[Emerica]

We have lived in our home for 23 years and we recently were laid off and couldnt make the original house payment. I tried to get a loan modification and Chase bank told me to make a payment of $1050 while we are applying for a modification. Our original payment was approximately 1800 before. I paid 1050 for 7 months and then they said the computer wont accept the payment anymore because we were denied a loan modification. A few months later we were served papers to go to court against Chase bank. We showed up to court and there was a family there that was going through the same thing and the judge told her to get her check stubs together in the next few weeks and they will see what kind of a modification they can do. Our case was next, as we approach the bench the attorney for Chase told the judge " I just got an email from my boss and he said to dismiss this case, we arent ready yet." Then we talked to the attorney for Chase and he said "This is the end of the line, you will have about 3 months to get your stuff and move out." A year passed and we were served papers for court again. We went to court and it was a new judge ( William Kephart). As we approached the bench the judge said " i remember you guys from last July." (We didnt have this judge last July) Then he said." What did you try to do for the last year without paying your payment?" My mother replied, "We tried doing a modification but they denied me." The judge interrupted her and said," What gives you the right to stay in your house without paying a payment?" My mother asked him if she can read a paper she wrote about the stuff that was going on and the judge said," is it this paper?" My Mother replied,"no its this copy right here." He glanced at it and said, "im giving you 30 days to get out of the home." So here we are today, we filed a federal complaint against US BANK (they bought our home at auction supposedly). The constables came today and evicted us and locked us out. We built this house from the ground up 23 years ago and are being pushed out. I feel like our rights have been violated. My question is, what if we went back into the house and stayed the night in there and told the realty company (remax) we arent leaving our home? Could we get arrested? We tried to get a loan modification and trying hard to keep our house but its not looking good. The judge wouldnt even let us say what we wanted to say. We wanted to ask if Chase can provide a title for our house (which was sold numerously to different banks by 'robo-signing') but the judge wouldnt let us get that far.

[WestieJeff]

Sorry to hear about your situation.

If your home has been sold at auction already (sounds like it has), you would have had 3 days to vacate the property before the constable could lock you out. Generally the constable comes with a locksmith, escorts you out, and they change the locks. If you were still able to get into the property, you could be charged with trespassing.

If you wanted to challenge the foreclosure, the time to do that was prior to auction. Not to say it would be impossible to challenge it now, but it's a lot more difficult. You would need to start by hiring an attorney, which would cost. I don't know of any attorneys who would take a case like this on contingency. Actually, you said you filed a federal complaint? So you already have an attorney?

At this point, I would say that attempting to remain in the house will cause you more grief. If they've already brought the constable, they're serious about getting you out. I'm surprised they didn't offer you cash for keys. Obviously, if you have an attorney, do what they suggest.

What right of yours do you feel they violated?

[LVPoker1]

What right of yours do you feel they violated?

I am wondering this too. It looks like there was a two year period where lower payments were made, then no payments at all. The total looks like maybe $35k-40k. That seems like a long time and a lot of money that did not have to get paid while living there. I am guessing being in the house 23 years there was a lot of equity and two years was plenty of time to sell it. If other loans were taken on the house during the boom that made it upside down, that is even more free money. I guess maybe the house was not in a condition to be sold or there are other loans on the property that made it impossible to sell at the market price. Otherwise, a huge mistake was made by letting it go.

The bank has rights. While you were not paying your mortgage, they were not only suffering those losses, but also paying the property tax, insurance, and potentially future liens on bills you were not paying like HOA, water, or sewer. This does not include the legal fees involved with foreclosing.

If they have locked you out then you are almost certainly too late to do anything. If you squat you are committing a crime. It is not as if you were making payments and this was a mistake. You no longer have a legal claim on the property. Until or unless you do, breaking into the house becomes criminal trespass at minimum and burglary at worse.

Do you have the $35k-$40k to make the loan right? If not, I do not see what you can do here. I guess you think you might have them on the technicality that they have not proven ownership but you know you owe someone this money and nobody else claims to hold the deed but them. Are you hoping that they cannot produce the deed so you can try and get the house back and live in it for free? If not, what is your goal in trying to discredit them as the owner of the house if you cannot and/or have not made the payments?

They must have proven to a court they hold the lien or else they could not have had you removed from it. Having a lawyer try and get a house back where payments have not been made for 18 months seems like a waste of time and money. I guess the lawyer will tell you for sure.

[Emerica]

They offered us cash for keys but we denied it because our friend (attorney in another state) said, if we sign those cash for keys documents, its like signing over our house to them. I feel like the Judge is working with the banks and didnt want to hear what we had to say and i believe the bank doesnt have the title to the home. We didnt have an attorney at the time and we didnt get a chance to appeal. The first judge we had seemed like he could help us but the Chase bank attorney said " we have to stop this lawsuit because we arent ready" I feel like that attoryney KNEW the judge was lenient and wanted to get a different judge appointed to our case. Our friend that is telling us to stay is retired attorney and is helping us by writing up all the complaints and stuff like that. We got a federal complaint filed today and we just posted a 'notice of non-abandonment' with a case number on the front door.

[Emerica]

Originally Posted by LVPoker1

I am wondering this too. It looks like there was a two year period where lower payments were made, then no payments at all. The total looks like maybe $35k-40k. That seems like a long time and a lot of money that did not have to get paid while living there. I am guessing being in the house 23 years there was a lot of equity and two years was plenty of time to sell it. If other loans were taken on the house during the boom that made it upside down, that is even more free money. I guess maybe the house was not in a condition to be sold or there are other loans on the property that made it impossible to sell at the market price. Otherwise, a huge mistake was made by letting it go.

The bank has rights. While you were not paying your mortgage, they were not only suffering those losses, but also paying the property tax, insurance, and potentially future liens on bills you were not paying like HOA, water, or sewer. This does not include the legal fees involved with foreclosing.

If they have locked you out then you are almost certainly too late to do anything. If you squat you are committing a crime. It is not as if you were making payments and this was a mistake. You no longer have a legal claim on the property. Until or unless you do, breaking into the house becomes criminal trespass at minimum and burglary at worse.

Do you have the $35k-$40k to make the loan right? If not, I do not see what you can do here. I guess you think you might have them on the technicality that they have not proven ownership but you know you owe someone this money and nobody else claims to hold the deed but them. They must have proven to a court they hold the lien or else they could not have had you removed from it. Having a lawyer try and get a house back where payments have not been made for 18 months seems like a waste of time and money. I guess the lawyer will tell you for sure.

Our payments were made and after we were laid off we couldnt afford to make the payments. We were able to pay the 1050 while the loan mod went through but they then denied it. I was expecting to get some kind of a mediation or something to try help us keep our home but the judge didnt want to hear anything.

[WestieJeff]

I don't think a notice of non-abandonment applies in this type of case, but I'm not an attorney, so I could be wrong.

Ultimately at the end of the day, the banks aren't legally required to mediate or give you any type of loan modification. It's nice if they do, but you can't legally demand it.

It sounds like the only basis for your case would be the "produce the note" angle, which many have tried. I'm not aware of anyone it worked for here in Vegas. I've seen quite a few get thrown out.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

Originally Posted by Emerica

They offered us cash for keys but we denied it because our friend (attorney in another state) said, if we sign those cash for keys documents, its like signing over our house to them. I feel like the Judge is working with the banks and didnt want to hear what we had to say and i believe the bank doesnt have the title to the home. We didnt have an attorney at the time and we didnt get a chance to appeal. The first judge we had seemed like he could help us but the Chase bank attorney said " we have to stop this lawsuit because we arent ready" I feel like that attoryney KNEW the judge was lenient and wanted to get a different judge appointed to our case. Our friend that is telling us to stay is retired attorney and is helping us by writing up all the complaints and stuff like that. We got a federal complaint filed today and we just posted a 'notice of non-abandonment' with a case number on the front door.

[Emerica]

I will keep you updated. Thanks for the information.

[airics]

filing bankruptcy would've stopped the proceedings also

[macgeek]

Have you continued paying the $1050 per month this year, or you haven't paid anything?

Jonathan

[JohnG72]

They bought/built this house in 1989, don't have the equity to sell, and have a payment of $1800/mo?

HELOC much?