Newbie Question - Allowable Living Expenses for Housing

[christeyanne]

Newbie here and have been considering Chapter 13 for a long time, have gone through all of our savings trying to keep up with min. credit payments and mortgage. We should of done this last year, just can't seem to keep our head above water and living off credit cards. Will see an atty next week, but just trying to wrap my head around some things first. When I look at the IRS website for my area under allowable living expenses it says $1,645. Is that all that is allowed? We have a home and would like to keep it and our mortage is near $2,600. How does that work? Will we be allowed to account for the $2,600 or can the limit only be $1,645?

Ideally, I would love to sell the house and downsize and do a 100% plan back to creditors, but there are 5 houses for sale on our block and nothing is moving.

Thanks for the help.

[keepsmiling]

USUALLY your mortgage amount is not a problem. Very good odds that you will be fine.
There have been one or two recent situations discussed where the tt pushed back on this. Just curious, did you check your specific county? have you attempted any mods?
Is your house underwater? Want to tell us more?

Local bk atty's should have some idea what' flying in your district. Schedule a free consult or three sometime in the coming weeks. There is no obligation.


Oh and-- WELCOME!

[christeyanne]

Thank you for the welcome, sucks like hell to be here, but it's nice to read the stories of people who have completed their plans and moving on with their life.

I did check for my local county $1,645 was the amount listed. Haven't tried any loan mods with Wells Fargo, we have a good rate for our mortgage 4.87, it's not so much the mortgage is our property taxes have gone up $1,000 a year for the 5 years we lived here. We started at $5,000 and are now up to $10,000 a year, hence the 5 houses for sale on the block. We have a friend that is a mortgage broker who keeps asking us if we want to refinance at a lower rate since mortgages are now in the 3's, I've been avoiding the situation because I would be mortified for him to see our credit and doubt that we'd qualify. I've never missed a mortgage payment or credit card payment, just out of money to pay the minimum's on the credit cards anymore.

Will meet for a free consult next week and I'm sure will get a lot of my questions answered. Happy to have found this website today.

[Pjmax]

Hi Christeanne, I'm a newbie, so I don't have much in the way of technical support, but if you need any other kind, let me know. The folks here are so nice and helpful. Just wanted to say hi.

[christeyanne]

Hi Christeanne, I'm a newbie, so I don't have much in the way of technical support, but if you need any other kind, let me know. The folks here are so nice and helpful. Just wanted to say hi.

Thank you so much and hi to you. I just have a pit in my stomach and while the pit is still there, it helps so much to read through this forum, it does make me feel better, everyone does seem so nice and helpful.

[Pjmax]

Thank you so much and hi to you. I just have a pit in my stomach and while the pit is still there, it helps so much to read through this forum, it does make me feel better, everyone does seem so nice and helpful.

You're not alone here, and it sounds like you're doing a lot of pre-planning. That's a good thing. Be sure and meet with more than one attorney before you sign with one.

[Pjmax]

Just thought of something. You said your mortgage is with Wells Fargo. Is your bank account also with WF?

[christeyanne]

Just thought of something. You said your mortgage is with Wells Fargo. Is your bank account also with WF?

No, Chase.

[Pandora]

T....our property taxes have gone up $1,000 a year for the 5 years we lived here. We started at $5,000 and are now up to $10,000 a year, hence the 5 houses for sale on the block. .

10K a year in property taxes?! Holy crap! I see where IL does not have a personal property tax, and their real property (real estate) is 33 1/3%. unless you're living in a McMansion, perhaps its time to get your house appraised for its true value vs. $1K yearly increases. Our org. mortgage was $2200- house purchase of $258K...so your house payment is close to what we were paying...and our real estate taxes at that time (5 years ago) were .62 per $100; currently .65 per 100.

Something doesnt sound right....

[Pjmax]

Pandora, just saw illinois prop. taxes range from 5.91 to 9.16. That's just crazy!

[Pandora]

I just saw the rates.. HOLY COW! you'd think that given they do 33 1/3% that, like most places, the bill would be based upon 33 1/3% of the Assessed Value; looks like they're going full out based on 100% of assessment.... ugh.

ETA:

Something STILL doesnt sound right though... unless HOA fees are in that $10K....

Here's an example of an IL house for sale...@ $329K taxes were $2221

http://www.trulia.com/property/3082494820-121-Chestnut-Hills-Cir-Burr-Ridge-IL-60527

Another @$650K and taxes are $6251 annually

http://www.trulia.com/property/3080307058-231-Devon-Dr-Burr-Ridge-IL-60527

I still say call the Assessors office and find out why paying $10K a year... ouch.

[keepsmiling]

Here in NJ we don't blink an eye at those kind of taxes. The rest of you don't know how good you have it
I have a 50 x 100 lot and 1100 sq ft house and we pay almost 7. In the next town over it would be another K or two.

It's those huge increases that would bug me- I bet they were put into a plan during the boom, maybe a 5 yr plan, based on then-increasing values; and I'd bet folks are trying to reassess like crazy without success, hence all those empty houses.

Hey- Alorth's tt wanted to try to force a mod- maybe yours can force a reassessment!
(he's the guy whose tt resisted the mortgage payment)

[christeyanne]

It's Cook County (Chicago), we had several neighbors who are trying to sell get them reduced with the help of attorneys. No luck, we are actually in the middle, next door neighbor is about $13,000. SUCKS big time. Bought house 5 years ago for $370k, currently owe $280K, probably worth about $310k now if that I would guess.