[RJ17015]

Originally Posted by chance2jump

Nope, you're not the only one.

Live and work in Ohio (escaped from MI June 07), pay a mortgage and taxes on a parcel about 20 miles outside of Lansing. Would cost us easily $25K (that we don't have) at closing - assuming we could find a buyer. We just keep paying that mortgage instead....

No plans to come back to MI, either.

OUCH -- I'm so sorry -- that's a LONG time. I pray something happens soon for you.

[dkrogers22]

Rent the house if you can , wait til the market turns around and then sell.
renters that can afford that kind of rent wont damage the property usually.

[RJ17015]

Thanks -- we've thought about that, but were also told that the real estate market probably won't rebound for at least 5 years, and every day the house continues to depreciate RAPIDLY. So we'd be tied to this house for a while.

Our real estate agent estimates we could rent it in a couple of months -- but the rent they quoted us would not cover all the mortgage. I guess it's better to take a hit monthly than to take a HUGE hit to sell, and a hit on our credit.

We just hate to keep putting more $ toward this money pit. We spent $20K in repairs/improvements to sell the darn thing.

[lilbear]

I'd say its worth giving a try, what's there to lose? Even if the rent doesn't cover the entire mortgage, isn't that better than paying the entire mortgage every month while paying for expenses where you live now? I mean, it just might be worth trying and economy is always up and down. Sure, MI has been going downhill for several years now but one person can't know when it'll change or not.

I kinda hate to say it, but I hope your real estate agent is working for YOU and not just considering what money they can make if they can get your house to sell at all. After all, if it were to sell for less than you need for it, its not your agent that has to pay the $20k or whatever you need to make it work.

[michiganirish]

Originally Posted by RJ17015

Sad thing -- our real estate agent is advising us to go into foreclosure -- the agent who brought the bid to us is suggesting a short sale -- either way it will affect our credit. We have yet to buy a house here, and I fear IF (God forbid) my husband loses his job again, we'll have to relocate again -- can we afford to do so with poor credit. To this point have had excellent credit, and we really don't want to lose that at this point in our lives -- we're both 50+.

Your situation sounds very close to what my husband and went through, with only 10 years left on our mortage my husband lost his job. For nearly 2 years he looked for a job. We went through every bit of our retirement savings paying the house note. We tried to work with the bank on the house but they were no help at all only offering to delay 3 months of mortgage payments. My husband finally was offered a job in Bufalo NY. At that point we had no choice but to move and with only a couple of thousand left in our savings we made the decision to let the house go. We paid the house notes right up until the day we moved out. We are both 57 and believe me after owning 1 other home and a life time of excelent credit we were devastated.

But just a piece advise no matter what route you take in resolving your particular dilema, at our age it isn't worth the stress to hang on to something when it is only going to cause stress. We are now renting, and most probably won't ever own a home, again but then with the way things are it doesn't look as if the economy will recover anytime soon, renting seems to be the best option.

We have both come to terms with what has happened, and after nearly 2 years of debilitating worry we decided that we will work now to pay our bills, enjoy our families and be happy.

Good luck, our prayers are with you.

[RJ17015]

Thanks all!

We did the stupid thing -- we accepted the offer, and will be taking out a loan for $50K to close next month.

My husband just wants out -- he doesn't want to put another dime into the house in MI -- it was his decision -- since he's the only one with a job, I have to respect that. We couldn't afford to damage our credit -- in case he has to find another job -- God forbid -- and we have to relocate again.

Thanks again -- sorry for all those others that are going through the same thing. I pray things work out better for you.

[bigwilly]

WOW, what kind of monthly payment do you have on the 50K loan?

[RJ17015]

Don't know -- we haven't gotten the loan yet -- but with our credit we should qualify -- we have a small amount of $ left in a retirement fund we can borrow against. We're hoping to get a 10 year loan. My husband was suppose to make phone calls today -- I know the company we had the HEL was willing to give us $25K -- so we may have to tap more than 1 place for the funds.

[dragon_fly_12]

As for your credit... (this is just speculation, I am not an expert)

Yes, walking away would cause you to take a major hit on it. But, that will be something that is taken into consideration since there are so many others in your shoes. Another part of it is.. yes, it'll look bad, but everything else that is still good (c.card payments, car notes, etc) will continue to improve your credit. I would say that the sting of a foreclosure at this time US history would only last a few years. I have considered this perspective based on discussions I've had with people in the mortgage industry.

Yes, you can move with "less than perfect" credit. You might not be able to get into a luxury home / apt, or be able to purchase anything right away, but it certainly will not stop you from being able to find someplace to live. A lot of landlords just charge higher security deposits. And, again, if you still have accounts that remain in good standing .. the hit on your credit would not be nearly as high of an impact.

We have discussed dropping our own mortgage since its on property we'll probably never live on again, we're paying higher and higher taxes each year because so many people are foreclosing, and it is a huge dent in our monthly expenses. We don't because we had a cosigner, making it not an option. It sucks, but gotta have faith that it will all work out!

[jeanniepep]

Wow, I feel so lucky that we only had to take out an $11,000 loan in order to get out of our house! Of course, we bought it for about $92K and were only in it for less than 5 years. It took us 14 months to get an offer, we just had to take it. I like to look at it more like saving $80K rather than losing $11K. We spent a whole year paying to heat two houses, not to mention paying for other utilities, lawn service, etc - but the real drain was emotional. When we finally closed on that thing it was like a great weight lifted off our shoulders!

We're renting now (still in MI, sadly) but hoping to move out of state once we get out from under a huge pile of debt (we already had several high credit card balances before the $11K loan). We're VERY lucky that my husband has a stable job that he can do from almost anywhere, so now we're really only constricted by our own bad choices in the past.