Has anyone surrendered their house?

[Teddy]

Hi -

I'm looking for experiences with surrendering homes.

My attorney said not to waste my time selling if I won't make any money, which I won't. I posted in another thread that we would have a place to stay, sort of a land contract deal if we decide to do this so I'm not worried about a mortgage.

My house is cute, but I think it's got a small leak in the roof which might have been there even before I got the house because of how the wall looks. I think the problem had been fixed and is back. Which is going to be one more expense.

I hate the idea of letting my house go, it's very hard to even think about but at this point I wonder if I'd benefit from it? Is it even ok to surrender it in BK if I can afford it? I just want to move and don't think I could sell it right now?

I'm just looking for experiences and how it goes, etc.

I haven't talked to the atty on the phone, I emailed him - if I do decide to get serious about it, I'll call him and see if he has more advice.

thanks!

[Minnymouth]

If your upside down on the home (owe more than its worth now) or behind on payments, then it may be too your benefit to surrender it and come out owing nothing towards it. You will be in a position in about 2 years to buy another once your BK is over and you clean up your credit report.

Any repairs thats needed, if you surrender, will not be at your expense.

You need to let your attorney know what your going to do, surrender or keep it. If your behind on mortgage payments the only way to keep your home is go into Chapter 13. This is something to consider when making your decision.

Keep us posted.

[Teddy]

Thanks -

I am not behind at all on payments.

I would like to move to this other house, assuming that all would work but we will assume for now that it will.

If I sell my house, after paying a realtor I would probably not make any money. I am probably not in a negative equity situation right now. But it seems like it might be easier to surrender it since it probably has a leak, probably wouldn't sell very fast and then if/when it did sell, I wouldn't make any money. My realtor said it might be worth 95k and I owe 90k so, actually, I could be negative by the time I'd pay a realtor.

I'm trying to get opinions on surrendering it so I can make an informed decision. Maybe it's better to just call the attorney but I thought maybe I could get some good opinions here.

[Iamfree]

Thanks -

I am not behind at all on payments.

I would like to move to this other house, assuming that all would work but we will assume for now that it will.

If I sell my house, after paying a realtor I would probably not make any money. I am probably not in a negative equity situation right now. But it seems like it might be easier to surrender it since it probably has a leak, probably wouldn't sell very fast and then if/when it did sell, I wouldn't make any money. My realtor said it might be worth 95k and I owe 90k so, actually, I could be negative by the time I'd pay a realtor.

I'm trying to get opinions on surrendering it so I can make an informed decision. Maybe it's better to just call the attorney but I thought maybe I could get some good opinions here.

Are you filing because of your house or do you have other debts?

Keep your house. Fix the roof. Stay in it 4 2 more years and then sell. Rent it if you don't want to live in it.

If you are filing for BK what makes you think you can even buy another house?

[Teddy]

I am filing b/c of my cc's.

The reason I want to move now is b/c I could get rid of the house in the BK and the house we want to move to is owned my my husbands rich friend and I think he will let us make payments to him directly - kind of like land-contract. So, I wouldn't need to worry about a mortgage. My husband is asking him what he thinks of the idea, I'm trying to just research in the meantime.

I thought about renting but that sounds like a pain, plus we don't have $$ to maintain repairs & such on 2 homes if something goes wrong. I don't even know if I could get the payment out of the house to rent it - I defnitely wouldn't be making any money.

[keepmine]

Houses are just bricks and mortar. There will always be another one. This is just like any other business decision. Forget the emotions and do what makes economic sense.

[Teddy]

My attorney basically advised me to surrender it if I want to move.

I have some serious thinking to do now!!