anoncarolina
Junior Member
Hi, I am hoping I can get some sound advice, there are many pieces to this puzzle, and I have been comtemplating just letting the bank foreclose. Before saying, "no, you don't want to foreclose", I know that it will kill my credit, but it may be more practical in the long run as a business decision.
I'm starting to take a bath for a house in South Carolina that I don't even live in anymore. I was laid iff in December of 2006 and im' pretty upside down on the house which we only purchased a few months earlier. I got a new job in California where we've lived since the summer of 2007, which is also when we started renting it out. the problem is I'm upside down on the mortgage to rent ratio by about $600 a month. If I keep it and continue making payments and renting it at the rate it is now (which is also consistent with the rental market at this time) i'll lose on average about 8 grand a year, not counting general mainteneace and upkeep, insurance, etc. At that rate, i'd never get ahead in the world anyway. not to mention i'm totally buried in credit card bills (yes we have decent credit card rates and are chipping away at them pretty hard). i feel like i might as well dump the house, take the hit on my credit score, pay off my credit cards in a year or so and start saving again. we're presently not "scraping by" month to month, but we're not "living large" either, so it's hard to see a light at the end of hte tunnel. We now live in a modest rental, drive modest cars, etc. Given the current rental market in that area, we're really lucky these people are even renting the house, but there is no way that they could buy it or rent to own it anytime soon (that's a whole other story).
i believe that my wife's credit history is protected because we did not use her credit to buy the house, so technically, only mine would be screwed up, so as long as i'm willing to take the leap of faith that we have a solid marriage (everything looks okay from here) then we could roll on her credit score which is just under 700 until mine got back up. i'm just thinking about things logically, espeically when i need to save for my kids college and live/thrive in one of the most expensive markets in the nation.
The current mortages were zero down, and homes in the neighborhood are either not selling, or selling below what we bought it at, so we don't even have the option of selling short to bail out.
Also, we pay a homeowners association fee (included in the $600 a month difference that I mentioend previously), but if they foreclosed, would I still be liable for those payments even after the house is gone? We haven't missed any payments on the mortgage or HOA dues, but we're just sitting around waiting for something to happen.
If I wouldn't be able to buy a house anytime soon anyway, why throw my money away too? I know, lots to absorb and I have lots of questions, I may have left some things out, so please ask away, i'm all ears. FYI, I got my mortgage from my friend where the bank was based in New Jersey, the house is in South Carolina, and we're in California. Who's state laws am I suseptible to, or does that not matter?
I'm starting to take a bath for a house in South Carolina that I don't even live in anymore. I was laid iff in December of 2006 and im' pretty upside down on the house which we only purchased a few months earlier. I got a new job in California where we've lived since the summer of 2007, which is also when we started renting it out. the problem is I'm upside down on the mortgage to rent ratio by about $600 a month. If I keep it and continue making payments and renting it at the rate it is now (which is also consistent with the rental market at this time) i'll lose on average about 8 grand a year, not counting general mainteneace and upkeep, insurance, etc. At that rate, i'd never get ahead in the world anyway. not to mention i'm totally buried in credit card bills (yes we have decent credit card rates and are chipping away at them pretty hard). i feel like i might as well dump the house, take the hit on my credit score, pay off my credit cards in a year or so and start saving again. we're presently not "scraping by" month to month, but we're not "living large" either, so it's hard to see a light at the end of hte tunnel. We now live in a modest rental, drive modest cars, etc. Given the current rental market in that area, we're really lucky these people are even renting the house, but there is no way that they could buy it or rent to own it anytime soon (that's a whole other story).
i believe that my wife's credit history is protected because we did not use her credit to buy the house, so technically, only mine would be screwed up, so as long as i'm willing to take the leap of faith that we have a solid marriage (everything looks okay from here) then we could roll on her credit score which is just under 700 until mine got back up. i'm just thinking about things logically, espeically when i need to save for my kids college and live/thrive in one of the most expensive markets in the nation.
The current mortages were zero down, and homes in the neighborhood are either not selling, or selling below what we bought it at, so we don't even have the option of selling short to bail out.
Also, we pay a homeowners association fee (included in the $600 a month difference that I mentioend previously), but if they foreclosed, would I still be liable for those payments even after the house is gone? We haven't missed any payments on the mortgage or HOA dues, but we're just sitting around waiting for something to happen.
If I wouldn't be able to buy a house anytime soon anyway, why throw my money away too? I know, lots to absorb and I have lots of questions, I may have left some things out, so please ask away, i'm all ears. FYI, I got my mortgage from my friend where the bank was based in New Jersey, the house is in South Carolina, and we're in California. Who's state laws am I suseptible to, or does that not matter?
(it's o.k. you are a guy)