Taking things from house

[ssmdem]

Gosh, I can totally relate! In the beginning I was almost about to lose my mind and I'm serious. Combined with the bankruptcy, letting the house go was almost more than I thought I could handle. It's been awful. My daughter keeps telling me to just let go because after all it's "just a house" and she is right but we have lived in our house for 16 years. Raised our kids in it. I told my daughter (who is 29 by the way), how our house represents years of hard work so it's more than just a house. Her father and I working our a$$es off just to make the mortgage every month. We did it and after 15 years it was paying off since we were half way through the mortgage. Then I lost my job. The place I had worked at since I was 19 years old (51 now) closed it's doors. Six months later my husband lost his job. I have had many sleepless nights and for the first time in my life experianced anxiety so severe that my hair was falling out. I went to a family counselor for a brief time but she was expensive.. at $100 an hour, I couldn't afford it.
We are still in our house, but the notice of sale date says June 23rd. Walking out the door and closing it behind us for the last time is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do but I have to find a way to be strong so I can move forward with my life..
God bless all of us.

Bless your heart!! I sincerely do wish you all the best and many happy days ahead of you. This was definitely the house I intended on being in forever and raising my children in. So I would have been the same way had it been taken away that far down the road with all the memories attached to it. Thankfully, I guess if there's a bright side, we've only been in it for 3 years. Don't get me wrong - we've got good memories - but even my kids are ready to move back somewhere (anywhere) that mommy and daddy can be happy again. My 12 year old has been my rock - sad to say. She's the one who's told me that it's just a house. "Mommy, I'd rather be somewhere that we can all be together than stay here and you and Daddy have to be working all the time and always worried about money."

I just pray that my kids are learning a valuable lesson through all of this so they don't make the same mistakes we did. I've been very honest with them through all it, even though they're still young, 12 and 9, as to exactly why it's happening and what we should have done differently. I hope that it's making a lasting impression on them - not as a sad memory - but a learning tool for them.

[lorrieduke]

Gosh, I can totally relate! In the beginning I was almost about to lose my mind and I'm serious. Combined with the bankruptcy, letting the house go was almost more than I thought I could handle. It's been awful. My daughter keeps telling me to just let go because after all it's "just a house" and she is right but we have lived in our house for 16 years. Raised our kids in it. I told my daughter (who is 29 by the way), how our house represents years of hard work so it's more than just a house. Her father and I working our a$$es off just to make the mortgage every month. We did it and after 15 years it was paying off since we were half way through the mortgage. Then I lost my job. The place I had worked at since I was 19 years old (51 now) closed it's doors. Six months later my husband lost his job. I have had many sleepless nights and for the first time in my life experianced anxiety so severe that my hair was falling out. I went to a family counselor for a brief time but she was expensive.. at $100 an hour, I couldn't afford it.
We are still in our house, but the notice of sale date says June 23rd. Walking out the door and closing it behind us for the last time is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do but I have to find a way to be strong so I can move forward with my life..
God bless all of us.

[willsurvive]

Best of luck to you as well. Helps in a weird way to know we're not the only one going through all these emotions.

Lately we've started the "you know, really don't like the way these floors turned out, not sure I would do this again, wish we had done this differently, etc." Don't know if that's just a coping mechanism to help me let it go by finding all these faults in it - but whatever, it's doing the trick.

We do that too, all the time. At this point we've stop fixing things that break, it's kind of sad but doesn't make sense to put any money into it at all. I also stopped decorating 18 months ago. We really don't have the money, but it also was my way of detaching too. It will all work out I know it will, it's just when you are in the thick of it, it's hard to see through it.

[ssmdem]

I have nothing to add other than I know how you feel. We built this house from the ground up, sweat equity galore. So much time spent, but the way I look at it at this point we can't afford it (dh lost his job), and I don't want a huge mortgage ever again! I became emotionally unattached to it a LONG time ago (we haven't make a payment in 18 months). The house has served its purpose of housing our family during a very, very difficult time. I'm ready to move on, find another HOME and raise my family and remove myself from the nightmare we have been in for a long time. I just wish dh would have full-time employment, but alas it's not meant to be just yet.

Good luck in whatever happens!!!

Best of luck to you as well. Helps in a weird way to know we're not the only one going through all these emotions.

Lately we've started the "you know, really don't like the way these floors turned out, not sure I would do this again, wish we had done this differently, etc." Don't know if that's just a coping mechanism to help me let it go by finding all these faults in it - but whatever, it's doing the trick.

[willsurvive]

I have nothing to add other than I know how you feel. We built this house from the ground up, sweat equity galore. So much time spent, but the way I look at it at this point we can't afford it (dh lost his job), and I don't want a huge mortgage ever again! I became emotionally unattached to it a LONG time ago (we haven't make a payment in 18 months). The house has served its purpose of housing our family during a very, very difficult time. I'm ready to move on, find another HOME and raise my family and remove myself from the nightmare we have been in for a long time. I just wish dh would have full-time employment, but alas it's not meant to be just yet.

Good luck in whatever happens!!!

[ssmdem]

I wouldn't bet on it selling for anywhere near that at a Foreclosure sale administered by the court. Pretty much only investors (and the bank) buy houses sold at foreclosure sales in Florida. You only have about 10 days to close the sale. So you can't bid on it then go get financing. I've never heard of a bank pre-qualifying someone for a foreclosure property. You can be pre-qualified for a loan, but you can't get all the paperwork, survey, title search, etc done between the auction date and the court required close date.

That's why most of the time the banks end up being the only bidder at $100.

An investor or other buyer would have to have cash or a pre-existing line of credit to make it work. That's a big part of the reason banks are in no hurry to foreclose. They end up buying the property and then listing it with a real estate agent. Now they are out the foreclosure fees in addition to not collecting any mortgage payments.

If similar homes have sold in your area for 200k or less, an investor wouldn't pay anywhere near that.

The friend we're discussing it with has the cash and brought it up to us. He'd just buy it outright. I'm guessing he'll turn around and do a mortgage or HELOC on it after the fact. Like I said, we really haven't discussed it in depth yet. I'm just not sure I want to do it. That's alot of money to be involving friends in the picture - no matter who's idea it is.

Plus bigger house, bigger bills -- just kinda thinking the simple life sounds so good right now!!

[BCA2009]

This one is mortgaged at $345K right now - appraises for about between $285K and $300K -- but in reality, most homes in the neighborhood are only selling (when they actually do) for less than $200K --- so my thoughts are it will auction for about $225K - $250K. Who knows?? It may just not be in the cards for us to keep this house -- I'm ALMOST emotionally to the point I don't care anymore. We designed it ourselves, built it ourselves, put a year of our lives and hard work into it -- but at this point, it's almost just got too many bad memories in it. It appraised for $400K the day we closed on it. We knew then it was really more than we could afford and should have turned around and put it on the market that day.

I wouldn't bet on it selling for anywhere near that at a Foreclosure sale administered by the court. Pretty much only investors (and the bank) buy houses sold at foreclosure sales in Florida. You only have about 1 day to close the sale. So you can't bid on it then go get financing. I've never heard of a bank pre-qualifying someone for a foreclosure property. You can be pre-qualified for a loan, but you can't get all the paperwork, survey, title search, etc done between the auction date and the court required close date. a buyer also can't inspect the inside of home prior to the foreclosure sale unless the home owner allows it. There can be numerous title and lien issues also. The buyer has to pay any outstanding taxes and other possible liens before thet can get a clear title.

That's why most of the time the banks end up being the only bidder at $100.

An investor or other buyer would have to have cash or a pre-existing line of credit to make it work. That's a big part of the reason banks are in no hurry to foreclose. They end up buying the property and then listing it with a real estate agent. Now they are out the foreclosure fees in addition to not collecting any mortgage payments.

If similar homes have sold in your area for 200k or less, an investor wouldn't pay anywhere near that.

[ssmdem]

This one is mortgaged at $345K right now - appraises for about between $285K and $300K -- but in reality, most homes in the neighborhood are only selling (when they actually do) for less than $200K --- so my thoughts are it will auction for about $225K - $250K. Who knows?? It may just not be in the cards for us to keep this house -- I'm ALMOST emotionally to the point I don't care anymore. We designed it ourselves, built it ourselves, put a year of our lives and hard work into it -- but at this point, it's almost just got too many bad memories in it. It appraised for $400K the day we closed on it. We knew then it was really more than we could afford and should have turned around and put it on the market that day.

[bulletproof77]

I owed 180K on the first, 19K on the second..House sold to investor last month for 92K...4 bedrooms, 2 and a half bath, pool, huge lot on a golf course..Yes, that "California Real Estate Recovery" is just rolling right along..LOL..maybe for someone else..

[ssmdem]

In the 30's people's neighbors would bid on the home for practically nothing let the neighbors back into the home and they would pay what they could until they were back on their feet. Got any friends/relatives that could help you? The bank has hired bidders there to help them drive the price up why not you?

Yes we do - and honestly, the idea has been thrown out there. We just haven't all sat down and seriously discussed it. We'd pay the mortgage until we could buy it back from them. Too many extenuating factors right now to know what we're going to do.

[HMT]

In the 30's people's neighbors would bid on the home for practically nothing let the neighbors back into the home and they would pay what they could until they were back on their feet. Got any friends/relatives that could help you? The bank has hired bidders there to help them drive the price up why not you?

[ssmdem]

Yes, I waited for my property to foreclose for over a year. The entire time I was not living in it, but it was still in my name.

The property reverted back to the bank on 4/6/2010 and they then filed a change to the deed on 4/30/2010. I was able to see this change online about two weeks later.

My first mortgage was 191k and my second was 70k. The value that the bank bought it back at was 125k .... lol.

I took a washer and dryer from my place and did not replace it even though it came with a pair. I did all this while the property was still in my name and had not had the locks changed by the bank yet.

I seriously don't ever want to know what our house will sell for. It's going to make me sick to my stomach because I know it's actually going to sell for something that in reality we can afford.

I'm assuming as long as we're in the house and it's not vacant that the banks won't change the locks - I'm talking pre-foreclosure. One attorney mentioned them doing that occasionally even when the house is obviously not vacant, but he said, but you can always break a window. ??? Just hoping we don't have to go that route.

[Amy26]

Yes, I waited for my property to foreclose for over a year. The entire time I was not living in it, but it was still in my name.

The property reverted back to the bank on 4/6/2010 and they then filed a change to the deed on 4/30/2010. I was able to see this change online about two weeks later.

My first mortgage was 191k and my second was 70k. The value that the bank bought it back at was 125k .... lol.

I took a washer and dryer from my place and did not replace it even though it came with a pair. I did all this while the property was still in my name and had not had the locks changed by the bank yet.

[ssmdem]

Deeds in Florida are recorded by the Clerk of the Court. That office is the official record keeper for all state court and official records. You can go on the website and lookup all of the transactions related to you (or anybody else, its amazing what you can find). Do a search on your name.

But unless you signed over the deed or it's been thru a foreclosure sale, it's still in your name.

Thanks again for your help today and for taking the time to understand what I was asking.

[ssmdem]

So, I guess you are doing whats known as a "buy and bail" ? If you are already late on the first, a smart mortgage banker may be able to figure that out and good luck getting another mortgage. Banks are getting pretty hip to that practice too..Plus if you are only a month late, you haven't really begun the process. In Florida, you could be looking at years...As far as the title question, you really can't make a bank do anything. They may cancel your trust sale and just keep it in limbo for years. They will be in no hurry to unload your property as the banks all seem to have this false belief that property values will return to "those glory days of yesteryear"...And that will never happen..

I'm not sure what you're referring to with the "buy and bail" comment. The property we would be living in at that point we're not late on -- don't plan to be. I've already said it's not that far underwater, so we plan on keeping it current, but we're not reaffirming it. What we'll do with it in the future I don't know - depends on the economy at that point. We bought it to use as rental income - it has always stayed rented - and I see no reason why it wouldn't continue to be if we converted it back to a rental after we bought another house. Never said I was late on that mortgage.

If they choose to delay the foreclosure, that's fine too. It's still in our name - we'll just stay here rent-free, continue to rent out the other property, and save our money. We're not in the $$ part of Florida - things don't work the same in our area as they do in central and south Florida. But even if it takes years - even though that's not what it's doing (I've checked - depending on bank 12-24 months), it's just longer I have to save up.