Should I Walk Away?

Fight them to win.

Talk to a good lawyer before you stop paying, to make sure you're not setting yourself up for trouble later. I believe there's a "you walk away.com" type website out there as well. In some states the mortgage holder can possible come after other assets than the house, which would be a real problem if you own a business, so make sure you know what you're getting into.

But in general, if you don't figure you'll have any problem finding an acceptable place to live afterwards, paying twice in mortgage of what you could pay in rent, when there is very little chance of house prices appreciating anytime soon, doesn't sound like that good an idea to me.

If you have a wife and kids you need to consider the impact of your decisions on them. Otherwise, if you are alone and just want to get off the debt cycle do what's best for you, your money and wealth will then be put to better use elsewhere. If your income cannot be verified than so much the better. IMO, there is nothing worse for the banks than unoccupied homes, because that's when they really fall off the cliff, which is why I think it is taking a year or longer for many foreclosures to finalize. I would not recommend a short sale, as it will only devalue other functioning properties in your immediate vicinity (though you say there are already abandoned homes nearby). The fact that you have structured your affairs outside of the whole credit score nonsense is a huge plus.

It's up to you, you signed the note but obviously times have changed significantly. If I were in your shoes and was single, I might be considering the same thing.

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"The consolidation of the states into one vast republic, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of the ruin which has overwhelmed all those that have preceded it."

- Robert E. Lee, 1866

1. In writing, ask for a copy of the original documents just to see if they can produce.
2. Write them a letter saying refinance or you will walk away.
3. Offer to return the house ownership to them without them having to go through the expense of foreclosure.

They should know you mean business by now.

I've heard of folks that have researched their mortgage notes... in a large % of those notes, there were errors made that essentially negated the mortgage... and people owned their homes outright after that.

I think you have 3 or 5 years, if I remember correctly. I am in my home for longer than that, or I would have looked into it.

I wish I could help you with a name, or website, but I don't remember any of that... shoot, it could very well be a scam, too... but from what I recall, a guy would look over your note as a FREEDOM initiative.

Good luck in whatever path you choose.

15, 20 and 30 year mortgages are one piece of the housing bubble pie, IMO.

If the banks would have Biblical mortgages (7 years) I'd have more sympathy for them... on second thought, I wouldn't... lol
Bankers are one of the many people that are killing our Republic.

If You can afford the note You might as well stick around for a while and see what happens. If You abandon the house now You might loose out on the opportunity to have Your debt forgiven when the feds trash the dollar and create another currency. Or better yet inflation might go through the roof and Your mortage payment will end up being about the same price as a stick of gum...

I'm not really counting on these variables but We never know whats going to happen in the future. The economy could get way better in 2 to 3 years which I seriously doubt but it could. The property values could also continue to rise due to all the extra citizens that Obama is going to create.

let me know. I know a guy who can help you challenge the mortgage legally with or without an attorney...

how simple or hard depends on what state you are in.. ...

Wasnt that you making fun of.Mexicans below. Yoiget your headshavef yet. Racist."The revolutionary forces have to take civil society before they take the state, and therefore have to build a coalition of oppositional groups united under a hegemonic banner which usurps the dominant or prevailing hegemony." -Strinati, Dominic.

Make sure they have the deed and the wet ink note. If they do not they sold the note and would be stealing from you so to speak. A judge in Ohio I believe it was recently reversed 10,000 foreclosure because the company trying to repossess or who had repossessed weren't the actual owners

Do you have fire insurance? :P

1. Short Sale - means you owe more than the property is worth and you work with the bank to forgive you of your loss. You can do this ONLY if you can prove HARDSHIP. Monthly debt is more than your income, your financial situation has changed (job loss, medical reasons). If you can prove that you can't afford to carry the house, the bank will work with you to do a short sale. You have time to do this if you are in a state that puts the borrower on the deed over the lender. Because it takes time for the courts to relieve the borrower of their rights. If you are in Chicago, let me know. I'm a licenced agent. www.callyslist.com

Keep in mind that banks like short sales because it's cheaper for them in the long run. No court fees and the property is kept in better condition than a foreclosure.

2. Let the property go to foreclosure because you just don't want it and you don't qualify for a short sale. The bank could come after you for any of your assets or garnish your income at some point. 401K, savings or other properties that you might own. If a bank sees that you have assets during a short sale they may not approve you and will eventually file a judgement for your assets. If you have nothing other than your car and don't show much income I would look further into this. In the meantime save you money. It could take a few years depending on your state before anything happens. I heard Florida is not even filing foreclosures at the same rate. Banks do not want to show anymore loss on their books. You could sit there for a long time. Imagine the stock market when all of these bad investments are forced to hit the books?

I would call a local agent in your area and get their opinion on your options as well as your accountant and lawyer. Ask around. In my short sale and foreclosure class last week, this question was asked in reference to someone who had assets and wanted to walk on an investment property. The instructor basically said the consequences of "just walking away" from your payments are not totally known at this point. We are all in somewhat unchartered territory. Good luck!

and ask for help. Then camp out at his house until he does.

$100 a month each.

That's all that matters.
If you can't pay, or can barely survive by paying. That should carry a lot of weight in your decision.
We lost our house, but we went into default. I had a choice between taking care of medical bills generated by my wife's illness, and paying mortgage.
I chose my wife, of course. So I was in a different boat.
I can tell you that the bank's attitude will change, once you go to default.
Once we were in default, we stayed for about 5 months.
We called the bank EVERY DAY. Trying to work out a solution. They were TOTAL jerks (it was GMAC). some days they laughed at me. I kept my cool, and very politely worked my way through the maze. One person would say we qualified for a re-fi. The next person would say we didn't.
They never kept records of previous calls. Every call was like a brand new call. The bank did NOT want to work with us. they got their money via a bailout. AND they got our home.
And we were only literally 20 minutes late on the payment that put us into default. We had juggled for a while, and it killed us.
In OUR case..It was the best thing. That was over a year ago. No one has bothered us. It all belonged to the bank now.

We had no problem renting a home, for less money. Landlords are having a hard time too. They're willing to take a risk. Our landlord just called today, as a matter of fact. Her mother is ill, and she can suddenly relate to my wifes illness. On her own volition, she is coming by after the holidays to renegotiate a lower rent. We didn't even ask! She's a great woman and we are lucky to have found her.

If you have other questions, I'd be happy to answer them in the forum here.
I may not have covered all of your issues.

I am a real estate broker, i deal with this daily. Only you can decide.

What is a mortgage? who funded it? Google Jerome Daly case. I dont believe anyone has any moral obligation to pay with their labor the "obligation". In fact when you stop giving the banking industries your energy/labor we start to win.
I sued my bank, now im working on various other angles, this is how I want to go about being patriotic.

As far as your state, each state is different, find out if you have redemption, some states have up to a year after the sheriff sale, ive seen people in their home without making any payments up to 2 years and longer. Some banks are more aggressive than others, I think the banks aren't foreclosing aggressively because it would show the losses are much worse than they are reporting. Some states have very quick turn times.

Is it a judicial or non judicial state? if its non judicial and they foreclose does that waive the lenders right to deficiency? here it does but only on the moving bank, so if theres a second, they could still seek a deficiency judgement.
usually what the banks do is discharge the loan and sell it to a 3rd party debt collector, which you have a lot of remedies available to you in the FDCP.

If you do let it go, stay there as long as possible and don't make any payments.

Most likely the bank had insurance on the loan and when it defaults, they get paid, the insurance company was repaid in the bailout (most likely AGI) and the debt was pushed on the 14th amendment citizen under the beau of public debt. so the bank gets the home, the promissory note monetized, and the insurance claim, the 14th amendment citizens get the debt, the bank never gave any consideration..........

Facing foreclosure (or walking away?)? Don't pack just yet

Read this first:

http://fwd4.me/0ea

Solution to tyranny: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi

you would be considered debt free if you just walked away. You would still have that debt. The morgtage will always be your debt until you pay it.
You will have trouble renting if you have no or bad credit. Sell it. Unfortunately you did make a promise to the banksters to pay them.

I don't think it is right though that we have to take losses on our property or net worth because they screwed up and we the tax payer are bailing them out. I think they should have to adjust our morgtages accordingly. We aren't responsible for the loss of our property value. They are. We didn't buy more than we could afford the system is robbing us and budgeting is useless when they keep doing things to change the game.
At least in our case. I was in the middle of improving my property to have a small boarding kennel for extra income and they cut off my equity line even though we were ahead on the payments. Hopefully (if inflation and all the other crap that is going on that is beyond our control) we can manage to pay the bill without the extra income because we didn't get quite that far yet. So far just a lost dream. I can't work away from home Driving problems) So I wanted to have a kennel on my property. I have been a pet sitter for over 20 years and have too many animals to leave here. And dammit this is my home of 21 years. Nothing fancy but my little country home with some acreage and my animals. I raised my 3 kids in this little house and a couple other people too. 1150 square feet can hold a lot of love. I wish you luck but if you can get rid of that morgtage cleanly I would. Or maybe you could rent the house to someone else for more than the payments.

I haven't done it but I know a lot of people here in Kalifornia that are just walking away from their homes. My sister did it due to a divorce. she filed for bk...problem solved. My brother did it (bro and his wife lost their jobs) he was paying $2900 a month for a house he paid 300K for. The banks didn't want to help because his house was worth140k. In my neighborhood I am the only one practically still living there and thats because I rent... there was no way I was going to buy in a bubble market. Now i'm not buying do to the dollar losing value.

But over all, you get at least 6 months to stay in your house (Cali) during the whole forclosure process. You get a bunch of certifed letters that you can throw away and end of story.

I am sure with the way the market is there is still plenty of places you can rent without anyone giving you trouble about it...

I was in a similar situation...made payments on a house for year and then sold it. I came out close enough to even that I don't remember if I gained a little or lost a little.

I've been a renter ever since, and I am practically debt free. I still owe a little on my car and I've got regular monthly expenses.

My savings account is climbing up towards an amount where I could buy a house (or a cool RV) with cash if I ever wanted to in the next 10 years or so.

Isn't THAT a nice place to be?!