When Is It Ok To Sell Something Of Value

[ursaminor]

Hi Everyone,
We are new to the forum and this is our first post. Have been busily reading so much of the great information here.

Could you please clarify something for my husband and I?

First...some background:

We filed Chapter 7 and will have our creditor's meeting in early April. We were a pretty "easy" case because we have no assets anymore. We lost our home (and will lose our vehicle) and sold most "assets" (didn't have many) over 18 months ago. We recognized after trying to fight all of the wolves ourselves that we just needed to do Chapter 7.

We turned lemons into lemonade and changed our lives from this, deciding to live in a 30 foot travel trailer, visit family and live a simpler life. Our travel trailer, valued at $4400, has a homestead exemption and we are allowed to keep it (plus with no other true assets, we weren't too worried).

The thing is, when this is behind us and because our truck is being surrendered, we really need to get a Class C motorhome instead (the kind you drive) so we don't have to find a truck to pull the trailer.

Again, remembering that this is our HOME and not for pleasure, when and how can we sell the trailer to get the equity from it to turn around and get a Class C so we have mobility once again? We aren't talking about buying some $20K motorhome...but we just have to sell the travel trailer and use the equity from it.

Any suggestions would be so appreciated!

Thanks

[newbie2]

Wait until after your bankruptcy is discharged and closed. That is the safest way to handle this. Good luck to you.

[tobee43]

i agree with newbie....we sold items prior to filing to have money to live off of, yet...nothing while in bk "limbo"...i would wait!

[ursaminor]

Thank you for your replies! We were afraid of that...it is going to be a bit tricky to pull off but we understand.

We will have to buy a cheap, old truck then during this time...we are losing our 2006 pickup (surrendering)...buying is "ok" during this time, isn't it?

Again, if they take our only vehicle and we cannot buy the class c to "drive our home" with, we cannot just sit stranded in the campsite for 4 months...we have to have some type of transportation???

[daylate]

Not sure i completely understand your situation with the truck.

You say you are surrendering your 2006 vehicle. Because it is being financed and you can't afford the payments? Why not keep it and just keep making payments on it. You then get involved in the whole ride-through thing but I can't imagine that your lender would want to repo a 2006 if you keep making the payments. And if you are traveling all the time, they'll have a tough time finding you.

If you have some equity in the truck, then you should be able to exempt 5000 of it. Perhaps you could buy back the remaining equity from the trustee?

Another thought-because you are traveling and staying in different places-are you legally a resident of Montana? If not where was the last place you were a resident and how long ago was that? If you are not currently a Montana resident depending on some other facts, you may be able to use federal exemptions which could allow you to exempt more of the equity in your vehicle.

[tobee43]

well depending on what your states exemptions are you are a few choices....surrender the truck and you are allowed excemptions and it's expected people need transportation...i know we were allowed i think it was 7k....if our value was over that we would have to buy back the difference from the trustee....and OR...i do in fact know others that were advised by there atty's to get rid of there bmw's and lexus...LOL!!! and buy a cheaper more reasonable form of transportion which will not raise eyebrows...

however, you are living a in trailor...(bless you) and you are down to the bare bones... really....how much more can anyone downsize...i ask you! (we are selves for a while were considered "homeless")....we surrendered one car and kept the other which is our only mode of transportation and wasn't even questioned.

and daylate asks a good question...where or what state are you filing??

[ursaminor]

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for jumping in!
I know this is confusing but I'll try to clarify...
We are mainly Montana residents over 6 months a year...it is heaven on earth here (except winter)...we are filing in Montana.

We don't want the truck...it has been nothing but a pain since we bought it in 2007...constant problems. And we are enjoying/inspired by our living the simple life. Looking forward to owing no one "nothing" and just living and feeling alive. That car payment and high insurance premium, to us, isn't a necessity anymore...when this is over, our only bills will be rv insurance, term life insurance, phone/internet and a storage unit rent. That's it! We don't want to buy anything anymore that we cannot pay cash for. I have an online business that can handle the bills mentioned above and "extras" like food, repairs, etc.

The real problem we have (which we neglected to think about earlier) is that we would be much better in a motorhome vs travel trailer/truck combo. We don't want to invest in a truck to pull the trailer. We want to get the money from the trailer (again, our home) and put it into an equally priced motorhome. Then the truck isn't an issue, we are more mobile (really shouldn't have bought the pull camper! ugh) and we don't have 2 vehicles to pay repairs, insurance, etc.

The rv selling season in this area is coming up (we live by Glacier Park) and to have to sit on the trailer (without a decent truck) for 4 more months is such a disappointment. Just thought that because it is our home/residence there might be some exception we didn't know about...where we can sell the trailer as long as the income is put back into another "home." The other glitch, though, is that the blue book on this is low...but around here you can exceed that amount by thousands. So we have that worry, too.

Trading it in won't work because RV dealers here are so over-priced...we'd get pennies for our trailer and spend thousands more for the motorhome.

I know, most likely, we are stuck finding a truck for the next 4 months...but really wanted to avoid that expense if we could...and just get the right rv for our lifestyle. Once that hurdle is reached, we will feel truly "done."

[tobee43]

have you asked your atty about this????

[ursaminor]

I know it seems silly but we do plan to ask him about all of this...we "get along" with him fine but, honestly, not many understand what we are doing.

Though we are middle-aged, he says things like a parent "lets hope you can get in an apartment real soon..." - feeling sorry for us and not comprehending we have no intention of going back to the real world. Not that it matters but my husband has a PhD and I have a Bachelor's...but the more we made, the bigger the house...the nicer the car...the higher the debt...when we bottomed out, we panicked...and took our time thinking this through. We thought we would try a new lifestyle, because the old model was stressful, materialistic and didn't work for us...we wanted more time together and less stress. I know you can have this in a house or RV...but for us, we knew we wanted to feel alive, and this was our way of doing it. It isn't for everyone but for us, we cannot imagine doing it differently after experiencing it. We feel like the wealthiest people on earth, though we have little income in our pockets. The Monday blahs, alarm clocks, counting the months for the next holiday or one week vacation...that isn't in our life anymore.

I know it isn't popular and many friends stare at us with blank faces...but we are looking for answers and information outside of his office first...then we can talk with him about "what we've learned." Honestly, we absolutely will discuss this with him...but when his goal is to get us both back into cubicles and housing, we know it is like speaking a different language to him...and we're tired of trying to explain this to him. To us, the life we are living is now a choice...BK isn't defining us or setting our course. We aren't afraid of credit scores because we only buy what we can pay cash for.

Going to his office to merely confirm "it is our understanding that we can do THIS or THAT" (info we learn here) is so less stressful than "you know, we love the idea of an apartment and appreciate your concern...but we really like what we are doing so lets go with that." Make sense, I hope?

[NewPage]

I have no advice, I just wanted to say I understand what you're doing and I'm a little jealous!

Last year when things were really stressful, I said to my husband: Let's take all the cash we can get our hands on, the kids (of course LOL), the cats, the things that are most important to us, and just walk away. He wouldn't go for it, darn it. ;-)

[ursaminor]

Thanks so much for your message...it can be very lonely going through this the way we are doing it.

I love your quote about your credit score not defining you...see, that is exactly it except we took it a bit further. We believe (and it is just our personal view) that we weren't made to live like this...that it is unhealthy. Fast-paced, constant stress, continual unexpected expenses because you have so many things that can break down...loans, taxes, interest rates, blood pressure through the roof if you pay one day late because of this "score." We just decided to go back in time a bit (no, you cannot escape it all together anymore, even if you live off the grid!) and see how it felt. The cost was to let go of the "stuff." We could have hated it but, in our case, we loved it...we used to joke we felt like we were aliens from another planet (seeing as most treated us this way) studying and doing research on this modern society...and pretty soon, we just didn't get it. We have never considered going back to the normal routine...once you've experienced it, if you like it, you are hooked and there is no going back.

There are less drastic ways to do this. Just a little smaller place on the outskirts (more affordable, too) can do wonders.

Again, thanks for the post...

For the record, I grew up in a big city...haven't always lived in the Rockies...guess I had the "bug" at even a young age, to escape the noise and the fast lane. I'm just happier in the slow lane, cash-only living, no more scores or owing anyone anything...that is freedom, for us.

Best of luck to you!!

[tobee43]

really...it's like being a FREE spirit!!!

and actually here in florida we have met a few people whom have chose to do exactly what your doing!

we have friends in montana and it's so beautiful there....we loved it. so i wish you the best of luck!

[tcreegan]

Rock on ursaminor!!

If you need to keep the truck for a few months, you can just continue making the payment, most lenders aren't going to quibble about the BK if the payments keep rolling in. When you get your Home Mobility in place, call them and arrange for them to pick up the pick up....

As for selling the Not-So-Mobile-Home, at some point the trustee will file a report "abandoning" the asset (singular, right?), and at some point you get a discharge, with those in hand I would go for the new Truly-Mobile-Home.

And that is just being cautious, MT has a 250,000 homestead exemption! So you are going from exempt to exempt, makes no difference to the BK outcome.

The one thing I would check into is "declaing the homestead" ...would you have to "re-declare" the new Truly-Mobile-Home?

Best of luck you, happy trails!!

Tom in Colo

[ursaminor]

Thanks, Tom!
What an awesome reply...we appreciate it...and your enthusiasm/support!
Best of luck you, too!

[oregonpilot]

ursa....how cool!!! good luck to you.
If you ever head down to OR..pm us and we will have a hot shower waitin for you guys.