5 months of no mortgage payments and no notice of default?

[technoreid1]

Thanks for your advice! It's great! We have a minimum of 4 more months here by law.... but we have to move on with our live...

Yes - it's pretty funny how people think they will get foreclosed on after 1 missed payment!

And thats strange the house is still in your name - is it still empty?

thanks, techno

I felt, as most people do - okay I don't make a mortgage payment, the lender is going to come take the house. My atty told me after I had not paid for 3 months (which I consciously did - stopped paying that is), that I would have "no more than 90 days" before they'd come take the house. So my last payment was in April 2006 and I was out of the house by 7/1/06.

I also rented the next place, and like you, I have multiple animals - so it was very difficult to find a place to rent that would accept them. At the time, I was on very bad terms with my family as well, so could not go to them for any type of financial (or emotional) assistance. I certainly understand your feeling of not knowing what's going to happen with your house and being a nervous wreck.

On the other hand, unless I am completely misunderstanding how foreclosure works - you get your "notice of default" with a date to pay and then have some time (maybe 60 days or so?) before you HAVE to get out. I don't know what type of real estate market you are in - I was concerned that I'd be told to get out before I could find a place that would rent to me and that would work for me.

I lived in that expensive tiny place from July 2006 until May 2006 when I got back on good terms with my folks. They are now renting a house to me owned by their company, which works well for me as it is an affordable rent and when something goes wrong (ie, oven stops working, no hot water for months at a time), they actually FIX IT - which was an issue at the first house.

So I completely understand your confusion Techno, and, to be honest, depending on how much of a risk taker you guys are - I would think you are doing the right thing. You have a rental place NOW that you think will work, that you can get into and credit/BK is not an issue. It would be sad if you let it go and then got to the point where you had to move and then you couldn't find anything. A bird in the hand, right?

I think it's unusual that I have not paid anything to the mortgage company since April 2006 and the house still shows as mine BUT even knowing what I know now, I don't think I'd be comfortable enough to have stayed in the house, not paying the mortgage and taking that chance. But throughout this BK, nothing has surprised me. Things just never go the way you think they will. I laugh when I have friends who tell me "oh I missed a mortgage payment, I am afraid I will get foreclosed on!"

Good luck to you. Sounds like you all have your ducks in a row. Things will get better for you.

[Lesa13]

Sure is. I do have good neighbors there that keep an eye on it and one of my neighbors actually is planning to go buy it on the "courthouse steps" if he is able to. He is an awesome carpetner and plans to gut the house, make it fancy and sell it and make a profit. Good luck to him!

[nazstar]

We stopped paying our mortgage last month and are moving out this weekend. I have a 6 month old baby and am 2 months pregnant, so I needed to "just feel settled". Also, we live in a community with an HOA. They are known to foreclose for missed payments within 2-3 months. If they do that, the mortgage company will be forced to move to protect their asset and will come after me sooner, rather than later. I'm wondering if I just keep paying the HOA, can I delay the foreclosure. I need to wait at least 8 months to file for 7 - I'm quitting my job on March 1 to be a stay at home mom and then we need to wait 6 months for our income to drop off to file.

[technoreid1]

Was it a house or condo?
I am not sure about paying the HOA -if that will delay anything....

I would think that if you keep paying your HOA dues that
there would be no problem with you living there even though you quit paying your mortgage... no sure?

Are you just letting the the property go?

Wish I could help more.....
thanks, techno

We stopped paying our mortgage last month and are moving out this weekend. I have a 6 month old baby and am 2 months pregnant, so I needed to "just feel settled". Also, we live in a community with an HOA. They are known to foreclose for missed payments within 2-3 months. If they do that, the mortgage company will be forced to move to protect their asset and will come after me sooner, rather than later. I'm wondering if I just keep paying the HOA, can I delay the foreclosure. I need to wait at least 8 months to file for 7 - I'm quitting my job on March 1 to be a stay at home mom and then we need to wait 6 months for our income to drop off to file.

[nazstar]

It is a house. We are letting the property go. In a nutshell, when my husband bought it (before we met), the sellers lied on the seller's disclosure about structural damage due to termites. We sued the previous owners and the inspection company. $100K in legal fees - 4 years and we didn't even get our legal expenses covered. The house is mortgaged for $410K (he refinanced to pay out his exwife and then we took out a second mortgage to keep the legal case going) and the same house down the street, with no damage is selling for $225K. Well, let's say they are ASKING for $225K, nothing is actually selling here. The damage to our house would be almost $100K to repair. With another baby on the way, we are outgrowing it, the market sucks, the mortgage is way out of our price range at this point and will be even further out of our range when I quit my job to stay at home with the 2 babies.

We moved so soon because a friend referred us to a realtor who didn't care about our credit and had a beautiful townhouse ready for move in. We only needed to come up with first, last and security deposit. We needed peace of mind and I needed to feel settled. If it were just my husband and I, we would have stayed here as long as possible with no rent. But, we also have 3 dogs and the rental accepted them with just a $300 pet deposit. Plus, with a 6 month old, I needed to make sure she had a roof over her head and not risk getting kicked out with no where to go. Our family lives in another state and we just didn't have a lot of options. Although my brother offered for us to move in with him, it really wasn't an option. He lives in New Jersey and we live in Florida. My husband would have to quit his job - which is a good one (they let him work from home 3 days a week so he gets to spend more time with our daughter at full pay).

[kl030505]

I really wish my lender was as backed up as yours is! I was only 2 months late when they sent the nod and intent to forclose. BUT, I've spoken with my attorney and we will continue to stay here for another 3 months. I also live in a nonjudicial state, but because of the soldiers and sailors and the advertising they have to do, we are just going to stay and then the day before it goes up for auction, he will file the bk papers and put it in the automatic stay, and then they have to file the relief and then re-advertise, so it's going to give me a total of 6 months with no mortgage payment which is getting us the opportunity to buy a used car for my DH and save up for rent and deposit on an apt.

I understand your wife's desire to hurry up and get settled. Living in limbo is really hard for me too, but I know that the $$ we are saving is giving us a huge help in the long run.

[Hillbilly]

Moving out of a foreclosed property before receiving a official legal notification to do so, gives one a sense of "moving on", the security of having successfully located new place, and the peace of mind that comes from being settled.
On the other hand, remaining until being notified to vacate, offers none of these, What it does offer however, is a monetary recompense for the mental discomfort.
While you remain occupying the premises, you remain mortgage and rent payment free for as many months as it takes to complete the entire process.
And now days, as has been mentioned, the process is sometimes moving very slowly, with the banks having their own reasons for delaying the NoD, and beginning foreclosure.
(They really want you to find refinancing ,or to work out a repayment plan with them, they DON'T want to foreclose, as they now own way too many houses already...... that are sitting empty with no buyers in sight, and it sure looks like they are going to end up owning a LOT more.)
So if you move out and begin to pay rent on a place, every payment is one that you could have kept, lets say for example that your new place cost you $900 a month, and if there had been another 6 months that you could have remained, your savings would have been $900x6=$5,400.
My next door neighbor was allowed to remain in his house for 18 months after it was "sold" at auction, to his own mortgage co. and even then he chose to leave voluntarily, and never did receive any notice to vacate. Saved himself a quite fair hunk o'change. I have heard of some staying on in their foreclosed house for as long as 2 years!! Think of what they were able to save on living expenses.

I stayed in my foreclosed house for another 8 months following its sale at Court auction, and believe that I could have remained much longer. My payments had been $1500 a month, thus in 8 months time I saved $12,000.
Didn't just sit on my duff though, as during this time I was able to locate and buy another house with 100% financing, Best place I've ever had.
Each situation is unique, and each will need to do their own homework to determine what is the best course for them.

[technoreid1]

totally understand.... we feel like we need to move on and no amount of money can really help us feel better.(hopefully we will be signing the lease this sat).. we have saved enough for first and deposit + 600 for a pet deposit and we have a total of 2 dogs, 3 cats....It will feel good to get out of our home thats in foreclosure - we have not made any payments since july and we are really sick of staying here (although I could stay longer, my wife needs to feel settled) So I feel we are getting a very fair deal considering our bad credit and out pets....(600 pet deposit for 5 pets is very very fair we think) They also (as far as we know) did not do a credit check (we told them our credit was shot) and judged us on US and our character. Most places I went to wanted $300 per pet (these were management companies) + a "credit app" fee or a "credit check fee" In our situation we were 100% honest about our situation and told them we were losing our home.....I think it's best to be upfront and truthful about all of this....And it has helped us get a place!!!! There are good people out there willing to rent to those with credit problems/foreclosures......People seem fairly understanding during these times....
We have not yet filed our BK yet as we wanted to get a place "set-up" first and will file a little later after we get moved in.
Also having peace of mind is very important and is sometimes more important than sitting in a house you will lose.

techno

It is a house. We are letting the property go. In a nutshell, when my husband bought it (before we met), the sellers lied on the seller's disclosure about structural damage due to termites. We sued the previous owners and the inspection company. $100K in legal fees - 4 years and we didn't even get our legal expenses covered. The house is mortgaged for $410K (he refinanced to pay out his exwife and then we took out a second mortgage to keep the legal case going) and the same house down the street, with no damage is selling for $225K. Well, let's say they are ASKING for $225K, nothing is actually selling here. The damage to our house would be almost $100K to repair. With another baby on the way, we are outgrowing it, the market sucks, the mortgage is way out of our price range at this point and will be even further out of our range when I quit my job to stay at home with the 2 babies.

We moved so soon because a friend referred us to a realtor who didn't care about our credit and had a beautiful townhouse ready for move in. We only needed to come up with first, last and security deposit. We needed peace of mind and I needed to feel settled. If it were just my husband and I, we would have stayed here as long as possible with no rent. But, we also have 3 dogs and the rental accepted them with just a $300 pet deposit. Plus, with a 6 month old, I needed to make sure she had a roof over her head and not risk getting kicked out with no where to go. Our family lives in another state and we just didn't have a lot of options. Although my brother offered for us to move in with him, it really wasn't an option. He lives in New Jersey and we live in Florida. My husband would have to quit his job - which is a good one (they let him work from home 3 days a week so he gets to spend more time with our daughter at full pay).

[technoreid1]

I think you have hit the nail on the head! I could not have explained it any better.....It seems as if you are for staying until the last minute to save money...?? Which is smart financially!

If we could only deal with "not moving on" and stay to save more money - that would be great in a perfect world- but the mental discomfort is too hard right now....knowing that your family (+ 5 pets) will eventually have to leave. I feel this is where a lot of the discomfort comes from......knowing you have to go eventually - so why not move now and help ease some of the pain.... We got 5 months of no mortgage and we need to move on....(but we could get 5 or 6 more) I can see if I was single with 1 small pet it would be different.... I would probably wait it out as long as I could - but I have a family and we need some sort of peace of mind.

There is the possibility we could get 5 more months here (have not recieved the NOD yet!).

* or what would happen if the mortgage company wants to come to some kind of loan mod (after we have moved out) that would allow us to stay there? They COULD do this at the last minute? What do you think? We could then just rent it out I guess....


Thanks, techno

Moving out of a foreclosed property before receiving a official legal notification to do so, gives one a sense of "moving on", the security of having successfully located new place, and the peace of mind that comes from being settled.
On the other hand, remaining until being notified to vacate, offers none of these, What it does offer however, is a monetary recompense for the mental discomfort.
While you remain occupying the premises, you remain mortgage and rent payment free for as many months as it takes to complete the entire process.
And now days, as has been mentioned, the process is sometimes moving very slowly, with the banks having their own reasons for delaying the NoD, and beginning foreclosure.
(They really want you to find refinancing ,or to work out a repayment plan with them, they DON'T want to foreclose, as they now own way too many houses already...... that are sitting empty with no buyers in sight, and it sure looks like they are going to end up owning a LOT more.)
So if you move out and begin to pay rent on a place, every payment is one that you could have kept, lets say for example that your new place cost you $900 a month, and if there had been another 6 months that you could have remained, your savings would have been $900x6=$5,400.
My next door neighbor was allowed to remain in his house for 18 months after it was "sold" at auction, to his own mortgage co. and even then he chose to leave voluntarily, and never did receive any notice to vacate. Saved himself a quite fair hunk o'change. I have heard of some staying on in their foreclosed house for as long as 2 years!! Think of what they were able to save on living expenses.

I stayed in my foreclosed house for another 8 months following its sale at Court auction, and believe that I could have remained much longer. My payments had been $1500 a month, thus in 8 months time I saved $12,000.
Didn't just sit on my duff though, as during this time I was able to locate and buy another house with 100% financing, Best place I've ever had.
Each situation is unique, and each will need to do their own homework to determine what is the best course for them.

[nazstar]

* or what would happen if the mortgage company wants to come to some kind of loan mod (after we have moved out) that would allow us to stay there?

Good luck with that! Everyone told me to try that and I did. The mortgage company essentially pulled my credit report and said, "ooooh! Sorry. WE can't help you. Plus you have a second mortgage." But, at least I tried.

[Hillbilly]

Yeah we had tried that too, our first mortgage, plus a second, had led to an unbearably high, long term housing expense.
Our credit at that time was still excellent (700+) so we called up our original mortgage company and attempted to get the total refinanced back into one monthly payment.
They refused because the total we needed would have been 90% of the appraised value, and they would only go 80%. We shopped around for a few more months and were unable to find a mortgage that didn't tack on big fees and higher interest rates that ended up making the payment even higher than the one that we were already struggling with.
At that point we still had our excellent credit, and were not behind on any payments.

While attending a family wedding in another state, we were shown a property that was being offered for a little over half the price of our other house, and with 100% financing at a very reasonable interest rate. Upon returning home we faxed the realtor the financial information requested, and three days later he called and told us that we had been approved, and all we needed was to agree on a date to sign.
Soooo....Because our original mortgage holder had proven totally inflexible, refusing to work with us so that we would have been able to keep our home, we stopped making mortgage payments to them and went ahead with the purchase of our present home.
The house that we left is still sitting empty (along with 4 other adjoining foreclosed homes on the same block) A very nice home it was too, one that we had poured heart and soul (and much $$$) into for 31 years. Now it belongs to a bank.
They could have refinanced, and we would have continued making the payments on it for the rest of our lives.

But we are very happy where we are now, our living expenses are only about half of what they used to be, and being retired and on pension, with no equity or big buck assets, they pretty much have left us alone, other than the phone calls from the old HELOC lender.
We have not needed to file BK, and will not unless they force it, but either way they will get nothing.

I look at it this way now, they had a goose that laid golden eggs , when the goose got sick, instead of nursing it back to health, they chose to try to continue to squeeze those golden eggs out ......... so This goose flew the coop.

[Westlane]

I once had great credit too. It is amazing how lenders will shoot themselfs in the foot because of some stupid bank policy. I say, let them have the house....let them have all the houses!