Auction the house?

[hopenpray]

I'm halfway through a ch 13. 18 mos. of a 36 month plan. Also in the middle of a divorce now. Atty says the divorce is no big deal as long as we keep making payments. I am living in the marital home and wife has moved out. I don't want to be there anymore. Its too big, and am actually looking to take a travelling job on the road. In short, I would like to just unload everything I have and go away, start over. Between the initial divorce, reconciliation, bk, and subsequent divorce, life as I know it has been destroyed. I have nothing keeping me here but the house and a couple vehicles/ personal property. Wife agrees to help with selling property, i.e. filling out paperwork, signing off, etc.

I have considered auctioning the house to move it quickly. I am not underwater, and am pretty sure I can get at least what I owe if not maybe $20k more than that.

Has anyone auctioned a house in ch 13? Was the trustee good with that? I also have a couple of extra cars and a boat. Ideally, I would have one big auction and get rid of everything not bolted down, take my truck, a few belongings and hit the road. In the past, my atty has said I just need to get approval when selling anything, and we did that with another vehicle. Problem is, with an auction, you don't know what you are selling it for until it happens. The last sale approval took weeks to get from the trustee. I am going to call my atty, but just wanted to see if anyone had any experience or pointers. Experience is the best teacher. I have read that the Trustee might require me to pay the bk off and give an early discharge, which wouldn't hurt my feelings, but we are not repaying 100% either, so I am thinking I could lose anything that I make on the sale? Maybe have to pay more than our plan requires?

Anything would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[HHM]

The sale of the asset is not so much the issue as the potential change in circumstances relative to your housing payment. But, yes, a major change like that would need trustee approval.

As for the auction technique, I suppose if you are allowed to have a "reserve" that is enough cover the balance due on all mortgages and costs, then sure. But you cannot simply auction the house for less than you owe (plus costs) without bank approval. Which would be a non-starter since you would then be doing a short sale which takes months and defeats the purpose of doing an auction.

I suspect you are probably overly optimistic on what you think you can get for the house, but hey, who am I to judge.

[hopenpray]

Thanks HHM, I was hoping to get your input.

Actually, Its pretty realistic that I can at a minimum break even on the house. Its the one thing in this whole mess that I was fortunate about. I got the house for a steal when I purchased it. Probably one of the only people I know that is not underwater on their house.

As far as the change of circumstances in housing payment, yes, I intend to reduce that drastically, say $950 to $200/mo. Planning to rent a room. Think that will cause me an issue this late in the game?

[TheBajan]

If you aren't paying 100% to the unsecured, they will likely keep any of that $20k you are hoping to get from the auction. You'll simply lose it to pay extra to the creditors as your lawyer said. It would mean possibly finishing your plan early but you wouldn't get to keep the money.

[keepsmiling]

Are you paying to keep the boat and the cars?
If so can you just amend and surrender them?