What happened when you walked away from your house? (relocation far away)

[zpbk13]

We have the opportunity to relocate to a state across the country. BOA is our mortgage company but they have dropped their foreclosure suit against us and we have not heard a peep from them in months (last payment March 2010). Although I do not have a crystal ball, I would assume it will be at least another year plus before they take the house from us.

We are ready for a fresh start and do not want to wait around another 12-18 months for the bank to foreclose on the house. If you walked away from your home and moved several states away did you keep insurance on the house? Were you concerned that something might happen while it is still in your name?

We would appreciate hearing experiences from anyone that has faced something similar. Thanks in advance!

[JackBondLove]

That's interesting. It would seem that a mortgagor should be able to just hand over the keys and be done with it, but then again, until the official foreclosure hearing, the mortgagor is liable to keep the house in proper order, including being insured - but then again, if the mortgagor were not making any payments (including the escrow for the insurance and taxes), then the house would be uninsured in any case (although perhaps the mortgagee self-insures, legally tacking on the premiums to the amount owed?)

Now in your case, I will presume that you agreed to continue the mortgage in your Chapter 7 case. It would seem that the bank could go after you and you would not be able to do another Chapter 7 filing (for 8 years.) If the house were to burn down, you would technically be on the hook for the entire amount until you could next file for Chapter 7.

[tcreegan]

Hi zp,

When we moved, we called our lender (GMAC) to tell them the property was vacant and we were dropping the insurance. They promptly got their own insurance and sent a guy out to winterize the house and clean up what we had left behind. We did not put liability insurance on it, we were worried about that but fortunately nothing happened before the foreclosure sale. Compared to other posters, our foreclosure was pretty quick, filed BK in May 2010, foreclosure sale Feb 2011....9 months.

They did send a bill when they put their own insurance on the property, I called and when they found out it was in BK, they apologized profusely and said just to take the letter as "informational" only. It was a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing.

Tom in Colo

ps: I think JackBondLove is talking about a foreclosure outside a BK or on a reaffirmation. You were discharged in November, if you didin't reaffirm you aren't on the hook for anything.

[zpbk13]

Tom - Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope that if we end up just walking away before the foreclosure things can go as smoothly as they did for you! We were discharged a little over 1-1/2 years ago and had the sense not to reaffirm so we are okay on that front. My fear is just that someone may be hurt on the property and we would be responsible.