Bank walked away from foreclosure, but we've moved! Help?

[dep05]

Hi all, It's been a while since I've been on here, since I thought all of our problems have been settled.

I was wrong.

We filed chapter 7 in 2005, including our house, but chose to continue living there (and making payments) without reaffirming anything. In 2009 my husband was laid off for an entire year, and we decided it was best to let the house go then.

We moved at the end of 2009 and even before we were finished moving, the bank padlocked our house and winterized it. The foreclosure was set for spring 2010, but apparently it never happened.

The bank cancelled it and now the house is still stuck in our name. It's been empty for over two years now and we haven't been back since. We don't want the house back, and it is definitely in need of repair. I know we couldn't sell it on our own, or rent it out. It needs too much work. We just want rid of it.

What should we do? Is there any way to get the house out of our name? Also, we haven't paid any taxes on it since we left, and it is sitting uninsured. Are we liable for any of that? What can we do? Should we get a lawyer?

Thanks!

[florida]

There's nothing you can do....I spent over a month speaking/meeting with attorneys to see if we could "force" a foreclosure. Nope. If the bank has walked away (like they did to us) the house will be in your name until it gets put up for auction for unpaid taxes.
Have you spoken with them? We were advised to offer them a "settlement" for our first mortgage..but we just don't have thousands saved up. (We also moved out and have been paying rent.)
Soooo....who knows ~ it is a crazy world.

[jst4f]

I guess you could offer a lowball amount for the place. It would interesting to see thier reaction but probably not productive. Call up the local property tax agency and see if you can escalate the tax sale.

[dep05]

No, we haven't spoken to them. I wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to do so. We don't have the money for a settlement either.

As far as an auction for unpaid taxes...how does that work? Will we be at all liable for the taxes we haven't paid while it's been in our name? Who initiates the tax auction, the city?

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate it!

[IHateToBeEmo]

As far as an auction for unpaid taxes...how does that work? Will we be at all liable for the taxes we haven't paid while it's been in our name? Who initiates the tax auction, the city?

I believe the person who wins the auction has to pay the delinquent tax bill.

[florida]

I think whoever wins the auction pays the upaid taxes .... but I really don't know much about it. I would imagine you could call the property appraisers office and ask though.

For our situation, we have decided to move back in this summer. Our landlord is letting us break our lease. My husband has been making some repairs and we're going to just see what happens.

It has been a really difficult decision. The neighborhood is not what it once was. Luckily the schools are still great. Florida is funny like that. There will be a nice street and then not so much.
Anyway, we are trying to think of it as a blessing in disguise...we're just going to go with it.

Who knows if we are making the right decision or not. We figured worst case scenario - we rent another house.