Lawyers PLEASE Enter. Need Advice About Forclosure..

[xilix]

The situation:
My girlfriends father owns this house and lets us live here as long as we pay all the utilities. He hasn't payed the mortgage in a while (I have no idea why), the house may be (probability is high) forclosed on within the thext 20 days.

My question:
Almost EVERYTHING inside this house is owned by me and my girlfriend. If they come and forclose this house, can they take all of our stuff? Should I be packing all my shit and preparing, or do they give tenants a time-limit to gather their belongings once the forclosure is in effect??

Please post only if you know the real deal about these kinds of situations or have dealt with it personally. I have a lot of expensive shit here that I use for freelance work, and if I lose it, it'll start a chain reaction which send me into borderline-unrecoverable debt.

Also, if anyone knows any options for my girls Dad to save this house, please let me know. It'd kill me to have this place taken and then find out that something could've been done. Tommorow he's singing a proxy so I can make decisions for him with his lawyer, the reason for that is because he's so rocked from stress and high blood-pressure, that he literally can't handle anymore of this; or even retain information. A huge thanks in advance to anyone who can help me. This house is very important to my girlfriend because she grew up here. It's the last huge house on this street that has retained a one-family layout, and it was built in the late 1800's. It'd be a tragedy to see it get knocked down or turned into some crappy duplex.

 

[Rochard]

Well, I hate to be the person who brings you bad news..... but you need to tell your girlfriend that she's gonna loose the house she grew up in, and you better get your stuff out of the house before the forclosure.

I'm not an expert on this subject, but here's what I believe to be true. If anyone knows otherwise speak up!

Forclosure usually happens when someone is four - six months behind on their mortgage. Depending on how much the mortgage is it can be a rather serious amount of money. If you can't come up with that amount of money before the forclosure date - your out of luck. Most states have laws about forclosure that include something about the mortgage companies being required to assist you when you run into such problems. However, the housing market is horrible and forclosures have overwelmed the mortgage companies so you won't be getting any help from them.

You will get a date of forclosure. I'm pretty sure that the day the house forcloses you pretty much loose everything in the house.

The question is why was he not paying the house payment? I'm guessing the house is an older house because your girlfriend grew up in it, and if that's the case the mortage should be less than the average rent in your area. Why weren't you paying the money directly to the mortage company?

You could take out a loan to cover the over due payments, but you need to be careful here. You could take out a loan for $20k to make up the late payments, but the house isn't yours and it's not in your name. Your g/f could kick you to the curb and your out $20k with legal recourse.

Good luck. Let us know what happens!

 

['01 Bolt]

You could buy the house after the forclosure... try talking to the mortgage company now and make arrangements to purchase out of forclosure .. is this a possible option?? anyone?

 

['01 Bolt]

If you have XM. listen and call Dave Ramsey.. XM 165 2pm till 5 or 6 pm.. central time. that guy knows his shit... when it comes to money..(and things like this)you could also visit a finance lawyer.. as a consultation visit and ask some questions..

 

[xilix]

I was thinking of buying it after forclosure, but I just don't make enough money right now to pay a mortgage plus all my other bills on top of it. From what I heard so far, the date is July 12th or 15th, I'll find out tommorow.

This is a perfect house to flip, though. Right now the house is worth approx. $200k. The appraiser said: a little drywall, some electrical work, some new carpet and paint, clean the cellar, and a revamp of the kitchen, I could easily bump that up to around $250-$280k.

Anyway, I'm paranoid about losing all my shit. I'm taking all my stuff to my mothers house until this blows over (IF it blows over). If I see anyone touching any of my shit I'll flip out and go postal. None of this shit even belongs to him.

 

[SVTMustang]

dont they show up to serve you with papers and a 30 day eviction notice?

 

[FordSVTFan]

The first thing you need to do is talk to the father about when the foreclosure is supposed to take place. Then find out exactly what is owed on the mortgage. The father has a few options, he can bring the mortgage up to date and then ask for a restructured payment plan. He can arrange to pay off the mortgage with funds he has elsewhere or another property, etc.

Once a the judge issues the foreclosure, you are not allowed into the house typically. Since you know this information go rent a storage unit and move all of your property this important to you immediately.

Once foreclosed the bank has a duty under Federal and State law to sell the house for market value minus its expenses including the remaining debt service. Whatever is left over is returned to the former owner.

 

[s_x_i]

PM Sent...once again though, Adam is about spot on with your options...:read:

 

[xilix]

Thanks a lot Adam and Sam. I've not yet heard from Kate's (my girls) Dad yet, or the lawyer. Big suprise. That means that this guy didn't even bother to contact the lawyer today. Up to this point, he's consistently neglected this entire situation, and I'm assuming he's going to continue doing that until forclosure. For some reason this guy literally can't function when he's stressed out. All he does is panick and say "I dunno WTF to do".

After not hearing from him or the lawyer today, my hopes are low. But it did list in the paper a couple weeks ago that the paperwork for forclosure will get started on the 25th. And then he got a letter from the lenders' laywers saying something about intent to forclose on the 15th of July.

So does that mean we have until the 15th of July, or the 25th of June to get our stuff out?

 

[FordSVTFan]

15th of July.

 

[xilix]

Cool. Thanks, Adam. At least I got some time to move some of the bigger stuff.

 

[RDJ]

A comment ...

How much is owed on the mortgage? ... My advice is to go talk to the bank about a short sale before foreclosure .. Banks do not like to be in the real estate business .. and depending on house sales in that area they may be more interested in getting what they can for the house even if it means taking less than what is owed. and you may be able to make the payments on the house if the mortgage is low enough ...

I bought a property that I knew was in forclosure ... I bought it for less than what was owed and when closing was done I had over 30K in instant equity not including what I put down ...