I am so relieved to have finally filed! I feel like my life has been on hold since I decided to file Chapter 13 earlier this summer. I've saved up all the $, went to my lawyer to sign the paperwork, and found out that I need another $300 to get the house appraised. I have less than $1000 equity in the house, having just bought it 3 years ago and a totally flat housing market, but even though the first time I went they said my appraisal from when I bought the house would be fine, now they say I have to have a new appraisal before the 341 hearing. So I've called around a dozen places, but $300 is the standard fee, no getting around it. I even tried calling the place that did my last appraisal since they have all the pictures, all the info, would just have to run a new web search on what houses in the neighborhood are selling for, how long they are on the market, and do a comparison, but no dice, still $300. Oh well, 8 more days until payday, guess I can schedule to have it done then and hope there isn't a super-fast turn-around on the 341 meeting! Although lawyer said it would be 30-45 days most likely. Really psyched that payment came out to $1100, when the lawyer first ran the numbers she said would be $1750!!! She helped us rethink legitimate expenses to claim in the areas of childcare and healthcare and brought it down to $1100, just hope the trustee doesn't object. But we can verify our healthcare spending (which is the big one we changed) if he objects because my husband has an on-going chronic health condition that has run up 4K in medical bills this year alone. I don't even know why we didn't have that in the budget in the first place, total lapse on our part! Thank goodness for a smart lawyer that helped us think it through.
Well, just wanted to say thanks, I've been a lurker here for months, don't post much, but got a lot of great advice as I've been getting started. I'm even starting to recognize some names on here, like Granny from Texas, I always read her posts, she's so smart! We have barely started, but it feels like it's been such a long time in the making!
-Lois
Well, just wanted to say thanks, I've been a lurker here for months, don't post much, but got a lot of great advice as I've been getting started. I'm even starting to recognize some names on here, like Granny from Texas, I always read her posts, she's so smart! We have barely started, but it feels like it's been such a long time in the making!
-Lois
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