After the bk, can I keep my rental? Inquiring minds want to know...

[PushRestart]

OK, so here is the skinny. My Chap 7 BK is done/discharged and I did not reaffirm my mortgages on my primary res or my one rental home.

It came to me today that if the second mortgage lien on my rental home was gone, that home would have about $40K real equity and that would be a very safe and conservative number.

My Question
Even though I did not reaffirm the 2 mortgages on this rental home, can I negotiate with these two lienholders at this stage to keep the home? My goal would be 2 parts:

1. To pay the second lienholder some small amount to release their lien; in short sales I handle, we often pay as little as 3-5 cents on the dollar, so it would be nice if I could make the $50,000 lien go away with $5,000 or less.
2. Negotiate with the first lienholder to maybe reduce the rate and remove late fees.

Right away, I can tell that this would not work unless the second could be made to go away And the first would allow me to go back to paying starting now.

Lastly, I have long term tenants in the home and they want to stay forever, they are a non-profit and have rented from me for about 7 years. If I could keep the rental, it would make them very happy and I would end up with a piece of real estate with actual equity...

Thoughts, ideas, feedback? I'm bouncing this idea off of my lawyer soon but this forum has always been a great resource; whatcha think?

[despritfreya]

You have your discharge, but is your case closed? Has the Trustee abandoned the rental? If not, the property does not belong to you and, while you can negotiate with the lender, any benefit that comes from it belongs to the Trustee.

Now, think about it. You said that if the 2nd on the rental releases there would be about $40k in equity. You also said you owe about $50k to the 2nd. Why would the 2nd agree to 5 cents on the dollar with that kind of "equity" supporting its lien? Not going to happen IMO.

Sorry, but I do not think you are going to get very far with your wishes - I am sure others will chime in and have more constructive comments.

Des.

[nohoneymoney]

Even though I did not reaffirm the 2 mortgages on this rental home, can I negotiate with these two lienholders at this stage to keep the home?

Yes you can try to negotiate with them. Your post suggests that the 2nd lien holder has $40K of their $50K loan covered by equity (minus the selling costs). While you might get a loan modification, I don't believe you will get them to agree to a settlement of cents on the dollar. Your best strategy is to get a loan modification from the primary lien holder and then work with the 2nd. During this time don't pay the primary mortgage for two months or only partial pay. The third month could trigger foreclosure. There may not be enough equity for the 2nd lien holder to foreclose but you never know. You should consider not paying the 2nd lien holder at all.

Keep the rent unless the primary lien holder demands it then tell them to go collect it and offer the name and phone number of the tenant. If they want to collect the rent, let them as they have the right to do so if you are not current.

Lastly, I have long term tenants in the home and they want to stay forever, they are a non-profit and have rented from me for about 7 years. If I could keep the rental, it would make them very happy and I would end up with a piece of real estate with actual equity...

A great goal as long as it does not put you back into BK. Remember you can't file for BK7 again for eight years.

I am trying to get lien modifications on several of our rentals so please keep us updated on you progress.