Posted on: 14th Sep, 2008 04:40 am
i am looking for any advice to my current problem:
my husband and i bought our home 2 years ago for $200,000. the financing was done in my name only. i took out an 80/20 with a 3/1 arm on the first (so that will start to adjust about this time next year). about 6 months later with times being great money-wise we decided to put in a pool. we borrowed $30,000 for that and against our better judgment allowed that loan to go on as a 3rd mortgage (however on credit it just looks like any other type of loan). i am in the mortgage industry so i did some checking around recently about tryng to refinance but when i spoke with the appraiser that does a lot of work for us he told me that my house would probably only appraise for around $175,000 (there are foreclosures and low-ball sales on our street for comps). in addition to those problems we have found some issues with the quality of the house and have tried to contact the builder to repair those but after many months of no contact with him and even going through an attorney to find some recourse we have just found out the builder has left the state and will be filing bankruptcy (and he has let some of the last houses he built go into forelosure). as if that weren't enough a rental home community was established just behind our property line and we have had issues with some of the renters. they have thrown rocks in our pool (over the privacy fence); tried to burn one of our neighbors fences; the cops are back there all the time. and of course the money is not what is used to be. my husband's over-time has dried up and my income for this year is looking to be about $20-25k less than what it was last year due to the mortgage issuues. the icing on the cake came this week when we received our escrow statement which now shows that we have a shortage for our property taxes meaning that my payment will now go up about $200. it is hard to justify paying this much for a house worth so little. i do not see how my property taxes should increase so much when the true value of my home has gone down. we are at our wits end on what to do. my husband has suggested just packing up and leaving because currently we have excellent credit and truth be told could probably qualify for a va loan even carrying the current debt we have with the mortgages on this house. does anyone have any suggestions for what we should do???
my husband and i bought our home 2 years ago for $200,000. the financing was done in my name only. i took out an 80/20 with a 3/1 arm on the first (so that will start to adjust about this time next year). about 6 months later with times being great money-wise we decided to put in a pool. we borrowed $30,000 for that and against our better judgment allowed that loan to go on as a 3rd mortgage (however on credit it just looks like any other type of loan). i am in the mortgage industry so i did some checking around recently about tryng to refinance but when i spoke with the appraiser that does a lot of work for us he told me that my house would probably only appraise for around $175,000 (there are foreclosures and low-ball sales on our street for comps). in addition to those problems we have found some issues with the quality of the house and have tried to contact the builder to repair those but after many months of no contact with him and even going through an attorney to find some recourse we have just found out the builder has left the state and will be filing bankruptcy (and he has let some of the last houses he built go into forelosure). as if that weren't enough a rental home community was established just behind our property line and we have had issues with some of the renters. they have thrown rocks in our pool (over the privacy fence); tried to burn one of our neighbors fences; the cops are back there all the time. and of course the money is not what is used to be. my husband's over-time has dried up and my income for this year is looking to be about $20-25k less than what it was last year due to the mortgage issuues. the icing on the cake came this week when we received our escrow statement which now shows that we have a shortage for our property taxes meaning that my payment will now go up about $200. it is hard to justify paying this much for a house worth so little. i do not see how my property taxes should increase so much when the true value of my home has gone down. we are at our wits end on what to do. my husband has suggested just packing up and leaving because currently we have excellent credit and truth be told could probably qualify for a va loan even carrying the current debt we have with the mortgages on this house. does anyone have any suggestions for what we should do???
If you have a recent appraisal that shows the value is less than what the assessed it for, I would try appealing with the tax assessor. I did it when I first bought my home and they lowered it. That would help with the increase in escrows.
Since you are in the mtg biz, run the numbers on the escrows..$200 is a huge increase. Sounds like they may have way underestimated it when they set it up.
I don't quite understand what you said about "packing up and leaving". You may have great credit now, but if you walk away from your home, you won't have it anymore.
It sounds like you have become disenchanted with your home, in general. If you're able to at least break even by selling it, that may be your best option. If not, maybe you could sit tight and wait till the value comes back and then sell. Or maybe you could rent your current home and then sell it later.
You probably know all this already, but thought I would throw it out there anyway.
Since you are in the mtg biz, run the numbers on the escrows..$200 is a huge increase. Sounds like they may have way underestimated it when they set it up.
I don't quite understand what you said about "packing up and leaving". You may have great credit now, but if you walk away from your home, you won't have it anymore.
It sounds like you have become disenchanted with your home, in general. If you're able to at least break even by selling it, that may be your best option. If not, maybe you could sit tight and wait till the value comes back and then sell. Or maybe you could rent your current home and then sell it later.
You probably know all this already, but thought I would throw it out there anyway.