Foreclosing in CA, Moving to OR-help (Portland, Salem: sales, renter, good credit)

[havasulady]

JoJoNow,
Good Luck to both you and your husband.
You don't owe anyone a explanation of your circumstances.
You are doing the best you know how.
Remember, whatever you do and wherever you are, make the most out of it and ENJOY LIFE to its fullest. Be Happy!!!

Nameste,
Deb

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by scone

I don't agree with Silverfall's assessment, but since she or he is a real estate agent who works in the Salem area and charges by the hour, you might be able to get a rental from a distressed builder through him or her. Just make sure the builder isn't in foreclosure too, otherwise the house could be auctioned off right from under you.

I agree that you should not rent a home that has been served with a NOD. Not a wise plan.

[scone]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

I agree that you should not rent a home that has been served with a NOD. Not a wise plan.

Unfortunately, you can't always tell when the builder is ABOUT to go belly-up. And you can never be sure that he won't try to sell the house out from under you, in order to avoid foreclosure. And while you could fight that if you had a lease, it would cost money, hence more debt, which the OP is trying to avoid. Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

[no one special]

Hi! Bankruptcy...foreclosure...been there- done that! Not that I wish to provide any financial info about who I am or anything like that but as you can see by my name, I am certainly no millionare that needs to worry about being stalked.

So, I didn't foreclose, was actually able to sell the house outright. No short-sale or nothing. Got lucky there but not before things had already gone bad. The 750 credit score went below 500 after the bankruptcy and the NOD. Selling the house did a little bit of good but not much. I did get to walk with a little cash from the sale though and haven't done a darn thing with my credit but last I looked was nearing 650.

Did I have a problem finding a place to rent? Nope! Was pretty easy. I actually moved into the 1st place I applied, which ironically turned out to be 3 blocks away from the house...so I am still in my same neighborhood. And it is a good neighborhood in Beaverton. Middle class I guess but not a lot of activity. The streets are quiet at night but filled with traffic in the day.

Here's the deal. (I am a 12 year mortgage processor that knows how to get things done so you can trust me.) The sob story on paper is great. Don't make it a book. Don't tell your life story. All these people want to know in the end is was it an extenuating circumstance and will this happen to you again. Someone else's health issues are usually the most forgiven. Your health issues would sound like they will have a problem with you later.

But it also sounds like you have not missed any payments just yet? So your credit is fine! Rent a place while it is still good and they probably won't even care if you have a job lined up yet. I rented an apartment for a friend in Chicago all the way out here and I didn't even move into it. Piece of cake. (That was before the "gone bad" scene.) Also, you could live in your current house for 6-9 months without making a payment- your credit would be shot but you would then have 6-9 months of saving up that money. How? Well, I'd like to tell you but it is very frowned upon!

Chances are if you are going from a $4000 payment to $1100 you will not be laughed at and kicked out the door. But...what will you do for work when you get here? I would already have that in mind before I spoke with any landlords.

I like the idea someone said about renting your place out. If you can't sell it because of the current market it really is a good idea to rent it out. Although then you have to worry about upkeep and property damage but check into Property Management Companies. They really are the way to go if you won't live nearby your rental property. Even if you only got $2500 a month out of it depending on the work you are in you might be able to afford to keep up the balance of the payments while renting a place here and then you have something that is building equity. You could always sell it later.

Don't let this whole credit thing get you down. I am living proof that we humans bounce back and we move on. It is just your ego that lets you be ashamed but really we have all had something happen to us that made us look bad. Besides, it is just a matter of time and we will all be broke with bad credit anyway- even the millionaires. The one up note I can tell you is visit landlords with confidence, not shame. The more confidence you carry the more they will believe that this was a one time oopsie and you will be forgiven. And yes- do stay away from renting from Craig's List. There are some local scammers who have been abusing it around here. Just use the Oregonian and go the old fashioned way of highlighting the ones that sound good. You might find the same info on www.OregonLive.com

[bccatlady]

Jojonow, I wish you the best of luck in Oregon. Please whatever you do, if you have pets, don't leave them behind. I volunteer with several animal rescue groups and we have seen first hand what devastation this foreclosure crisis had meant to our four-footed friends.

I wish you and yours the best!

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by scone

Unfortunately, you can't always tell when the builder is ABOUT to go belly-up. And you can never be sure that he won't try to sell the house out from under you, in order to avoid foreclosure. And while you could fight that if you had a lease, it would cost money, hence more debt, which the OP is trying to avoid. Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

I agree. You would be relying on the agent to know the reputation of the builder (ie good to his word, etc).

[scone]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

I agree. You would be relying on the agent to know the reputation of the builder (ie good to his word, etc).

And even a very honest agent can be lied to. Some of the builders are in denial themselves, especially the young ones who haven't been through a few shakeout cycles. I can think of one in particular, just in the blogs recently, who thought and said he was doing great right up until he crashdived. An agent could take a hit to his/her own rep easily, in that situation. Again, that doesn't do the OP any good. It's hard to know whom to trust, when people have such a huge incentive to lie their heads off.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by scone

And even a very honest agent can be lied to. Some of the builders are in denial themselves, especially the young ones who haven't been through a few shakeout cycles. I can think of one in particular, just in the blogs recently, who thought and said he was doing great right up until he crashdived. An agent could take a hit to his/her own rep easily, in that situation. Again, that doesn't do the OP any good. It's hard to know whom to trust, when people have such a huge incentive to lie their heads off.

At some point you need to trust your instincts.

[scone]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

At some point you need to trust your instincts.

That's great, if you have good instincts, common sense, sound business judgment, etc. Does that sound likely here? The whole point is that the OP has really messed up a series of business decisions: she's massively over her head in debt both in credit cards and the mortgage, has a business failure (the husband), and is walking away from a mortgage voluntarily, with no sense of remorse at all. Now she's wondering if a landlord will consider her an acceptable risk. My instinct tells me... not so much.

I mean, seriously, would you rent to someone with an admitted history of financial screw-ups? There's a pattern here, and I think most landlords have the instincts required to figure out what that pattern is. My instinct also tells me you would not advise an investor client to rent to a person with this sort of history.

If you can get them into a real rental, not a "pre-foreclosure," that's one thing, but otherwise, they could easily be in even more trouble than they have already. Frying pan --> fire.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by scone

That's great, if you have good instincts, common sense, sound business judgment, etc. Does that sound likely here? The whole point is that the OP has really messed up a series of business decisions: she's massively over her head in debt both in credit cards and the mortgage, has a business failure (the husband), and is walking away from a mortgage voluntarily, with no sense of remorse at all. Now she's wondering if a landlord will consider her an acceptable risk. My instinct tells me... not so much.

I mean, seriously, would you rent to someone with an admitted history of financial screw-ups? There's a pattern here, and I think most landlords have the instincts required to figure out what that pattern is. My instinct also tells me you would not advise an investor client to rent to a person with this sort of history.

If you can get them into a real rental, not a "pre-foreclosure," that's one thing, but otherwise, they could easily be in even more trouble than they have already. Frying pan --> fire.

I guess I'm willing to cut the OP some slack here. I have seen many buyers make poor home choices, some here in the Valley. I think you and I would agree that this is what a GOOD real estate agent could have helped to prevent. Seriously...I don't have a single buyer close to foreclosure because I would have had a long conversation with them about how financially unwise it is to push a mortgage payment like that and then referred them to a local financial planner to try and get their heads screwed on straight. I would have strongly encouraged them not to buy the house.

There are many people that have debt to income ratios of 50% and I don't care who you are, you can't survive that way. It is really common to see people starting to charge everyday items in order to make ends meet and pay their mortgage with their salary. Was it a bad choice, yes of course it was.

I don't get the impression that there isn't any remorse here. Seems that they already went through those feelings, and have accepted what they need to do at this point. She did say they were trying to do a loan modification. I can also state that I've seen bank turn down loan mods and recapitalization plans that made made perfect sense. It's highly complicated due to old ways of doing things and lack of flexibility on the parts of lenders.

As for finding a rental, I just think that they will find someone willing to rent to them due to the foreclosure. The bigger issue they will have is that they have dogs. Whether or not I would advise a landlord would completely depend on what my instincts told me about these people upon meeting them. It's a chronic complaint with landlords out here that they can't find tenants that actually take care of the property. I'll take good people who've made a bad real estate choice over jerks with good credit any day. That's just me though.