I sent this email to my attorney on Tuesday, and I'm waiting for a reply. In the meantime, I'm wondering if any of you have opinions on how I should handle this?
For background, the house is worth roughly 180-185K (per zillow), and our first is roughly 150K, the second is roughly 180k, and the third is roughly 45k. We're okay with walking away from the house, but we're also interested in the possibility of keeping it with a modification and maybe working a deal out with the 2nd and 3rd (attorney said we may be able to pay them off for 10%, but it's a crap shoot right now). So, here's the email I sent my attorney. Any opinions are welcome!
"I have a question for you regarding modifying/paying our first mortgage.
To jog your memory, we have not paid our mortgage since I lost my job in October. So, we did not make the Nov 1, Dec 1, or Jan 1 payments. You advised us to apply for a loan modification and make a payment on the 1st mortgage (Wells Fargo) by Feb 1. (We get paid on the 1st, so that's the soonest we could make the payment.)
I spoke with Wells Fargo, and they are sending me a packet to fill out and fax back to them. They said it could take three months to a year to get a reply on the modification.
Here's the problem: the representative said that if WF does not receive a payment by January 19th, then the house could go into foreclosure any day after that. She said a payment before that day would generate another "30 days until foreclosure" letter/time clock. She said that I can only mail in the payment. They will not take a payment over the phone, nor can I pay online.
Here's my question: (assuming they don't foreclose in the 12 days between the 19th and the 31st) Do I go ahead and make the payment on the 1st of February and every month thereafter (hoping for a modification to come through in the next 3-12 months) and take the chance that they will still go ahead with the foreclosure process even though I've made payments? The representative indicated that once the 19th of January has passed, all bets are off, and they can/will foreclose--even if I make regular payment--until a modification is in the system."
For background, the house is worth roughly 180-185K (per zillow), and our first is roughly 150K, the second is roughly 180k, and the third is roughly 45k. We're okay with walking away from the house, but we're also interested in the possibility of keeping it with a modification and maybe working a deal out with the 2nd and 3rd (attorney said we may be able to pay them off for 10%, but it's a crap shoot right now). So, here's the email I sent my attorney. Any opinions are welcome!
"I have a question for you regarding modifying/paying our first mortgage.
To jog your memory, we have not paid our mortgage since I lost my job in October. So, we did not make the Nov 1, Dec 1, or Jan 1 payments. You advised us to apply for a loan modification and make a payment on the 1st mortgage (Wells Fargo) by Feb 1. (We get paid on the 1st, so that's the soonest we could make the payment.)
I spoke with Wells Fargo, and they are sending me a packet to fill out and fax back to them. They said it could take three months to a year to get a reply on the modification.
Here's the problem: the representative said that if WF does not receive a payment by January 19th, then the house could go into foreclosure any day after that. She said a payment before that day would generate another "30 days until foreclosure" letter/time clock. She said that I can only mail in the payment. They will not take a payment over the phone, nor can I pay online.
Here's my question: (assuming they don't foreclose in the 12 days between the 19th and the 31st) Do I go ahead and make the payment on the 1st of February and every month thereafter (hoping for a modification to come through in the next 3-12 months) and take the chance that they will still go ahead with the foreclosure process even though I've made payments? The representative indicated that once the 19th of January has passed, all bets are off, and they can/will foreclose--even if I make regular payment--until a modification is in the system."