Lying about house - will it catch up with me?

[hnhlvr]

I'll be sure to take down the foreclosure notice after it is posted.

Hey!! You just mentioned something I've been wondering about for awhile..can we do that--remove the notice, I mean? I was wanting to do the same, I moved really close by, and thought about yanking it the minute I saw it, but didn't know if that was "legal" or not--dh seemed to think it wasn't, but I've never seen that brought up before!! Anyone know?? (and I'm glad our comments made you feel better..at least, I hope mine did.)

Martha - yes I do believe we can take down the notice. A neighbor in my new community took his notice of default down. . . and yesterday, in the mail, I got FOUR notices stating the default so there wasn't any sort of posting on the house AT ALL. In fact, all four notices came to my PO BOX.

[No Gravy]

Excellent, excellent point. More people we know are going through the same thing, we just don't always know because we don't want to tell anyone else.

Aside from the wealth (pun intended!) of information in this forum, it helps just to know it's not just me in this situation.

[No Gravy]

Thoughts on how to handle this? Would you be offended if a person you knew lied and said it sold when it actually went into foreclosure, or would you realize that it's NOT your business?

OK, here's my .02 cents. It sounded like a casual, making-conversation, type of question. Sort of along the lines of "How's your day?" I don't think it needs a detailed answer, certainly not if it makes you uncomfortable.

At the same time, it would make me cringe to hear or say something along the lines of "It's none of your business." This is just *me* mind you, but that seems rude.

There's no telling why she asked the question...maybe she's genuinely interested, maybe she knows someone in real estate, or maybe she herself is drowning in mortgage payments, and is looking to you to be a sign of hope.

That's what I was doing for a loooong time. Any time I saw a house sell in this area, I got excited, because it meant maybe mine would sell. I remember talking to my neighbors over the fence when I saw them doing yardwork, after a big tree had fallen in a storm. We talked about the market and such, and he told me they had some new renters moving in soon. He never gave any indication their house was even for sale (it had been a rental for a while). I saw it listed 2 months later as a short sale.

The guy never lied to me, he just didn't spill his guts about what was going on (and I never asked, because it wasn't any of my business).

I would see nothing wrong with saying to people who ask "What's up with your house?" something like "Oh, who knows, the market's so crazy right now", or "It's still for sale, why? Do you know someone who's looking?", or say you sold it, or short sold it.

Or even "We got rid of it, thankfully!" Which...you did. OK, I pick that one as my favorite. *I* might use that one, myself!

I'd think a short, sweet vague answer is all most people outside your inner circle are expecting. Like when a clerk asks how my day was, she really doesn't *want* to know

[b_girl]

When my husband went by our first house yesterday to get more of our things (a little background here...we own 2 homes--we're giving up first house in the BK--we were living in it up until 2 weeks ago, then we moved into our 2nd house--however, first house isn't totally empty yet) he found a note from a next door neighbor asking us to call her....anyone wonder what that is all about?? Last weekend, we had another neighbor ask us if we're moving out and we told her not yet, that we're living in both houses for the time being (which is technically true, since we still have necessary items at first house and are there every day, packing and retrieving these items) and will probably be putting this house up for sale (again, true..once the house is emptier and cleaned, the for sale sign is going up). Haven't called 2nd neighbor yet, but that will be the same story I'll tell her...our finances are none of their d*&% business. And I'll definitely be pulling off every foreclosure notice they tack up.

[No Gravy]

When my husband went by our first house yesterday to get more of our things (a little background here...we own 2 homes--we're giving up first house in the BK--we were living in it up until 2 weeks ago, then we moved into our 2nd house--however, first house isn't totally empty yet) he found a note from a next door neighbor asking us to call her....anyone wonder what that is all about?? Last weekend, we had another neighbor ask us if we're moving out and we told her not yet, that we're living in both houses for the time being (which is technically true, since we still have necessary items at first house and are there every day, packing and retrieving these items) and will probably be putting this house up for sale (again, true..once the house is emptier and cleaned, the for sale sign is going up). Haven't called 2nd neighbor yet, but that will be the same story I'll tell her...our finances are none of their d*&% business. And I'll definitely be pulling off every foreclosure notice they tack up.

I could be wrong, as I have no way of knowing your neighbor's intentions...but maybe they are just watching out for you and/or the house? My neighbors and I do that here. If we know someone is going out of town we keep an extra eye on the house, just in case.

Maybe your neighbor saw someone sneaking around your house when you weren't home, and wanted to tell you? Or more likely they saw you packing up stuff, and wanted to ask if you're moving. Robberies happen in neighborhoods where "nobody sees nothing", so this is actually speaks well of your neighborhood.

This is just my unasked-for opinion....but it seems that having financial problems and a pending foreclosure makes a lot of people paranoid and suspicious of their neighbors and friends. I know it's made me jumpy every time a car drives by and slows down, since my NOD was just filed and posted in the paper.

Again, this is my unasked-for opinion...but I wouldn't prejudge the motives of friends and/or neighbors. Don't assume they're being nosy or what to get all in your (financial) business. Heck, if you've lived there a long time, maybe they're sorry to see you go. Maybe they want to help you move.

Or more likely (and this has been on the news a LOT in my area), they want to know if you're moving out, so they can both keep an eye on the place and water the lawn so it doesn't die. A lot of areas here that have been hard hit by foreclosures are having property values driven down further because there's such a high rate of vacant homes not being taken care of. A foreclosure also hurts the neighbors left behind.

OK, I'll shut up now

[b_girl]

I'm not assuming anything bad on her part, but I do 'know' her (as much as you can know a neighbor who isn't a friend), so I'm reasonably sure of why she's attempting to contact us. We've both been trying to shore up our dying neighborhood, and no doubt she's worried we're forsaking the effort (which we are.) We offered to sell her our home in the past, since she's already bought the two across the street from us...I'm kinda hoping she's now interested in buying this one.

[No Gravy]

We offered to sell her our home in the past, since she's already bought the two across the street from us...I'm kinda hoping she's now interested in buying this one.

Hey, that would be excellent!

I was just offering a point of view. Like I said, I have no way of knowing her motives. I'm in California, and just about *everyone* is going through different levels of tough times, so I sorta blend in with the crowd.

I'm glad to hear you guys got another house to move to. That's one of my biggest worries in my own situation.