Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hello there! Before you walk away, rent it to a great family that is looking to move to B-More soon At least we can finish the work on the home and keep your credit up.
If you price it correctly, you may be in good shape. Pricing it correctly may mean you have to sell for 10-20 k less than what you owe on the mortgage, and have to pay the bank back that money or have it in hand at closing. I know it's not pretty, but better than a foreclosure. Another option would be too pull out any equity you have in the property, put a renter in for less than what the note is (for as long as you can handle the loss), and eat up that money until things start looking better, then take your equity money and buy a cheaper house,which may be possible in this market. And worst case scenario walk away from the other house after buying the new one. Once again not pretty, but you will at least have the new house. Good luck, and congrats on the baby!
If you were looking for an excuse to get out of the area, it made no sense to BUY a house.
There are buyers. I am potentially one of them. Set the price competitively and you will find a buyer. If that means you have to take a loss, so be it. You are not entitled to make a profit on your house just because someone made a profit off you or because you heard someone made 30% in a year 3 years ago.
Walking away and sticking the bank, neighbors and taxpayers with the loss because your investment became unaffordable should not be an option. What kind of example would this set for your child? I understand that circumstances change and unexpected events can lead to financial difficulties. At this point I don't think many people are in their ideal financial situation. This does not relieve them of their obligations.
If you have to move, sell it at a loss and learn from it as a bad investment. You wouldn't be the first person to lose money on an investment. And in addition to a clean credit report, you also have your self-respect and peace of mind. Something that cannot be said for those deadbeats who just walk away from their responsibilities. Because of people like that, we are in the financial situation we are in. Don't become one of them.
I disagree, its called survival mode: when the $hit hits the fan, you have a baby on the way, up to your a$$ in debt, facing unemployment, have to move away, you have now entered the realm of survivor mode. This is the junction when obligations to the bank and other responsibilities that won't keep food on the table, warm clothes on your back, medicine for an illness, or a roof over your head don't matter. Sometimes, you have to do what you have to. I would hope my neighbors, community and fellow taxpayers would understand. I guess they would rather the OP sit back and wait for the bank to take it from her via forcible removal (preganant or not), only to resell and make their (the banks) money back via bank foreclosure? Unfortunatley, a number of people are currently in survival mode, thus the weakened economy. JMO
"Something that cannot be said for those deadbeats who just walk away from their responsibilities. Because of people like that, we are in the financial situation we are in. Don't become one of them."
Sorry, it is because of a number of things, and IMO that is not one of them. It is because of predatory lending, non-sensible spending, trust in government spending, lack of fiscal education, typical American gluttony, etc. It always seems easy to blame the common man. The OP made the same mistake that millions of others made, that hopefully YOU won't make, as you are currently attempting to buy.
I tend to agree with you. It's unfortunate that the economy is in the state it's in, and there's a lot of blame to go around. However, if a business walks away from a long-term lease on a property or shuts down a factory it owns because it's in bad financial shape, it's considered a smart business decision. For many people, it unfortunately makes financial sense to walk away from a property than to continue to throw money into a depreciating asset every month. Even when the market recovers, some who bought at the top of the market with low or no money down are probably never going to see a return on their investment.
You can't really blame a poor person who bought a home he or she couldn't afford. After walking away, they're right back where they started from: renters. Unless someone committed fraud during the mortgage application process, it's really the lender's fault for not doing due diligence and lending the money in the first place. At the same time, one could argue that it's not their fault because big finance houses bought the mortgages with borrowed money, taking away the lender's personal risk, and sold the loans as low-risk investments to supposedly sophisticated buyers (taking a nice fee, of course).
Hello there and congrats. I would recommend a few things to you. First, wait until the baby is born. I'm not suggesting anything bad might happen, but it may be better to wait to make sure everything turns out O.K. with your child. Secondly, you can call your mortgage and ask them to O.K. a short sale. This would not affect your credit, but would allow you to sell it for less than you owe. Lastly, I'm going to contradict myself a little here, it may better if you try and sell it now anyhow, because mortgage prices aren't going to go anywhere but south and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. If you can get a short sale and no lose money now I would jump on that opportunity to downsize. You'll always be able to buy another house at a later date. Trust me home prices are going to take another deep slide. Foreclosures aren't even half way through. Take your money out of the market too and put it in something stable. Cash, CD's, etc. It's really going to hit the fan and Obama is not going to be able to do anything to stop it. The sad thing is that everyone with half a brain saw this coming. I also would like to say that GM will be taken care of, guaranteed! Saudi Oil money will make that happen in a not so obvious way. They may not make as many cars as they used to, but they will not go under. I heard that all empires fall when the monetary system fails. It's starting to happen now to the good ole USA. Good luck with your child.
I tend to agree with you. It's unfortunate that the economy is in the state it's in, and there's a lot of blame to go around. However, if a business walks away from a long-term lease on a property or shuts down a factory it owns because it's in bad financial shape, it's considered a smart business decision. For many people, it unfortunately makes financial sense to walk away from a property than to continue to throw money into a depreciating asset every month. Even when the market recovers, some who bought at the top of the market with low or no money down are probably never going to see a return on their investment.
You can't really blame a poor person who bought a home he or she couldn't afford. After walking away, they're right back where they started from: renters. Unless someone committed fraud during the mortgage application process, it's really the lender's fault for not doing due diligence and lending the money in the first place. At the same time, one could argue that it's not their fault because big finance houses bought the mortgages with borrowed money, taking away the lender's personal risk, and sold the loans as low-risk investments to supposedly sophisticated buyers (taking a nice fee, of course).
This is such an awful post I can't even begin to justify your reasoning. Shutting down a factory looks great on the ledgers but it's just the hundreds of employees now on the street that lose when the execs get their bonuses for making budget.
And you can entirely blame a poor person buying a house they couldn't afford! What ever happened to personal responsibility?? I had gotten laid off during the height of the boom and unemployed, qualified for a $250,000 loan. Did I take it? No. A lender's job is to sell mortgages.
As for the OP, without knowing anything about your property- location, purchase price, improvement, desired selling price, it's pretty difficult to help you out. Selling for 10-20k under your mortgage is NOT smart to just unload it. List it for your desired price. You'll probably get lowballed but that offer may be enough to make both parties happy. Or just rent it out. There's always an influx of renters coming through that need to live near bars. Unless you're paying 5-6000 in mortgage every month, there's absolutely no reason to have to take a giant hit when you sell.
Last edited by 7th generation; 12-18-2008 at 05:01 PM..
Hold up a sec. Those workers losing their job up in Michigan almost did it to themselves. Union workers are some of the laziest people in the world. They always feel that their company owes them something. So they demand high pay, the best health benefits, etc. However, they do nothing to deserve these wages, etc. They often do not show up for work, steal and just an overall poor work performance. No education and no work ethic means you lose your job in most countries. But in the good ole USA, we give them second, third and fourth chances. This is bullsh*t. You don't show up, your performance is substandard, you're insubordinate, you lose your job. Companies don't owe you squat. I'm suprised GM doesn't shut down and reopen a few plants down in Mexico. I was in a union for 14 years and was stunned to see the overall lack of performance.
On the other subject. Banks didn't care at all about who the were giving loans to or if they were no doc loans. The banks get their money from the fees, points, closing costs, etc. Once they get that, they then pass the risky loan onto Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. The loans then get bundled up in securities and sold the other investment firms. So who's fault is it? Greenspan and the FED should have raised the interest rates as soon as the seen the prices skyrocketing, but they did nothing. They got caught and now they can't raise rates, ever! If they do, more and more foreclosures will come. Or is it the banks, who kept taking on the loans knowing they could pass them on to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae? How about the dumb US citizens who deicided to buy a house they knew they couldn't afford. America has so many issues. Hopefully the war profiteers are gone out of office and our new president can begin to fix things. Can he be bought also? We'll see. The Saudi's have very deep pockets.
This is such an awful post I can't even begin to justify your reasoning. Shutting down a factory looks great on the ledgers but it's just the hundreds of employees now on the street that lose when the execs get their bonuses for making budget.
And you can entirely blame a poor person buying a house they couldn't afford! What ever happened to personal responsibility?? I had gotten laid off during the height of the boom and unemployed, qualified for a $250,000 loan. Did I take it? No. A lender's job is to sell mortgages.
If you want to talk about personal responsibility, I think having the money to put food on the table or save for education or retirement is more important than stretching to make an unaffordable mortgage payment. It's not like the 1950s when that mortgage payment was going to the local bank that employed your neighbors; it's being divided between a large pool of investors around the world who couldn't care less about the borrower's personal situation (it's no surprise that the old-school community banks are in good shape right now because they were extremely careful about whom they lended to).
If someone bought near the peak of the market with little or no money down and that property value is now down 20 or 30%, even if the market recovers and begins a normal appreciation of say 2-3% per year, it's going to be well over a decade before the borrower is back to break-even. And that's not even counting all the money spent on maintenance, insurance, and taxes. I'm not advocating "jingle mail" or saying it's right. It just makes a lot of sense for some people from a purely financial standpoint.
I think the economy would be in better shape if people got out of homes they can't afford and allow prices to drop to a level where the average person can afford them. The faster it happens, the better. The current situation seems a lot like keeping a dying patient on a ventilator. It's going to be painful, but in the long run it's necessary.
And the last post was spot on. There were many lenders who did everything they could to make people believe they could afford a loan, or sold loans that were completely inappropriate, because they were going to make a killing in fees and a huge bonus. They were the ones who really had zero personal responsibility, because as soon as the paperwork was signed and the first mortgage payment collected, that loan was off their books and onto someone else's.
Perhaps I don't know the all the wrinkles in this situation, but my advice to the OP would be to stay in West Baltimore, if your/your husband's job situation is secure.
I can list several reasons:
1) In tough economic times, the best one can do is aim at stability. No unnecessary moves, no strange cities, no new commitments.
2) Based on your description of where you live (in other threads), it is unlikely you could get anything close to what you likely paid for your house. I may be wrong on this, but the Garrison Boulevard area is not exactly in demand at this point. I say this having been a big booster of the area. I still am, but the basic economic situation has changed.
3) Like many others, you will have to tighten the belt, regardless of whether you live here or in Pittsburgh. It's going to be easier here, unless you have a support system in P. Your doctors are here, etc.
What escapes me is this: In or about March, when you bought your house, all the signs of an approaching recession were evident. I myself issued several warnings to would-be investors to keep their money under the matters. If you wanted to relocate, why did you decide to buy a house here?
Anyway, with the foreclosure looming, I would talk to someone who has expertise in these matters. I'd call Mark Sissman's office at Healthy Neighborhoods Inc. He is a former deputy housing commissioner as well as a banker; his office should be able to refer you to someone who can tell what your options are.
If you cannot afford house payments/rent in Baltimore, how will that situation be different in Pittsburgh?
Last edited by barante; 12-21-2008 at 05:47 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
At least we can finish the work on the home and keep your credit up.
My take
