We've been working on a loan mod for...well...I think two years now. Still nowhere near done, but for some unknown reason the bank keeps dinking around, refusing payments for the last 8 months, and no foreclosure. We can afford our house payment, but we can't afford to pay the $10k+ back payments and fees. The bank is currently refusing anything less than that.

We'll be filing Chapter 13 in a couple weeks. The Chap. 13 will only be for 3 years, pretty steep payments, but doable, and will clear all the debt from my medical bills, the past due balance and fees for the house, and the debt I have from my ex-husband. They are also putting our vehicle loans into it (to pay in full). At the end of 3 years, we'll be up to date on the house, I'll be shed of the debt from my ex and my medical bills, and our vehicles will be paid off in full. It will suck, but at least we'll be able to pay off a portion of the unsecured debt and all of the secured debt. Just have to pinch pennies a bit, but with our budget it will be doable. We have no credit cards or credit card debt.

Definitely contact a lawyer. Most give free consultations. We talked with our guy for two hours, free, and half of the fees are paid into the Chapter 13. We felt a lot better about our lot than we have in a long time (DH was laid off for a few months, and that really started the downhill ball, and we've never recovered since.) We have to come up with the $1500 fee to file, but that's not to far away. He takes payments, and we're close to being ready to rock.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Quote:
Quote:
As a former banker, I would like to point out that you two need to send me more money. I have redefined your banking agreement to include payments to me every time you publicly express an opinion that unfairly favors my position. If you disagree with this, you must pay me more.



Banking is a racket, now more than ever. The agreements people signed have been changed without their consent to something entirely different and genuinely rapacious. I am all for personal responsibility, but it is obvious to anybody who is paying attention that the banks are exploiting both the homeowners and the debt purchasers.

If you are being robbed by a thief, does it make sense to agree to all the terms dictated by the thief? When the thief controls all the branches of government as well as law enforcement, what recourse do you have? If this situation is considered "normal", then are you really a free person or are you a serf?

I have no helpful advice or answers. I understand the pain of your situation and I empathize. You are in my prayers.

 

[ChicksterJo]

Quite sorry for being deadbeats here, but when one of Chase's loan modification officers tells someone to "stop paying the mortgage" so that the modification will "go through faster," that certain someone will follow it. After all, they do work for Chase. It's not that we want to live in our house for free; after all, my parents paid every month's mortgage payment on time. When the house's value goes down more than 50% I think that a loan modification is in order. When the big bank keeps telling people "Ok, wait a minute" and that minute turns to a couple of years, and then they suddenly want to put the house on short sale...well, you tell me who's the deadbeat.

To the OP, I feel for you and your family. I cannot really give you advice. My parents managed to avoid foreclosure but our house is on short sale because of the same mess. In fact most of our neighborhood is packing up and moving on. I hope that you find some answers and help soon.