We found an attorney...

[reallynervous]

What a relief! We met with an attorney this week. We really liked him. He seems to really know his stuff - has been doing BKs for 25+ years. I had seen on PACER that he handles most of the BKs in our area. He seems to know the trustee really well (we only have 1 trustee for our area) as far as what he expects, etc..

He entered all our income info (dh is in sales so checks vary each week) and said we are below the median so we qualify to file for a 7 without the presumption. So far the only sticking point he sees is the property value. We need to get an appraisal. He calculated the number for us of what it needs to be under for us to be able to file a 7. If it is over that, we will have to go with a 13. Dh thinks we will be fine, however the attorney said property values are really all over the place lately in our area. He tolds us that if we get it done and it comes in just a little over the number he gave us, he feels it would be worth it to get a second appraisal as he recently had a client whose first one said $220K and second said $160K. That is a big difference.

So, that is where we need to start. The house has some issues that have been really let go due to my husband's illness and our financial situation. I am embarrassed to have someone come and evaluate it, but I guess in this case, those things will work to our advantage. Unfortunately, we don't have the money to get the appraisal done until we get our tax refund. Our return should be completed & filed by the end of the weekend.

He didn't seem too concerned about the amount of our debt (just over $100K unsecured) so maybe our area isn't too hard in that area. I asked him about having to do a 13 due to income vs expenses. While he didn't look at our expenses, he said it is very rare for someone who qualified via the means test to have to go with a 13. I hope he is right in our case too.

He did tell us it would be fine to start dh's 401K deduction back up at 6% and also to increase our car insurance deductibles again. These were both cuts we made months ago in our attempt to pay the bills.

The paralegal who handles the paperwork has worked for him for 13 years. He said she is really good and she lives less than a mile from our home which will be convenient.

He took a lot of time with us (1 & 1/2 hrs on a free consult) and really explained things well. He gave us a lot of printed info to study. Overall, I am really feeling encouraged since meeting with him.

So, here's hoping for a low appraisal!

Thanks to all of you who share so much info here, I felt really well prepared for the meeting. He said it seems like I have a pretty good grasp of it. I told him I have spent hours reading as I work best when I understand it all. He said everyone should do so. I am so glad you all said to talk with several attorneys so that I didn't just listen to what the first guy said. So, thanks again!

reallynervous

[keepmine]

How indepth does the apprasial need to be? Could you get a realtor to give you a written estimate? For sure, this is an instance where you point out all the warts!
In any event, good luck and keep us posted.

[reallynervous]

He told us the trustee here requires a full appraisal by a licensed appraisor (sp?).

When we realized the BK was ineviable, I really didn't worry about the house equity issue as we did a 125% LTV 2nd mortgage in 9/2005, so I assumed we wouldn't have any equity yet. They didn't do a full appraisal to do that loan though. However, I have spent a little time looking at real estate prices in our area and they are higher than I expected them to be, so now I am sweating a little bit. There are several houses on our street that have been for sale for probably over 2 years, though.

When you mention pointing out the warts, how would you do that? The lawyer told us it wouldn't hurt to tell the appraisor we need the appraisal for BK purposes. That makes me a little sick about telling someone else, but if it might help, we will do it.

reallynervous

[keepmine]

Well, I'd follow my lawyers suggestion since it sounds like he's got a world of experience. I'd tell the appraiser you need the apprasial for bk purposes and just show him all of the defects/needed repairs in the house.
Stop worrying about what others may {or may not} think. All the apprasier will comcern themselves with is, getting paid for their services. Heck, for all you know they may have a bk in their past.

[yomama]

reallynervous, If you saw the place we live in, I'm sure you wouldn't feel nearly as bad about what needs to be done at your place. We live in a house that's about 150 years old and much should be done to it. The beams on the attic are probably twice as far apart as they should be and I'm afraid that sometime with a big snow it all might come crashing down. The one cellar wall fell in about 10 years ago and now the other ones aren't looking so good either. I just finished blocking off the attic because it had around 200 bats in it last summer. There was an old hand-dug well here that fell in the other year, leaving a big hole in the yard that we had to have filled in. We tore down an old shed before it would collapse on one of us. I could go on and on about all of the bad points of the house and rest of the property. I doubt if this place would go for more than $50,000. So just when you think you have the most horrible house in the world, think of ours. I think too many people's actions are based on "But what will other people think?!" Just do what has to be done and don't give it a second thought. If I were in your case and looking for a lower appraisal, I'd be pointing out every little thing about that house that I could think of that should be fixed.

[reallynervous]

You are both correct that I should worry less what others will think. It is an ongoing issue for me that I continue to try to work on. In fact, had I not been so worried about how disappointed others might be in us (mainly family), we should have pursued this BK a while ago. We would have been better off than doing the 125% second mortgage, etc.. Thanks for the reminder to keep focused on doing what we have to do.

Yomama,

I really love old houses - so much more character. I know we won't ever have the money to redo one, but I would love to help someone do so one day. However, the bats issue did give me the shivers. I am not a fan of bats.

Thanks again,
reallynervous

[yomama]

You are both correct that I should worry less what others will think. It is an ongoing issue for me that I continue to try to work on. In fact, had I not been so worried about how disappointed others might be in us (mainly family), we should have pursued this BK a while ago. We would have been better off than doing the 125% second mortgage, etc.. Thanks for the reminder to keep focused on doing what we have to do.

Yomama,

I really love old houses - so much more character. I know we won't ever have the money to redo one, but I would love to help someone do so one day. However, the bats issue did give me the shivers. I am not a fan of bats.

Thanks again,
reallynervous

That's good that you're trying to work on that issue about worrking what other peopel think. I used to be like that too, but then I thought why should I be like that? They don't run my life. I have to suffer the consequences of my actions if I let them influence the way I do thing, so it's dumb to worry about what they would think. As a matter of fact, I was also worried about filing for bankruptcy because of what others would think, mostly because I knew how my dad would react when I told him that we were $50,000 in cc debt. He didn't disappoint me and blew up right on schedule, and I was upset and ended up crying. A good thing came out of it though and that is that we got a lot of things out in the open. I no longer have to hide things such as that from them. He realized how his reactions affected me and apologized. My mom was understanding though (at least she appeared to be and didn't get upset with me). Just keep in mind that you're in charge of your life and what you do affects you, not those people you're worried about what they think.

I like old houses too as long as they aren't the one we live in. lol Nah, I plan on living here until I die. It's been passed down through the family. My great-grandparents owned it and then my grandparents bought in from them. They only had one child, my mom. I'm an only child, so guess who ended up with the house. Yes, I also think that old houses have more character than new houses. Maybe you want to be my neighbor and help me work on this one since you'd like to redo a house. ;-) I'll give you a few bats for helping. Hee hee. Well, it's not like I'd cuddle up to one because I'm kind of afraid of them, but they really aren't anything to be afraid of, and I'm sure my feelings are because of what people would say while I was growing up. I know that they eat thousands of mosquitoes every night, so I want them to stick around (just not in the house). I want to build two bat houses for them before they come back the beginning of April if I can ever locate the wood that I want to use.