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No return calls from the serving company until the check didn't arrive. Now you're their best buddy. They know that its' "Game over Man". If they called six months ago, it would have been a re-finance not purchase money contract. Now the second has no value what-so-ever and the first is getting lower by the month. Now they are underwater too.
The same house that was $260K several years ago is now being sold "NEW" by the same builder for about $175K.
That's a lot of debt to eat when you're that far underwater and no chance of renting it out. I've calculated that it will take 15 yrs payment just to get even.
And when there are eight newer homes already owned by the bank on your street it's time IMO, to say Adios and good-bye. The next door neighbor is feeling the heat also.
That's a tough position to be in. In your shoes I'm not sure what I would do. I know what the "right" thing to do is..stick with your contract, but that's in theory and reality could be a complete different ballgame based on circumstances.
Are any of the overly judgemental people on this site in a terrible situation with their house like many of us? I have an 815 FICO score and a prime loan. I've always been responsible with my credit, but I did my extremely poor financial decision 18 months ago. I bought a house in the dreaded CA Inland Empire. I had just received a large raise at work and the housing market became slightly affordable. I was orginally going for an FHA loan, which I had applied for and the bank told me to start looking for a home. We found a home that we liked and entered escrow to purchase the home.
Literally 24 hours before we were supposed to close on the house the bank called and said we made too much money to qualify for the FHA Loan, but they'd put us into interest only that had about the same monthly payment. I refused and eventually got a 40 year payment that was about a few hundred dollars more a month. When closing I asked the bank how much the property taxes would cost because they didn't want to do a impounds account due to not having any cash in hand. They told me $4000 a year. I did make mention of the fact that I thought it was a huge stretch for me to afford the monthly fixed payment, but the bank assured me that a) this market was strong and not going anywhere but up b) my income would continue going up and the payments would become more affordable. I reluctantly agreed because I had always really wanted to own a home. Looking back at the affordability indexes in CA I really should have seen that the market had to crash, but I convinced myself I should get in while I can afford it in case the market goes up to a point that I will never be able to afford.
18 months later the house I paid $372,000 for is now going for around $199,000 and there are probably 25 of them banked owned within walking distance. My income has actually gone down instead of up. Bonuses I had received in 06 were used to caculate my monthly income, but given the economic downturn my company is no longer giving bonuses. I actually feel grateful to still have a job, but in a year this may not be the case. The price of gas has nearly doubled. The price of food has gone up signifigantly. My HOA dues have gone up by 35% since moving in. The property taxes that the bank said would be around $4000 a year turned out to be $6100 a year. Its getting to a point now where I really can't afford to buy food in order to pay my mortgage. I guess according to a lot of people on this web site I should just stop eating to pay my mortgage?
I got a fixed rate prime loan, but I hope my circumstances explain why its so tempting to walk away. I put absolutley no money into the house as a down payment. I'm personally not sure what to do at this point. I spent a long time building a good credit rating and right now thats all thats keeping me in my home. I obviously made an extremely poor decision, but I never had an intention of flipping the house for a profit. I really don't like putting my payment into a black hole and I seriously doubt my house will recover even over a 10 year period. Any ideas other than how immoral it would be to walk away?
EDIT: In my current job I am on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week so a 2nd job is not a possiblity.
Are any of the overly judgemental people on this site in a terrible situation with their house like many of us? I have an 815 FICO score and a prime loan. I've always been responsible with my credit, but I did my extremely poor financial decision 18 months ago. I bought a house in the dreaded CA Inland Empire. I had just received a large raise at work and the housing market became slightly affordable. I was orginally going for an FHA loan, which I had applied for and the bank told me to start looking for a home. We found a home that we liked and entered escrow to purchase the home.
Literally 24 hours before we were supposed to close on the house the bank called and said we made too much money to qualify for the FHA Loan, but they'd put us into interest only that had about the same monthly payment. I refused and eventually got a 40 year payment that was about a few hundred dollars more a month. When closing I asked the bank how much the property taxes would cost because they didn't want to do a impounds account due to not having any cash in hand. They told me $4000 a year. I did make mention of the fact that I thought it was a huge stretch for me to afford the monthly fixed payment, but the bank assured me that a) this market was strong and not going anywhere but up b) my income would continue going up and the payments would become more affordable. I reluctantly agreed because I had always really wanted to own a home. Looking back at the affordability indexes in CA I really should have seen that the market had to crash, but I convinced myself I should get in while I can afford it in case the market goes up to a point that I will never be able to afford.
18 months later the house I paid $372,000 for is now going for around $199,000 and there are probably 25 of them banked owned within walking distance. My income has actually gone down instead of up. Bonuses I had received in 06 were used to caculate my monthly income, but given the economic downturn my company is no longer giving bonuses. I actually feel grateful to still have a job, but in a year this may not be the case. The price of gas has nearly doubled. The price of food has gone up signifigantly. My HOA dues have gone up by 35% since moving in. The property taxes that the bank said would be around $4000 a year turned out to be $6100 a year. Its getting to a point now where I really can't afford to buy food in order to pay my mortgage. I guess according to a lot of people on this web site I should just stop eating to pay my mortgage?
I got a fixed rate prime loan, but I hope my circumstances explain why its so tempting to walk away. I put absolutley no money into the house as a down payment. I'm personally not sure what to do at this point. I spent a long time building a good credit rating and right now thats all thats keeping me in my home. I obviously made an extremely poor decision, but I never had an intention of flipping the house for a profit. I really don't like putting my payment into a black hole and I seriously doubt my house will recover even over a 10 year period. Any ideas other than how immoral it would be to walk away?
The judgement throughout this site and other sites with this topic has truly made me so terribly sad. I've stayed away and tried not to read it.. as I feel like complete poop already about the situation.. can't help but feel like white trash when you're loosing your home.. and judgement from strangers.. and ones that are so harsh, just make you feel worse. BUT.. I know DEEP down, I'm a good honest person who simly made a mistake. And i have spend the last 8 months desperately trying to work things out with my lender..
Seel.. i was paying a 6.95% interest rate and making $3000/ month mortgage payments.. and no NOT on a LARGE home.. but a starter here onLI. I CAN afford house at a fixed rate.. just no one would give me one because i work for myself and had no real established credit history when I purchase (meaning.. i didn't have credit cards everyone!!). By the time refinancing came around it was impossible. Lost equity int he home I PUT money into and still self employed. Score was better..but now not high enough with the new bar they set back in the summer when they locked up.
But.. I'm walking away SMARTLY . . a great website is CDGexclusive.com. They are in Brewster NY but have a plethora of information and links to the NAFPP.org and you can find help in your state.
My mortgage servicer went to bat and is stilltrying to get it all sorted out.. but I stopped paying my morgage when the new adjustment took effect. Simply can't afford the new payment ANd why keep throwing money into a house i'mg oign to loose anyway especially since they are refusing to do anything like fixing hte interest rate! My "investor group " on wallsteet that owns my mortgage ar NOT bending one inch. I"m not subprime. btw. .i'm ALTA.. and there are more of usout there then there are subprime.
But.. there is a light. I will get out of this WITHOUT a foreclosure and will move OFF LI into aless expensive area. I laugh at the banks because htey will take a HUGE loss on my house.. meanwhile i was begging and pleading with them to let me stay and continue to overpay for my house. I am loosing ALOT .. like over $80K of my life savings I put into this house taht I really worked hard for..but I know that my life will be less stressed when I get out from under this mess.
The judgement throughout this site and other sites with this topic has truly made me so terribly sad. I've stayed away and tried not to read it.. as I feel like complete poop already about the situation.. can't help but feel like white trash when you're loosing your home.. and judgement from strangers.. and ones that are so harsh, just make you feel worse. BUT.. I know DEEP down, I'm a good honest person who simly made a mistake. And i have spend the last 8 months desperately trying to work things out with my lender..
Seel.. i was paying a 6.95% interest rate and making $3000/ month mortgage payments.. and no NOT on a LARGE home.. but a starter here onLI. I CAN afford house at a fixed rate.. just no one would give me one because i work for myself and had no real established credit history when I purchase (meaning.. i didn't have credit cards everyone!!). By the time refinancing came around it was impossible. Lost equity int he home I PUT money into and still self employed. Score was better..but now not high enough with the new bar they set back in the summer when they locked up.
But.. I'm walking away SMARTLY . . a great website is CDGexclusive.com. They are in Brewster NY but have a plethora of information and links to the NAFPP.org and you can find help in your state.
My mortgage servicer went to bat and is stilltrying to get it all sorted out.. but I stopped paying my morgage when the new adjustment took effect. Simply can't afford the new payment ANd why keep throwing money into a house i'mg oign to loose anyway especially since they are refusing to do anything like fixing hte interest rate! My "investor group " on wallsteet that owns my mortgage ar NOT bending one inch. I"m not subprime. btw. .i'm ALTA.. and there are more of usout there then there are subprime.
But.. there is a light. I will get out of this WITHOUT a foreclosure and will move OFF LI into aless expensive area. I laugh at the banks because htey will take a HUGE loss on my house.. meanwhile i was begging and pleading with them to let me stay and continue to overpay for my house. I am loosing ALOT .. like over $80K of my life savings I put into this house taht I really worked hard for..but I know that my life will be less stressed when I get out from under this mess.
Good luck
My house is also just a starter home and the first home I've ever purchased. The problem for me is not my rate. The problem is the the bank understated some of the costs of the home along with many other costs rising greatly over the past 18 months with my income actually dropping a bit even though i haven't lost my job. That coupled with hardly being able to buy food with my currently level of income/payments and the fact that my house is worth close to half of what I paid for it is making it difficult to do anything with it. I guess I should call my lender before I actually get behind... maybe ask about a short sale. Actually the reason for posting here is to see what success if any that people have had dealing with this type of situation and the bank. If it matters my lender is Countrywide.
My house is also just a starter home and the first home I've ever purchased. The problem for me is not my rate. The problem is the the bank understated some of the costs of the home along with many other costs rising greatly over the past 18 months with my income actually dropping a bit even though i haven't lost my job. That coupled with hardly being able to buy food with my currently level of income/payments and the fact that my house is worth close to half of what I paid for it is making it difficult to do anything with it. I guess I should call my lender before I actually get behind... maybe ask about a short sale. Actually the reason for posting here is to see what success if any that people have had dealing with this type of situation and the bank. If it matters my lender is Countrywide.
Yes.. definately start calling them right away.. let them know of the situation. Given how Countrywide is in a lot of hot water, if you tell them you were mislead along with other things they are likely to work with you in resolving the issue. Especially if your mortgage is an ARM. If it's not it may be tougher.. you could ask to extend the maturity of the loan and that may lower your monthly payments.
My plan is this. I'm not going to put it on the market and sell it short sale..why go through all that when I'd walk away with nothing anyway. No. I'm going to milk the situation for as long as possible sot hat I can take what woudl be my mortgage payments that I've pad in the past and put it away and save it . In the meantime , I'm workign with a group that negotiates for a short sale with the bank and either buys it themselves or sells it after I'm gone. I dont' have a foreclosure on my record and I've done the responsible thing. AND atleast I canget SOMETHING out of my house (ie' living in it for as long as possible iwthout paying the mortgage) before I have to leave. That is the SMART way to get out of a tough situation.
Though I'm sad to leave hte house I truly do love and put my herat into.. my life and my marriage will be much better without the stress. We way overpaid nd found that living here wasn't worth what it is costing us.and so we are also leaving htis area all together for greener. .and much larger property pastures! WE'll rent for awhile and then we'll be able to buy again.. this time a lot smarter for sure.
Are any of the overly judgemental people on this site in a terrible situation with their house like many of us? I have an 815 FICO score and a prime loan. I've always been responsible with my credit, but I did my extremely poor financial decision 18 months ago. I bought a house in the dreaded CA Inland Empire. I had just received a large raise at work and the housing market became slightly affordable. I was orginally going for an FHA loan, which I had applied for and the bank told me to start looking for a home. We found a home that we liked and entered escrow to purchase the home.
Literally 24 hours before we were supposed to close on the house the bank called and said we made too much money to qualify for the FHA Loan, but they'd put us into interest only that had about the same monthly payment. I refused and eventually got a 40 year payment that was about a few hundred dollars more a month. When closing I asked the bank how much the property taxes would cost because they didn't want to do a impounds account due to not having any cash in hand. They told me $4000 a year. I did make mention of the fact that I thought it was a huge stretch for me to afford the monthly fixed payment, but the bank assured me that a) this market was strong and not going anywhere but up b) my income would continue going up and the payments would become more affordable. I reluctantly agreed because I had always really wanted to own a home. Looking back at the affordability indexes in CA I really should have seen that the market had to crash, but I convinced myself I should get in while I can afford it in case the market goes up to a point that I will never be able to afford.
18 months later the house I paid $372,000 for is now going for around $199,000 and there are probably 25 of them banked owned within walking distance. My income has actually gone down instead of up. Bonuses I had received in 06 were used to caculate my monthly income, but given the economic downturn my company is no longer giving bonuses. I actually feel grateful to still have a job, but in a year this may not be the case. The price of gas has nearly doubled. The price of food has gone up signifigantly. My HOA dues have gone up by 35% since moving in. The property taxes that the bank said would be around $4000 a year turned out to be $6100 a year. Its getting to a point now where I really can't afford to buy food in order to pay my mortgage. I guess according to a lot of people on this web site I should just stop eating to pay my mortgage?
I got a fixed rate prime loan, but I hope my circumstances explain why its so tempting to walk away. I put absolutley no money into the house as a down payment. I'm personally not sure what to do at this point. I spent a long time building a good credit rating and right now thats all thats keeping me in my home. I obviously made an extremely poor decision, but I never had an intention of flipping the house for a profit. I really don't like putting my payment into a black hole and I seriously doubt my house will recover even over a 10 year period. Any ideas other than how immoral it would be to walk away?
EDIT: In my current job I am on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week so a 2nd job is not a possiblity.
I am as is I think well known on this list of the opinion that you have every right and, in fact, duty to walk if it is the right thing to do.
At the moment though I would try like mad to stay in place until the legislaton in Washington runs its course. Sounds to me like you are virtually certain to qualify if it happens. And that could solve your problem.
Are any of the overly judgemental people on this site in a terrible situation with their house like many of us? I have an 815 FICO score and a prime loan. I've always been responsible with my credit, but I did my extremely poor financial decision 18 months ago. I bought a house in the dreaded CA Inland Empire. I had just received a large raise at work and the housing market became slightly affordable. I was orginally going for an FHA loan, which I had applied for and the bank told me to start looking for a home. We found a home that we liked and entered escrow to purchase the home.
Literally 24 hours before we were supposed to close on the house the bank called and said we made too much money to qualify for the FHA Loan, but they'd put us into interest only that had about the same monthly payment. I refused and eventually got a 40 year payment that was about a few hundred dollars more a month. When closing I asked the bank how much the property taxes would cost because they didn't want to do a impounds account due to not having any cash in hand. They told me $4000 a year. I did make mention of the fact that I thought it was a huge stretch for me to afford the monthly fixed payment, but the bank assured me that a) this market was strong and not going anywhere but up b) my income would continue going up and the payments would become more affordable. I reluctantly agreed because I had always really wanted to own a home. Looking back at the affordability indexes in CA I really should have seen that the market had to crash, but I convinced myself I should get in while I can afford it in case the market goes up to a point that I will never be able to afford.
18 months later the house I paid $372,000 for is now going for around $199,000 and there are probably 25 of them banked owned within walking distance. My income has actually gone down instead of up. Bonuses I had received in 06 were used to caculate my monthly income, but given the economic downturn my company is no longer giving bonuses. I actually feel grateful to still have a job, but in a year this may not be the case. The price of gas has nearly doubled. The price of food has gone up signifigantly. My HOA dues have gone up by 35% since moving in. The property taxes that the bank said would be around $4000 a year turned out to be $6100 a year. Its getting to a point now where I really can't afford to buy food in order to pay my mortgage. I guess according to a lot of people on this web site I should just stop eating to pay my mortgage?
I got a fixed rate prime loan, but I hope my circumstances explain why its so tempting to walk away. I put absolutley no money into the house as a down payment. I'm personally not sure what to do at this point. I spent a long time building a good credit rating and right now thats all thats keeping me in my home. I obviously made an extremely poor decision, but I never had an intention of flipping the house for a profit. I really don't like putting my payment into a black hole and I seriously doubt my house will recover even over a 10 year period. Any ideas other than how immoral it would be to walk away?
EDIT: In my current job I am on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week so a 2nd job is not a possiblity.
While your story is a sad one, I guess I would say you need to quit blaming the bank for your mistakes.
While a good loan officer will point out what should be "affordable" for a buyer...that number varies a great deal among individuals. Is the bank supposed to know that your bonuses are not going to continue? Also a FYI-FHA loans do not have an income restriction. You could make $1mil/yr. and get a FHA loan, so not sure what happened there.
As far as the taxes, here again a good loan officer should be able to find that out, but the burden for knowledge of the yearly taxes falls on the buyer. It is a very easy number to find out unless it is new construction. Did you have a real estate agent?
Given how Countrywide is in a lot of hot water, if you tell them you were mislead along with other things they are likely to work with you in resolving the issue.
There is a big difference from being mislead to being uninformed.
As for the legislation currently in the works.. yeah.. it would help my situation.. and if it passes in July .. I could certainly use it. regardless that i've not started with the Foreclosure process (which in NY state takes a LONG time before you actually have to leave.. and for me it won't get that far as I am working on a resolution that will allow me to walk away without one). But.. here's the thing.. i have NO FAITH that this dumb nut of a president we have will allow it to pass. He's threatening to veto it..
okay..so we can gie MILLIONS to save BEAR STEARNS.. but he wont' pass a bill that would keep American families in their home.. WHATEVER!! It's very aggrevating.
Location: Monterey Bay, California -- watching the sea lions, whales and otters! :D
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TristansMommy: Given how Countrywide is in a lot of hot water, if you tell them you were mislead along with other things they are likely to work with you in resolving the issue.
I think each person needs to do what is good for them -- in the end, it is your own family's life -- no one else really cares about your family, except your family -- that's just how it is. Take care of yourself, first.
Also, I have Countrywide, too and they are scoundrels. They "forgot" to put two extra land parcels of mine into escrow for my taxes -- it was in the paperwork, but they "neglected" to follow through -- until I got a letter from the Tax Assessor's office! Countrywide kind of "hahahaed" it and made light of it -- but that puts my monthly payment higher than stated (fortunately, they weren't expensive parcels)! I did find out that Bank of America bought out Countrywide, so they are going down that long country road -- "Bye, bye, Countrywide."
I'd venture to guess it's about half and half -- some people just were not budgeting correctly and anticipating costs beforehand, or life threw them a curve ball, and in the other half, I know for sure that people were taken by the brokers/bankers. Unfortunately, it's hard to win a lawsuit against a multi-million-dollar corporation, so we'll hear the sad-sack tales of companies going out of business (but protecting assets), while the little guy gets bashed but receives no compensation.
For the record, I'm not leaving my home -- it's not for sale, I'm not foreclosing, I just see it happening all over. I think many of these bankers are crooks....just my opinion.
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and they are scoundrels. They "forgot" to put two extra land parcels of mine into escrow for my taxes -- it was in the paperwork, but they "neglected" to follow through -- until I got a letter from the Tax Assessor's office! Countrywide kind of "hahahaed" it and made light of it -- but that puts my monthly payment higher than stated (fortunately, they weren't expensive parcels)! I did find out that Bank of America bought out Countrywide, so they are going down that long country road -- "Bye, bye, Countrywide." 
