How long do I have now?!?!?

[lookin4info]

We just received a letter from our mortgage company's attys that they are filing for relief of the automatic stay ( I hope I said the correctly!). We gave up the house in our Ch. 13. I was wondering if anyone knows in general how long that takes for the judge or trustee to sign off on that?

We have moved, but I still have some stuff to move from the house. 15 years of stuff to
go through and I'm a procrastinator! I'm just trying to get a feel for how long it will be before they lock me out, lol.

Thanks!

[lrprn]

You live in Ohio. Here's information about the usual foreclosure timeline in Ohio - http://www.columbusohioreo.com/foreclosuretimeline.htm

According to this website, "The typical timeline for an Ohio foreclosure is seven months." This is without a filed bankruptcy involved where you have surrendered the house. You are inside the seven months now since the bk court has already given permission for the lender to take the house.

Now how long could it take your lender to actually take possession or sell your home at auction really depends on the lender. Some are waiting a very long time to take ownership or auction the home because the lender doesn't want to pay for the house's upkeep, insurance, etc. until that happens. They have way too many houses sitting empty now and it's dragging down their bottom lines. We have members who have been able to remain in their homes for quite some time after filing.

Your bk lawyer probably has a good idea about how long you might have based on their other home surrender cases. Won't hurt to ask.

Until then, if you can, stay in the home! It's rent-free living. Do keep at least a minimal insurance on the home in case an accident occurs on the property. Good luck!

[lookin4info]

Thanks lrpn. Today, we recieved a large packet dated 6/1 of more papers, a lot of legal terminology, copy of our deed, and original loan papers, etc. It said, and I assume it was talking to us, that "If you do not want the court to grant the relief sought in the motion, or if you want the Court to consider your views on the motion, then within 21 days from the date of this notice, you or your attorney must...... " So I assume that it would be at least 6/21 before they continue with the foreclosure. Now, they had already scheduled a court sale to be held 2 weeks after we filed in January. That of course was canceled. I'm trying to find out if they will just start where they left off and schedule another court date, or do they have a bunch of other procedures that they have to go through first. My atty's office said they could open the same claim and just start where they left off and it may take a few weeks, or they could file a new claim and it would be several months. Any idea on what the normal procedure is. My son still lives in the house, cutting the grass, etc. but will stay until the "end". That's why we're trying to get an idea how close the "end" is.

Also, we did not tell them we had moved out, but our address is on all the bk paperwork, and they are sending these letters to our new address. Should we let them know that the house is still occupied. My son is gone a lot but is home at night, he cuts the grass, but it does get a little high before he does that. I just don't want them to assume it has been abandoned. Thanks for your input!