HELOC question

[Panacea]

I have a HELOC I got after my mortgage. Its with PNC for about 25,000. Should I continue to pay, or let that go to? I'm trying the find their "terms" but aren't having any luck.

I apologize for all the questions.

[SMinGA]

I'm not sure anyone here can make that decision for you. It depends on your intentions with the property, and also your home value in comparison to the 1st mortgage.

[Panacea]

I'm leaning towards letting go of the house...

[tcreegan]

Hello Panacea,

I have a HELOC I got after my mortgage. Its with PNC for about 25,000. Should I continue to pay, or let that go to? I'm trying the find their "terms" but aren't having any luck.

Just remember in a BK they have restrictions on talking to you, but you don't in talking to them.

I imagine the terms are pretty standard, don't pay for X time and we will foreclose. BUT....the second doesn't get paid until the 1st mortgage gets satisfied, so depending on what the house is worth and what you owe on the 1st mortgage, the 2nd may be essentially worthless. 99% of the time, if you are filing BK, paying on the 2nd is throwing money out the window.

I apologize for all the questions. No need to, that is the purpose of the forum

Post the details on the first mortgage and folks will have a good answer for you !!

Tom in Colo

[Panacea]

Heres what I have...

Mortgage owed 280,000
Heloc owed - 25,000

Zillow zestimate -285,500

Thanks for the help.

[Pandora]

To get a true value of your house - you need to look and see if your county assesses at 100% of Fair Market Value - if they do and they do it yearly (ours does) - that is as close to value as you'll get without an actual appraisal. If its not 100% of FMV, you can add about 25% to the assessed value and go from there for a ballpark figure of its value. Thats standard realestate practice.

Sites like Zillow pull off of county taxes and recent sales. Most trustees wont take a zillow estimate (at least where I'm at they wont) as they're just not accurate.

Example:

Zillow and Trulia showed our house valued at 215K (and our 2nd used this and a BPO *same thing, just comps pulled and pics taken*) - they valued it at 240K because of its age and uniqueness.

County assesses 100% FMV every year - for Jan 2010 it came in at 156K

Had a walk through appraisal of house and land over the summer - $150K

County assessment was accurate - house continued to drop from Jan-June when appraisal was done - we were approved to strip the 2nd.

[Panacea]

Thanks and WOW! What a difference! I'm just in the beginning stages, so Zillows as far as I've even bothered. I check for the county assessment.

[drowning123]

Zillow claimed my house was worth $198,000, but I actually paid $100 to a realtor to do a CMA (Current Market Analysis) and she valued my house at $155,000, which made it very upside down.

[SMinGA]

I don't expect Zillow valuations to be worth anything. But you can use the site to see what has recently sold in your area. Afterall, what one says the house is worth is pointless - if no one is willing to pay that for the house.

Pulled my zip code - which is insane because even before the mortgage mess started you could find houses from the $100k's all the way up to millions. Just that large of a zip code and that much variety. Anyhow, I marked to only see recent sales. (I don't know what qualifies as recent though.) Then I sorted by lowest price to show first.

4715 XXX Lane. Sold for $71k in April 2010. Current Zestimate = $122,500.

987 XXX Bend. Sold for $87,350 in October 2010. Current Zestimate = $172,500.

5211 XXX Road. Sold for $99,900 in March 2010. Current Zestimate = $136,500.

3853 XXX Road. Sold for $105,000 in March 2010. Current Zestimate = $118,500. <--- This one is not far off, but its worth mentioning this house is on 3 acres of land. I imagine the larger parcel of land helps...