Upside down mortgage

Previously we took out a HELOC to pay off some of our debt. I suspect that our house is now mortgaged for more than we could sell it for. Is there anything that can be done about this? Does this mean we couldn’t sell unless the home gained more equity?

Previously we took out a HELOC to pay off some of our debt. I suspect that our house is now mortgaged for more than we could sell it for. Is there anything that can be done about this? If you want to keep your house and even up your upside-down loan without filing bankruptcy or surrendering your house to foreclosure, then you can wait for the house to (hopefully) go up in value and equal what you now owe on it.

Does this mean we couldn’t sell unless the home gained more equity? Since you haven't filed yet, you can sell your house any time you want. If there is a loan deficiency (the house sells for less than you owe), then you owe the shortfall.

If you don't want to file bankruptcy, you could negotiate with the bank for a new loan to pay back the shortfall over time. Or if you do file bankruptcy after the house sale, you can wipe out the shortfall.

So, are you saying we could sell the home and be left with an unsecured loan for the shortfall? Then, file bankruptcy and have that loan wiped out?

What if we don't want to sell right now? Can we still file BK??? I thought we could file BK and still keep our home as long as we are up on the payments. Could we only file chap 13?

>>>Since you haven't filed yet, you can sell your house any time you want. If there is a loan deficiency (the house sells for less than you owe), then you owe the shortfall.

If you don't want to file bankruptcy, you could negotiate with the bank for a new loan to pay back the shortfall over time. Or if you do file bankruptcy after the house sale, you can wipe out the shortfall.<<<


If you do sell the house. I would suggest that you call your lender and negotiate a Short Sell beforehand. otherwise they will never satisfy the lien, and the new buyer will not get clear title. They will not give you a new loan for the shortfall since there is nothing to secure.

A new loan? That's what we don't need. With the morgage and the HELOC we are about at our limit.

What do you mean by negotiate a short sell? How do you do that? How would that be different then just paying down the mortgage or HELOC faster?