Foreclosure next door (mortgage companies, mortgages, fees, banks)

[CouponJack]

Originally Posted by cjones15

We based our selling price off of what other houses have sold for. The short sale closed the day before we listed and we didn't know about it. It is 25K less then all the houses that have sold already and what are listed. It just happens to be half a block away and the exact floor plan as ours so it feels like it hits us pretty hard.

Yes, we have to move! My husband starts a new job out of state in 3 weeks. We found a small apartment for him to rent and the children and I will stay here until this house sells. Finding a rental in the area we are moving to has been impossible.

I never said we would be buying before this house sells. We will not buy a new house until this one sells. Which is why my husband is moving for the new job and I'm staying here. We know better then to buy a house while we still have this one. we would not do this if we didn't have to. As far as renting out our house, it makes me very nervous. So many people have been burned. We take a lot of pride in our house and keep things looking nice. I would expect the same but know that's impossible to guarantee with renters.

Having the one short sale that was very low was a big concern, now having a foreclosure next door is worrying me. My question was how would having a foreclosure right next door affect us. I don't need to be preached on about if I should sell now or wait!!!

I don't envy your position because it looks like your going to have to take a big hit on the selling price unfortunately.

You need to plan for the worst case scenerio which would be a sale that is way under your expectations. Would you know what to do if that happened?

Hate to bring bad news but you need to plan for reality here.....

[haberstroh]

Here is another solution you might consider (although not like it): Have a long distance relationship. We have done that last year when my husband was transfered from NJ to MA. We were separated for 9 months and only saw each other on the weekends, sometimes skipping one. We did that not to sell the house but to finish the school year.
Friends of us did the same for 1 1/2 years from AZ to MN because they could not sell their house. It is extremely painful when it lasts this long but we and they managed. Probably due to the fact that we were both former Army wives and used to separation from our husbands ;-).
I feel for you!

[WhoFanMe]

cjones (I feel like calling you Chipper). If the house sold just days before you listed than it would have been listed on the MLS as Pending or Under Contract and your agent should have known about it. Your agent should also be able to tell you whether or not (and at what price) your neighbor's home will be listed for, it won't be long. The sign can come days after it's already on the market.

I'm not going to beat you up, but I work with a lot of relocation families and your husband might have evaluated what the payback period is on this new job (which I assume is for more money). If it's a 100,000 raise, perhaps you bite the bullet and get out of this house for whatever you can get (the sooner the better). If it's a 25,000 or 50,000 promotion, and you take a 25,000 to 50,000 hit on your house, than it was probably a mistake to take the job. I hope you don't see me as mean spirited, I'm just crunching the numbers.

[MotleyCrew]

We are watching the short sale wars across the street from us. One is listed a little higher than the one next door to it. They are both way below market and it is hurting the people trying to relocate and not in trouble. If you could, I would just wait until this mess is settled then move. Try renting your home if you have to leave.

[Philip T]

Something you might not have calculated in is that jobs in the US are now fully entering an era where they are even flakier than the house prices.

The job (still three weeks away), may totally evaporate by mid-Summer. Big companies and profitable operations are no longer surety of long-term employment. Even companies that are making good money walk out of the US for a little money more in Mexico or China. j

mho, but I would not want to drag the kids across the countryside based on (what in America, anymore is) a short-term job offer -- unless you all really, really want to be living in that new area. Not saying the job might not last for years, but do not count on it.

As far as selling -- if you really want to be out of the area, I would be prepared to dump the house for whatever you can. The loss now pales to what the loss may be next year. We have now entered the hurricane. The volume of ARM resets that come through March through June 2008 are about as large as the total of what has went before. The big dumps on the market will hit this Summer through Fall piled on top of the surplus already on the market.

Were I in your position -- and if you like the area you are already in, and the schools are ok -- I would have hubby go forth and make bank, even doing second jobs, and pile up all the cash you can, while you can.

[WhoFanMe]

Good point, Philip. There was a couple that I had met from another forum (we're both international adoptive parents) and they moved to Maine to accept a job from a well known subsidiary of the chocolate company that starts with "N." Unfortunately I was not able to work with them on this move as their relocation benefits forced them to use another real estate company. Within 6 months, he got a new boss, who eliminated his job, and now he's in suburban Cincinnati and the family is in Maine waiting to sell their very nice home (for 10-20% less + expenses than they bought it for and without relocation benefits). If I'm lucky enough to get the listing, I will have some serious counseling sessions to keep them sane through the process.

[dogmom]

What do you say those of us who are selling homes NOT because of fear of foreclosure or whatever, just withdraw the houses off the market. If everyone did that maybe things would even out after a while...

seems like every day it's worse news..I know I'm getting tired of the merry go round..we can't sell, so we can't buy what someone else needs to sell, etc..etc...aaarrrgh!

[Philip T]

Originally Posted by dogmom

What do you say those of us who are selling homes NOT because of fear of foreclosure or whatever, just withdraw the houses off the market. If everyone did that maybe things would even out after a while...

seems like every day it's worse news..I know I'm getting tired of the merry go round..we can't sell, so we can't buy what someone else needs to sell, etc..etc...aaarrrgh!

again jmho -- It does not have to be so grim as all that. If you look at the foreclosure sales and short sales -- they seem to moving. That means something worth noting. There is more of a price problem than a market problem. If this were a market problem -- with little or no demand at any price -- it would mean that you could do little about it.

But since it is a price problem, it would mean the house(s) could be sold at a discount. That is totally within a seller's control. Simply price the house lower, or take a lower offer when someone offers it and off you go.

If you are buying another house you are not even harmed by this discount. The next house you buy will likely also be discounted by the same or more amount.

If you look at prior regional downturns, this trend will continue at least a year and may run as many five years. If gets to a full national level, it may be soft for ten years.

[dogmom]

Sorry Philip, I am having a bad day...And you are right...even if we take less for our home, on our buying end we will pay less. It's all relative I guess. We just need that half decent offer....something we can work with. We had an offer 2 weeks ago, it was 125,000 less than our asking price..we were asking 499, they offered 375. We countered but guess we didn't counter LOW enough for them so we never heard from them. Didn't expect to. We just need something we can work with...and no, our market here is not that drastic that we have to sell that low. I think they were just 'fishing'. That's ok, next offer will be the right one..

This has just been one of those days where it starts out ok, and gets progressively worse. Thank goodness it's almost tomorrow

[bentlebee]

Would renting your house not be a good idea? You still can go back after a while if you want and you don't have to sell it in a bad market. That could be a win win situation. I have done it in the past and I ended up getting a lot more from my home than what I expected and had a great company taking care of the small things that had to be taken care off when the renters had an issue. My renters stayed for 3 years and were from abroad and their company was paying the rent, so a very good thing to think about so you can be with your husband and don't have to worry about the bad market and for renting it is a great market, since al these short sale and forclosure home owners need a place to stay and most have not a good credit score but have the money to pay the rent.