I've been laid off and am thinking of foreclosing on my house

[leon]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Am I the only one that thinks 5K a month is a lot? How about get a house you can afford instead of making the bank take a hit for you.

What does afford mean? Obviously he was making his payments with a job and cannot without? lol not rocket science.. I can't make my mortgage payment without a job either.. did I buy something I cant afford?

-Leon

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by leon

What does afford mean? Obviously he was making his payments with a job and cannot without? lol not rocket science.. I can't make my mortgage payment without a job either.. did I buy something I cant afford?

-Leon

Yes. Given that you no longer have a job and you can no longer afford your house on unemployment checks. Kind of a stupid question.

If you lose your job, personally, I think you can get a new job, or redefine your 'means' and live within them. The bank should not need to help him pay for his house and cut out of their profits even more by lowering his interest rate IMO.

[leon]

unemployment is poop.. if you can pay your mortgage with that you must have a very very very very very very very small payment and no other responsibilities.. lol at least in my state.

[///Mandy]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Yes. Given that you no longer have a job and you can no longer afford your house on unemployment checks. Kind of a stupid question.

If you lose your job, personally, I think you can get a new job, or redefine your 'means' and live within them. The bank should not need to help him pay for his house and cut out of their profits even more by lowering his interest rate IMO.

Agree'd.

OP, how long were you employed at your last job (where it allowed you to be making $5K in payments). If it was for a relatively long time, you should be able to jump back in and land something....if not, well...

[Hawkeye]

Good point Mandy. If you pay 5K a month mortgage you are probably making 150K a year MINIMUM. People who make that are either experienced or in a very sought after field... should not be too difficult to get another job (even if it pays a bit less)

and Leon... guess I don't know bout Texas but I have a brand new 1,500 sq ft + house and I pay ~650 a month. My friend just bought a $220K house and pays <$2K a month.

For a $5K payment it has got to be what $600K+ dollar house? If you don't have a job you shouldn't be trying to live in such an expensive house. That is all I was saying.

[///Mandy]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Good point Mandy. If you pay 5K a month mortgage you are probably making 150K a year MINIMUM. People who make that are either experienced or in a very sought after field... should not be too difficult to get another job (even if it pays a bit less)

Thanks. I'm curious to know.
I'm also curious as to where the OP went. I'm sure there's more to his post that can clear up our questions.

[ukthunderace]

It was a drive-by troll

[PaulBailey@ltbmw]

Originally Posted by ukthunderace

going back and looking at this, I am wondering if this is a troll post.

Originally Posted by ukthunderace

It was a drive-by troll

I was thinking the same thing but the OP has been a member for over a year. . .
Long time to wait for a BS post. . .
Maybe strictly just a lurker

[Scott howell]

Originally Posted by ukthunderace

How far upside down are you on your house? have you considered short-sell instead of foreclosure? You may take a loss, but it may save some of your disposable income in the long run.
If you can sell, find something that is a bit more reasonable to buy...or rent for a while and look for another job.
Whatever you do, don't game the system and throw the sob story. Integrity is surely worth more than a credit score.

I'm not upside down. Luckily, in my area, the home prices has not been hit as hard as other areas around here. My other option is to just sell the house.

Originally Posted by darkcloud

I do some work in the foreclosure field. You shouldn't want being foreclosed on your house by any means. It's a horrible process that isn't much fun at all. Not to mention it stays on your credit score for years like filing bankruptcy there are many other issues involved. Turning your FICO score around in a few short years just won't happen like you think.

You'll have Process Servers knocking on your door serving you foreclosure documents, banks calling to harass you, numerous Attorneys calling and mailing to handle your case and people contacting to buy your home from you for partial of what you owe. So if you think you'll just slide into foreclosure and the bank will magically call you to rework the loan you have another thing coming. They'll likely check their options first (sell the loan/home, evict you, etc.) before reworking the loan with you.

Best option would be to find a job, any job to help you. Manage a Wendy's for shits sake. Anything to assist in making your payments so you're not paying out with nothing coming in. Sell your 335i for a cheaper car. Rework CC debt. Foreclosure should be your absolute last resort.

Also, have you tried refinancing your loan??

Yeah I spoke with the collections department and they all sound like assholes. Seriously... they don't answer the phone to be nice in that dept.

I assume refi is not an option when you are unemployed.

Originally Posted by ukthunderace

going back and looking at this, I am wondering if this is a troll post.

Why would you think that? Seriously. Just because I'm not on the computer 24/7 doesn't make this a troll post.

Originally Posted by Speedtrap

Looks like Scott is not posting any more... come on be real; even if your bank does not want to talk to you on the phone, and if you are that desperate, can you not walk into the bank and see the bank??? Woud you sit on your ass trying to make phone calls???

Yeah that's what I've been doing - making phone calls. You think walking into the bank will help? if so how so? I'm all ears here.

Originally Posted by Boosted335

Hey buddy how upside down are you on your house?

If you arent too upside down try to sell, and use the money in the bank to pay the rest back.

also im sorry to hear about this man....it sux

Thanks. It's not upside down so I'm lucky. My other option is to try to sell it or just rent it out. I'll probably take a 6 digit loss on the house due to the market.

Scott

[Scott howell]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Am I the only one that thinks 5K a month is a lot? How about get a house you can afford instead of making the bank take a hit for you.

I moved to the bay area. Houses are not cheap here. I'm not asking the bank to take a hit - I'm just unemployed.

Originally Posted by leon

What does afford mean? Obviously he was making his payments with a job and cannot without? lol not rocket science.. I can't make my mortgage payment without a job either.. did I buy something I cant afford?

-Leon

Exactly..
I can keep making my payments, but without a job, my balance will go to zero eventually.

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Yes. Given that you no longer have a job and you can no longer afford your house on unemployment checks. Kind of a stupid question.

If you lose your job, personally, I think you can get a new job, or redefine your 'means' and live within them. The bank should not need to help him pay for his house and cut out of their profits even more by lowering his interest rate IMO.

I'm aiming to refi if I can, but is it possible to refi without a job?
There are many banks offering loan modification programs. Banks will modify loans rather than foreclose, IMO.

Originally Posted by leon

unemployment is poop.. if you can pay your mortgage with that you must have a very very very very very very very small payment and no other responsibilities.. lol at least in my state.

Unemployment only pays 1800/month. Aint gonna help much.

Originally Posted by ///Mandy

Agree'd.

OP, how long were you employed at your last job (where it allowed you to be making $5K in payments). If it was for a relatively long time, you should be able to jump back in and land something....if not, well...

5 years or so. Yeah I'll eventually jump back, but the economy is shit and not too many people are hiring.

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Good point Mandy. If you pay 5K a month mortgage you are probably making 150K a year MINIMUM. People who make that are either experienced or in a very sought after field... should not be too difficult to get another job (even if it pays a bit less)

and Leon... guess I don't know bout Texas but I have a brand new 1,500 sq ft + house and I pay ~650 a month. My friend just bought a $220K house and pays <$2K a month.

For a $5K payment it has got to be what $600K+ dollar house? If you don't have a job you shouldn't be trying to live in such an expensive house. That is all I was saying.

I moved to the bay area so I'm no longer in texas. In the bay area, a $600k house is a starter home - bottom of the barrel here. In texas, you can live in a mansion on a massive plot.

Originally Posted by ///Mandy

Thanks. I'm curious to know.
I'm also curious as to where the OP went. I'm sure there's more to his post that can clear up our questions.

Originally Posted by ukthunderace

It was a drive-by troll

Originally Posted by xPaulBaiLeyx

I was thinking the same thing but the OP has been a member for over a year. . .
Long time to wait for a BS post. . .
Maybe strictly just a lurker

What the hell? U think I'm trolling because I have a life and cannot post 24/7? I log in once a day. cool with you guys?

Scott

[FStop7]

$5k a month mortgage, ouch.

* I no longer care that much about my credit rating. I don't need a loan to buy any more homes or cars.

This is bad thinking. You're going to need your credit when it comes to getting another job, renting a more affordable place to live, or any other number of future events. If you take credit damage now it will haunt you for at least 7 years. That's a long time. You should do everything you can to preserve it.

* I want to take advantage of the fact I'm unemployed and use that as a bargaining chip

Umm... hate to break it to you, but being unemployed puts you in a position of weakness in terms of bargaining. If you were employed in a lesser paying job and needed to restructure then you might have some room to work with them. But if you're unemployed and your savings are depleted then what kind of bargaining position are you in? The banks are being bailed out by the government, they'll just foreclose and take more gov cash.


What you should be doing is everything within your power to get another job and restore your income, it sounds to me like you're deliberately avoiding that.

[Spool]

Rule of thumb for me is, my mortgage cannot exceed 50% of my monthly income...if you bought a house that expensive, you better be pulling in 10G's a month. Other wise, you're in a world of trouble on rainy days such as now. I live in a shitty house, small and in a minority filled neighborhood, but i know that if something were to happen to my job, i will have money left to bail me out until i am able to get on my feet again.

This is the problem with our economy, people used to buy what they think they are capable of affording, not what they can afford. Paying mortgage for 5 years they haven't paid anything towards the principal. Down the line they can't afford it, they have to foreclose it and that is way our economy is the way it is right now.

What is ur house worth and how much do you owe on the loan? tough time to sell a house right now and even worse since ur home is so expensive. i'd consider filing for unemployment and look for another job asap, in the mean time list ur home up for sale.


worst thing u can do is stop paying for the mortgage and have it sent to ur credit bureau, i dont know why u think that was a good idea in the first place. one bad item on the report will ruin ur future loan applications for sure.


And i did not sleep with my cousin, i just thought my niece through marriage was cute...big difference you gossiping a-holes

[Speedtrap]

What I am saying is that you should be at the bank; NOT just making phone calls. Demand to speak to the bank manager.

Sell off your home for less is another alternative; as I am sure you can recover some of the money. No time to just ponder on whats going to happen next.

[Maestro]

Part of the problem is you probably dealing with some big bank not a local bank therefore the people on the other end of the phone could care less, plus you one of millions right now who are defaulting not because they lost a job and are having a little money problem, but because they dug themselves in so deep they can not see top.

Anyway, to my point, it is my understanding the banks are required by law to work with you if you come to them up front and say you will not be able to make your forth coming payments. If you approach them they have to work with you and try to come up with a plan that allows you to keep making some sort of payment and stay in the house. Now once you miss a payment of two that option is out the doors the bank can foreclose if they choose. Many times the banks hands are tied once that happens.

I have friend who is in banking and he was the one who told me the banks are required to work with you if you approach them before missing a payment. I would check into this, because they have the ability to reduce your payment to interest only for a period of time but this has to be arranged ahead of time.

In 2002 I found myself in the same boat, however at the time I have one of those negative amortizing loans that now has gotten a bunch of people in trouble. The nice part of those loans is you can pay as much as you like and they have a minimum you must pay as well. Usually the minimum is below interest only thus the reason they are call negative amortizing. I got this loan for a number of reason other what most people did which was to buy a house more then they could afford. One of the reason I got it, it had a low interest rate at the time and I decide I did not want to put too much equity in the house.

Anyway, even though I could pay the minium I choose to pay at the full amortize rate even thought the interest rate on it continue to drop. Well about 2 yrs into the loan I got laid off and was out 9 months before I could find something. While I was out, I dropped my payments to minimum which saved me about $1000 each month and as soon as I got a job I ran my payments back up again. I tell you having the low payment options was a big help considering I was living of savings most of that time.

[jaiman]

Originally Posted by Scott howell

* I no longer care that much about my credit rating. I don't need a loan to buy any more homes or cars.

This is the part that makes no sense to me. Do you mean you have enough cash that you think you'll never need a loan again? If that's the case pay off your current mortgage. Act like a man. You signed the papers, now live up to your word.

Or am I missing something?

[jaiman]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Good point Mandy. If you pay 5K a month mortgage you are probably making 150K a year MINIMUM. People who make that are either experienced or in a very sought after field... should not be too difficult to get another job (even if it pays a bit less)

Seriously? Do people actually spend that much of their income on their house? I make more than 150k annually and my mortgage is less than 3k a month. And i have my wife's income to help with the mortgage as well. I can't imagine being that highly leveraged!

Although i now think i know who the folks are with 750k homes buying furniture at Ikea.

[mpimping]

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...aspx?GT1=33007

[clickclickboom]

How about auctioning the house? This will provide a quick liquidation. Regroup yourself. Keep looking for a job. Think of it as a new fresh start.

[Terrance28]

Originally Posted by RBBMWE46M3

The first thing I would do before I did anything would be to......FIND ANOTHER JOB!!!!

You think if he could he would be in this mess? Its hard out there.

[///Mandy]

Originally Posted by Terrance28

You think if he could he would be in this mess? Its hard out there.

It sure is. Being in the banking field, I was really lucky to land something (on contract though but I am taking what I can).

[Terrance28]

Originally Posted by chuck92103

Next time by a home you can afford rather than one you can qualify for.

Then you will have money saved for the lean times.

If you got laid off and already have to foreclose that means no savings.

Apparently he could afford the house when he was working, he just got laid off.

[mpimping]

Originally Posted by ///Mandy

It sure is. Being in the banking field, I was really lucky to land something (on contract though but I am taking what I can).

wrong number?