Pleae Help...hopeless

[doc10house]

I had a GREAT income ($200K), and lost my job. My wife is working, and I'm looking, but we're bringing in roughly 200 dollars a week (less than 1/10 as much as we made before). We're up to our ears in credit card debt, plus to pay bills and avoid filing, we took some personal loans as well. And now I've got about $20K in lawyer bills from the situation surrounding my firing, and a $25K signing bonus to pay back as well. We've had our home on the market for over a year, but it hasn't sold and we can't drop the price because we don't have any equity (so we can't come up with the cash to pay the difference at closing). And we can't just file Ch. 7 and reaffirm the home to keep it because I now don't make enough to pay the mortgage.

A few questions:

1. Will old attorney bills and such be discharged in a 7 filing?

2. A couple is interrested in leasing my home with the option to buy after 12 mo.; if they do this can we reaffirm with the mortgage company and keep the house but let them live in it and pay for it, or will they be evicted and the house taken?

3. How difficult is it to get an apartment after 7, if you have a cosigner?

Thanks.

[SinkingFast]

I would think old attny's fees could be discharged like doctor bills or dentist bills. Your BK attny may be hesitant, but it should be doable.

Since you've already had your home on the Market for so long, I'd suggest you contact the Lender about a Short Sale. You'll have to apply. It's like trying to get a mortgage in reverse. Recent year's income taxes, pay stubs, list of expenses, Hardship letter with a sob story about why you cannot keep the house, etc. Many Lenders will take less than you currently owe to avoid Foreclosure. Lenders are in the business of lending money, not owning homes. And they don't want your house on their REO sheet any more than you do.

I wouldn't go committing to a Lease agreement with anyone until you know what's gonna happen with the house. Lenders can be much more flexible in working with you if it's either you living there or the property is vacant. Plus, you go throwing a lease into the mix, and now the property is a "rental" which may violate some small print term of your mortgage contract with your Lender.

If you're seriously looking at moving to an apt, you need to do that BEFORE you file or after your discharged. No one will rent to you during an active BK. Because they know that you can discharge any and all Creditors during that 90-120 day period that the BK is open and active.

You shouldn't need a co-signer to get an apt. Just ask what the Credit inquiry requirements are before you go wholesale applying. If a Landlord is gonna run your Credit, you can save your self the app fee by passing and moving on. Your best bet is to stay away from big apt complexes and find a smaller Landlord. Most Mom and Pop type Landlords don't even run Credit. Ours didn't. So it is doable.

[AMISLANDER]

As for the apartment thing....

...I haven't been closed yet, but did get into a fairly nice apartment complex even with the credit check...I, however, do make the qualifying amount & have been at my present job almost two years and had three years of timely rent payments prior to filing bk....

It all just depends, you need to be honest with the apt. community where ever you are looking to rent....that helps...bk is the new divorce & so many people are just f*cked from rising cc debt that this is like the new disease that's swept the country....

And every commercial tells us.....we'll give you deferrment on your purchase with us...yeah, like that's doing us all a world of good....lol

[anonymuse]

Make sure you go out there and have free consultations with several attorneys. It doesn't look like you have a run-of-the-mill case, so take time in making that decision.

But hang in there, not all is hopeless. You'll get through this and we'll all help out the best we can.

[SinkingFast]

...I haven't been closed yet, but did get into a fairly nice apartment complex even with the credit check...I, however, do make the qualifying amount & have been at my present job almost two years and had three years of timely rent payments prior to filing bk....

There in lies the problem for Homeowners who go into to Foreclosure and file BK. We don't have a rent record. And Foreclosure speaks Negativity to many Landlords.

Doc,.........

We've retained our attny, docs turned in, our petition is prepped, and we're ready to go. But we had a "B" of a Landlord who believed everything that went wrong with her 60 year old DIY house was our fault. Our attny told us to get the Hell out of there ASAP. So the attny would not file us until we got moved and settled. Because no one will rent to you while you're in an active BK. Once you file, until you're discharged, you can add Creditors at any time.

Now that put us in a real quandry. How to get another Rental place while breaking a lease and having terrible credit.

From advice learned here, we steered away from the big apt complexes and focused on properties owned by individuals. We told everyone up front about the Foreclosure. When eyes glazed over, we knew they weren't the Landlords for us. One guy seemed sympathetic enough, but his Credit Check app was worse than anything you'd fill out to get hired by the CIA or FBI.

The Landlord we wound up with was wonderful. She's a Real Estate Agent so she completely understood about Foreclosure. All she asked for was a letter of employment. I told her we could get that no problem but asked if a copy of Hubby's paystub would do. She was fine with that. So we signed the lease, paid the security deposit, and we had a new place to move to.

[jane taylor]

Just skimmed through your post and will reply more later. Just wanted to tell you that you are not alone!!! One of the antecedents of our BK was my losing a huge contract (long, messy story!) two years ago. That job would have paid over twice what I am making now and it took me forever to find another job.

Hang in there and keep your chin up! Don't let anyone try to tell you that you are a second class citizen. Maybe we could have all done some things differently, but hey, couldn't everyone! None of us are perfect.

Lean on us and we will walk with you through all of this.

Peace and blessings!

jane

[lrprn]

You and your family have been through some very traumatic and stressful events - we are all sorry to hear that. It's easy to feel overwhelmed and totally out of control but take a deep breath and don't rush yourself into making snap decisions - you have time to do this right.

If you have lawyer friends or acquaintances, ask them who are the best consumer bankruptcy lawyers in town. If you don't have someone to ask, then shop around and make appointments with a few - most bk lawyers give a free half-hour to hour consultation. You can explain your situation and get insights on your best options.

Your pending lawsuit around your termination could add some complexity. As I recall, if you get a financial judgment from the courts within 180 days of filing bankruptcy, the trustee can take it. Other older, wiser heads here can provide more accurate information about that if I'm off base. I do know you will have to list the suit in your bankruptcy petition if your employment lawsuit is filed before you file for bankruptcy.

These are tough times for you - stay around here and you won't believe the moral support that will come your way. There are good and caring people here, and we've all been where you are right now to some extent. Hang in there - you are doing the right thing making your decisions with knowledge, not on impulse. Keep us posted on what you find out, ok?

[doc10house]

Not a lawsuit

It wasn't quite like that, and I don't have any possibility of a monetary award coming my way. The lawyer was to help me preserve a professional license, and he failed to be of any help to us. But we still owe him a ton of $$.

Thank you all for your kind words, support, and advice. We have an appt with an attorney 1 week from tomorrow.

I'm still not clear, though...if we're not living in our house, but own it and have no equity, and we rent to these people, can we still reaffirm it after a 7 filing and let them stay, or will they be evicted and the house sold?

[SinkingFast]

If you go leasing to this couple before BK, that could open up a whole new can of worms.

Income alone will be an issue. Now you'll have to show the rent as income and then break out your mortgage, taxes, insurance and such as expenses against the income.

Then there's the issue of the Homestead Exemption. If you aren't living there AND renting it out while living elsewhere in a rental situation, then the house is really not your Homestead. Since we weren't planning on keeping our house anyway, none of the expenses associated with the house were allowed, and we weren't gonna be able to use the Homestead Exemption. The same may apply to you. Rental house, therefore no Homestead Exemption allowed.

No Homestead Exemption could be a real hurt to the pocket book depending on the State you live in and how your Exemption is worded. Many States allow you to apply any unused portion of your Homestead Exemption as a WildCard to other property. If that's the case for you, you may have some property that your Household Goods or Motor Vehicle Exemptions may not cover. The additional WildCard from the Homestead could come in handy.

Personally, and this is just a suggestion here,.......... Don't do a thing with the house until the BK is said and done. File, get thru your 341 at least, possibly even wait until Discharge and then look at leasing out the house. That's a whole set of issues you won't have to deal with going thru your BK. Go into the BK as simple and staightforward as possible. The less the Trustee has to investigate the better. Less chance for the Trustee tie up your discharge while he/she roots around thru your finances and possibly uncover assets. Assets that you might have to turn over, or negotiate to keep.

[aa06a47]

It wasn't quite like that, and I don't have any possibility of a monetary award coming my way. The lawyer was to help me preserve a professional license, and he failed to be of any help to us. But we still owe him a ton of $$.

Thank you all for your kind words, support, and advice. We have an appt with an attorney 1 week from tomorrow.

I'm still not clear, though...if we're not living in our house, but own it and have no equity, and we rent to these people, can we still reaffirm it after a 7 filing and let them stay, or will they be evicted and the house sold?

Honestly, why worry about it? Don't be emotionally attached to a home that for all "financial" purposes is worth zero to you. If your going to file BK, then get a fresh start. If you rent it to someone, you will still have to repair it, still have to worry that the renters won't pay you, and at the end of the year if they walk, you still have a house worth very little (no equity) and eating you alive in payments.

Also, don't worry about attorney fee's. They are unsecured debt. I would assume had you been able to retain the professional license, you wouldn't be here right now...the attorney didn't do his job, so your broke. I don't think you have to worry, most BK lawyers won't care, that attorney is just another creditor.